1Rising to the Literacy Challenge: Building Adult Education Systems
Over 40 percent of adults in New England lack the skills
needed to succeed in today's knowledge-based society. Rising to the Literacy Challenge, a new report by Jobs for the Future and
sponsored by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, examines adult
basic education in the region. The report's findings and recommendations
address four areas: Mission and Performance Standards, Pathways
to Advancement, Special Populations, and Funding and Capacity.
2Comprehensive Youth Services: Early Experiences Under the Workforce Investment Act
Youth Councils, mandated by the Workforce Investment Act
of 1998, can align the multiple players and institutions within
a community to move toward a comprehensive system that helps young
people make effective transitions into higher education and living-wage
careers. Jobs for the Future and the John J. Heldrich Center for
Workforce Development undertook a case study analysis for the
U.S. Department of Labor of 10 Youth Councils to determine their
progress and to identify the challenges they face in establishing
comprehensive systems for serving youth.
Evaluation of the Transition to Comprehensive Youth Services Under the Workforce Investment Act analyzes challenges associated
with implementing the youth provisions in the Workforce Investment
Act, and it delineates effective practices drawn from the 10 case
studies. The report also describes "enabling conditions" that
have allowed innovative Youth Councils to develop a more comprehensive
architecture for a local youth service system. It concludes with
recommendations for WIA reauthorization in 2003, drawn from interviews
with a sampling of policymakers and practitioners.
3Building a Nation that Works: Designing TANF for the Workplace
Employers' interest in workforce development, and the connection
of their concerns to welfare is at an all-time high. At the same
time, a key question as Congress discusses the reauthorization
of welfare reform is the program's effectiveness in helping low-income
families move out of poverty and toward self-sufficiency through
work. To achieve this objective, reauthorization must consider
the needs of employers and focus welfare legislation more directly
on what happens in the workplace.
Building a Nation that Works, from Workforce Innovation Networks
(WINs), identifies employer workforce needs and their relationship
to policy as Congress reauthorizes welfare reform legislation
enacted in 1996. WINs is a multi-year collaboration of Jobs for
the Future with the Center for Workforce Success of the National
Association of Manufacturers and the Center for Workforce Preparation
of the US Chamber of Commerce. Presented for educational purposes,
the brief is not a statement of official policy positions by the
Wins partners.
4All Over the Map: State Policies to Improve the High School
All Over the Map, co-authored by Monica Martinez and Judy
Bray, is a new report by the recently formed National Alliance
on the American High School. It examines trends, policy assumptions,
and tensions that key state education statutes and board requirements
hold for high schools. The state policies considered are divided
into three categories: policies specific to high schools; policies
that detail opportunities to learn; and policies that are new
and in rapid flux.
Jobs for the Future is a co-sponsor of All Over the Map, along
with the Alliance for Excellent Education, the American Youth
Policy Forum, the Forum for Youth Investment, High Schools of
the Millennium, the Institute for Educational Leadership, the
National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the National
Clearinghouse for Comprehensive School Reform.
For printed copies, fax a request to 202.822.8405, e-mail to hsalliance@iel.org, or
mail to the attention of: Publications, c/o IEL, 1001 Connecticut
Avenue, NW, Suite 310, Washington, DC 20036.
5The School-to-Work Intermediary Project: Data and Sustainability
The School-to-Work Intermediary Project, co-directed by
Jobs for the Future and New Ways to Work, reached a milestone
this spring. At a "Sunrise Institute," teams from 15 organizations
set the Intermediary Network on a path forward, even as the project
itself drew to a formal conclusion. The teams at the Institute
unanimously approved the launching of an independent, member-supported
network.
For information about the Intermediary Network, contact Lois
Ann Porter at New Ways to Work, laporter@nww.org,
707.824.4000.
Also this spring, the project released two Issue Briefs drawing
on the experience of Intermediary Network members since 1998: Data and Evidence Gathering: Strategies and Challenges and After the Sunset: Sustaining School-to-Work Intermediary Activity.
Data and Evidence Gathering: Local intermediaries perform key
connecting and brokering functions, linking schools, employers,
and young people. How does such an organization measure its effectiveness
and use data and evidence in support of intermediary activities
and initiatives? Download Data and Evidence Gathering
After the Sunset: JFF asked Intermediary Network members how
they were faring at the twilight of the federal investment and
explored whether and how the sunset of the national legislation
affected the operations of their organizations. This Issue Brief
provides characterizes strategies of Network members to respond
to the changing fiscal and policy context. Download After the Sunset
In an article in Community College Journal and an op-ed,
JFF staff members discussed the role of community colleges in
enhancing economic opportunity.
