Publications and Toolkits

For the past several years, Corporate Voices for Working Families has identified and promoted innovative Learn and Earn partnerships across the country. These partnerships between business and education providers help bridge the skills gap for employers while encouraging and/or supporting current and future employees’ attainment of postsecondary credentials with labor market value — the most significant benchmark for achieving economic sustainability. Learn and Earn partnerships are talent development models that provide a real return for leading companies.

Research on education and skills levels of employees and jobs available in the future is clear. Recent projections by The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce indicate, by 2018, the economy will experience 47 million job openings, two-thirds of which will require some postsecondary education or training. Predictions indicate that there will not be enough people qualified to fill three million of these jobs, jobs which require at least a two-year associate’s degree.

Bright Horizons provides a blended e-training program to help teachers acquire their Child Development Associate credential, professionalizing the field of early education and achieving greater center accreditation, the industry standard of excellence.

AREVA, in partnership with Central Virginia Community College, hires high school graduates and provides them the opportunity to earn an associate degree, creating a pipeline of skilled and educated workers and ensuring AREVA is an employer of choice in the central Virginia region.

Crest Cadillac has cultivated a partnership with Brookhaven Community College in the Dallas metro area to offer an Automotive Service Education Program (ASEP), which is a nationally recognized, dealership sponsored cooperative associate degree program in automotive technology. Through internships, tuition reimbursement, mentoring, curriculum development with employer input, flexible scheduling and other supports, the program provides the dealership with a highly competitive and loyal workforce.

Applied Scientific Instrumentation has developed a strong cooperative education partnership with Lane Community College (LCC) in Eugene, Oregon, through which it secures a reliable source of skilled talent to meet its workforce needs in the high-tech industry.

Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), one of the largest natural gas and electric utilities in the United States, launched the PowerPathway™ program, in conjunction with education, government, labor and industry partners, to provide workforce readiness training in new energy jobs. The program's customized training cultivates career pathways to strengthen the workforce talent pool in California, and to increase access to jobs in the high-growth energy sector for underserved communities.

In 2010, Walmart began its Lifelong Learning Program in partnership with American Public University (APU) to provide associates the opportunity to earn college credit for prior and on-the-job training, and to continue their college education. The partnership provides Walmart with a skilled talent pool, and provides associates with vaulable, practical support to complete their postsecondary education.

In 2000, the Western Association of Food Chains (WAFC) created a Retail Management Certificate Program in partnership with community colleges in California to provide the retail food industry with a more educated and higher performing workforce. The program also fosters emerging leaders in the industry and creates an opportunity for workers in the retail food industry to continue their college education.

UC Health and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital have partnered with local community colleges to form Health Careers Collaborative (HCC) of Greater Cincinnati, a business-led consortium providing employers with a skilled, credentialed, loyal and diverse workforce. This partnership also provides entry-level workers with educational opportunities leading to greater career mobility.