Funding Aimed at Developing Bold Plan to Improve Career Preparation Systems for High School Students
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Department of Education today announced it has been awarded a $100,000 grant through phase one of the New Skills for Youth grant opportunity. Louisiana is among 24 states and the District of Columbia to receive grant funding to develop a detailed career readiness action plan, an essential step to expanding economic opportunity for young people across our state.
“Louisiana is a recognized leader in career and technical education. The New Skills for Youth grant will be used to accelerate the statewide implementation of Jump Start, the state’s initiative to provide students with basic and advanced career credentials allowing them to continue their education after high school,” said Louisiana State Superintendent of Education John White. “These funds will be used to maximize the number of Jump Start graduation pathways available to students in high schools across the state, finding ways to help students earn industry-valued credentials that will help them attain entry-level employment in Louisiana’s most promising industry sectors.”
The grants are one piece of a $75 million, five-year initiative developed by JPMorgan Chase, in partnership with the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and Advance CTE, aimed at increasing economic opportunity for young people by strengthening career-focused education, starting in high school and ending with post-secondary degrees or credentials aligned with business needs.
Today, too few young people are receiving the education or training in high school and beyond that would put them on a track to qualify for these careers. By the age of 25, only about half of young Americans have a meaningful post-secondary credential that enables them to compete for good jobs, and the U.S. youth unemployment rate is more than double the national rate.
Through Jump Start our accountability system now rewards schools that help their students earn industry-based credentials in high-demand industry sectors at levels equal to the rewards schools realize when their students achieve top scores on academic tests like the Advanced Placement tests. Regional teams across our state have collaborated to create 47 Jump Start graduation pathways that BESE has approved, as well as a new generation of Career Readiness courses that help students master essential workplace behavioral and communication skills. This grant will enable us to share our Jump Start innovations with other states, while learning about policy and practice in other states that will help make Jump Start even better.
Louisiana’s application for this grant was a statewide collaborative effort of Jump Start stakeholders. Included in the grant development team were representatives from the Board of Regents, Louisiana Economic Development, the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, regional economic development organizations like the Baton Rouge Area Chamber, Greater New Orleans, Inc. and the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, foundations like The Orchard Foundation, leading companies like Bollinger Shipyards and K-12 educators.
“States across the country are adjusting their career readiness programs to ensure they adequately prepare students for their next step after graduation,” said Chris Minnich, executive director of CCSSO. “States have seized this grant opportunity to pursue bold plans for pathways that will put kids on a course for success after high school and beyond.”
“We must address the youth career crisis, and it starts in our schools,” said Chauncy Lennon, Head of Workforce Initiatives, JPMorgan Chase. “These grants kick start an effort to ensure career and technical education systems are better aligned with the needs of business and leaders throughout states and are committed to tackling youth employment.”
An independent advisory committee recommended phase one grant recipients after a rigorous review process that considered states’ proposed plans, cross-sector partnerships, and demonstrated commitment and capacity to transform their systems of career preparation according to the grant guidelines. In the judgment of the advisory committee, the selected states showed promise in their career readiness plans and indicated strongly that this work is a priority for them.
Louisiana, and the other phase one planning grant states, will be eligible to apply for the phase two grant opportunity, which will require states to demonstrate the commitment and capacity to execute the action plans developed in phase one.
This grant opportunity builds on CCSSO's Career Readiness Initiative, launched in 2015 to help close the skills gap in this country. The goal is to ensure students are not only college-ready, but that all children also graduate from high school prepared for careers.
For more information on the New Skills for Youth grant opportunity or CCSSO’s Career Readiness Initiative, please click here.
To learn more about All Things Jump Start, please click here.
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