Established in 2022, the Launch: Equitable and Accelerated Pathways for All initiative is a national college and career pathways initiative that strives for every learner to have access to and succeed in high-quality and equitable pathways.

To tackle this challenge head-on, five leading career pathways organizations — Advance CTE, Education Strategy Group, ExcelinEd, Jobs for the Future (JFF), and New America — joined forces with six national funders —- the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Carnegie Corporation, Joyce Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation to execute this initiative. 

Launch partners strive to meet its vision through the following avenues:

• Driving a national agenda for college and career pathways 
• Working with state and local partnerships to expand access and equitable outcomes by tackling entrenched inequities in education and workforce systems
• Advancing pathways policies and strategies that help achieve greater scale and sustainability 
• Seeding and growing next-generation models that will transform career pathways systems and dismantle entrenched barriers that perpetuate inequities in economic advancement

Launch includes two distinct cohorts, Impact and Innovation, representing leaders from across 11 states, including state education and workforce agencies, K-12 districts, postsecondary institutions, policymakers, and other intermediary partners. Launch will harness the expertise of the five national partners and participating state and local leaders to elevate the levers that drive systems change — data, policy, funding, partnerships, and equity — and help state and local  sites create equitable, sustainable systems that are built to last.

Seven states — Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Washington – are members of the Impact Cohort. Five states — Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Ohio and Texas — are members of the Innovation Cohort.