The Ford Foundation has awarded Jobs for the Future
a two-year grant of $300,000. The funds will enhance Jobs for
the Future's capacity to develop, expand, and advocate for effective
strategies for accelerating educational and career advancement
for youth and adults with low levels of income and education.
"Our nation's systems for education and skill development
are poorly organized to provide what people need in order to build
decent lives for themselves and their families," explained
Jobs for the Future CEO Hilary Pennington in announcing the grant.
As she noted, the far-reaching restructuring of the U.S. economy
in recent decades has fundamentally redefined the path to a middle-class
income. More than ever, skill and education are the currency of
the economy.
Pennington added, "We at Jobs for the Future believe the
need is urgent to leverage powerful new technologies and delivery
systems in order to accelerate the development of ways to close
the now-widening "opportunity divide.'"
The problem, though, is not a lack of effective models or effective
programs; rather, it involves scale and speed. According to Pennington,
"The nation lacks the incentives, policies, and mechanisms
for growth that will allow proven programs to coalesce into a
new system of alternatives, broadly available to anyone who needs
it."
With a focus on accelerating advancement, a number of new Jobs
for the Future strategies are designed to address the issues of scale and
speed. For example, in the spring of 2001 Jobs for the Future
launched Origin, Inc. A partnership with Jeff Jablow, a pioneering
social entrepreneur in the workforce development field, Origin
will provide career advancement services to the unemployed and
working poor. The Rockefeller Foundation funded the planning for
Origin, and the Ford Foundation is helping support the venture's
launch.
Based on proven commercial strategies and practices, the Origin
business plan calls for rapid expansion on a national scale to
provide a route out of poverty and into family-supporting careers
for thousands of low-income adults. Not only that, Origin will
create a laboratory that we will use to influence national and
state policy and offer real-world learning venues for the workforce
development industry.
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Jobs for the Future
develops, strengthens, and promotes innovative learning strategies and
workforce solutions that broaden educational and economic opportunity
for all Americans, particularly those at risk of not succeeding in
today's complex and rapidly changing economy. Working with
policymakers, practitioners, the media, and the public, Jobs for the
Future seeks to: strengthen opportunities for youth to succeed in
postsecondary learning and high-skill careers; increase opportunities
for low-income individuals to move into family-supporting careers; and
help the nation meet the growing economic demand for a knowledgeable,
skilled workforce. For more information about JFF, please visit the Web
site at www.jff.org.
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