Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL)

Next week, Ford NGL’s Cheryl Carrier and Marc Hill will be at National Association of Education Foundations ImpactED '25 alongside our Knox County Schools and the Knox Education Foundation teams. Marc, Windy Clayton and Brad Corum, Ed.D. will be hosting, Creating Community-Based Systems to Scale Business-Education Partnerships That Impact All Students. Learn more about their session here: https://lnkd.in/geQxPZnU Curious to learn more about our Knox community? Check out The Story of 865 Academies: Knox County Embraces a Ford NGL Community-Connected Transformation. Since launching in 2022, all 14 high schools now have a Freshman Academy, and students are gaining real-world experience through career-themed pathways. Read more about Knox’s story below and visit us onsite to see how the Ford NGL community-connected model is transforming student and community outcomes! https://lnkd.in/gr7yXqmi

This video -- created by students at Romeo Community Schools (The Academies at Romeo) -- shows the power of the career academy model for each and every student when you engage the whole community in this transformation using the Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL) model. We are so proud of The Academies of Romeo and appreciate how you inspire other communities to travel this path. Thank you Evva for sharing the video. Scott Palmer, Ed.S. Jennifer M.

Last week, GLI joined education and workforce leaders from across the U.S. for Louisville in Action: A Ford NGL Leadership Lab for Business and School Partnerships to discuss the JCPS Academies of Louisville program. GLI joined panelists from Heaven Hill Brands, KentuckianaWorks, and Jefferson County Public Schools to share success stories, lessons learned, and strategies for replicating this nationally recognized model. Learn more about the event here: https://lnkd.in/egB45UP8

Proud to have Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer stop by Romeo High School to see the academies in action—engaging with students and even getting hands-on. It’s been a big week of visitors, and Romeo Community Schools has rocked it. This is the power of the Ford NGL network!

Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL) is proud to partner with McCracken County High School as they embark on a transformative journey to ensure every student is prepared for success in college and careers. By adopting a community-connected approach, McCracken is working to create an educational environment where students can explore their interests and gain the skills needed to thrive in an ever-changing workforce. The district is focused on fostering smaller, supportive learning environments within the larger school setting, ensuring no student falls through the cracks. Their goal is to provide individualized pathways that engage students and empower them with the tools and real-world experiences they need to make informed decisions about their futures. McCracken's vision for student success aligns with Ford NGL's commitment to shaping the future of education. Learn more about how McCracken is leading the way here: https://lnkd.in/gkFGN6NT

🌟 Congratulations to McCracken County Public Schools as they embark on phase one of their partnership with Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL)! Prichard Committee President/CEO Brigitte Blom, Senior Director of Community Schools Travis Marcum, Director of Policy for Meaningful Diplomas Delaney Stephens, and Community Schools State Coach Andrea Pike-Goff joined the discussion about transforming education and creating stronger college & career pathways for Kentucky students. We look forward to seeing a groundswell build as community members, families, and school staff come together to enhance student learning experiences! #CommunitySchools #KCSI #CommunityEngagement

Day 3 of our Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL) Scottish family are now in the books. Today was just as compelling and heart-bursting as the other days. (I apologize for the long posts recently, but I have been so excited.) We toured the Romeo Middle School who are bringing authentic, real-world experiences to students through working with local non-profits. Brad Martz, Principal of the middle school gave us an overview of the middle school transformation and then turned us over to the students who gave us a tour. What really blew me away was the agency the students had to modify the visit to address questions we had or to show us something they were really excited about. That was followed by a student panel moderated by another student who could literally have his own talk show. He was not given the questions to ask -- he was only given some idea of what the people in the audience would be interested in and ran the panel. He and the students were out of this world. This was followed by an afternoon of peer-to-peer learning and it was so powerful we hated to leave when the busses arrived. While I cannot join the Scotland group today, I know that their day today will be as powerful as the last three days. A small group of us got to reflect at the hotel tonight and everyone was over the top about the experience. It was very difficult to say goodbye to them last night. I am so proud of the Ford NGL family and Romeo Community Schools. Our partnership with The Wood Foundation (Alison MacLachlan, Georgea Hughes and their team) has been a wonderful, mutually supportive and joyful relationship. The group they brought was so excited to learn and had a "how can we do this in our system" attitude and we built friendships I am sure will last forever. Thank you to Jennifer Raicevich, Career Academy Coach and Brad Martz, Principal of Romeo Middle School for bringing your team together to share and inspire our friends from Scotland. You are both so inspirational.

“Students are actually learning the skills that the actual employers need because they’re working on authentic projects with the employers and the teachers. They’re working in teams. They’re learning to solve problems. They’re learning to think critically." - Executive Director of Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL) Cheryl Carrier. Business and education leaders from around the country recently visited the Academies of Louisville to learn how Jefferson County Public Schools and its partners are bringing hands-on, industry-specific learning to students.

Day 2 of our Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL) Scotland family visit is in the books. It was another incredible day of learning and stretching our thinking about how we can take what we learned from The Academies of Romeo (Romeo Community Schools) and modify it for the Scotland system in support of community-connected learning for high school students. The team at The Academies of Romeo (Jennifer M., Bernie Osebold, Rich Boggio and many others) along with their stellar students passionately and authentically shared their learnings with our visitors. Local business partners of The Academies of Romeo gathered with teachers to outline new projects for the 2025/26 school year and our visitors got to be part of those discussions as well. This was followed by a presentation from Macomb County Planning & Economic Development's own Vicky Rowinski, CEcD and John Paul Rea who shared information on the prioritized pathways for Macomb County, MI and how The Academies of Romeo play a key role in helping to prepare students for these high-wage, high-skill, high-demand careers. The true stars of the day were the students who were so incredibly articulate and knowledgeable about The Academies of Romeo. Of course, the culinary students blew us away with the gourmet lunch and appetizers served to our guests. We all gathered informally over the course of several hours in our hotel to reflect and continue to build relationships. We are so blessed to do what we do and I am so proud of our network of communities who are proud to pay it forward. A huge shout out to our Scotland friends who are helping us better understand their system and challenging our thinking and mindsets as well.  The Wood Foundation Scott Palmer, Ed.S.

Spending this week with nearly 30 Ford Next Generation Learning (Ford NGL) family members from Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, Scotland, discussing community-connected learning in schools. Though education policies differ, our friends from across the pond are eager to learn from Ford NGL’s work and adapt it to their system. We, of course, are learning from them as well. Our first day was at the historic Michigan Central, where they learned from partners like Google and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan Thank you Janelle A. for hosting us and providing us with these incredible experiences. Thank you to Asim Williams for your compelling and thought-provoking insights into how educators can cultivate an innovative and curious mindset for students of color whose voice is not heard or represented in the technology field. Thanks to The Wood Foundation for investing in this experience to support innovative educators and trusting Ford NGL and our fabulous facilitator/coach, Scott Palmer, Ed.S. to facilitate this learning experience. This day was so inspirational. I can hardly wait for what tomorrow brings.