Forum: Sector Strategies ]]> http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3146849 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:11:58 GMT http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3119070
Isabelle

Forum: Green Jobs ]]> http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3119070 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:36:37 GMT http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3115554 Anyone want to way in on their thoughts on the proposed auto industry bailout?  Do we think there are really a million jobs at stake?  What would we do with all those dislocated workers?

Forum: General Discussion ]]> http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3115554 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:56:58 GMT http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3103712

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation plans to spend several hundred million dollars over the next five years to double the number of low-income young people who complete a college degree or a certificate program by age 26, foundation officials told an exclusive group of education leaders who gathered here on Tuesday to provide feedback on the ambitious plan.

If successful, the new postsecondary program would result in an additional 250,000 people per year with some type of higher-education credential. And it broadens the foundation’s already-generous spending on education, which previously has focused on secondary schools and college scholarships. Over all, the foundation plans to spend $3-billion on education during the next five years.

The foundation announced its new campaign at a conference attended by about 100 people, including current and former governors, prominent business executives and school superintendents, and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.

The new effort will initially focus on community colleges because of their relatively low tuitions and open admissions policies. Foundation officials said they would consider expanding innovative approaches to improve college-completion rates, such as using technology to allow a student to move quickly through remedial work, and forgiving a portion of debt each year for students who stay in college and are making progress toward a degree.

In a speech on Tuesday, Melinda Gates, a co-chair of the foundation, pointed to data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that more than half of all new jobs in the United States will require more than a high-school diploma. Only about 20 percent of low-income black and Hispanic students earn any sort of postsecondary credential.

“Completing high school ready for college is a key transition point in the path out of poverty,” Ms. Gates said. “A second transition is earning a postsecondary credential with value in the workplace. If young people fail to make the first transition, it’s unlikely they will make the second. If they fail to make the second, it’s likely they will be poor.”

Hilary Pennington, the Gates official who is leading the effort, said the foundation would announce a small initial round of grants next month, and that within a year, it would select eight to 10 states in which it will focus its work for the next three to five years. Grants will probably go to networks of institutions and organizations, rather than to individual colleges, she said.

Regret at Being Left Out

The foundation took some risk by presenting its general ideas to a high-profile audience before announcing even a single grant. Ms. Gates asked for “candid feedback” during sessions moderated by the journalist Juan Williams, and the foundation received plenty.

Some conference attendees wondered why the foundation—which has by its own admission achieved mixed results in its eight years of trying to improve high-school education—wasn’t spending more on elementary and middle-school education, rather than college completion.

“We made a choice,” said Bill Gates, a co-chair of the foundation and a co-founder of Microsoft. He said the foundation was motivated in part by new approaches that are helping students make it through certificate programs and community colleges.

University officials who attended, including Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the California State University system, urged the foundation to broaden its initial focus to include four-year institutions. And representatives of for-profit institutions grumbled that the foundation’s age cutoff—26—would exclude the many proprietary institutions that focus on adult learners.

The foundation has hired Thomas J. Kane, a professor of economics and education at Harvard University, to oversee an initial research effort. Vicki L. Phillips, the foundation’s director of education, said it would spend $500-million over the next five years on data and research related to college preparation and completion.

The Gates Foundation, which gives away $3.5-billion a year, far more than any other American foundation, is already an important force in education. It has spent $4-billion over the past seven years on efforts to improve high schools and on scholarships for low-income minority students.

‘Big and Bold’ Endeavor

But the new postsecondary effort was touted by foundation officials as the modern equivalent of the GI Bill, which helped millions of returning soldiers attend college.

“We must be as big and bold as we were at the end of World War II,” Ms. Pennington said. “And we must do everything we can to make certain that postsecondary education is not just about access but success.”

Gates Foundation officials said they would work in partnership with other foundations, especially the Lumina Foundation for Education, which focuses on expanding access to postsecondary education, and they would look to expand successful programs that have already been created by colleges or industry.

Forum: Adult Education ]]> http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3103712 Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:18:25 GMT http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3071893 Does anyone have experience working with the apprenticeship program "Year Up" based out of Boston?  We're looking at models for connecting 18 to 24-year-olds to career ladders.

Forum: Youth Workforce ]]> http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3071893 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:51:34 GMT http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3068254
Jim
Chicago, IL

Forum: General Discussion ]]> http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3068254 Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:54:13 GMT http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3048753
Marco Timer, Arlington, VA

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julian-l-alssid/candidates-must-develop-p_b_133040.html

Forum: General Discussion ]]> http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3048753 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:23:24 GMT http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3048722 We're contemplating bringing Van Jones in to speak with civic and business leaders about a green jobs strategy?  I'm wondering if anyone who's brought him in to speak can share their experience.  Was it worth it?

Forum: Green Jobs ]]> http://workwonk.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3048722 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:08:43 GMT