The partnership’s flagship initiative, Taste of the Trades, was born from a deceptively simple insight: many high school students have to work during the summer, and their need for income steers them toward retail and food-service jobs rather than career-building experiences. By combining federally funded summer youth employment wages with industry-designed curriculum, the program pays students to explore energy and infrastructure careers instead. “One of them said, ‘I would have been working two jobs over ...