Publications and Toolkits

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.

In this report, Corporate Voices for Working Families investigates why some companies invest significantly in workforce readiness for their lower-skilled and entry-level workers. Extensive research in the field demonstrates that when companies support education and training, they generally invest more heavily in management programs and industry specific training than in shoring up the basic skills of their newest employees.

Gap Inc.'s This Way Ahead initiative provides low income young people with opportunities for skill deveopment and career exploration. This program enables youth to see brighter futures, while providing Gap Inc. employees with meaningful deveopment opportunities, deeper connections with co-workers, and increased loyalty to Gap Inc.

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.

The economic prosperity of the United States depends on having a skilled and experienced workforce—one from which employers can tap into a diverse and talented labor pool, and one in which all individuals have opportunities to earn wages that support their families. Yet too many young people today — the workforce of tomorrow — are not prepared with the skills needed to succeed at work.

Corporate Voices for Working Families, United Way Worldwide and Workforce Strategy Center, with the support of the Ready by 21 National Partnership, have combined their business and community engagement experience on education and workforce readiness issues and created two toolkits that assist business and community leaders in developing long-term, sustainable partnerships to ensure all youth are ready for college, work and life.

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.

For nearly a decade, H-E-B Grocery Company has been instrumental in supporting the development of youth by exposing them to careers in the grocery retail industry and supporting their growth and mobility within the company. Recognizing generational differences in how youth transition into adulthood and how talent is groomed and recruited to work at the company, H-E-B launched an initiative to engage youth in learning and provide essential skills and job training. The company’s commitment to young people extends well beyond a single program.