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Jobs for the Future’s Accelerating Opportunity Initiative Awards Grants to Eleven States to Transform Adult Education

Strategic Funding Collaboration Supports Community College Efforts to Increase Adults’ Employment Skills

BOSTON, MA (August 4, 2011) – JFF today announced the grantees of Accelerating Opportunity: A Breaking Through Initiative, which will challenge states across the country to transform adult education systems into more successful pathways leading to economic security. Accelerating Opportunity targets workers who are underprepared for today’s demanding job market and builds on the legacy of JFF’s innovative adult education initiative Breaking Through, as well as Washington State’s I-BEST program. It is supported by a strategic partnership of five of the nation’s leading philanthropies.

Accelerating Opportunity has two phases. The first 11 states selected—Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin—have each been awarded $200,000 to support efforts to redesign adult basic education and postsecondary programs to integrate basic skills with practical, occupational training. Approximately five of these states will then be selected to receive implementation grants of $1.6 million each over three years to implement their plans. The initiative will engage nearly 40 community colleges across the country and impact over 18,000 adult learners.

“The number of adults without skills and credentials beyond high school is a national crisis threatening our economic recovery,” says JFF President and CEO Marlene B. Seltzer. “At the same time, employers are having difficulty finding qualified workers to fill skilled positions that command a higher salary. The trend will only continue—by 2018, 70 percent of all jobs will require workers with some form of postsecondary credentials.”

Over 26 million adults lack a high school diploma. While just over 2.5 million of these individuals are enrolled in adult basic education programs, many of them leave after only a semester or two, not earning any form of postsecondary credential. Accelerating Opportunity seeks to change the way adult basic education is delivered by putting students on track to earn a postsecondary credential and providing them with the support needed to succeed. Educational pathways to higher skills, credentials, and employment will be rigorously tested and independently evaluated. This evidence will be provided to philanthropy, labor, employers, adult education planners and other stakeholders to ensure that adult education programs lead to postsecondary credentials and good jobs.

Accelerating Opportunity is funded by a strategic collaboration of diverse philanthropies including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and the Open Society Foundations. For program and implementation expertise, JFF has engaged the National Council on Workforce Education, National College Transition Network, and the Washington State Board of Community & Technical Colleges as partners.

“This is a serious economic issue, as well as an education issue. There is a mismatch between the high-demand, high-skilled jobs currently available and the skills workers currently have,” says Hilary Pennington, director of Postsecondary Success, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Accelerating Opportunity links directly with our work in postsecondary education, and most importantly, it will address the needs of a traditionally underserved population on community college campuses.”

Accelerating Opportunity is informed by the Breaking Through initiative, which has promoted the support of 41 community colleges in 22 states to improve career pathways and postsecondary education for low-skilled adults.

“Building from our previous work with Breaking Through, states will get the opportunity to identify the barriers to success for their residents and design a plan that will address the unique needs of their workforces and communities,” says Maria Flynn, JFF vice president, Building Economic Opportunity. “We are thrilled to expand this work and engage every important stakeholder, from community college presidents and trustees to local politicians and policymakers, allowing for redesigned programs that are genuinely sustainable.”

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