Tag: workforce

  • How Colleges and States Can Make Workforce Pell a Reality

    How Colleges and States Can Make Workforce Pell a Reality

    Community colleges secured a massive legislative win earlier this month after more than a decade of advocacy. Workforce Pell, at long last, is en route to become a reality.

    The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law July 4, extends Pell Grants to low-income students enrolled in eligible short-term programs, between eight and 15 weeks long. The policy shift is expected to put money in the pockets of hundreds of thousands of students per year to help them afford these quicker, increasingly popular programs—and bring an influx of funds to the institutions that offer them. 

    But realizing those gains will take some time, and with the policy scheduled to get off the ground next summer, some experts are worried a year won’t be long enough to parse the program’s details and ensure a smooth rollout.

    Lawmakers in Congress and colleges have been working toward some form of workforce Pell since former senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana pushed it forward as a part of the JOBS Act in 2014.

    Since then, multiple attempts to enact the Pell expansion have failed even as the idea gained more bipartisan support. And for a moment in late June, workforce Pell seemed dead in the water when a nonpartisan Senate official, known as the parliamentarian, claimed it violated the rules of the Senate’s reconciliation process. Senators ultimately kept it in their version of the bill but limited the new Pell funds to accredited providers, appeasing the parliamentarian.

    “We’re very thankful to the persistence of our champions in Congress on this legislation from both parties in both chambers, for the commitment they made to this legislation,” said David Baime, senior vice president of government relations at the American Association of Community Colleges, noting that while the bill was partisan, support for this provision has been “bipartisan all down the line.”

    Community college leaders are “extremely enthusiastic” about the policy change after the immense “political effort that’s gone into this,” he added. “We consistently hear reports from our campuses about the importance of finding financing sources for low-income students to participate in these programs.”

    Others, however, feel trepidation, as workforce Pell is on the precipice.

    Wesley Whistle, project director for student success and affordability at New America, a liberal think tank, said for-profit colleges and online program managers, which set up short-term online programs for community colleges and other institutions, have also been eagerly awaiting the policy shift. Despite safeguards built into the legislation, such as job-placement rates, he worries students will still be lured into subpar programs at for-profits or slapdash, mass-produced online programs also eligible for the funds.

    “I hope I’m wrong,” he said. “We’re talking about our most vulnerable students.”

    Despite the bill’s passage, debates over workforce Pell are hardly over. Now, the hard work of planning for implementation begins.

    What Happens Next

    Workforce Pell is slated to take effect next July. But for that to happen, numerous details need to be hashed out by the U.S. Department of Education, states and program providers in the coming months.

    Under the legislation, short-term programs need to meet a set of standards to be eligible for Pell money. And the task of making sure programs meet the qualifications is divvied up between states and the federal government.

    The Education Department is responsible for checking that programs have existed for at least a year, boast completion and job-placement rates of at least 70 percent, and charge tuitions below graduates’ median “value-added earnings,” or the degree to which their income exceeds 150 percent of the federal poverty line three years out of the program.

    State governors must ensure short-term programs prepare students for high-skill, high-wage or in-demand jobs. The resulting credentials also must be “stackable and portable across more than one employer,” unless preparing students for jobs with just one recognized credential. Credentials need to count toward academic credit for a certificate or degree program, as well.

    Still, many questions linger about how workforce Pell will operate—likely to be answered through negotiated rule making, a lengthy process by which the Education Department creates rules and regulations by convening and listening to key stakeholders and experts, as well as public comment.

    “There isn’t a lot of meat on the bones of the outline of what implementation would look like,” said Katie Spiker, chief of federal affairs for the National Skills Coalition, a research and advocacy organization focused on workforce training. “A whole lot of decisions and next steps … that will ultimately decide how impactful and effectively short-term Pell rolls out are still left to be determined.”

    For example, some states already have quality frameworks in place for short-term programs and have spent more than $5 billion subsidizing these programs; it’s unclear how federal workforce Pell will work alongside these existing state-level initiatives. The legislation also doesn’t say who’s involved in deciding how “high-skill, high-wage or in-demand” jobs are defined. Spiker hopes those decisions draw on input from business leaders, education providers and state workforce agencies to make “public workforce and education systems better aligned.”

    Whistle agreed some of the guardrails need ironing out. He was heartened to see a tuition limit based on graduates’ salaries—a new addition since earlier versions of the policy—but he finds aspects of the requirement murky. For example, bachelor’s degree holders qualify for workforce Pell under the law, so he worries their higher salaries could throw off the metric, intended to ensure tuitions are reasonable relative to what graduates will earn. The measure is also based on graduates’ earnings three years down the line, raising questions about how to ensure programs younger than three years don’t rip students off, he said.

    Colleges’ To-Do List

    As the department works through the policymaking process, colleges will also have their own work to do to get workforce Pell ready.

    Higher ed institutions that want to participate will need to collect the data to prove they meet eligibility metrics, said Jennifer Stiddard, senior director of government relations at Jobs for the Future, an organization focused on the intersection between education and the workforce. If they don’t have that data, they’ll need to build up the reporting infrastructure.

    In addition to measuring completion and job-placement rates, “do they think they have the data to prove a program is in demand?” Stiddard said. “Are they going to be able to demonstrate that the program articulates for credit?”

    She expects community college systems in some states will be more ready than others to answer those questions, based on their states’ existing investments in short-term programs. For example, Virginia community colleges already have outcomes data on hand because of the FastForward program, which offers short-term training for jobs locally in high demand, with the state covering much of the cost. Institutions in other states, like Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas, may have a head start, as well, she said. And some colleges that are further behind could decide it’s not worth it.

    Baime, of AACC, said the association plans “to work as closely as we can with the administration to ensure that institutions are able to make their programs eligible as soon as possible.”

    Among community college leaders, “the overwhelming feeling, of course, is positive,” he added, “but there are issues of implementation that need to be ironed out sometime hopefully before next July 1 so we can get this program up and running.”

    An ‘Aggressive’ Timeline

    Some experts guffawed at the yearlong timeline set for implementing workforce Pell.

    Karishma Merchant, associate vice president of policy and advocacy at Jobs for the Future, called the July 2026 deadline “aggressive” but “possible” if the department gets started immediately. (Workforce Pell is just one item on the department’s task list for the next year, and experts are skeptical that the agency can get all the work done.)

