The colocation and corresponding coordination of school, colleges, and workplaces is an innovative idea to help address the skills gap in today’s economy by blending school and work and creating a tangible pipeline to high-skill, high-wage careers. This report from the American Enterprise Institute examines the colocation of a public six through 12 charter school, the four-year College for Creative Studies, and the headquarters and manufacturing plant for the company Shinola in Detroit, Michigan to discuss the advantages and areas of growth for colocation efforts. To scale colocation efforts such as the one in Detroit, the report outlines the following recommendations:
•Schools and companies at the colocation site need to have overlapping missions;
•The physical space of the colocation site needs to encourage teamwork and cross-pollination of people and ideas; and,
•Officials who want to duplicate the colocation in Detroit need to adopt a roadmap to scale the concept.
This case study is a useful resources for stakeholders seeking to blend school and work to address the skills gap.
