Posts Tagged ‘Innovation Sites’

Organizations in the South Bronx are Expanding Workforce Development Systems to Improve Youth Employment

Tuesday, October 1st, 2019

In the South Bronx, 23 percent of youth are out of school and out of work. Among those working, half are employed in low-paying jobs. To change the trajectory for these learners, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has invested in four initiatives working to increase meaningful work-based learning opportunities for South Bronx students.  Each initiative has its own set of goals focused on specific outcomes, but all are collectively working towards creating equitable systems change so that more learners have access to living-wage career pathways.

One of those initiatives is Consortium for Worker Education (CWE) New York Alliance for Transport and Logistics Advancement Services Initiative (NYATLAS), a private, non-profit agency that provides industry-specific training and employment services to 60,000 New Yorkers a year. CWE estimates that the New York City metropolitan area has 50,000-60,000 jobs in the public transportation sector, 1,000 of which are entry-level and have a career ladder.

CWE is working to ensure learners have the real-world skills employers are seeking by creating a variety of courses that can be completed in four-ten weeks with a career waiting at the completion of the coursework.  CWE is making it a priority to remove barriers to access to these programs, for example, they have helped nearly 500 students obtain driver’s license necessary to participate in these careers.

Improving access to the health care industry is the goal of the New York Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (NYACH) Ready for Healthcare Initiative. It is an industry partnership focused on building an effective, integrated and accessible health care workforce development ecosystem in New York City. NYACH is working with the New York City Department of Education to redesign and update the Healthcare Core Curriculum currently in use at 13 Career Technical Education (CTE) programs across the city.

Current programming focuses on meaningful exposure to careers and industry leaders and includes a guest speaker series, an expo event, a mentorship program and employer site visits. Participants are gaining an understanding of the vast opportunities available in the healthcare industry. The work will continue in fall 2019 with internships for those aspiring to be medical assistants and certified nursing assistants.

Using data to drive improvement is the goal of the third initiative, New Visions for Public Schools’ Data Infrastructure for South Bronx. The nonprofit school support intermediary organization serves more than 350 schools throughout New York City. Their main service is a technology they have designed called the New Visions Data Portal.

The portal has tools to capture student progress to empower school staff and workforce partners by providing them with critical information to support decisions about each student’s path to success. The results are clear: New Visions’ core network of 70 New York City public high schools and 10 New Visions public charter schools surpassed a graduation rate of 84 percent in 2018, on par with the national high school graduation rate.

The final initiative, Per Scholas, is a national nonprofit that provides tuition-free training and professional development to help unemployed or under-employed adults move into careers as technology professionals. With the investment from JPMorgan Chase & Co., Per Scholas is focusing on ensuring learners receive support while still in high school.

 In the early stages of the work, Per Scholas is engaging with employers to identify entry-level skills and tasks to construct simulated tasks that teachers can execute in their classrooms. They are designing simulated work-based learning curriculum modules that will be piloted in three to five Bronx high schools with 150 students and 10 instructors. Additionally, they plan to disseminate work-based learning curriculum modules to high schools to inform career readiness coursework.

 “We know the surest way to expand access to opportunity is to equip people with the skills needed to compete for well-paying, in-demand jobs that are available today and tomorrow,” said Sarah Steinberg, Program Officer, JPMorgan Chase. “That’s why we are supporting communities around the world to design and implement innovative new approaches to career education that prepare young people to enter the workforce with the skills, experiences, and credentials they need to succeed in good careers in growing industries.”

In 2017, JPMorgan Chase invested $6 million as part of the New Skills for Youth initiative to address equity gaps and to strengthen and expand workforce development systems in the South Bronx. All four initiatives will continue to collectively work toward systemic change and meet quarterly to share updates and brainstorm ideas to address any challenges.

The South Bronx is a JPMorgan Chase & Co. New Skills for Youth Innovation Site aiming to improve career pathways for learners. This snapshot is part of a series documenting the progress of the local investments from across the globe that aim to identify and implement the most promising ideas in career education, with a special focus on communities with the greatest needs. Learn more about the innovations sites here.

By admin in Uncategorized
Tags: , ,

YouthForce NOLA Collaborative Offers New Pathways, Credentials and Hands-on Training for New Orleans Youth

Tuesday, September 24th, 2019

In just a few short years, the number of New Orleans public school graduates earning statewide industry-recognized credentials in three leading industries —health sciences, digital media and technology, and skilled crafts—has increased fivefold. This is in large part due to the work by YouthForce NOLA, an education, business and civic collaborative that prepares New Orleans public school students to pursue high-wage, high-demand career pathways. A quarter of credentials earned in 2018 were intermediate or advanced credentials, allowing them to continue their education or enter directly into the workforce.

YouthForce NOLA has a four-pronged approach to building career pathways that result in a meaningful credential including: engaging employers to offer internships, career exploration opportunities, and curriculum development; providing technical assistance to schools to redesign their curriculum to be career-focused; increasing training provider capacity to supplement schools’ teaching; and engaging families and the community in the process to ensure buy-in and an understanding of these opportunities. What began as a pilot with only two schools in 2015 will now see students from all 26 of New Orleans Public School open enrollment schools accessing career pathways programming in the 2019-20 school year.