    Even if the process could be done in a year, Spiker believes it shouldn’t be. She said a year doesn’t seem like an “effective and reasonable” amount of time to solicit feedback from different stakeholders and disentangle how the program aligns with the patchwork of existing state investments in short-term training.

    “We will be encouraging the department and states to take the time to be able to do a successful implementation that enables short-term Pell to grow over time and to serve more students and more workers, instead of pushing just to meet a relatively arbitrary timeline,” Spiker said.

    She emphasized that the process comes on the heels of drastic staff cuts at the Education Department and a larger plan to dismantle the agency, which so far includes shifting career and technical education and adult basic education programs to the Department of Labor.

    These changes are “taxing already on the agency,” she said, “and then to be spearheading an implementation simultaneous with all of those huge shifts … just makes the path forward even more difficult.”

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  • Addressing workforce challenges in higher education – Campus Review

    Addressing workforce challenges in higher education – Campus Review

    How empowering academic and administrative staff with HR tech drives employee engagement and retention

    Andy CoxJuly 14, 2025Last Updated: July 3, 2025

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  • Setting learners up for success in the global workforce

    Setting learners up for success in the global workforce

    • By Sidharth Oberoi, VP of Global Strategy at Instructure.

    Imagine a world where anyone who wants to work in a different city or country can simply share all their skills and learning achievements – including those obtained through formal and informal settings – in a unified, digital format with a prospective employer. Imagine employers having an easy way to verify a candidate’s diverse skills and clearly being able to identify the applicable competencies across international boundaries.

    For anyone who has ever tried to work abroad and navigated all the paperwork and certification processes, this could sound like a very futuristic idea. However, this is precisely what digital learning portfolios are making possible – fostering student mobility and facilitating cross-institutional collaboration among universities worldwide to dynamise the global workforce.

    A digital learning portfolio is an online collection of a student’s verified skills, qualifications and learning experiences, often captured across various formal and informal settings. By functioning as a form of digital credentialling, this portfolio allows students to document and present their learning achievements in a unified, digital format. Students can seamlessly showcase a combination of academic degrees, microcredentials, short courses and experiential learning, giving domestic or international prospective employers a more comprehensive view of their capabilities.

    As more educational institutions look to expand their international reach, digital credentials present a transformational opportunity to track learning experiences and position students more competitively in the global job markets. With a structured, verifiable digital portfolio, students can demonstrate their formal and informal learning experiences in real time and highlight an array of microcredentials, skills and qualifications.

    Enabling cross-institution collaboration

    Global collaboration in higher education is growing steadily, marking a crucial step for universities – even as countries like the UK, Canada, and Australia impose tighter restrictions on international students. This trend highlights the increasing importance of cross-border partnerships in advancing research, innovation, and academic excellence.

    Students continue to seek study-abroad opportunities and universities are increasingly partnering across borders to offer joint programmes and exchange initiatives. This has been highlighted in Europe with programmes like the European Universities Initiative. However, differing approaches to credentialling can often pose challenges. These challenges are further compounded by the fact that some institutions still rely on traditional methods—such as print and paper—to manage and distribute official transcripts and certificates. This not only slows down the process but also hinders the seamless exchange of academic records across borders.

    Digital credentials and badges can help address these issues by offering a consistent and verifiable way for students to record their achievements. This consistency simplifies joint programmes, exchange students and curriculum alignment across countries. With a universal standard, students can more easily navigate international educational pathways and access opportunities that may have been limited by varying credentialing systems.

    For institutions, investing in technology to leverage digital credentials and badges will streamline the process of building and strengthening global partnerships. They can provide a reliable way to attract international students, create robust pathways to global learning opportunities and ensure smooth credit transfers between institutions in different countries. This can significantly prevent credential fraud and enhance an institution’s global appeal, as students can trust that their academic achievements and skills will be recognised no matter where they go.

    Transforming the global workforce

    Today’s employers are gradually favouring skills over traditional degrees and looking for agility and flexibility in their hiring processes. Digital credentialling supports a skills-driven hiring process that’s more responsive to the needs of a global, fast-evolving workforce.

    Digital credentials and badges will become essential for documenting and validating shorter, targeted learning experiences such as microcredentials, apprenticeships and other skill-focused learning experiences that may not necessarily fit within traditional degree frameworks. This transparency helps employers better assess candidates based on relevant, demonstrated competencies.

    Supporting global workforce readiness

    One of the key benefits of digital credentials is their ability to support lifelong career mobility. As people change roles, industries, and even countries throughout their careers, having the opportunity to access 24/7 digital credentials will provide them with an adaptable, portable record of qualifications. This flexibility empowers students to carry their skills and experiences with them, regardless of where their careers take them.

    For these students, a digital portfolio that evolves with them throughout their lives opens doors to greater global mobility and ensures that achievements from one part of the world are recognised and respected in another, strengthening graduates’ ability to apply to job opportunities abroad, or pursue additional international degrees, short courses or microcredentials and thrive in diverse job markets.

    While AI is reshaping industries by automating routine tasks, leading to the evolution of existing roles and the creation of new ones, higher education institutions must focus on the importance of lifelong learning, as continuous skill development becomes essential in an AI-driven economy.

    More than ever, universities need to invest in modern cloud-based virtual learning environments that can support and scale a lifelong learning strategy, including microcredentials and digital credentials. By offering students the tools to maintain dynamic portfolios throughout their careers, institutions can better prepare graduates to succeed in an interconnected and global workforce and stay relevant.

    Lifelong recognition

    Education is no longer confined to traditional phases of life; it’s a continual journey of growth and adaptation. By enabling seamless transitions between learning opportunities and career stages, universities can empower individuals to thrive in a world where constant upskilling is essential, and skill recognition should go beyond the boundaries of traditional learning.

    In today’s interconnected world, digital credentials and learning portfolios provide a structured way to document and share skills, supporting both students’ career ambitions and employers’ workforce needs across the globe. Institutions and employers must collaborate to integrate digital credentials into the skills journey, ensuring a seamless link between education and workforce readiness to dynamically prepare students for a global economy, paving the way for a more adaptable, skilled and mobile workforce.

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  • Higher Ed’s Troubles Are Affecting Its Workforce: The Key

    Higher Ed’s Troubles Are Affecting Its Workforce: The Key

    As colleges across the country cut staff, implement hiring freezes and slash budgets, fewer people could see higher education as a long-term career path, according to Kevin McClure, a professor of higher education and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

    In a recent episode of The Key, Inside Higher Ed’s news and analysis podcast, McClure told IHE editor in chief Sara Custer that in the current environment, demoralization is high among faculty and staff. “It’s just really difficult to do good work. There’s a significant amount of uncertainty, there is stress, there is trauma that people are still living through from COVID and the great resignation … and there is no doubt that the workforce in higher education is struggling,” he said.

