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Displaying Press Release archive for 2003
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| "Go Small" Seen As Formula for Big Gains in Urban High Schools (November 20, 2003) |
Small Size and Greater Autonomy Are Among Nine Recommended Areas for Changing State and Local Education Policies
Massachusetts will encourage
the creation of small urban high schools that have significant
autonomy, if it follows recommendations put forth today
at a state education policy conference held in the FleetBoston
Auditorium. The recommendations were made in a joint policy
proposal by Jobs for the Future and the Center for Collaborative
Education.
|
 Read the Press Release Here |
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| Public/Private Collaboration Announces Over $5 Million in Grants (November 17, 2003) |
Local and National Funders Join Efforts to Advance Workers to Better Jobs
The Boston Workforce Development Initiative, the single largest
public/private investment in workforce development in Boston's history,
today announced the recipients of grants totaling more than $5 million
over the next three to five years. Through these investments, the
Initiative seeks to change the way employers hire and promote
entry-level workers from Boston's neighborhoods.
Two of the Initiative's grants focus on the health care industry, and a
third on the hospitality industry. Employing tens of thousands of
workers in Boston, these industries have the potential to raise the
income levels of immigrants and other low-income residents enough to
significantly raise their standards of living.
In addition, the Initiative will provide up to $1.5 million over five
years for a public policy advocacy effort to develop more effective
links between the Commonwealth's workers and good jobs. In no other
city or state has a single foundation, let alone the Initiative's
unique coalition of funders, made such a large and coordinated
commitment to advocating for systemic change in workforce development,
practice, and policy. |
| Read the Press Release Here |
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| Studies Reveal Strengths, Weaknessess in Improving Rates of High School Graduation and College Completion for Low-Income and Minority Students (October 23, 2003) |
An in-depth analysis of
high school and college graduation data shows that only
one in three eighth graders in 1988 earned an Associate’s
degree 12 years later.
At the same time, a new national study
of public perceptions of our education system shows that
most Americans recognize that a college degree is critical
for economic success, yet most people also believe that
our education system, particularly high schools, is failing
to prepare young people for higher education.
The Boston-based Jobs for the Future (JFF)
today released the two reports, conducted for JFF by the
Parthenon Group and Lake Snell Perry & Associates (LSPA),
at "Double the Numbers,"
a national conference focused on improving the rates of
college success for youth who are underrepresented in postsecondary
education. More than 400 education leaders, public officials,
and policymakers are participating in this conference, which
is exploring ways to “plug the leaks” in the
so-called education pipeline and improve the high school-to-college
transition rates, especially for lower-income and minority
youth. |
| Read the Press Release Here |
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| Local and State Organizations Join Initiative to Boost Skills and Job Prospects Through Employer Involvement (October 2, 2003) |
Department of Labor Funding
Enables WINs To Bring Its "Dual Customer" Approach To Workforce
Development in 21 Communities and 3 Statewide Teams
Workforce
Innovation Networks—WINs—today announced a major expansion, with the
addition of 15 organizations that are both actively engaging their
members with the public workforce development system and providing
lower-skilled workers the training and support they need to succeed at
work, advance their careers, and increase their incomes.
At the local level, WINs is expanding the number of organizations
working as intermediaries with the public workforce system from the
current nine demonstration projects to a total of twenty-one.
At the state level, WINs is launching three partnerships among state
employer associations and key state-level decision makers in workforce
development, including elected officials and representatives of
administrative agencies. |
| Read the Press Release Here |
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| Low Wage Workers See Education as Key to Advancmement (September 5, 2003) |
New Survey Shows Most Low-Income Americans Want to Upgrade Their Skills
Most
low-wage workers want to upgrade their skills and move up to better
jobs, but they lack access to information on programs that can help
them.
A national survey of low-wage workers, released today by Boston-based
nonprofit Jobs for the Future, shows that 70 percent of workers who
earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level want access to
education and training programs that can help them advance to well-paid
positions. Nearly one out of four low-wage workers (24 percent) have
paid for their instruction out of their own pocket despite competing
financial commitments and family obligations, a strong indication of
the importance they place on advancing their education.
