TRANSFORMING ADULT BASIC EDUCATION

11 STATES GET ACCELERATING OPPORTUNITY GRANTS

It’s more important than ever for adults to access college, quickly advance their skills, and earn credentials that lead to meaningful jobs where they live. This is the context for Accelerating Opportunity: A Breaking Through Initiative, a four-year project focused on jobs, the economy, and improving opportunities for adults. Accelerating Opportunity aims to substantially increase the number of adults who earn the credentials and skills they need to get and succeed in family-sustaining jobs—helping drive economic recovery for both individuals and their communities.

Eleven states—Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin—have received $200,000 each to develop plans for redesigning their Adult Basic Education and postsecondary programs, integrating basic skills with practical, occupational training. Later this year, four to six of these states will receive grants of $1.6 million each over three years to implement their plans. By 2014, the initiative will engage nearly 40 community colleges and over 18,000 adult learners. In Building Integrated Pathways to Sustainable Careers, JFF’s Rachel Pleasants describes the initiative’s structures, partners, and action steps.

A strategic collaboration of diverse philanthropies funds Accelerating Opportunity. It includes 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 three partners: the National Council on Workforce Education; the National College Transition Network; and the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges. I’m very excited for JFF and our grantee states to help millions of Americans obtain essential credentials. Thanks to all of our partners and funders who share in our belief that revamping ABE is a crucial investment in our workforce, our economy, and our communities.

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

PROFILE: BARBARA ENDEL

Leading the Accelerating Opportunity team at JFF is Barbara Endel. While she is a recent addition to JFF’s staff, Barbara is a longtime advocate and developer of career pathways for low-skilled adults. In fact, she recently served as a policy consultant for JFF on the Developmental Education Initiative, a six-state project of Achieving the Dream.

A first-generation college goer herself, Barbara has always been thankful to her parents for pushing her to continue her education, and she has dedicated her career to helping others do the same. “I’m very excited about Accelerating Opportunity; it really aligns Adult Basic Ed with community colleges,” she says. “Up until now, adults haven’t had a clear path to college after ABE. I think we’re going to change that for a lot of people.”
Previously, as a senior program officer at KnowledgeWorks Foundation, Dr. Endel helped Ohio create career pathways for low-income workers in health care, manufacturing, and other industry sectors. She also helped create career pathways for more than 3,000 low-income workers in the Cincinnati area, using grants from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions. As a consultant to the Louisiana Community & Technical College System, she helped the state introduce career pathways as a way to help rebuild its economy following Hurricane Katrina.

Outside of JFF, Barbara manages to save some energy for her other passions. She’s a certified scuba diver and an avid kayaker. She’s also training for her next half-marathon, the annual Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati next May.

Return to Top

GREEN PATHWAYS

A GREEN PATH FOR LOW-INCOME, DISCONNECTED YOUTH

Green jobs—those that contribute to meeting the goal of achieving environmental sustainability—encompass a broad range of occupations and skill sets, from building, retrofitting, and conservation, to support roles in sales, customer service, and accounting. Most green jobs require at least some postsecondary education—seemingly locking out six million low-income youth who have disengaged from school. But the nation’s Service and Conservation Corps networks and other youth recovery programs are giving these young people a second chance to restart their education, learn a trade, and become valuable assets for emerging green industries.

In A Green Career Pathways Framework, published by the Corps Network, JFF’s Terry Grobe and her co-writers Kate O’Sullivan, Sally T. Prouty, and Sarah White show how these programs work. Drawing on early results from efforts supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-sponsored “Postsecondary Success Initiative,” they delineate a “college connected” design to dramatically improve the outlook for disconnected youth.

SEVEN CITIES EXPAND GREEN JOB TRAINING

JFF is leveraging our expertise in green-sector training to expand opportunities for workers in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Washington, DC. This new project—The GreenWays Initiative—focuses on skills training for green jobs in construction, auto technology, manufacturing, and utilities.

“This initiative is a terrific example of how we can equip workers with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in today’s job market,” said Marlene B. Seltzer, president and CEO of JFF. “These programs help create family-supporting careers and grow our economy.”

The GreenWays Initiative is funded by an $8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor through the Green Jobs Innovation Fund. In partnership with Wider Opportunities for Women, a leading national nonprofit promoting individuals’ economic independence, JFF will provide peer learning forums and technical assistance that help the local initiatives implement their programs.