    “It’s not the case that across the board every institution is in this scenario …but every single institution is being cautious right now, and there is enough uncertainty and enough question about multiple revenue streams coming into institutions that there are cascading effects for working conditions.”

    McClure said he’s concerned institutions are not doing a good enough job of articulating their values. This, he said, is what colleges should “double down” on to combat the demoralization he’s observed in current employees and to show future talent “what they’re all about.”

    “In the current environment, I think we have seen some backsliding, some backtracking, some revisions of our websites—all of these signposts suggesting to people who work here that the things we stand for are actually maybe flexible and can be modified as the political winds blow.”

    Listen to the full episode of The Key.

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  • The economic cost of an unequal R&D workforce

    The economic cost of an unequal R&D workforce

    The argument for investment in R&D goes as follows.

    The more innovative an economy is the greater level of economic output it will produce. The more output an economy produces the wealthier a country will be and by extension its citizens will enjoy higher wages, better public services, and a greater quality of life.

    Innovation is dependent on two things. The first is the infrastructure to make innovation happen. The great universities, laboratories, equipment, and less prosaically the roads, broadband, and public transport, that facilitate the physical transfer of ideas. The second is human capital. The educated workforce that can turn the raw materials of our collective knowledge into new products and services which make the economy strong and society better.

    The ideal scenario has two major assumptions. The first is that the products of innovation will be widely felt in the economy to spur economic growth and these benefits will be felt by the workers who are not taking part in R&D intensive activities. In other words, private activities have a spill over benefit to the public at large. The second is that human capital will be allocated efficiently where the best people to do R&D will be placed in the best roles and the market will reward them for their time.

    This means that work in R&D should return higher wages through the input (people’s labour) and through its output (a more productive economy.) A new independent report for DSIT has raised questions on whether the benefits of R&D are felt evenly either by its producers or the population at large.

    Skill issue

    As the report highlights there is little empirical evidence on the kind of R&D workforce the UK needs. The evidence of which kinds of people in which kinds of roles will spur which kinds of R&D activity is poorly understood across geographies, it is poorly understood which specific skills are needed, and it is poorly understood which skills are needed to meet the R&D challenges of the future.

    This is surprising when we learn that 56 per cent of all business R&D spend is spent on staff and the number of people working in roles essential for R&D activity has grown by over a million in the past eleven years. Owing to changes in R&D accounting methodology it’s hard to suggest whether R&D activity or spending intensity has increased at the same rate. It is however true that there are regional imbalances in R&D spending, R&D intensive roles generally pay more, and despite an increase in the R&D workforce the UK’s overall productivity levels remains frustrating low.

    Successive government industrial strategies, incentives, and supply-side reforms, aimed at any kind of redistribution of the proceeds of R&D activity may not have been an effective counterweight to the incentives of business to simply invest where they will see the largest private returns.

    Imbalances

    There is a distinct problem that the R&D workforce is imbalanced. Some parts of the R&D economy, particularly roles like software, have an underrepresentation of women, a significant number of people with level four and above qualifications, and growth is rapid in London and the South East. There is both a demographic and geographic equality issue which means the benefits of R&D investment are not broadly felt across the UK population.

    This is bad on its own terms. It is not a good outcome for society that the public investment in R&D through subsidies, tax credits, capital investment, infrastructure, and the myriad of kinds of corporate welfare, is producing a workforce which has gendered earning inequalities amongst even the highest paid R&D workers (albeit this less than some parts of the labour market), where growing investment is concentrated in the most economically prosperous part of the country, and where there is significantly more instability for the least qualified workers.

    As the report points out, academic literature demonstrates that a more diverse workforce is good for economic growth, productivity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. The inequality of inputs limits the UK’s innovation potential, which in turn impacts how widely the benefits of R&D are felt. Compounding this innovation trap is the UK’s poor record at in work training, geographic inequalities in access to jobs, challenges with university pipelines into specific skills, and geographic imbalances in hard to fill vacancies.

    Universities

    The solution to a more dynamic R&D workforce does not fall exclusively at the door of universities. As the report highlights, universities are churning out large numbers of graduates in subjects aligned to the R&D intensive roles. However, there is a significant undermatching in those graduates then being able to deploy their skills in the labour market. There is also a significant gender imbalance in university recruitment into STEM programmes which then leads into the imbalances in the workforce.

    Interviewees for the report also suggested that university CPD for R&D industries could help close skills gaps and redefining their commercial approaches with SMEs could help with the workforce challenges. Yes, but it also doesn’t feel like universities should be responsible for the permanent reskilling of their graduates. Again, in work training in the UK is low.

    The labour market in R&D is the product of every step up to someone entering the workforce and then the conditions once they are in it. At the current trajectory the UK will have an ever large R&D workforce but the expansion in its size will not occur conterminously with a geographic or demographic expansion of its impacts.

    Universities are not factories that churn out graduates with neatly aligned skills to the ever changing demands of the labour market. However, this report does convincingly point out that the UK’s economy benefits from diverse firms and more diverse firms will only happen with more diverse graduates.

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  • Future of STEM Workforce in Jeopardy Amid NSF Overhaul

    Future of STEM Workforce in Jeopardy Amid NSF Overhaul

    Erik Jacobsen, an associate professor of mathematics education at Indiana University, was nearing the end of a years-long project designed to address teacher biases with the goal of helping more students excel in math and pursue STEM careers. But that all stopped several weeks ago, when the National Science Foundation notified him that it had terminated the grant because it was “not in alignment with current agency priorities.”

    Jacobsen’s grant, which was funding multiple graduate students and a postdoc, who are all now in limbo, is far from the only STEM education–focused grant the NSF recently canceled.

    Of the approximately 1,500 grants the agency recently terminated, at least 750 came from the NSF’s education directorate, according to Grant Watch, an independent website that tracks terminated NSF grants. And that’s not the only shake-up happening at the NSF, which Congress created in 1950 to “promote the progress of science; advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; and secure the national defense.” The Trump administration has also laid off staff and proposed slashing the agency’s budget.

    Additionally, NSF announced new priorities that include not funding projects aimed at recruiting more Americans from underrepresented backgrounds to the STEM workforce—a key focus for the agency historically.

