ACCELERATING ADULT EDUCATION

MAKING A DIFFERENCE AS A TEACHER

Craig Furtick was teaching English as a second language at Elgin Community College in Illinois when the dean of Adult Basic Education told him about Accelerating Opportunity and its team teaching model. After teaching ESL for four years, Craig was ready for a new approach to the challenges of ABE. He wasn’t sure how team teaching would work, but it sounded intriguing. 

In January, Craig dove into teaching an integrated program on Computer Numerical Control, joining his ESL teaching skills with those of four CNC instructors. “It’s been challenging and intense,” he says, “but I’m enjoying this new teaching model, and I’m glad I got in on the ground level of a rewarding, exciting initiative.” Read more about the experience of Craig and his students with Accelerating Opportunity . . . 

5 STATES ANNOUNCE $1.6M GRANTS TO TEACH ADULTS BASIC SKILLS

Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and North Carolina have received $1.6 million each to ensure that more low-skilled adults enroll in and complete education programs that link directly to valuable college credentials. The grants come from Accelerating Opportunity, a four-year, $18.5 million effort to help our nation’s 26 million adults who lack a high school diploma quickly obtain the necessary skills for and enter into clear pathways to family-supporting careers. 

The announcement of the grants took place during the 2012 Opportunity Nation Summit, described below, when JFF officially launched Accelerating Opportunity and JFF Vice President of Building Economic Opportunity Maria Flynn spoke about the initiative. 

“By breaking down the barriers to educational attainment, Accelerating Opportunity is responding to the new economy by helping community and technical colleges produce more employable graduates,” says Steve Patrick of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which co-funds the initiative. Read more . . . 

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COLLEGE FOR ALL

OPPORTUNITY NATION 2012 SUMMIT

This year’s Opportunity Nation Summit (September 19) focused on strengthening the ladder of opportunity for young adults. A Summit Youth Partner, JFF co-sponsored the Gathering of the National Council of Young Leaders and Allies. The council led the youth voice at the summit, issuing advice on federal policy in “Recommendations to Increase Opportunity and Decrease Poverty in America.” 

JFF also participated in visits to congressional offices by youth from programs successfully serving low-income and disconnected youth. And JFF and the Philadelphia Youth Network nominated Ramean Clowney to serve on the youth council. After years of misfortune, this honors graduate of One Bright Ray Community High School just entered Community College of Philadelphia. 

Robert Schwartz, co-leader of the Pathways to Prosperity Network, spoke at the summit about “Bright Spots of Opportunity Generators.” He introduced the Pathways to Prosperity Network of six states, a collaboration of JFF and the Harvard Graduate School of Education to ensure that many more young people complete high school and attain postsecondary credentials. 

REENGAGING YOUTH

JFF has partnered with other national organizations on two studies around reengaging disconnected youth: 

• FSG has published Collective Impact for Opportunity Youth, by JFF’s Back on Track leader Adria Steinberg and others, which points to “the net gain for the nation . . . if young people with a lifetime of earning ahead of them can gain the education and support they need to become productive adults who contribute to the economic, civic, and social vitality of their communities.” 
• Bridge to Reconnection: A Review of Federal Funding Streams Reconnecting America’s Opportunity Youth, by John Bridgeland and Tess Mason-Elder of Civic Enterprises, in collaboration with JFF, YouthBuild USA, and the Forum for Youth Investment, outlines a path for recovering and reconnecting youth. 

DATA SUPPORT JFF’S THREE-PHASE MODEL: HELPING FORMER DROPOUTS ENROLL AND SUCCEED IN COLLEGE

Rigorous instruction. Postsecondary bridging. First-year support. Programs built around these three essential elements can help dropouts and other disengaged youth reconnect with education, catch up on time lost, and propel themselves toward college and career success. In a five-minute video from JFF’s Back on Track team, students and educators across the nation tell how the model works. To date, 57 percent of the former dropouts in Back on Track programs have graduated from high school and entered some form of postsecondary ed.

