Displaying Press Release archive for 2004 click to open press release
University Park Campus School, Clark University Collaborate to aid Small Schools(December 7, 2004)
UPCS to Train Teachers & School
Leaders As Part of $30 Million Gates Grant to Expand Early
College High Schools Nationwide
The University Park Campus
School (UPCS) and Clark University have received $300,000
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide
technical assistance to small schools across the nation.
UPCS will work in tandem with Jobs for the Future (JFF),
the Boston-based organization that leads the nationwide Early College High School Initiative, to host Summer Institutes
for school leaders, teachers, and principal. For the next
three years, through 2007, the institutes will provide hands-on
training and technical assistance that helps early college
high schools prepare underperforming students for success
in high school and college.
New Investments Expand and Strengthen National Network of Early College High Schools(December 7, 2004)
Nearly $30 Million to Boost High School Graduation Rates and Give Students the Chance to Earn College Credits
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced $29.6 million
in grants to eight organizations to expand the early college high
school network to more than 25 states. Early college high schools
provide traditionally underserved students with a rigorous,
college-level curriculum and the opportunity to earn two years of
college credit or an Associate’s degree. Since 2001, the early college
high school network has received more than $124 million in support from
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of
New York, WK Kellogg Foundation, Woodruff Foundation and Ford
Foundation.
More than $22 million will support the creation of 42 new schools
throughout the country through investments in Antioch University
Seattle, the Middle College National Consortium, Portland Community
College’s Gateway to College, Rochester Area Community Foundation,
Georgia Department of Education and the University System of Georgia,
KnowledgeWorks Foundation, and the National Council of La Raza. A $7
million investment in Jobs for the Future (JFF), which leads the
implementation of the network, will expand the technical assistance
available for the network and help establish a system to monitor the
progress of young people enrolled in these schools.
Michael Collins Joins Efforts to Advance Opportunity in Education(December 2, 2004)
Brings Expertise in Higher Education
Policy, Urban Education, and Issues of Educational Access
and Equity
Jobs for the Future is
pleased to welcome Michael Collins. He joins JFF after six
years at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board,
where Mr. Collins’ work in education policy development
built upon his prior experience as a middle and high school
teacher engaged in education reform in challenging urban
schools.
“Mike will be a key player in JFF’s
efforts to analyze, develop, and advocate for state and
federal education policies that promote postsecondary success
for all young people,” according to JFF CEO and President
Marlene B. Seltzer. “His work here will build upon
his diverse contributions to education reform and policy
development in Texas, which stands out as one of the few
states that has set a specific, numeric goal for increasing
postsecondary success.”
Jobs for the Future Appoints New CEO(November 19, 2004)
Seltzer to Guide Efforts to Improve
Nation’s Education and Workforce Pipelines
JFF has announced the
appointment of Marlene B. Seltzer as its new CEO
effective October 1. Boston-based JFF is a leading innovator
in strategies to accelerate education and career advancement
for both young people and adults. Hilary Pennington, who
co-founded JFF in 1983 and led it to national prominence,
remains as vice-chair of the Board of Directors.
“This transition reflects JFF’s
maturity as an organization and our growing scope of activities
as we expand beyond our founders to a new generation of
leadership,” explained Jane Donaldson, Chairman of
the JFF Board. “I am delighted that Marlene Seltzer
will add the role of CEO to her current position as president
of JFF. Her experience, including nine years with JFF, make
Ms. Seltzer the perfect choice for this dual role.”
JFF Draws National Implications from
Ambitious Boston Project
In December 2003, 12 months
after an acrimonious strike pit the union representing the
men and women who clean Boston’s office buildings
against the companies that manage many of those buildings,
a non-profit arm of the union and seven employers entered
into an innovative partnership. They agreed to begin developing
career ladders for the people who clean the city’s
office buildings every night. The plan? To help the management
firms develop skilled custodians, supervisors, painters,
electricians, and groundskeepers by providing the part-time
cleaning staff with easily accessible skill training, career
coaching, and English language instruction.
This labor-management partnership is one
of the early products of SkillWorks: Partners for a Productive
Workforce, an ambitious effort on the part of philanthropy,
government, community organizations, unions, and employers
to change how workforce development is done in Boston.
Pioneering Early College High Schools Open Across the Nation(August 28, 2004)
Goal is to Boost High School and College Graduation for Underserved Youth: High School School Students Will Earn Two Years of Tuition-Free College Credit
As the nation's schools open their doors, student pioneers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, Spokane and Dayton, Salt Lake City and Tucson, and other cities from coast to coast will enter a new breed of public school with an unique mission: to produce graduates who leave with both a high school diploma and two years of college credit and who will ultimately go on to earn a four-year degree. The concept, known as the Early College High School, aims to make higher education more accessible and affordable, especially for underserved students, by bridging the division between high school and college.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in partnership with Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, has invested more than $50 million to support approximately 100 new schools over the next five years as part of the Early College High School Initiative. The schools eventually will serve tens of thousands of students with the same purpose: demonstrating ways to better serve the intellectual and developmental needs of young people who now fail to complete high school or drop out in the first years of college.