    The Trump administration says all these changes are part of its plan to reform the NSF, correct an alleged “scientific slowdown,” build a “a robust domestic STEM workforce” and “rapidly accelerate its investment in critical and advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotechnology.” The NSF sends billions to colleges and universities to support STEM education and nonmedical scientific research.

    Researchers and policy experts are worried that the major cuts to STEM education programs will jeopardize the long-term future of the STEM workforce and leave the nation with a deficit of scientists and other skilled workers who are capable of carrying out Trump’s vision of winning “the technological race with our geopolitical adversaries.”

    “There may be enough scientists to do the projects that are left. But for how long? They’re eventually going to retire and there won’t be this robust pipeline,” Jacobsen said. “There’s so many kids in our country that learn math and science every day. And the reason they learn it as well as they do is because of NSF’s historic investment in education.”

    ‘Nearsighted’ Changes

    Since Trump started his second term in January, the NSF has upended its operations and spurred chaos and uncertainty within the research community. In February, the agency fired 10 percent of its staff—many who help university researchers navigate the grant application and funding process—though a federal judge later ordered the NSF to reinstate some of those employees.

    “Their absence means that even if the budget is sufficient to fund new projects, distributing that money fairly and appropriately is going to be delayed if not made impossible,” Suzanne Ortega, president of the Council of Graduate Schools, said. While those and other changes are already “having immediate effects on graduate students, postdocs and early-career scientists,” she said there will also be “major downstream consequences” that won’t come home to roost for at least five years.

    According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in STEM occupations is expected to grow 10.4 percent between 2023 and 2033, more than double the projections for non-STEM careers. But decimating the NSF’s education directorate—which funds many projects focused on researching how to improve STEM education outcomes starting in K-12—will make it harder to cultivate the robust STEM workforce Trump says he wants, Ortega said.

    “This kind of research tells us how we can develop curricula that makes the pathway from a Ph.D. program into industry more seamless. Or how we can create mentoring networks or other kinds of connections that foster more rapid degree completion,” she said. “To forget that education research itself is vital to improving the system that our research enterprise depends on is very nearsighted.”

    Adding to the challenges is the Trump administration’s crackdown on international student visa holders—who make up a sizable portion of STEM graduate students—which could make strengthening the STEM career pipeline increasingly difficult, said Holden Thorp, editor in chief of the Science family of journals.

    “We desperately need more effort to produce scientists who are U.S. citizens,” he said. “Regardless of whether those programs are devoted to marginalized groups or anyone else, there’s people we need to encourage to go into science. Even if you don’t accept the reason why some of these programs were set up. It’s a disastrous economic strategy to get rid of programs—especially when they were in midstream—that would be growing the supply of scientists in the American workforce.”

    As these changes keep coming, the NSF remains without permanent leadership. Sethuraman Panchanathan—the Trump appointee who had run the agency since 2020—resigned in late April, stating that he’d done all he could “to advance the critical mission of the agency.”

    Earlier this month, the NSF announced a plan to cap indirect cost rates—which fund laboratory space and other research supports that can be used for multiple projects—for universities at 15 percent. At the same time, Trump’s budget bill proposed cutting the NSF’s 2026 budget by 55 percent, which includes cutting $3.5 billion from the agency’s general education and research budget, $1.1 billion from the Broadening Participation programs and $93 million for agency operations and awards management.

    A coalition of former NSF directors and National Science Board chairs blasted the proposal, saying it “would thwart scientific progress, decimate the research workforce and take a decade or more to recover” and “fast-track China’s plans for technological dominance.”

    Although Congress will have to approve Trump’s budget proposal later this year for it to become law, the NSF is already preparing for a future with less funding.

    According to Science, NSF has eliminated 37 divisions across its eight directorates and is also creating a new oversight body of unknown membership that will have the final say in reviewing a proposal to ensure it doesn’t violate the agency’s new anti-DEI priorities. Additionally, the NSF announced earlier this month that it plans to cut more than half of its senior administrations and slash the number of “rotators”—academic scientists who serve two- to four-year terms to help the NSF choose which research to fund—as part of its cost-saving strategies.

    That has big implications for NSF-funded initiatives like the Advanced Technological Education (ATE), which is a congressionally mandated effort led by community colleges designed to improve and expand educational programs for technicians to work in high-tech STEM fields that drive the U.S. economy.

    “ATE is heavily influenced by rotators from community colleges,” said Ellen Hause, associate vice president for academic and student affairs at American Association of Community Colleges. “With the rotators on the chopping block, we would lose some of this expertise not only in STEM technician education, but in the community college space, which is a unique piece of the STEM workforce and STEM education.”

    Many of the future community college students who may want to participate in a program like ATE in the coming years are just now getting exposure to STEM fields in their K-12 classrooms. And projects like Jacobsen’s (the math education researcher at IU) were supposed to help more of those students get comfortable with the academic material required to pursue such careers. But canceling his and other STEM education research grants midstream is already undermining decades of federal investment in STEM education, he and others said.

    “We’d already done most of the work and spent most of the money,” he said. “By not having the final amount, we can’t complete our work, which means the public doesn’t get the benefit of the knowledge we would have learned. We still don’t know if the tool we were developing works. And now we’ll never know. It’s just wasting that investment.”

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  • Clean energy workforce training hub a ‘gamechanger’ in this struggling factor town

    Clean energy workforce training hub a ‘gamechanger’ in this struggling factor town

    Decatur, Illinois, has been losing factory jobs for years. A training program at a local community college promises renewal and provides training for students from disenfranchised communities

    This story is part of a collaboration between the Institute for Nonprofit News’ Rural News Network and Canary Media, South Dakota News Watch, Cardinal News, The Mendocino Voice and The Maine Monitor, with support from Ascendium Education Group. It is reprinted with permission. 

    DECATUR, IL. — A fistfight at a high school football game nearly defined Shawn Honorable’s life.

    It was 1999 when he and a group of teen boys were expelled and faced criminal charges over the incident. The story of the “Decatur Seven” drew national headlines and protests led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who framed their harsh treatment as blatant racism. The governor eventually intervened, and the students were allowed to attend alternative schools.

    Honorable, now 41, was encouraged by support “from around the world,” but he said the incident was traumatizing and he continued to struggle academically and socially. Over the years, he dabbled in illegal activity and was incarcerated, most recently after a 2017 conviction for accepting a large amount of marijuana sent through the mail.

