At JFF, we believe in the promise of apprenticeship and work-based learning to increase economic access for all and to grow the American economy.

In 2012, we launched our Pathways to Prosperity initiative, which works in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education, to scale college and career pathways systems that incorporate work-based learning opportunities for in-school youth.

And last year, we opened our Center for Apprenticeship & Work-Based Learning to continue growing these effective models across the country for all populations.

Our work in this space has shown us that there is much more to be done in order to bring these models to scale. And we have seen that while these approaches have already proven successful for thousands of companies and adults in America, there remains an ongoing challenge in connecting youth—our future workforce—to these opportunities.

That is why we are excited to announce our role as a national partner in the new Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship (PAYA), an initiative of New America.

PAYA is a multi-year, collaborative initiative of 9 organizations that will support states and cities who are working to expand access to high-quality apprenticeship opportunities for high-school-age youth.

Our goals as a partnership are to pull together the expertise, experience, and different networks of national, state, and regional partners to:

• Improve public understanding and awareness of high-quality American youth apprenticeship and how well such programs serve students, employers, and communities.
• Accelerate and intensify learning by disseminating better information about the conditions and strategies necessary for success and sustainability of youth apprenticeship partnerships.
• Support more high-quality, scalable youth apprenticeship partnerships in more places that better serve participating employers, students, and communities.

“JFF is excited to be a partner in the PAYA project,” said Eric Seleznow, JFF Senior Advisor. “We look forward to working with a range of partners and locations to advance high-quality youth apprenticeships that train the next generation of workers while assisting employers to develop workers with the skills they need to grow and expand.”

JFF is proud to join this initiative with New America, Advance CTE, the National Governors Association, and other partners such as CareerWise Colorado, Charleston Regional Youth Apprenticeships at Trident Technical College, Education Strategy Group, The National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, and The National Fund for Workforce Solutions.

From JFF’s expertise in apprenticeship and work-based learning, to our on-the-ground implementation and our growing network of partnerships with dedicated organizations, we are positioned more than ever to build a future that works.