Launched in 2016, JPMorgan Chase & Co. New Skills for Youth (NSFY) is a $75 million, five-year global initiative aimed at transforming how cities and states ensure that young people are career ready. The local investments from across the world – Innovations Sites – aim to identify and implement the most promising ideas in career education, with a special focus on communities with the greatest needs. The Greater Washington Region (Baltimore, MD; Prince George’s County, MD; Montgomery County, MD; Fairfax County, VA; and Washington, D.C) is one of the fastest growing regions for the information technology (IT) sector. The region is the third highest concentrator of IT employers across the country. However, the supply of labor has not kept up with the demand for labor in the region. In 2016, 35,000 IT jobs went unfilled in the region and labor market projections indicate that the gap between labor supply and demand will grow by as many as 20,000 jobs over the next five years. This snapshot of the NSFY Greater Washington Region profiles the K-16 IT Pathways Initiative, a collaboration between the five school districts in the cities and counties that makeup the region, community colleges and universities, and IT employers in the region. The initiative has four goals:
- Create a region-wide employer signaling system that collects information from employers about technology skills and credentialing demands;
- Build and strengthen career pathway programs;
- Develop and embed high-quality work-based learning experiences;
- Facilitate a regional collaboration network.
To learn more about NSFY innovation sites, visit the NSFY Innovation Sites snapshots series page.