    Today, Honorable is ready to start a new chapter, having graduated with honors last week from a clean energy workforce training program at Richland Community College, located in the Central Illinois city of Decatur. He would eventually like to own or manage a solar company, but he has more immediate plans to start a solar-powered mobile hot dog stand. He’s already chosen the name: Buns on the Run.

    “By me going back to school and doing this, it shows my nephews and my little cousins and nieces that it is good to have education,” Honorable said. “I know this is going to be the new way of life with solar panels. So I’ll have a step up on everyone. When it comes, I will already be aware of what’s going on with this clean energy thing.”

    Shawn Honorable graduated with honors last week from Richland Community College’s clean energy workforce training program in Decatur, Illinois, part of a network of hubs funded by the state’s 2021 Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. Credit: Lloyd DeGrane/Canary Media

    After decades of layoffs and factory closings, the community of Decatur is also looking to clean energy as a potential springboard.

    Located amid soybean fields a three-hour drive from Chicago, the city was long known for its Caterpillar, Firestone Tire, and massive corn-syrup factories. Industrial jobs have been in decline for decades, though, and high rates of gun violence, child poverty, unemployment, and incarceration were among the reasons the city was named a clean energy workforce hub funded under Illinois’ 2021 Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA).

    Decatur’s hub, based at Richland Community College, is arguably the most developed and successful of the dozen or so established statewide. That’s thanks in part to TCCI Manufacturing, a local, family-owned factory that makes electric vehicle compressors. TCCI is expanding its operations with a state-of-the-art testing facility and an on-site campus where Richland students will take classes adjacent to the manufacturing floor. The electric truck company Rivian also has a factory 50 miles away.

    “The pieces are all coming together,” Kara Demirjian, senior vice president of TCCI Manufacturing, said by email. “What makes this region unique is that it’s not just about one company or one product line. It’s about building an entire clean energy ecosystem. The future of EV manufacturing leadership won’t just be on the coasts — it’s being built right here in the Midwest.”

    Powering Rural Futures: Clean energy is creating new jobs in rural America, generating opportunities for people who install solar panels, build wind turbines, weatherize homes and more. This five-part series from the Rural News Network explores how industry, state governments and education systems are training this growing workforce.

    Related: Want to read more about how climate change is shaping education? Subscribe to our free newsletter.

    The Decatur CEJA program has also flourished because it was grafted onto a preexisting initiative, EnRich, that helps formerly incarcerated or otherwise disenfranchised people gain new skills and employment. The program is overseen by the Rev. Courtney Carson, a childhood friend of Honorable and another member of the Decatur Seven.

    “So many of us suffer significantly from our unmet needs, our unhealed traumas,” said Carson, who was jailed as a young man for gun possession and later drag racing. With the help of mentors including Rev. Jackson and a college basketball coach, he parlayed his past into leadership, becoming associate pastor at a renowned church, leading a highway construction class at Richland, and in 2017 being elected to the same school board that had expelled him.

    Carson, now vice president of external relations at the community college, tapped his own experience to shape EnRich as a trauma-informed approach, with wraparound services to help students overcome barriers — from lack of childcare to PTSD to a criminal record. Carson has faith that students can overcome such challenges to build more promising futures, like Decatur itself has done.

    “We have all these new opportunities coming in, and there’s a lot of excitement in the city,” Carson said. “That’s magnificent. So what has to happen is these individuals who suffered from closures, they have to be reminded that there is hope.”

    Richland Community College’s clean energy jobs training starts with an eight-week life skills course that has long been central to the larger EnRich program. The course uses a Circle of Courage practice inspired by Indigenous communities and helps students prepare to handle stressful workplace situations like being disrespected or even called a racial slur.

    “Being called the N-word, couldn’t that make you want to fight somebody? But now you lose your job,” said Carson. “We really dive deep into what’s motivating their attitude and those traumas that have significantly impacted their body to make them respond to situations either the right way or the wrong way.”

    The training addresses other dynamics that might be unfamiliar to some students — for example, some male students might not be prepared to be supervised by a woman, Carson noted, or others might not be comfortable with LGBTQ+ coworkers.

    Karl Evans instructs Richland Community College students on the inner workings of a gas furnace. Credit: Lloyd DeGrane/Canary Media

    Life skills are followed by a construction math course crucial to many clean energy and other trades jobs. During a recent class, 24-year-old Brylan Hodges joked with the teacher while converting fractions to decimals and percentages on the whiteboard. He explained that he moved from St. Louis to Decatur in search of opportunity, and he hopes to become a property manager overseeing solar panel installation and energy-efficiency upgrades on buildings.

    Students take an eight-hour primer in clean energy fields including electric vehicles, solar, HVAC, and home energy auditing. Then they choose a clean energy track to pursue, leading to professional certifications as well as a chance to continue at Richland for an associate degree. Under the state-funded program, students are paid for their time attending classes.

    Related: Students partnered with an EV battery factory to train students and ignite the economy. Trump’s clean energy war complicates their plans

    Marcus James was part of the first cohort to start the program last October, just days after his release from prison.

    He was an 18-year-old living in Memphis, Tennessee, when someone shot at him, as he describes it, and he fired back, with fatal consequences. He was convicted of murder and spent 12 years behind bars. After his release he made his way to Decatur, looking for a safer place to raise his kids. Adjusting to life on the outside wasn’t easy, and he ended up back in prison for a year and a half on DUI and drug possession charges.

    Following his release, he was determined to turn his life around.

    “After I brought my kids up here, I end up going back to prison. But at that moment, I realized, man, I had to change,” James told a crowd at an event celebrating the clean jobs program in March.

    The Rev. Courtney Carson, vice president of external relations at the community college. Credit: Lloyd DeGrane/Canary Media

    James said that at first, he showed up late to every class. But soon the lessons sank in, and he was never late again. He always paid attention when people talked, and he gained new confidence.

    “As long as I put my mind to it, I can do it,” said James, who would like to work as a home energy auditor. Richland partners with the energy utility Ameren to place trainees in such positions.

    “I like being out in the field, learning new stuff, dealing with homes, helping people,” James said, noting he made energy-efficiency improvements to his own home after the course.

    Related: To fill ‘education deserts,’ more states want community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees

    Illinois’ 2017 Future Energy Jobs Act (FEJA) launched the state’s clean energy transition, baking in equity goals that prioritize opportunities for people who benefited least and were harmed most by the fossil fuel economy. It created programs to deploy solar arrays and provide job training in marginalized and environmental justice communities.

