SparkOpportunity Challenge
Corporate Voices is a proud partner in the SparkOpportunity Challenge. This cutting-edge "crowd-sourcing" contest supports the White House Council for Community Solutions' work to engage and develop leadership opportunities for disconnected young people. The Challenge will help identify youth-driven solutions and support young people in implementing their ideas to create local jobs and reconnect their peers to education and training. It builds on the important coalition-building, research and listening tours undertaken by the Council by asking young people to turn their ideas and experiences into concrete solutions. Young people are encouraged to think big: re-imagining their communities, schools and business opportunities and proposing their own visionary yet viable solutions to create jobs, build and enhance skills, and bring about real impact.
The top-voted winners will receive an iPad, start-up grants of $1,500 and mentoring from recognized business and policy leaders to see their ideas brought to life locally. The Challenge is driven by Corporate Voices' partner, SparkAction, in partnership with the Youth Leadership Institute.
Interested in learning more and getting involved? Visit http://www.sparkaction.org/sparkopportunity!
Summer Jobs Plus Initiative
Recognizing that in a difficult economy not every business is in a position to hire, the administration's new Summer Jobs Plus initiative, launched at the Summit, supports not only businesses that hire youth, but also those companies that provide additional pathways for youth, such as internships, mentoring and other programs. During the launch, President Obama challenged businesses to commit to provide low-income youth with summer employment and other pathways to success. The president, who was on hand for the launch, stated that "America's young people face record unemployment, and we need to do everything we can to make sure they've got the opportunity to earn the skills and a work ethic that come with a job. It's important for their future, and for America's." The president then asked the businesses in the room to call on their colleagues, competitors and supply chains to join them in making a commitment to provide pathways to employment for these young people.
Summer Jobs Plus identifies three strategies for companies to connect youth to a better path to employer - Life Skills, Work Skills and Learn and Earn - while simultaneously deriving benefits for their businesses, such as increased employee engagement, customer loyalty and employee retention.A number of businesses have already committed to providing our nation's young adults with jobs, internships and other pathways to opportunity, including the following Corporate Voices' partner companies:
- Bank of America
- Baxter International, Inc.
- CVS Caremark
- Deloitte
- Expeditors
- Goodwill Industries International
- H-E-B
- JPMorgan Chase
- Wells Fargo
To learn how your company can make a commitment, click here.
For more information on the Corporate Voices New Options Project and how to get involved in policy efforts, like Summer Jobs Plus, please contact Elyse Rosenblum.
Enterprising Pathways Working Group
Become part of a group of innovative companies that are creating enterprising pathways to connect, cultivate and sustain previously untapped talent with career pathways. Current members include AOL, CVS Caremark, HEB Grocery Company, and Marriott International. For more information and to join, please contact Sara Toland, Senior Manager of Workforce Readiness.
OpportunityNation
Opportunity Nation, of Be the Change, Inc., is a campaign working to put promoting opportunity, social mobility and access to the American Dream back on the national, state and local community agendas. Too many citizens are not able to fulfill their economic potential, and political gridlock is choking off our chances of developing a smart plan to revitalize America, just a time when we are in urgent need of action. Opportunity Nation offers solutions through policy initiatives and engages the 2012 presidential candidates to make creating opportunity an issue in the presidential election. Corporate Voices for Working Families is proud to be part of Opportunity Nation, an unprecedented broad-based non-partisan coalition of public, private, civilian and military organizations creating and advocating for better skills, better jobs and better communities.
Opportunity Nation is focused on five key areas where significant progress would restart the engine of mobility:
- From Access to Completion: Starting Early, Staying in School, and Earning a Credential
- Opening Pathways to Prosperity: Expanding Options for Job Training and Success
- Helping the Whole Family: A Holistic Approach for Children and Families
- Achieving Economic Independence: Caring for Your Family & Saving for Your Future
- Promoting Communities of Opportunity
Corporate Voices, in conjunction with the New Options Project, a multi-year initiative that seeks to connect more than four million young adults with no high school diploma to meaningful career opportunities that match their talents and skills, is proud to be thought partner in the development of the Opportunity Nation agenda. Please contact Elyse Rosenblum, for more information.