Today, the Progressive Policy Institute and the Reinventing America’s Schools Project hosted a webinar with special guest Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01) on creating more school-to-work pathways for our students and young adults. Congressman Pappas was joined by Jennifer Kemp, Director of Youth Services at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Workforce Investment, and an esteemed panel of experts in the subject.
Today’s high school students and young adults face a difficult job market. The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly hard on less educated workers without a college degree. The 10 million jobs lost by Americans at the pandemic’s onset disproportionately impacted young adults between the ages of 16-24 – especially Black and Hispanic workers. Some estimate that as many as 25% of our youth will neither be in school nor working when the pandemic ends.
Watch the event livestream here.
Panelists for this event included: Veronica Goodman, Director of Social Policy at PPI; Tressa Pankovits, Associate Director of PPI’s Reinventing America’s Schools project; Jeanne Russell, Executive Director of the Centers for Applied Science and Technology; Cate Swinburn, President of YouthForce NOLA; and Ryan Craig, Managing Director of Achieve Partners.
“The Biden administration, Congress, state and local policymakers have the opportunity to revamp our education system for a 21st-century workforce by creating a more diverse set of career pathways for today’s students. Connecting students to work — such as through career and technical education and work-based learning opportunities — before they graduate high school can be key to their future economic success. We thank Congressman Chris Pappas and Jennifer Kemp of the Department of Labor for all of their work to connect America’s youth to employment,” said Veronica Goodman and Tressa Pankovits of PPI.
This event builds off of PPI’s new report, Preventing Failure to Launch: Creating More School-to-Work Pathways for Young Adults, which argues schools across the country should be incorporating school−to−work models into their curriculums in order to ensure that teens and young adults are set up for success in the workforce. Report authors Veronica Goodman, Tressa Pankovits, and Tess Murphy analyze a number of case studies to provide evidence showing that there are better models for helping students find their economic footing as they transition to jobs and adulthood.
Read the report here.
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock.
The Reinventing America’s Schools Project inspires a 21st century model of public education geared to the knowledge economy. One model, charter schools, are showing the way by providing autonomy for schools, accountability for results, and parental choice among schools tailored to the diverse learning styles of children.
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Media Contact: Aaron White, Director of Communications: awhite@ppionline.org