    FEJA’s rollout was rocky. Funding for equity-focused solar installations went unspent while workforce programs struggled to recruit trainees and connect them with jobs. The pandemic didn’t help. The follow-up legislation, CEJA, expanded workforce training programs and remedied snafus in the original law.

    Melissa Gombar is principal director of workforce development programs for Elevate, a Chicago-based national nonprofit organization that oversaw FEJA job training and subcontracts for a Chicago-area CEJA hub. Gombar said many community organizations tasked with running FEJA training programs were relatively small and grassroots, so they had to scramble to build new financial and human resources infrastructure.

    “They have to have certain policies in place for hiring and procurement. The influx of grant money might have doubled their budget,” Gombar said. Meanwhile, the state employees tasked with helping the groups “are really talented and skilled, trying their best, but they’re overburdened because of the large lift.”

    CEJA, by contrast, tapped community colleges like Richland, which already had robust infrastructure and staffing. CEJA also funds community organizations to serve as “navigators,” using the trust and credibility they’ve developed in communities to recruit trainees.

    Richland Community College received $2.6 million from April 2024 through June 2025, and the Community Foundation of Macon County, the hub’s navigator, received $440,000 for the same time period. The other hubs similarly received between $1 million and $3.3 million for the past year, and state officials have said the same level of funding will be allocated for each of the next two years, according to the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition.

    CEJA hubs also include social service providers that connect trainees with wraparound support; businesses like TCCI that offer jobs; and affiliated entrepreneur incubators that help people start their own clean energy businesses. CEJA also funded apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs with labor unions, which are often a prerequisite for employment in utility-scale solar and wind.

    “The sum of the parts is greater than the whole,” said Drew Keiser, TCCI vice president of global human resources. “The navigator is saying, ‘Hey, I’ve connected with this portion of the population that’s been overlooked or underserved.’ OK, once you get them trained, send their resumes to me, and I’ll get them interviewed. We’re seeing a real pipeline into careers.”

    The hub partners go to great lengths to aid students — for example, coordinating and often paying for transportation, childcare, or even car repairs.

    “If you need some help, they always there for you,” James said.

    Related: Losing faith: Rural, religious colleges are among the most endangered

    In 1984, TCCI began making vehicle compressors in a Decatur plant formerly used to build Sherman tanks during World War II. A few decades later, the company began producing compressors for electric vehicles, which are much more elaborate and sensitive than those for internal combustion engines.

    In August 2023, Gov. JB Pritzker joined TCCI President Richard Demirjian, the Decatur mayor, and college officials for the groundbreaking of an Electric Vehicle Innovation Hub, which will include a climatic research facility — basically a high-tech wind tunnel where companies and researchers from across the world can send EV chargers, batteries, compressors, and other components for testing in extreme temperatures, rain, and wind.

    A $21.3 million capital grant and a $2.2 million electric vehicle incentive from the state are funding the wind tunnel and the new facilities where Richland classes will be held. In 2022, Pritzker announced these investments as furthering the state goal of 1 million EVs on the road by 2030.

    Far from the gritty industrial environs that likely characterized Decatur workplaces of the past, the classrooms at TCCI feature colorful decor, comfortable armchairs, and bright, airy spaces adjacent to pristine high-tech manufacturing floors lined with machines.

    “This hub is a game changer,” said Keiser, noting the need for trained tradespeople. “As a country, we place a lot of emphasis on kids going to college, and maybe we’ve kind of overlooked getting tangible skills in the hands of folks.”

    A marketing firm founded by Kara Demirjian – Richard Demirjian’s sister – and located on-site with TCCI also received clean energy hub funds to promote the training program. This has been crucial to the hub’s success, according to Ariana Bennick, account executive at the firm, DCC Marketing. Its team has developed, tested, and deployed digital billboards, mailers, ads, Facebook events, and other approaches to attract trainees and business partners.

    “Being a part of something here in Decatur that’s really leading the nation in this clean energy initiative is exciting,” Bennick said. “It can be done here in the middle of the cornfields. We want to show people a framework that they can take and scale in other places.”

    With graduation behind him, Honorable is planning the types of hot dogs and sausages he’ll sell at Buns on the Run. He said Tamika Thomas, director of the CEJA program at Richland, has also encouraged him to consider teaching so he can share the clean energy skills he’s learned with others. The world seems wide open with possibilities.

    “A little at a time — I’m going to focus on the tasks in front of me that I’m passionate about, and then see what’s next,” Honorable said. He invoked a favorite scene from the cartoon TV series “The Flintstones,” in which the characters’ leg power, rather than wheels and batteries, propelled vehicles: “Like Fred and Barney, I’ll be up and running.”

    The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.

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  • Trends in Hiring, 2025 Graduate Readiness for the Workforce

    Trends in Hiring, 2025 Graduate Readiness for the Workforce

    The Class of 2025 is prioritizing location, job stability and benefits when considering their first job postgraduation.

    SDI Productions/E+/Getty Images 

    Commencement season brings excitement to college campuses as community members look to celebrate the accomplishments of the graduating class and usher them into their next chapter of life.

    The Class of 2025, however, is gearing up to enter a challenging environment, whether that’s a competitive application cycle for gaining admission to graduate school or a tighter job market compared to previous years.

    Inside Higher Ed compiled 25 data points regarding the Class of 2025 and the workforce they will enter, including levels of career preparedness, challenges in the workplace and the value of higher education in reaching career goals.

