Phoenix Firms Built Talent Pipeline Through Internships

Local businesses are utilizing the ElevateEdAZ program to source student talent for specialized roles.

Updated on Sept. 28, 2026 in Internships

Isometric editorial illustration of a clean, modern office space with wooden desks and geometric planters, representing a professional workforce development environment. — The Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce has expanded its ElevateEdAZ initiative, connecting high school students with regional firms for specialized internship opportunities. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Should local schools expand partnerships with businesses to provide high school internships?

The Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce has scaled its ElevateEdAZ initiative to connect regional firms with high school interns. The program aims to bridge talent gaps by integrating students into professional workflows across sectors like IT and advanced manufacturing.

Why it matters

Operators face persistent difficulties in identifying and retaining qualified talent, driving a need for structured pipelines that develop local workforce skills early. Engaging students through this initiative allows firms to integrate new skill sets directly into internal projects.

The ElevateEdAZ program currently involves 100 businesses and more than 20 schools. A recent cohort of three student interns completed a design project that influenced the core software at S Stone Solutions and Research Collective.

The players

Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce

A regional business organization that advocates for local economic growth and workforce development initiatives.

S Stone Solutions and Research Collective

A local firm that operates within the software and research sector and actively utilizes high school interns.

Rick Stone

A business leader who initiated the firm's involvement in the intern pipeline program in early 2025.

The details

The initiative functions as a centralized gateway for employers to access student labor for tasks such as user interviews, software testing, and design. By embedding students directly into operations, companies like S Stone Solutions and Research Collective have successfully incorporated intern-developed designs into core software systems. This model provides firms with a direct method to vet potential talent before they graduate or pursue higher education.

Spring 2025: Rick Stone brought on two initial interns.
Fall 2025: S Stone Solutions began formal participation with ElevateEdAZ.
Spring 2026: The intern cohort presented their final project designs.
September 2026: Program milestones were reviewed in recent reporting.

Market Landscape

This effort follows a pattern set by industry-led workforce development trends by formalizing early-career access. It represents a broader regional shift toward work-based learning models for high school students to address local labor shortages.

Employers struggling to fill technical roles should evaluate if their current operational load can accommodate short-term student projects. Operators should track the conversion rate of these students to determine if local internship pipelines provide a more reliable ROI than traditional external recruiting.

The takeaway

Connecting with regional school systems can provide a measurable advantage in securing local talent before they exit the market. Operators should consider the operational capacity required to mentor students to ensure that project-based contributions, such as software testing, yield usable outputs.