YouthForce NOLA works with over 100 employers to expose students to different career pathways and provide work-based learning experiences through the YouthForce Internship (YFI) program. Participants in YFI have grown exponentially, and start with a 60-hour pre-training, which includes soft skills, job-seeking skills and industry exposure, followed by a 90-hour paid internship. Participation in these meaningful work experiences has grown from 18 students in 2015 to approximately 250 students in the summer of 2019. Nearly 90 percent of partners who participate in the internship program would recommend it to other employers. 

“We know the surest way to expand access to opportunity is to equip people with the skills needed to compete for well-paying, in-demand jobs that are available today and tomorrow,” said Katie LeGardeur, Managing Director and Market Leader for JPMorgan Chase in New Orleans. “That’s why we are supporting communities around the world to design and implement innovative new approaches to career education that prepare young people to enter the workforce with the skills, experiences, and credentials they need to succeed in good careers in growing industries.”

YouthForce NOLA and its partners are also expanding the ways in which students can gain hands-on skills by investing in the newly launched New Orleans Career Center, a city-wide technical training hub. The New Orleans Career Center now provides students from over a dozen partner high schools with hands-on training in high-demand fields. Additional YouthForce technical training partner options include Operation Spark (software development), NOTEP (construction trades), NOVAC (creative/digital media), Gateway EMS (emergency services), and Spark Mindset (network security).

Family and community engagement also is central to the collaborative’s mission. With assistance from the Urban League of Louisiana and families themselves, YouthForce NOLA developed a toolkit and an aligned workshop focused on strategies for helping schools remove barriers for family engagement. Any school that wants to join the YouthForce NOLA network must include a family engagement plan, ensuring it is a key component of their program.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. New Skills for Youth initiative invested in YouthForce NOLA to expand and enhance the organization’s efforts to develop a pipeline of skilled workers for high-demand, high-wage careers. As the program grows, it will continue to focus on helping learners gain job-specific skills, work experience and soft skills.

Youthforce NOLA is a JPMorgan Chase & Co. New Skills for Youth Innovation Site aiming to improve career pathways for learners. This snapshot is part of a series documenting the progress of the local investments from across the globe that aim to identify and implement the most promising ideas in career education, with a special focus on communities with the greatest needs. Learn more about the innovations sites here.

 

By admin in Uncategorized
Tags: , ,

Denver Public School Students Participating in CareerConnect Contributes to All-time High Graduation Rate 

Tuesday, September 17th, 2019

Denver, Colorado – Denver Public Schools has taken on an impressive goal: create the largest work-based learning program of any district in the country. Focused on providing students with access to relevant, project-based coursework, technical skills training and in-depth experiences in leading career areas, Denver Public Schools CareerConnect has developed a program that is working for both students and industry.

DPS CareerConnect launched in 2014 in partnership with the City of Denver, the Denver Office of Economic Development, two- and four-year colleges and universities, and business and industry partners. Supported by the JPMorgan Chase New Skills for Youth initiative beginning in 2016, the program offers rigorous industry-focused classes, hands-on work-based learning experiences, professional internships, mentoring for students, and a three-year apprenticeship opportunity where students split their time between the classroom and the workplace.

DPS CareerConnect has contributed to an all-time high graduation rate for Denver Public School (DPS) students. Specifically, participating in CareerConnect increases the odds of on-time graduation by 40 percent for students participating in two to five CareerConnect courses, 90 percent for students participating in five or more CareerConnect courses, and 90 percent for students who have a CareerConnect industry mentor.

Nearly 80 percent of DPS high schools are participating in the CareerConnect initiative. Overall, CareerConnect reaches more than 12,600 middle and high school students throughout the district. More than 200 Denver area businesses play a key role in the development and delivery of the program. The unique program builds a pathway for students while creating a pipeline of future employees with the knowledge and skills needed to excel in high-opportunity, in-demand industries including finance, engineering, advanced manufacturing, bioscience and technology.

“We want to enable young people to both contribute to and share in the rewards of a growing economy, and it starts right here with access to programs like DPS CareerConnect,” said Chris Jensen, Senior Executive for the Greater West Segment for the Commercial Bank in Colorado. “Working collaboratively, we can make sure young people in Denver are trained and competitive for the most in-demand jobs.”

Data plays a major role in the CareerConnect program, providing insight into ways CareerConnect can and should expand to meet the needs of each student. DPS CareerConnect uses data gathered from school districts such as attendance, graduation progress and test achievement, number of students participating in work-based learning, and more, all disaggregated by demographic characteristics to ensure that every single student is set up for success in the program. As offerings grow equitably, so does participation. K-8 School-Based Learning enrollment increased from over 9,400 in the 2016-17 school year to more than 13,600 in the 2017-18 school year. “CareerConnect is making a lasting impact both in schools and our local community by introducing students to their career passions and initiating a lifelong upward career trajectory,” said Bernard McCune, Senior Executive Director for Career and College Success at Denver Public Schools. “I look forward to the continued growth of the DPS CareerConnect program and equipping all students with invaluable skills for career and college success.”

As the program evolves, it will continue to focus on serving Denver students by identifying and implementing solutions to strengthen and expand programming, supporting innovative career readiness approaches and sustaining essential existing efforts.

Denver Public Schools CareerConnect is a JPMorgan Chase & Co. New Skills for Youth Innovation Site aiming to improve career pathways for learners. This snapshot is part of a series documenting the progress of the local investments from across the globe that aim to identify and implement the most promising ideas in career education, with a special focus on communities with the greatest needs. Learn more about the innovations sites here.

By admin in Uncategorized
Tags: , ,

 

Series

Archives

1