Link: The Opportunity Divide: A Path to Economic Prosperity for Our Nation’s Disconnected Youth – Spotlight On Poverty
This is a great solution we need more people to do what this gentleman did. See the whole article for details.
Today, U.S. companies are on the brink of an unprecedented shortage of skilled employees able to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive, global, and knowledge-based economy. By 2018, an estimated 64 percent of all jobs will require at least some postsecondary education or training, and yet the U.S. continues to lag far behind other countries in educational attainment. In the next decade, employers are predicted to face a gap of 14 million college-educated workers, and current evidence shows that our public secondary education system is consistently under-delivering career-ready graduates.
There are currently over five million “disconnected” young adults who are out of work and out of school, lacking the resources to embark on a viable career path—and that number is on the rise.
These are troubling realities, but they represent a significant national opportunity. On one side of the “opportunity divide” are urban young adults looking for opportunities to succeed. On the other side are employers seeking skilled employees to fill jobs.
To help close this gap, I founded Year Up to address the needs of both sides simultaneously. Our program empowers urban young adults with the skills needed in a 21st century economy while building employers’ confidence and investment in these talented individuals and their potential to propel our future economic prosperity.
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