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 MDRC brief is part of a series that documents the implementation of the Change Capital Fund, an economic mobility initiative in New York City. The Change Capital Fund was a consortium of donors who invested in local community development corporations that were pursuing antipoverty strategies that integrated housing, education, and employment services. In this brief, the authors focus on how the Change Capital fund used program data as a tool for continuous learning and improvement, including the specific assistance that grantees received to build their capacity to use data for performance management.

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 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation details the implementation and early impacts of the Bridge to Employment in the Healthcare Industry Program in San Diego. The San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP) used an Individual Training Account (ITA) model to help low-income individuals pay for training in the healthcare industry. Using funding from the Health Profession Opportunity Grant, SDWP contracted with three local organizations that operated the program in different areas of San Diego. The program included assessment, case management, ITAs, employment services, and support services, such as transportation, child care, and temporary housing. Early findings showed that participants who received the ITA and support services were more likely than the control group to participate in health care training, receive a credential, and work in a health care job.

While the decline in the manufacturing sector led to a decrease in the number of good jobs available to individuals with only a high school diploma, there are still good jobs available without a bachelor’s degree (B.A.). This report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce finds that there are over 30 million jobs in the U.S. with a median salary of $55,000 a year that do not require a B.A. Many of those jobs are in skilled service sectors such as financial services and health services, and the growth in good jobs has been greatest for workers with an associate’s degree.

The Pathways to Healthcare Program at Pima Community College in Tucson, Arizona was one of nine career pathways programs being evaluated under the Pathways for Advancing Careers and Education (PACE) study. Abt Associates issued this report to document implementation and early impacts of this study, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. The researchers found that the program was implemented as intended, with more than 60% of the treatment group participating in either basic skills or occupational training. The treatment group was also more likely to enroll in college occupational training, earn college credentials, and participate in advising and support services than the control group.

Many Americans working in the service sector lack foundational skills in literacy, numeracy, or problem solving. The National Skills Coalition released this report to show how business leaders, policymakers, and advocates can help address these basic skills gaps that affect both workers and employers. The report includes detailed data on this extent of worker skills gaps, and then provides examples of how employers have successfully addressed these gaps. Recommendations for policymakers include expanding industry sector partnerships, making it easier for workers to navigate career pathways, expanding financial aid, and supporting work-based learning opportunities.

Approximately 2.8 million individuals between the ages of 16-24 are disconnected from both school and work. The National League of Cities put together this action kit to help municipal leaders facilitate discussions in their communities on how to reengage disconnected youth. This action kit includes strategies for convening stakeholders, promoting educational achievement, developing workforce connections, supporting youth in transition, and building a citywide system for reengaging youth.

The rate of men’s participation in the workforce has been declining for decades, especially among men ages 25-54. This report from the Brookings Institution analyzes the reasons for this decline and its consequences. Some of the reasons for the decline include a decrease in the availability of low-skill manufacturing jobs due to automation, poor health, and the availability of disability insurance. Reversing this decline will require investment in education and training to increase the skills of the labor force to meet employer demand. The authors also recommend better adjustment assistance for workers in declining fields and providing more flexibility for workers with disabilities and family care responsibilities.

This report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce offers five ways to better integrate education and workforce data to improve career pathways for students. Those five ways include: using education projections, business expansion, and workforce quality tools; aligning education programs with labor market demand; aligning curriculum with workforce requirements; providing counseling and career pathways tools for advisors; and conducting job placement and skills gap analyses. Each section provides examples of how states have used the five ways to improve education and employment outcomes for students completing a career pathway.