    1. Over half of seniors feel pessimistic about starting their careers because they worry about a competitive job market and a lack of job security.
    2. Seventy-eight percent of students rank job stability as a “very important” attribute in potential employers, followed by a healthy workplace culture.
    3. Eighty-eight percent of college juniors and seniors believe their coursework is adequately preparing them for entry-level roles in their chosen fields.
    4. Eight out of 10 soon-to-be graduates plan to start work within three months of graduating.
    5. Hiring for college graduates is down 16 percent compared to last year, and 44 percent below 2022 levels.
    1. Starting salaries are up 3.8 percent year over year, outpacing inflation’s growth of 2.4 percent, as of March.
    2. Seventy-nine percent of young adults say health benefits are a “high” or “very high” priority for them when considering a job opportunity.
    3. Desired location is a top priority for 73 percent of 2025 graduates in deciding which jobs to apply for, followed by job stability (70 percent). Over two-thirds said they’re looking for a job near their family.
    4. If they choose to relocate for work, cost of living is the most pressing issue for new graduates (90 percent), followed by a diverse and tolerant community (64 percent). Ninety-eight percent of young adults say cost of living is their No. 1 money stressor, as well.
    5. Flexibility remains key for graduates, with 43 percent looking for hybrid work, defined as being on-site for two or three days a week. Forty-four percent cited the ability to work from home as an important benefit, and over half want more than two weeks of vacation or paid time off in their first year of work.
    1. Roughly half of entry-level job postings employers plan to create will be hybrid, and about 45 percent will be for fully in-person roles.
    2. Engineering students are expected to be the highest paid of all the majors pursued by the class of 2025, earning an average of $78,731 this year.
    3. Recent college graduates who participated in experiential learning while in college earn on average $59,059, compared to their peers without internships, who earn an average of $44,048.
    4. As of last fall, only half of first-generation students in the Class of 2025 had completed an internship, compared to 66 percent of their peers.
    5. About 12 percent of students have not participated in an internship and do not expect to do so before finishing their degree—lower than the average of 35 percent of workers who enter the workforce without an internship or other relevant work experience.
    1. Ninety-eight percent of employers say their organization is struggling to find talent, but nearly 90 percent say they avoid hiring recent grads—in part, as 60 percent noted, because they lack real-world experience.
    2. One-third of hiring managers say recent graduates lack a strong work ethic, and one in four say graduates are underprepared for interviews.
    3. Over half (57 percent) of HR departments expect to increase spending on training and development in the year ahead.
    4. As of March, nearly 6 percent of recent graduates (ages 22 to 27 who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher) were unemployed, compared with 2.7 percent of all college graduates. The unemployment rate for all young workers (ages 22 to 27) is approximately 7 percent.
    5. Twenty-five percent of young adults are struggling to find jobs in their intended career fields; 62 percent aren’t employed in the career they intended to pursue after graduation.
    6. Nearly 90 percent of students chose their major with a specific job or career path in mind.
    7. Finding purposeful work is critical to Gen Z’s job satisfaction, and more than half say meaningful work is important when evaluating a potential employer.
    8. One-quarter of young adults already have a side hustle, and 37 percent of Gen Z want to start a side hustle.
    9. Ninety-seven percent of human resources leaders say it’s important that new hires have a foundational understanding of business and technology, including in such areas as artificial intelligence, data analytics and IT.
    10. Gen Y and Gen Z workers are more likely than their older peers to worry they will lose their job or their job will be eliminated by generative AI.

    We bet your colleague would like this article, too. Send them this link to subscribe to our newsletter on Student Success.

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  • Workforce Planning Meets AI: A Blueprint for Smarter Surveys – CUPA-HR

    Workforce Planning Meets AI: A Blueprint for Smarter Surveys – CUPA-HR

    by Christy Williams | May 21, 2025

    For HR professionals in higher education, workforce planning has evolved into a strategic discipline. Filling positions is no longer enough — leaders must anticipate talent needs, support professional growth and align development opportunities with institutional goals. A well-designed needs assessment gives HR teams the insight to take action with confidence and create lasting impact.

    In the CUPA-HR webinar, Survey Says! Using HR Data and AI to Maximize Analysis of Needs, presenters from Harvard University’s Center for Workplace Development shared how their team designed and executed a large-scale, data-informed, AI-supported needs assessment. The goal? To better understand learning needs and create targeted strategies for professional growth across a decentralized institution.

    Here are the key takeaways from their process.

    Start With a Strategic Why

    Before sending a single survey question, clarify what you’re hoping to learn — and why it matters.

    At Harvard, the team began their needs assessment with a clear objective to understand learning and development needs across various employee groups as part of a larger workforce strategy. This meant designing a survey aimed at uncovering more than surface-level training needs, asking instead: What do our employees really need to grow and thrive in their roles?

    Their advice to other HR teams is to anchor your assessment in your institution’s strategic goals and organizational context. Let that “why” guide your survey design from the start.

    Design a Survey That Reflects Your Workforce

    A successful needs assessment is tailored to the specific population it serves rather than one-size-fits-all.

    Harvard’s workforce includes individual contributors, supervisors and executives across many schools and units. Their team created targeted questions for each group and pre-populated some responses using data from their HRIS system to reduce survey fatigue and improve accuracy.

    Make sure your questions are relevant to different audience segments, and use the data you already have to streamline the experience for respondents.

    Boost Participation Through Targeted Communications

    Even the best survey won’t produce results without strong participation. Driving engagement was one of the biggest challenges for Harvard, as it is for many institutions. Their team addressed this by securing leadership support, crafting targeted communications and clearly communicating the value of the survey to employees.

    To boost response rates on your own campus, consider using champions across departments, timing your outreach thoughtfully and explaining how the data will be used to benefit staff.

    Use AI Thoughtfully to Analyze Large Data Sets

    If your survey includes open-ended responses, you’ll likely end up with more data than you can quickly process — especially if your institution is large. This is where AI can help.

    Harvard’s team used a combination of AI tools to analyze thousands of comments and identify themes. But they stressed that the human element remained critical. They invested time in crafting the right prompts, testing outputs and verifying results before presenting them to stakeholders.

    Their approach to AI offers an important lesson: AI can accelerate analysis and bring fresh insights, but it’s not a shortcut. You need to build a process that includes human judgment, data verification and transparency.

    Integrate HR Data for Deeper Insights

    One of the most impactful decisions the Harvard team made was linking survey responses to existing HR data. This allowed them to connect learning needs to specific job roles, departments and demographics — enabling more targeted follow-up and planning.

    By incorporating HRIS data, they were also able to personalize survey questions and reduce respondent burden. That integration enhanced both the quality of their data and their ability to act on it.

    If you’re planning a survey, consider how existing HRIS data can be used to sharpen your questions and deepen your analysis.

    Turn Results Into Action

    The final — and perhaps most critical — step is using what you’ve learned.

    At the time of the webinar, the Harvard team was in what they described as the “where are we now” stage and had begun implementing some of the recommendations from their survey analysis. They emphasized the importance of translating results into practical strategies that support learning and development, talent mobility and organizational effectiveness.

    To do the same on your campus, be sure to:

    • Share key findings transparently with stakeholders.
    • Identify priority areas for development or investment.
    • Use insights to shape programming, leadership development or change management strategies.

    Embrace Experimentation and Continuous Learning

    The Harvard team acknowledged that this process wasn’t perfect — and that was okay. They embraced experimentation, learned from trial and error, and remained open to improving their approach as they went.

