AWARDING SUCCESS

A theme at JFF these days is awards, both to our partners and from JFF and our partners. These awards recognize exceptional work in the field, encourage innovators to continue their efforts, and help spread the word to other practitioners and policymakers.

On April 18, MetLife Foundation announced the 2010 Community College Excellence Award. On April 27, the Council on Foundations announced its Distinguished Grantmaking and Critical Impact awards. And on May 3, the Early College High School Initiative issued the first Student Information System Diamond Awards.

Please join me in congratulating the award winners for their commitment and their success. I believe they will inspire you, just as they inspire us.

—Marlene B. Seltzer, President and CEO, Jobs for the Future

METLIFE FOUNDATION COMMUNITY COLLEGE EXCELLENCE AWARD

The MetLife Foundation Community College Excellence Award honors the important roles community colleges play in addressing educational, social, and economic needs and opportunities. Each winner of the award, which is administered by JFF and sponsored by MetLife Foundation, receives a $50,000 grant.

Three colleges won awards in 2010:

• Service to Students Award: Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga, California, through its Opening Doors to Excellence initiative, has demonstrated a sustained commitment and clear strategies to help more students succeed.

• Service to Communities Award: Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood, Washington, is addressing demographic and economic change in its community through the Brownfields to Green initiative

• Service Through Innovation Award: Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois, created the Nurse Managed Care program to help address the lack of rural health care.

THE BEST IN GRANTMAKING AWARD

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions received the Council on Foundations’ Distinguished Grantmaking Award, which spotlights significant contributions to the field of philanthropy. In 23 regions across the country, the National Fund, partnering with more than 200 local funders, collaborates with employers and workforce leaders to help prepare workers to succeed in a post-recession economy. JFF is the implementation partner for the National Fund.

The Robert Wood Johnson and Hitachi foundations received the Critical Impact Award, honoring their support of Jobs to Careers, a national initiative that addresses the needs of low-wage health care workers while inspiring innovations in job training, career advancement, and health care delivery. The initiative, managed by JFF, is also supported by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration.

DIAMOND AWARDS

The Student Information System of the Early College High School Initiative honored 11 California schools with Diamond Awards. Each school has gathered the data needed to document the impact of the early college model—and used the data to improve student outcomes. The winners are: Academy of the Redwoods; Alameda Science and Technology Institute; Benjamin Holt College Preparatory Academy; California College Preparatory Academy; Ghidotti Early College High School; Global Youth Charter High School; Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy; The Met Sacramento; San Diego Middle/Early College; San Diego High School of the Arts; and San Diego LEADS High School.

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HIGH SCHOOL THROUGH COLLEGE

EARLY COLLEGE HIGH SCHOOL WEEK: CELEBRATING THE NATION’S LARGEST INNOVATIVE SCHOOL NETWORK

During the second annual Early College High School Week, May 3 to May 9, early college high schools and their partners, along with students, administrators, parents, community leaders, and legislators, celebrated the early college model, proven to increase high school graduation and college-readiness rates among students who are least likely to attend college. The nation’s 212 schools are making college a reality for 46,000 students in 24 states. JFF leads a coalition of national organizations that provide startup and ongoing support, guidance, and professional development to the schools.

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PATHWAYS TO POSTSECONDARY

DOLLARS AND SENSE: YEAR UP BENEFITS YOUTH AND EMPLOYERS

Despite earning a high school diploma or GED, millions of young people across the United States are unable to continue their education or find decent jobs in a knowledge-based economy. At the same time, many employers struggle to find a steady and reliable stream of talent. Against this backdrop, Year Up establishes effective career pathways for a large and growing group of vulnerable young adults, serving more than 1,000 students each year in Boston, Atlanta, New York, Providence, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. Dollars and Sense describes the Year Up model, highlighting its extraordinary employer commitment and participation. As a thought partner with Year Up, JFF works closely with the organization on its strategy for growth.

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BUILDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

BREAKING THROUGH: A GUIDE TO PRACTICE

JFF’s Breaking Through Practice Guide is designed to help community colleges and other programs serve adults who have low literacy and math levels and who want to succeed in postsecondary education. The Practice Guide highlights innovations from community colleges participating in Breaking Through, an initiative promoting the development of practices and policies that connect low-skilled adults with postsecondary occupational or technical education. Breaking Through is a collaboration of JFF and the National Council for Workforce Education.

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STATE AND NATIONAL POLICY

IMPROVING AMERICA’S SECONDARY SCHOOLS: CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

On May 4, JFF Education Policy Director Cassius Johnson testified before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about how to restructure the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. He drew on our work with school, district, and state partners to improve college-ready high school graduation. Johnson reported on JFF’s experience that dramatically better outcomes—especially for low-income students and students of color—are possible, and he made two recommendations to Congress: invest in innovation and in scale.

PROFILE: CASSIUS JOHNSON

“Fourteen years ago, I was a senior and student body president at Hamilton High School in rural northwest Alabama,” Cassius Johnson said in his testimony to the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “My alma mater is one of the 2,000 low-graduation rate high schools across the nation that together produce more than half of U.S. dropouts.”

Cassius was not one of the dropouts. After earning an Associate’s degree from Bevill State Community College in Alabama, he went on to receive a B.A. in political science and honors studies from Texas Tech University and a Master’s in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Barbara Jordan Scholar. And before joining JFF, he was chief of staff for a member of the Texas House of Representatives.

Cassius directs federal secondary and postsecondary policy development and advocacy for JFF in Washington, DC. Through his work on the proposed Graduation Promise Act and other federal legislation, he aims to improve education options and outcomes for the large and growing numbers of low-income youth and adults who struggle to succeed in today’s economy.

“From my small hometown to the great urban centers of this country,” says Cassius, "continuation of current trends in high school performance and graduation will lead to an unacceptable bifurcation of opportunity: a widening gulf between individuals with the skills and credentials and the poor and low-skilled who have little prospect of advancement. These trends pose a severe threat not only to our nation’s future economic growth but to our social fabric.”

WIA AND ADULT EDUCATION & LITERACY

On May 4, six national organizations, including JFF, wrote to key U.S. Senators and Representatives with advice on improving the educational and economic outcomes of low-skilled adults: “We see a tremendous opportunity in the reauthorization of [the Workforce Investment Act]: to make changes to Title II so that adult education and English literacy programs are able to ensure that more low-skilled individuals move along the continuum from low skills to success in college and job training, career pathways, and jobs that pay a family-supporting wage.”

THE DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION INITIATIVE: STATE POLICY FRAMEWORK & STRATEGY

Developmental education as traditionally delivered does not appreciably increase the likelihood that a community college student will earn a credential or degree. This broken model of remedying students’ academic deficiencies is not sustainable in an era of tight budgets, swelling enrollments, and pressure for more accountability for results.

Through the Developmental Education Initiative, six states are focusing more intently on policies to support dramatic improvements for students whose assessment scores indicate the need for developmental education. Connecticut, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia are committed to an aggressive policy and capacity-building agenda to support community college efforts to improve success in this area. The initiative’s State Policy Framework & Strategy specifies levers that policymakers in these and other states can use to support changes in the organization and delivery of developmental education.

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Jobs for the Future identifies, develops, and promotes new education and workforce strategies that help communities, states, and the nation compete in a global economy. In nearly 200 communities in 41 states, JFF improves the pathways leading from high school to college to family-sustaining careers.

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