To help the nation compete globally, JFF has committed to a goal for the next decade that many of our partners—and President Obama—now share: to “double the numbers” of low-income youth and adults who earn postsecondary credentials.

I believe that JFF is well positioned to contribute to making this vision a reality. In a new report, Vision 2020: Creating Opportunity for America’s Next Generation, we detail JFF’s strategies for achieving that goal. Vision 2020 shows how JFF is building on our unique and critical niche—where research, policy, and practice intersect—to improve educational and economic opportunity for all.

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

When Diego Camposeco, a student at Pender Early College High School in Burgaw, North Carolina, checked his email this spring, a dream came true. He found out he will be the first in his family to attend college. Not only that, he will enter the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with one of UNC’s prestigious four-year, “full-ride” scholarships.

JFF CEO and President Marlene Seltzer tells Camposeco’s story—and that of the Early College High School Initiative and its remarkable results—in an Education Week commentary.

In May, during the second annual Early College High School Week, JFF hosted a webinar to explore the use of assessments of non-cognitive abilities to enhance college persistence for students in danger of dropping out. Non-cognitive abilities are certain behaviors and attitudes—such as educational commitment and resiliency—that are distinct from the traditional verbal and quantitative areas that ability tests or achievement tests are designed to measure.

In March 2010, JFF hosted two working meetings that brought attention to an often-overlooked issue central to the quality, access, and affordability of health care: The health sector does not have enough qualified workers to ensure quality care for aging Baby Boomers, the newly insured, and a more diverse U.S. population. David Altstadt reports on the Washington discussions, which drew upon the on-the-ground experiences of three nationwide initiatives that are supporting community efforts to bolster the skills development, job quality, and retention of frontline health care workers: Jobs to Careers, National Fund for Workforce Solutions, and Breaking Through.

In a guest editorial for Solutions, Marlene Seltzer discusses the role of the health care sector as a source of the good jobs the country desperately needs. At the same time, she notes, “Without strong action, hospitals, health centers, and other care providers are unlikely to find enough qualified workers” to address present and predicted labor shortages.

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions, involving more than 250 funders, is proving that innovative, local approaches to preparing jobseekers and workers for careers, built on strong partnerships with employers, can deliver results for local economies. That’s the conclusion of the second annual national evaluation of the initiative. JFF is an implementation partner of the National Fund.

Outcomes generated by the 22 National Fund sites in 2009 include:

• 18,036 jobseekers and incumbent workers received training and career support, an increase of 286 percent from the year before.
• 9,735 participants received degrees or credentials, compared to 679 in 2008.
• 4,058 jobseekers secured jobs, up from 893 in 2008. Of those who got jobs, 81 percent are working more than 35 hours per week.

A video interview with one of the initiative’s beneficiaries, Keisha Monique Blake, who works at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, is available on the National Fund Web site.

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions has prepared information sheets on ways to address four common barriers to labor market success for low-skilled workers: criminal records; driver’s license suspensions; lack of access to affordable and convenient transportation; and the garnishing of wages for child support.

Two stories available on the Jobs to Careers Web site bring home how the initiative makes a difference in the lives of frontline workers.

Timothy Meade, a mental health worker at Temple University Episcopal Hospital in Philadelphia and a participant in the District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund, offers a unique perspective. Not only did he participate in Jobs to Careers training, but he’s also a union delegate and helped put this project into the union contract.

And a number of frontline workers and supervisors are featured in a report on how the Jobs to Careers project at Central Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson has changed people’s lives.