This paper from MDRC highlights the work of YouthForce NOLA, which works to prepare New Orleans public high school students for post-secondary education and careers in three in-demand local industries: health sciences, creative media and technology, and skilled crafts. The paper provides an overview of the main principles and elements essential to creating a career pathway for high school-aged youth. MDRC is currently completing an implementation evaluation of the program.

This issue brief from MDRC describes the Detroit Promise Path, a Detroit Regional Chamber initiative that allows Detroit high school graduates to attend college tuition-free. The Detroit Regional Chamber partnered with MDRC to add supportive services to improve the academic outcomes of students who earn free tuition. Those services include access to campus coaches, financial incentives to meet with those coaches, enhanced engagement to jobs and classes during the summer, and use of a monitoring information system that monitors program participation. Early findings from the first year showed that 95% of students responded to coaches’ outreach, 96% of students found the program valuable, and the program had a sizable impact on enrollment in the second semester.

Community colleges have the potential to provide low-cost, high-quality training to students if they partner with local business and industry leaders. This toolkit from the Brookings Institution provides practical strategies for community colleges to use to build and maintain partnerships with local business leaders. The toolkit has three sections: creating a navigator for industry partners, key characteristics of productive partnerships, and practical steps for building relationships. Each section has recommendations that are based on research and conversations with business and industry leaders, community college leaders, and intermediaries.

This Urban Institute blog post summarizes recent studies that show that students attending two-year colleges are more likely to be food insecure than other adults, especially during recessions. In 2008, 21.8% of households with two-year college students experienced food insecurity, compared to 14.6% of all households. The authors cannot identify specific reasons why two-year college students experience food insecurity at higher rates, but possibilities include reduced family support, the loss of a part-time job, or increased tuition. Most college students are not eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, so the authors recommend that states consider expanding eligibility for SNAP to more college students enrolled in educational programs.

This report from the Department of Labor provides an overview of the evidence behind effective job training programs for youth and adults. For adults, the evidence supports post-secondary education related to an in-demand field, employer engagement, and job training that is closely related to a real job or occupation. There is less evidence on what works for youth, but early experience to career and higher education information and work experience can be beneficial. The report concludes with next steps to expand what works and fill the gaps in evidence.

This Jobs for the Future report provides recommendations for state community college systems to use real-time labor market information to build better middle-skill pathways in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). First, the authors provide an overview about the hidden middle-skill STEM market and real-time labor market information. Next, they provide five recommendations to support the use of real-time LMI to develop middle-skill STEM pathways. Those recommendations include using real-time LMI as a long-term change strategy, strengthening state-level data systems to support real-time LMI, providing technical assistance to use real-time LMI, and integrating real-time LMI into critical ongoing decision-making.

The Department of Labor-funded Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants aim to build the capacity of community colleges to develop and run training programs that lead to career pathways and future workforce success for participants. This toolkit discusses program sustainability, with practical strategies that programs can use to sustain elements of TAACCCT after the grant funding ends. Also discussed is the concept of sustainability planning, including worksheets to assist programs in developing an individualized sustainability plan.

The National Skills Coalition’s Stackable Credential Policy Scan shows that nineteen states support industry-recognized post-secondary stackable credentials that can accumulate toward a higher level certificate or associate degree. These states can utilize this toolkit to expand upon their current policy, and states without a similar policy in place can use this toolkit to establish their own.

This fact sheet and press release from the U.S. Department of Education highlights a joint commitment between the U.S. Departments of Education, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Treasury. The agencies are committed to aligning federal supports to promote college access and completion. These efforts will help many Americans break down barriers they face in accessing the knowledge and skills needed to get a well-paying job, support their families, and contribute to their communities.

Work-based courses use jobs as learning labs, essentially bringing colleges to the production line. This toolkit from Jobs for the Future was created for community colleges that are interested in incorporating a work-based course model into their institutions. The toolkit includes the six steps of implementation, tools and resources, and videos that support program design and implementation process.