Expanding the Scale and Reach of Effective Sectoral Training│The PROMISE Center
PROMISE is partnering with two evidence-based sectoral training programs, Year Up and Per Scholas, to improve their ability to recruit, enroll, and support the success of underserved communities. Segregation has created barriers that deny many individuals access to effective education and training systems, which they need to gain the skills expected in high-growth, high-wage careers. Both Year Up and Per Scholas are focused on overcoming this opportunity divide and seeking to scale their reach to those who need deeper levels of training.
To better reach these populations, new and diversified approaches to recruitment, training, and support are needed. PROMISE is working with Per Scholas and Year Up to co-develop these pathways in two critical areas:
- Effectively assessing participants’ workplace readiness skills to provide tailored education and training pathways that match their needs; and
- Developing just-in-time instructional support that can help participants with varying levels of preparation successfully master the skills necessary for specific high-wage industries.
PROMISE will also explore how these programs recruit and serve communities that have been isolated from opportunity and how these communities view the programs.
Relevant PROMISE Center Projects
Expanding the Scale and Reach of Per Scholas in a Post-COVID Environment
Per Scholas has a proven track record of lifting the earnings of individual workers over the long-term. Per Scholas is a no-cost occupational skills training program that has prepared and matched more than 15,000 graduates for information technology (IT) and other tech careers with leading employers nationwide. AIR and Per Scholas have established a learning partnership to explore how best to provide online and/or hybrid training of its students.
Growing and Diversifying the Year Up Model
Year Up is a national nonprofit workforce development organization that has connected over 36,000 young adults ages 18 to 26, 90% of whom identify as a person of color, to livable wage careers at hundreds of top companies. AIR is partnering with Year Up to support, strategize, implement, and study their growth efforts.
