Postsecondary institutions and community organizations are creating new and more effective education pathways to opportunities that link education, training, and employment. These programs form community partnerships that build bridges among schools, students, and employers.
In the wake of COVID-19 and growing inequality, America needs more pathways that bridge education and career. New research from the Project on Workforce at Harvard draws on data from New Profit's Postsecondary Initiative for Equity to identify opportunities for the education-to-employment field and chart the course for connections to good jobs.
Organizations like Generation USA, an arm of independent nonprofit Generation, have sought an "impact hiring" model that specifically seeks to match opportunities with workers who are overlooked by traditional talent pipelines due to historical barriers.
Over 1,200 teams from 26 countries submitted solutions to the Future of Work Grand Challenge, which consists of two separate but related prize competitions powered by XPRIZE and Solve. XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling selected ten qualified teams for round two, asking teams to demonstrate the effectiveness of rapid training and reskilling solutions for individuals most vulnerable to employment loss in the United States. Solve selected an additional five winning teams in the Reimagining Pathways to Employment in the U.S. Challenge.
On average, graduates earn 3x what they were prior to the program. More than 50% of participants are women, nearly 40% have dependents, and 66% of learners identify as Black or African-American, and 55% have a high school education or less.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Solve, a marketplace for social impact innovation, today announced Generation USA, a global workforce development nonprofit, as a winner of its 2021 Reimagining Pathways to Employment in the US Challenge and recipient of $125,000 in funding to launch pilot programs across the country in collaboration with US Workforce Boards.
“Work is at the heart of all we are in America. It’s where we spend the majority of our time. It affects our health, our sense of self, our families, our way of life, and the generational impact we’ll have. So for us, getting connected to organizations like MIT Solve, workforce boards, and IBM is an incredible honor and opportunity for us to expand our footprint to make a dent in the unemployment problem plaguing so many communities in our country,” said Sean Segal, CEO of Generation USA.
“We’re excited to partner with Miami Dade College to give its students the chance to create their own pathways for career success,” said Sean Segal, Generation USA CEO. “Through this program, we’re not only preparing students for jobs and opportunities after graduation, we’re also providing them with invaluable support resources such as access to our professional staff who will work with graduates to chart their next steps.”
One consequence is that the country makes huge education investments, but they haven’t “impacted the long-term, multi-generational wealth and well-being needed to have sustainable, stable lives," he said. Segal says efforts to broaden education should win bipartisan support: they increase equity, but “get people off government assistance and into a job. If that can’t be bipartisan I am not sure what can be.”