The study, a national survey of 1,002 adults with household incomes
near the poverty line, was commissioned by Jobs for the Future as part
of the Workforce Innovation Networks (WINs) initiative with funding
from the U.S. Department of Labor. |
| Read the Press Release Here |
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| Pioneering Early College High Schools Open Across the Nation (August 28, 2003) |
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. |
| Read the Press Release Here |
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| Boston High School Reform Efforts Gain Momemtum With Grant (July 7, 2003) |
$13.6 Million to provide High-Quality Small High Schools for 10,000 More Students
Jobs
for the Future today announced a $13.6 million investment from the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation to support a citywide effort to develop
small, dynamic high schools in the Boston Public Schools. The grant
will expand the city's pioneering efforts to prepare all students for
college-level work by creating high schools where students receive a
rigorous, personalized education in a supportive atmosphere. In four
years, 30 percent of all Boston high school students will be enrolled
in such high schools.
Building on a 2000 grant of $8.25 million from the Carnegie Corporation
of New York, this investment will create new small schools and further
develop existing schools, serving a total of 10,000 students. JFF and
the Boston Public Schools will collaborate with the Boston Plan for
Excellence, the Boston Private Industry Council, and the Center for
Collaborative Education to create the schools. |
| Read the Press Release Here |
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| JFF Finds Progress, Remaining Hurdles in Adult Basic Education (April 18, 2003) |
Two in Five New England Adults Lack Skills Needed to Succeed in Today's Society
A report from Jobs for the
Future finds that 41% of all adults in New England are unprepared to
succeed in today’s knowledge-based society. Updating a 2002 report on
literacy in the region, the second edition of Rising to the Literacy
Challenge indicates some progress: New England states and communities
and the federal government all increased the resources they devoted to
adult basic education. Yet the need increased even more dramatically.
"New
England continues to face a major skills crisis," said JFF President
Marlene B. Seltzer. "Clearly something has to be done when more than
4.2 million adults lack the literacy skills needed to succeed as
workers, parents, and citizens in today's society. This both limits the
ability of adults to meet their families' basic needs and threatens the
entire region's long-term economic health." |
| Read the Press Release Here |
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| Community Colleges Eligible for Excellence Awards: MetLife Foundation to Recognize Innovation in Helping Youth and Adults Succeed (March 28, 2003) |
| Innovative community colleges are invited to apply for the 2004 MetLife
Foundation Community College Excellence Awards. The awards will
recognize colleges that are breaking ground in helping underserved
youth and adults succeed in postsecondary education. Two winning
colleges will each receive a $30,000 award and national recognition. |
| Read the Press Release Here |
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| A Future That Works: Students Tell How Innovative Community Colleges Change Their Lives (March 20, 2003) |
A Future That Works: First-Person Accounts of Community
Colleges That Change Lives reveals the profound impact
of community colleges on students who must juggle school,
work, and family. With personal stories from the winners
of the 2002 MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence
Awards, A Future That Works puts a human face on
the struggles and accomplishments of students confronting
barriers of poverty, language, or limited expectations of
their potential.
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| Read the Press Release Here |
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| Boston Nonprofit and Two National Employer Organizations Receive Major Federal Award (February 7, 2003) |
Funds Will Help Employers, Workers, and Job Seekers
Workforce Innovation Networks—WINs—has
been awarded federal funding totaling approximately $5 million for
improving the economic prospects of job-seekers and workers while
meeting employers' needs for skilled workers at the entry-level and
above. WINs tests the proposition that local employer organizations can
play a powerful "intermediary" role, helping their member firms find
skilled workers while helping individuals, particularly those with
little education and few marketable job skills, gain access to better
job opportunities.
WINs will distribute part of the funds to cutting-edge employer
organizations around the country, improving their ability to serve
their members and their communities. WINs will soon announce a process
for local employer-led organizations and state partnerships to apply
for this funding.
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| Read the Press Release Here |
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| National Collaboration Announces Key Tools For Improving Local Workforces (February 7, 2003) |
Show How Employers Can Help Workers and Job Seekers to Succeed
Workforce
Innovation Networks—WINs—announces a series of resources for engaging
employers in workforce development. These tools will produce two sets
of benefits: they will improve the economic prospects of job-seekers
and workers, while also meeting the needs of businesses for employees
at the entry-level and above.
Launched in 1997, WINs is a collaboration of Boston-based Jobs for the
Future, the Center for Workforce Preparation of the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, and the Center for Workforce Success of the National
Association of Manufacturers. |
| Read the Press Release Here |
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