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GREEN JOBS VIRTUAL SUMMIT

JOIN THE GREEN JOBS VIRTUAL SUMMIT: ADVANCING GREENER CAREERS AND CAMPUSES

JFF and the National Wildlife Federation invite you to attend Advancing Greener Careers and Campuses—A Virtual Summit on Friday, November 2, 2012, noon– 4:00 p.m. EST. The summit, sponsored by the Greenforce Initiative, a national program of JFF and the NWF, will showcase successes across the country. It’s open to everyone, and we encourage college faculty and administrators, employers, and community leaders to attend. Sessions include: Linking Climate Change Science and STEM Careers, Creating Successful College-Employer Partnerships, and much more. 

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FEDERAL POLICY UPDATE

TALKING BUDGET WITH THE WHITE HOUSE

On September 21, Jon Carson, Deputy Assistant to the President and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, held an important phone meeting with members of the Campaign to Invest in America’s Workforce. This conversation allowed members of CIAW to describe the potentially devastating effects on education, workforce, and other discretionary domestic programs of automatic budget cuts scheduled to go into effect in January 2013. 

Most federal programs face an estimated 7.8 percent across-the-board cut if Congress does not enact a plan to reduce the national debt by $1.2 trillion. The phone call provided a chance for campaign members to argue for maintaining investments in federal workforce and education programs that help unemployed workers, low-income adults, and disadvantaged youth build skills and find jobs. It also set the stage for supporters of education and workforce programs to reach out to policymakers, the media, and the public about the importance of these programs and the services they provide. CIAW is co-convened by JFF and the National Skills Coalition. Read more. . . 

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JFF IN THE NEWS

• Sep. 19-27: The announcement of our $1.6 million Accelerating Opportunity grants to five states for enhancing their ABE systems received mention in The Huffington Post, Inside Higher Ed, Community College Times, the Hechinger Report, and the U.S. Labor Department. 
• Sep. 9: The Chicago Sun-Times website announced that a Chicago-area district will align the K-12 curricula with employer needs (to better help prepare youth for jobs) as part of Pathways to Prosperity, a collaboration of JFF and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

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ON THE ROAD

Oct. 2-3, National Council of La Raza Workforce Development Forum, Los Angeles, CA: 

• GreenWays program manager Deborah Kobes presents “Lessons from Detroit: Building a Union/Community Pre-apprenticeship Program.” Joining her are national AFL-CIO building trades rep Art Lujan and Detroit environmental official Paul Carter. 
• Adult ed expert Gloria Mwase and project partners highlight an effort to advance “Lower-Skilled Adults Through Postsecondary Education and Training on the Texas- Mexico Border.” 

Oct. 3, 2012 Student Success Conference, Costa Mesa, CA: 

• Todd Weissman demonstrates how JFF’s Counseling to Careers program can help California community colleges advise students and guide them onto and through viable career paths. 

Oct. 21-23, National Council for Workforce Education Annual Conference, Long Beach, CA: 

• Gloria Mwase and Stephen Lynch on the Greenforce Initiative, a JFF-National Wildlife Federation project to train community college students for local green jobs (Sun., 10/21, 2 p.m.) 
• Geri Scott on how Chicago is addressing its manufacturing skills gap by creating college-employer partnerships and enhancing the image of manufacturing as a career (Sun., 10/21, 2 p.m.) 
• Randall Wilson and hospital leader Rick Cornwell of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Hamot on how health care employers use JFF’s “CareerSTAT” guide to advocate for workforce investment dollars in the Affordable Care Act environment (Sun., 10/21, 3:30 p.m.) 
• Stephen Lynch and Monique Sheen on how adults can choose and start on a health care career path using the free, online Virtual Career Network (Mon., 10/22, 9:45 a.m.) 
• Todd Weissman and Jeremy Kelley on how colleges learn what jobs are in demand and what skills their students need to learn (Mon., 10/22, 1:30 p.m.) 

Nov. 9, Donnell-Kay Foundation’s Hot Lunch Series, Denver, CO: 

• JFF President & CEO Marlene B. Seltzer on JFF’s efforts to prepare the nation’s most at-risk youth for college and careers. 

SEE YOU ONLINE!

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