With a $1,054,500 grant from Joyce, Jobs for the Future (JFF) has launched Accelerating Opportunity: A Breaking Through Initiative. Accelerating Opportunity builds on two initiatives — Breaking Through and Washington State Board of Community and Technical College’s Integrated Basic Skills and Training (I-BEST).

Breaking Through is an initiative of JFF and the National Council on Workforce Education that promotes the efforts of community colleges to help low-skilled adults prepare for and succeed in occupational and technical degree programs. The program’s lesson plans help students develop basic reading and math skills while they also learn technical skills. It also provides comprehensive support services, connects course content directly to employer needs, and provides students a clear path. The I-BEST model pairs adult literacy and technical development, so adult students without a high school degree can earn college credit while working toward a vocational certificate and learning basic skills needed for employment.

“The number of adults without skills and credentials beyond high school is a national crisis threatening our economic recovery,” said Marlene B. Seltzer, JFF president and CEO. “At the same time, employers are having difficulty finding qualified workers to fill skilled positions that command a higher salary. The trend will only continue—by 2018, 70 percent of all jobs will require workers with some form of postsecondary credentials.”

Accelerating Opportunity has two phases. Eleven states—Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Wisconsin—have already been selected to receive $200,000 to support efforts to redesign adult basic education and postsecondary programs to integrate basic skills with practical occupational training. Five of these states will then receive implementation grants of $1.6 million each over three years to implement their plans. The initiative will engage nearly 40 community colleges across the country and impact more than 18,000 adult learners.

A rigorous evaluation process will examine the impact these programs have on students’ lives and the cost-benefit of this approach. Those findings will be provided to philanthropy, labor, employers, adult education planners, and other stakeholders to ensure that adult education programs lead to postsecondary credentials and good jobs.

More information on Joyce’s Employment Program.