High School Graduation: Strong Start or Dead End?(June 3, 2004)
New Book Calls for a National Priority on "Doubling the Numbers" of
Low-Income and Minority Youth Who Complete College
As
high school students around the country prepare to graduate this
spring, a new book warns that the high school diploma—as elusive as it
remains for too many American youth—is no longer an adequate
educational endpoint for any of our youth. Double the Numbers: Increasing Postsecondary Credentials for Underrepresented Youth
issues a "call to action," urging the U.S. to "double the numbers" of
low-income and minority youth who go to and complete college or some
other form of postsecondary training or education.
Edited by Richard Kazis, Joel Vargas, and Nancy Hoffman of Jobs for the
Future, and with a foreword by Tom Vander Ark of the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, Double the Numbers
highlights emerging strategies—at the state, district, and school
levels—for improving postsecondary outcomes. The book looks at how to
motivate older adolescents in school settings; how to overcome the
rigidities of high school schedules and routines; how to prepare
students for smooth transitions to postsecondary learning and success,
and more. Double the Numbers also explores policies that are
likely to serve as building blocks in any next phase of education
reform that tackles the dual problems of high school completion and
postsecondary access and success.
Excellence Award Honors Two Innovative Community Colleges(April 25, 2004)
City College of San Francisco and
Community College of Denver Recognized for Serving Low-Income,
Minority, and Immigrant Youth and Adults
City
College of San Francisco and Community College of Denver are the
winners of the 2004 MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence
Award. The winners were announced in Minneapolis on April 25 at the
2004 annual convention of the American Association of Community
Colleges.
The MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Award honors
excellence in promoting educational and economic advancement for young
people and adults who do not traditionally have access to higher
education. Each finalist combines determined leadership, innovative
programming, and attention to outcomes throughout the college, leading
to clear improvements in meeting the varied learning needs of
low-income, first-generation, immigrant, and working students.
Innovative Schools "Break Through" to Educate Older, Out-of-School Youth, National Group Reports(April 14, 2004)
JFF Cites Programs and Policies That Promote Pathways to College
Taking aim at the “hidden, national crisis”
that consigns nearly five million out-of-school and unemployed
young adults to a future locked out of education and family-supporting
jobs, Jobs for the Future (JFF), a Boston-based education advocacy
group, has called on policymakers and educators around the country
to get behind a diversity of educational dropout prevention programs
that successfully connect out-of-school youth with education and
put them on a path to further study and solid employment.
In From thePrison Track to the College Track, JFF reports on
four types of new school programs that effectively move low-income,
out-of-school youth, ages 16-24, toward completing high school
and postsecondary education and training, and gaining access to
real employment opportunities.
Massachusetts Legislature Approves Job Training Funds(February 12, 2004)
Veto Override Provides Funding to Train Up to 1,500 People for Better Jobs
When
the Massachusetts legislature voted to override Governor Romney’s veto
of funds for job training, it represented a major victory in the fight
to provide both good jobs for the people of Massachusetts and the
workforce our businesses need to compete in a global economy, according
to a spokesperson for the Boston Workforce Development Initiative. This
action helps make available $6 million for a wide variety of industry,
union, and community-based programs to enable residents of the state to
learn the skills needed for better-paying jobs.
Finalists Announced for 2004 MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Award(February 5, 2004)
Seven institutions
across the country have been selected as finalists for the
2004 MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Award.
Each finalist combines determined leadership, innovative
programming, and attention to outcomes throughout the college,
leading to demonstrable improvements in meeting the varied
learning needs of low-income, first-generation, immigrant,
and working students.
MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence
Award brings national attention to community colleges that,
throughout the institution, promote educational and economic
advancement for underserved youth and adults. Through the
awards, MetLife Foundation accelerates the diffusion of
effective practices and policies by highlighting institutions
that are committed to improving the education of underserved
students—and are demonstrating better outcomes for
these students.
Advancing Low-Wage Workers to Self-Sufficiency(January 26, 2004)
Jobs for the Future Launches Series of Reports on What Works and What's Needed in Federal, State, and Local Policy and Practice
Jobs for the Future
announces Advancement for Low-Wage Workers, a new publication series
designed to elevate discussion of an issue critical to the nation.
“Across our country, there is a crisis among many families and
individuals who lack the basic skills necessary to move into
family-supporting employment,” says JFF President Marlene B. Seltzer.
“Even those working full-time jobs too often still find themselves
unable to provide for the basic needs of their families—food, shelter,
clothing, transportation, and medical care.”
click to open press release
Read the Press Release Here
