Today, JPMorgan Chase announced the full cohort of U.S. based sites receiving career readiness investments as part of the company’s $75 million New Skills at Work initiative. This effort is designed to better prepare young people, and particular Black and Latinx learners, for the future of work and lifelong success.
The U.S. sites – which comprise the New Skills ready network – are Boston|Massachusetts, Columbus|Ohio, Dallas|Texas, Denver|Colorado, Indianapolis|Indiana and Nashville|Tennessee. They will be joined by four international sites that will be announced in the coming months that will round out the global investment.
What makes these five-year, $7 million investments so unique is that each site has brought together a cross-sector partnership of local K-12 school systems, two- and four-year institutions of higher education, employers, and state agencies to develop and scale equitable, high-quality career pathways. Advance CTE is excited to be working with these state and local leaders over the next five years, in partnership with Education Strategy Group, to help them strengthen their systems, policies and practices to provide greater opportunities for each and every learner.
The six sites will have regular and ongoing opportunities to learn from each other, build shared solutions to common challenges, and provide lessons learned that can benefit pathways and learners in communities across the country. Work has been underway over the past six months, and all sites stand ready to begin implementing their year one action plans to attend to equity gaps, improve data capacity and sharing, strengthen public-private partnerships and build key supports for learners, among other foundational priorities.
“Advance CTE is honored and excited to continue our relationship with JPMorgan Chase & Co. as a co-lead of the New Skills ready network. Career Technical Education is more important than ever in today’s economy, striving to provide each learner with equitable access to the knowledge and real-world skills that prepare them for careers in essential industries. I am confident that this important work, across the six states and sites, will create transformative career pathways and inspire innovative policy that will ensure more learners can use their passion and talents throughout their education, resulting in a lifetime of career success. We look forward to continuing this work in partnership with Education Strategy Group and JPMorgan Chase & Co.” said Kimberly Green, Executive Director, Advance CTE.
Read JPMorgan Chase’s full press release and Education Strategy Group’s blog to learn more about the initiative and progress to date.
Kate Kreamer, Deputy Executive Director