    Their experience is a reminder that innovation in higher ed HR — especially when integrating AI — is a journey. Don’t be afraid to pilot new tools and adjust your process.

    Watch the Webinar Recording

    Interested in learning more about Harvard’s process? The full webinar recording and slide deck are available here.

    More CUPA-HR Resources

    Harnessing the Power of Big Data for Sound HR Decision Making — This article examines using workforce data to make good business decisions with confidence.

    Data Visualization and Storytelling Tips and Tools for HR — This on-demand CUPA-HR webinar covers practical tips and tools you can use to share compelling data stories and data visualizations.

    AI in Higher Education HR Toolkit — Best practices and tools for using AI technologies thoughtfully and safely.



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  • Canceling AmeriCorps grants threatens the future of education and workforce pipelines that power our nation’s progress

    Canceling AmeriCorps grants threatens the future of education and workforce pipelines that power our nation’s progress

    The recent decision to cancel $400 million in AmeriCorps grants is nothing short of a crisis. With over 1,000 programs affected and 32,000 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members pulled from their posts, this move will leave communities across the country without critical services.

    The cuts will dismantle disaster recovery efforts, disrupt educational support for vulnerable students and undermine a powerful workforce development strategy that provides AmeriCorps members with in-demand skills across sectors including education.

    AmeriCorps provides a service-to-workforce pipeline that gives young Americans and returning veterans hands-on training in high-demand industries, such as education, public safety, disaster response and health care. Its nominal front-end investment in human capital fosters economic mobility, enabling those who engage in a national service experience to successfully transition to gainful employment.

    As leaders of Teach For America and City Year, two organizations that are part of the AmeriCorps national service network and whose members receive education stipends that go toward certification costs, student loans or future education pursuits, we are alarmed by how this crisis threatens the future of the education and workforce pipelines that power our nation’s progress, and it is deeply personal. We both started our careers as corps members in the programs we now lead.

    Related: A lot goes on in classrooms from kindergarten to high school. Keep up with our free weekly newsletter on K-12 education.

    Aneesh began his journey as a Teach For America corps member teaching high school English in Minnesota. Jim’s path began with City Year, serving at a Head Start program in Boston. We know firsthand that AmeriCorps programs are transformative and empower young people to drive meaningful change — for themselves and their communities.

    At Teach For America, AmeriCorps grants are essential to recruiting thousands of new teachers every year to effectively lead high-need classrooms across the country. These teachers, who have a consistent and significant positive impact on students’ learning, rely on the AmeriCorps education awards they earn through their two years of service to pay for their own education and professional development, including new teacher certification fees, costs that in some communities exceed $20,000.

    Termination of these grants threatens the pipeline of an estimated 2,500 new teachers preparing to enter classrooms over the summer. At a time when rural and urban communities alike are facing critical teacher shortages, cutting AmeriCorps support risks leaving students without the educators they need and deserve.

    City Year, similarly, relies on AmeriCorps to recruit more than 2,200 young adults annually to serve as student success coaches in K-12 schools across 21 states, 29 cities and 60 school districts.

    These AmeriCorps members serving as City Year student success coaches provide tutoring and mentoring that support students’ academic progress and interpersonal skill development and growth; they partner closely with teachers to boost student achievement, improve attendance and help keep kids on track to graduate. Research shows that schools partnering with City Year are two times more likely to improve their scores on English assessments, and two to three times more likely to improve their scores on math assessments.

    Corps members gain critical workforce skills such as leadership, problem-solving and creative thinking, which align directly with the top skills employers seek; the value of their experience has been reaffirmed through third-party research conducted with our alumni. The City Year experience prepares corps members for success in varied careers, with many going into education.

    AmeriCorps-funded programs like Breakthrough Collaborative and Jumpstart further strengthen this national service-to-workforce pathway, expanding the number of trained tutors and teacher trainees while also preparing corps members for careers that make a difference in all of our lives.

    Those programs’ trained educators ensure all students gain access to excellent educational opportunities that put them on the path to learn, lead and thrive in communities across the country. And the leaders of both organizations, like us, are AmeriCorps alumni, proof of the lasting effect of national service.

    Collectively, our four organizations have hundreds of thousands of alumni whose work as AmeriCorps members has impacted millions of children while shaping their own lives’ work, just as it did ours. Our alumni continue to lead classrooms, schools, districts, communities and organizations in neighborhoods across the country.

    Related: Tracking Trump: His actions to dismantle the Education Department, and more

    The termination of AmeriCorps grants is a direct blow to educators, schools and students. And, at a time when Gen Z is seeking work that aligns with their values and desire for impact, AmeriCorps is an essential on-ramp to public service and civic leadership that benefits not just individuals but entire communities and our country at large.

    For every dollar invested in AmeriCorps, $17 in economic value is generated, proving that national service is not only efficient but also a powerhouse for economic growth. Rather than draining resources, AmeriCorps drives real, measurable results that benefit individual communities and the national economy.

    Moreover, two-thirds of AmeriCorps funding is distributed by governor-appointed state service commissions to community- and faith-based organizations that leverage that funding to meet local needs. By working directly with state and local partners, AmeriCorps provides a more effective solution than top-down government intervention.

    On behalf of the more than 6,500 current AmeriCorps members serving with Teach For America and City Year, and the tens of thousands of alumni who have gone on to become educators, civic leaders and changemakers, we call on Congress to protect AmeriCorps and vital national service opportunities.

    Investing in AmeriCorps is an investment in America’s future, empowering communities, strengthening families and revitalizing economies. Let’s preserve the fabric of our national service infrastructure and ensure that the next generation of leaders, educators and community advocates who want to serve our nation have the ability to do so.

    Aneesh Sohoni is Teach For America’s new CEO. Previously, he was CEO of One Million Degrees and executive director of Teach For America Greater Chicago-Northwest Indiana. He is a proud alum of Teach For America.

    Jim Balfanz, a recognized leader and innovator in the field of education and national service, is CEO and a proud alum of City Year.

    Contact the opinion editor at [email protected].

    This story about AmeriCorps, Teach For America and City Year was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.

    The Hechinger Report provides in-depth, fact-based, unbiased reporting on education that is free to all readers. But that doesn’t mean it’s free to produce. Our work keeps educators and the public informed about pressing issues at schools and on campuses throughout the country. We tell the whole story, even when the details are inconvenient. Help us keep doing that.

    Join us today.

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