Career pathways can be a promising model to help students and job seekers, particularly those with low starting levels of educational attainment, advance through a series of well-connected training steps to progressively greater levels of credentials, job skills, and employment. Yet career pathways programs have demonstrated variable levels of success in helping people connect to family-sustaining jobs, or in achieving this goal equitably. Abt Global is excited to share the results of multiple national research and evaluation projects that illuminate specific strategies career pathways and related workforce programs can utilize to improve all participants’ opportunity to access good jobs. Guest presenters who are implementing many of these strategies will share key features of their programs as well as practical ideas and advice.
Guest Presenters:
Joanne Ivory, Ph.D, Dean-Career and Technical Programs, William Rainey Harper College
Brian Stewart, R.N. EdD, Vice President Northwest Campus, Pima Community College
Felida Villarreal, CPA, Executive Director, Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement
Abt Presenters:
Karen Gardiner, Principal Associate, Abt Global
Deena Schwartz, Senior Associate, Abt Global
Moderator:
David Kaz, J.D., Principal Associate, Abt Global
What Will You Learn?
- The importance of targeting family-sustaining jobs and careers from the outset in career pathways
- Which occupations programs should target as “launch pads” that help participants advance in family-sustaining careers over the long term
- How career pathways programs achieve different labor market outcomes for different populations and considerations for how to support BIPOC participants
- Why it’s so important for career pathways to connect the educational experience with career outcomes, and how this can be accomplished
- Examples of effective strategies and practical recommendations from peer organizations
Who Should Attend?
- Community college administrators and staff
- State community college and higher education agency staff
- Policymakers and policy/philanthropic organization staff focused on workforce, postsecondary education, equity, and related areas
- State and local workforce development boards/American Job Centers
- Workforce providers
- Healthcare training organizations and employers
Watch the Webinar:
Download the Presentation:
This is the first event in Abt’s Workforce & Economic Mobility Learning Series
Additional Resources
Descriptive and Analytical Career Pathways Project
Over the last 30 years, adults in the United States with a high school education or less have experienced stagnating wages and relatively high unemployment, while those with postsecondary credentials enjoyed economic gains (Autor, 2015; Carnevale et al.,…
Building Better Pathways: An Analysis of Career Trajectories and Occupational Transitions
Abt Global’s analysis of careers in mid-level occupations found the features of occupations and workers that affected wage increases.
Study Sees Early Career Wage Growth Gap by Gender and Race
This report presents a new analysis examining gender and racial/ethnic differences in wage growth among workers in mid-level occupations in the United States.
Career Pathways: What We Know So Far and Options for Closing Gaps in Knowledge
Career pathways strategies offer articulated education and training steps between occupations in an industry sector, combined with support services, to enable individuals to enter and exit at various levels and to advance over time to higher skills,…
VIDA Program Shows Promising Educational Results
Low-income workers with only a high school education face poor and declining employment prospects. Policymakers, workforce development organizations, educators and other key stakeholders are interested in how to facilitate a better match between the…