Better Outcomes for Low-Income Youth and Adults: Lessons from the MetLife Foundation Awards:First-time college-goers, new immigrants,
working adults, welfare recipients, high school dropouts, and
others with limited college experience and successÑthese groups
increasingly depend upon community colleges for an educational
and economic leg up. Writing in the June/July 2002 ommunity College Journal, Richard Kazis, Leslie Haynes, and Martin Liebowitz of
JFF explore community college strategies to improve the quality
and effectiveness of their services to low-income youth and adults.
As a result of innovations the authors describe, underserved youth
and adults are entering college, going farther in their education,
and earning credentials that matter in life and work.
New Roles for Community Colleges: Expanding Economic Opportunity
In an op-ed appearing in several newspapers around the country,
MetLife Foundation President Sibyl Jacobson and JFF President
Marlene B. Seltzer note the centrality of community colleges in
strategies to reduce poverty and expand economic opportunity.
However, the colleges need more equitable and generous funding
from state and local governments. Also, federal student aid should
be more readily available to working adults who attend school
part-time. Third, federal welfare and workforce laws should promote
community college enrollment, not make it more difficult. Finally,
all colleges need support from their local businesses, community
organizations, and government.
7Family Economic Success: Strengthening Families and Neighborhoods
JFF is assisting the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Making
Connections Initiative, the centerpiece of the foundation's multi-faceted
effort to improve the life chances of vulnerable children by helping
to strengthen their families and neighborhoods.
Over the past three years, the foundation has catalyzed partnerships
in 22 Making Connections sites to address the isolation and disconnection
experienced by many families and neighborhoods. Over the next
ten years, the foundation and local partners now plan to invest
in results-driven FAMILY ECONOMIC SUCCESS strategies, as well
as in social supports, networks, and access to effective and trusted
services.
JFF has helped the foundation prepare a framework centered on
the concept of Family Economic Success. This framework defines
Family Economic Success, as well as the strategies and outcomes
for achieving and measuring economic well-being. JFF will continue
to assist the foundation in refining the framework and its strategies.
We will also provide technical assistance to several Making Connection
sites as they plan for and implement those strategies.
8Early College High Schools: Kellogg Grant Supports Documentation, Dissemination
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has awarded JFF $1.5 million for a
multi-year effort to dramatically increase high school graduation
and college attendance rates for the most underserved youth. The
funds will help Jobs for the Future engage schools, postsecondary
institutions, and communities in the national Early College High
School Initiative. The Initiative seeks to create networks of
Early College High SchoolsÑsmall high schools from which students
leave with a two-year Associates of Arts degree or two years of
college credit.
JFF also announces the appointment of Michael Webb as Program
Director for the Early College High School Initiative. Dr. Webb
has served as vice president of New Visions for Public Schools,
where he helped lead the effort to create small schools in New
York City. As director of education of the National Urban League,
he was responsible for an initiative to involve parents in mathematics
and science education reform.
THE JOBS INITIATIVE AND WELFARE POLICY: This new policy brief
looks at results and lessons from the Annie E. Casey Foundation's
Jobs Initiative and the implications for federal welfare policy.
The brief is the first in a series on the Jobs Initiative and
its implications for federal policymakers.
PARTNERS AND PATHWAYS: VOICES FROM THE JOBS INITIATIVE: This
acclaimed, 20-minute video tells the story of the Jobs Initiative
through interviews with participants, employers, site directors,
and Casey Foundation officials. To download these Jobs Initiative
products, go to: http://www.aecf.org/jobsinitiative.
FIRES IN THE BATHROOM: ADVICE FROM KIDS ON THE FRONT LINES OF SCHOOL: In a report from What Kids Can Do, teens in urban
public schools tell their own stories, giving new and veteran
teachers a window into how to reach adolescent learners, particularly
those whose background and skin color they do not share. Fires in the Bathroom is a conversation starter between students and
teachers in urban classroomsÑa tool for encouraging honest conversation
about pressing issues like respect, expectations, disengagement,
and motivation.
WHAT KIDS CAN DO promotes the value of young people, working
with teachers and other adults, on projects that combine powerful
learning with public purpose. Jobs for the Future, through its
FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM Initiative, is a founding partner
in What Kids Can Do.
Rising to the Literacy Challenge: Building Adult Education Systems
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