Need a Second Chance? A Third Chance? Adult Career Pathways!
Productive citizens create wealth, pay more taxes, and increase social stability. Governments that invest in the education and health of their citizens always come out ahead. Its the best investment any government can make.
Are you unemployed, or underemployed? A dislocated worker? Are you an individual with little or no college? A returning veteran? Maybe you are a foreign-born U.S. resident? Or an ex-offenders?
The US government wants to help you reinvent yourself, and to help educators help you— to help educate citizens for a new start in life, a new career.
How? Its a series of educational programs called “Adult Career Pathways”.
The programs are designed to transform unemployed and underemployed citizens to compete for jobs and employment in the ever-changing world economy. It’s no secret that millions of unemployed and underemployed people are suffering from a lack of postsecondary education.
If you are an educator, Adult Career Pathways is your opportunity to seek government funding for your own programs. Community outreach and advancement are prime goals of the program.
The US Adult Career Pathways (ACP) model is an extension of Career Pathways that focuses on adult learners whose educational backgrounds are varied, whose need for support services is considerable, and whose lack of academic preparation for college-level work is often extensive.
Adult career pathways provide many benefits for the individuals participating, as well as the educational institutions, training providers and businesses involved in the programs.
The strategy for overcoming workforce barriers is to bring together selected industries, community services, government agencies, and community colleges to identify, enroll, educate, and prepare adults for high-demand career opportunities.
Adult Career Pathways programs are designed to address and remove barriers to participation and success. Essential program components include:
- An intensive prep stage designed to prepare participants for job entry and college study
- Industry-focused curriculum that prepares participants for employment and career advancement in designated industries
- A multi-step career ladder that begins with basic job-entry skills and concludes with advanced technical skills
- Partnerships with community and government agencies that can marshal the resources necessary for participants to overcome personal issues that might impede study and/or employment
- Part-time employment in appropriate positions upon completion of the prep stage
- Personal and academic support services essential to student success
Many industries— even in this economy— need workers with fresh technical skills (and a solid academic foundation). Often, an associate degree (or approved technical certificate) is the minimum qualification for employment.
Contact your state and local labor offices to see which programs are available for you. Start one, enroll in one. But do something!
The future is here, now, the cutting-edge of your life. So why wait to reinvent yourself?
Educate, educate, educate!
NOTE: here are some good links for educators; and excellent inside information for potential learners—
- Adult Education for Work: Transforming Adult Education to Build a Skilled Workforce
National Center on Education and the Economy, Workforce Development Strategies Group, October 2009
http://www.jff.org/sites/default/files/adult_ed_work_guide.pdf - Bridges to Success for Low-Skilled Adults – A Program Development Guide
Women Employed, Chicago Jobs Council and UIC Great Cities Institute
http://www.womenemployed.org/docs/BridgeGuideFinal.pdf - Strategies for Success in Career Development: The Career Coach Curriculum Guide
Women Employed
http://www.womenemployed.org/fileadmin/user_upload/WE_Strategies_for_Success_curriculum.pdf - Helping Adult Learners Succeed: Tools for Two-Year Colleges
The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning
http://208.96.227.106/article.php?category_id=4 - Career Clusters Interest Survey
States Career Clusters Initiative
http://www.careerclusters.org/ccinterestsurvey.php - Workforce3one.org
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and Training Administration (ETA), the Workforce3one website is designed to build the capacity of the Workforce Investment System to develop strategies that enable individuals to be successful in the 21st century economy. Features tools and resources from ETA-funded grant activities.
http://www.workforce3one.org - Career Pathways Toolkit
Community College Bridges to Opportunity Initiative
http://www.communitycollegecentral.org/careerpathways/index.html - Workforce Development Tutorial— through a partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor, the Enterprise Foundation developed this tutorial that includes a collection of information and program strategies around five core areas:
- Community Outreach and Recruitment
- Intake, Assessment and Identifying Barriers to Employment
- Preparing Job Seekers for the Workplace Job Development and Placement
- Job Retention
- Career Advancement
- http://www.enterprisecommunity.org/resources/tutorials/workforce_development/default.asp
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