Return to Top

MORE ON CAREER ADVANCEMENT

THE NATIONAL FUND WELCOMES NEWARK

In July, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions awarded a $450,000, three-year grant to the Greater Newark Workforce Funders Collaborative in New Jersey. The group becomes the 31st member of the National Fund network, which provides innovative job training and career advancement for workers while helping businesses grow. Since 2007, the National Fund has raised nearly $24 million to support workforce development efforts in 31 communities. Local funders have contributed an additional $104 million to sustain these efforts.

WHAT WORKS: EMPLOYER-PAID TUITION ADVANCEMENT

While many employers offer tuition reimbursement, few lower-income employees can afford to pay that cost up front and wait to get the money back. Also, most reimbursement programs cover only study toward a Bachelor’s degree or higher, again leaving out lower-income workers who typically seek out a certificate program to gain more rapid advancement.

The “tuition advancement” program at Children’s Hospital Boston is different: it prepays college tuition for low-income, entry-level workers seeking credentials within a defined set of high-growth, high-demand jobs. Employer-paid Tuition Advancement, a brief from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, explains how the program advances frontline workers and helps the hospital develop a smarter, more stable workforce. The program is part of the hospital’s participation in SkillWorks, the Boston-area regional funding collaborative supported by the National Fund.

ACHIEVING FINANCIAL STABILITY THROUGH REGIONAL WORKFORCE FUNDER COLLABORATIVES

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions shares a goal with local United Ways across the United States: to bring family-sustaining employment opportunities to more lower-income working families. A new report documents how these local groups got involved with the National Fund’s regional collaboratives. In particular, the report, prepared by the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce with a grant from United Way Worldwide, looks at the role of United Ways in the development and implementation of local National Fund projects.

Return to Top

STEM PATHWAYS THROUGH EARLY COLLEGE

OHIO SCHOOL IS A NATIONAL STEM MODEL

Improving student performance in the “STEM fields”—science, technology, engineering, and math—is a major focus for education reformers. With the rise of STEM-themed schools nationwide, JFF has profiled Metro Early College High School in Columbus, Ohio, an example of how schools can structure curricula and student supports to maximize achievement.

Metro’s model is of particular interest to school developers in Massachusetts, where JFF is helping create six STEM early college high schools. Nearly one-third of Metro students are from low-income families; 45 percent are students of color. And every one of Metro’s graduates has been accepted to college.

JFF’S EARLY COLLEGE DESIGN SERVICES FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS

Drawing on the experiences of Metro ECHS and the nation’s 230 other early college high schools, JFF has developed a flexible portfolio of Early College Designs—including schools that integrate career and technical education with a college-ready curriculum, leading to STEM and other postsecondary pathways. These designs can help any district that seeks to significantly increase the number of students who graduate from high school and are prepared to succeed in college.

For more information on how Early College Designs can help your district or state, please contact Dr. LaVonne Sheffield, lsheffield@jff.org, 617.728.4446.

Return to Top

INCENTIVES FOR EARLY GRADUATION

HOW CAN STATE POLICIES ENCOURAGE STUDENTS TO COMPLETE HIGH SCHOOL IN LESS THAN FOUR YEARS?

Many state legislatures are considering ways to help students complete high school in less than four years. Such policies can enable motivated young people to save time and money toward a college credential for their families and taxpayers. The growing popularity of early graduation programs is notable, and their appeal will likely grow as states continue trying to contain budget increases.

Policymakers should think carefully about a number of design factors and questions when considering such policies and how to structure and fund them. Incentives for Early Graduation, by JFF’s Diane Ward and Joel Vargas, explores issues that early graduation proposals raise and how differences in design affect their ability to achieve different state education goals. The brief includes specifics on existing and pending legislation in 11 states.

HOW CAN NEWSWIRE SERVE YOU?

We welcome your thoughts. Email us at newswire@jff.org. Please forward NEWSWIRE to your colleagues. To subscribe, go to the JFF website and click the link on the home page.

Keep up on how innovations in education and workforce development can expand economic opportunity. Follow JFF on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

JFF develops, implements, and promotes new education and workforce strategies that help communities, states, and the nation compete in a global economy. In more than 200 communities across 43 states, JFF improves the pathways leading from high school to college to family-sustaining careers.

Return to Top