Jobs for the Future (JFF)

The 2025 Horizons Session Submission Portal is opening in one week on October 8. This streamlined platform is your opportunity to join the ranks of over 300 top leaders who will share their insights, experiences, and visions at this year’s event. If you’re interested in submitting a session proposal for a breakout session at the 2025 Horizons Summit in New Orleans, don’t miss your shot! You have until November 8 at 11:59 p.m. ET to submit your ideas.

🏀 From teamwork and leadership to resilience and time management, the skills athletes develop through sports participation extend far beyond the playing field. Yet, these valuable competencies are often overlooked in traditional hiring practices. At JFFLabs, we believe sports provide a unique framework for skills-first hiring. We convened experts like Randy Osei, CEO of Athlete Technology Group, who shared how his athletic journey led him to entrepreneurship. After transitioning from sports to coaching and business management, Randy recognized the vast potential for athletes to harness their skills and pursue careers in technology and entrepreneurship. His experience underscores the exciting opportunities that await athletes beyond their playing careers. By bridging the knowledge gap and preparing athletes for life after sports, we can leverage their sports-derived skills to create new professional opportunities. 💡 Let’s rethink how we recognize these skills and create more pathways for athletes to succeed in the workforce. https://hubs.la/Q02SpqPn0 #FutureofWork #LifelongLearning #Sports

🚨 Don't let history repeat itself. Investing in AI literacy is more critical than ever. As JFF's President and CEO Maria Flynn discusses in her latest Forbes piece, the rise of AI offers immense opportunities—but only if we ensure that everyone has the skills and understanding to take advantage. 💼 From transforming jobs to creating new pathways for equitable advancement, AI literacy is the key to a more inclusive, tech-driven economy. Explore Maria's insights and find out how we can create a future where AI works for everyone. 🌟 🔗 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eE48htAH #AI #FutureOfWork #WorkforceEquity #AILiteracy #JobsForTheFuture #JFF #AIforGood

Too often dual enrollment, career navigation supports, and work-based learning opportunities in high schools are not designed to serve all students and are experienced as one-offs instead of as a system of interconnected supports. In partnership with Colorado Succeeds, NORC and JFF, 19 high schools in Colorado are taking a major step to change this by creating an integrated system of postsecondary transition supports designed to serve every student. Check out our blog to learn more about the U.S. Department of Education funded On-Ramps to Postsecondary Transitions (OPT) project in Colorado, where these 19 schools are working to find effective and scalable ways to enable more learners to plan and successfully navigate their pathways from high school to postsecondary education and training and careers. https://hubs.la/Q02Sc0mq0

Join Future U.'s Jeff Selingo, ACT's Tina Gridiron, and ETS's Kennon Harrison as they dive into the evolution of skills-based hiring. From innovative assessment strategies to higher ed's impact, this is a must-listen for workforce leaders looking to stay ahead. 🔍💡 #FutureOfWork #WorkforceInnovation #SkillsBasedHiring #JFFHorizons https://hubs.la/Q02SbfzF0

Jobseekers are ready for a change in how they present their skills, and digital wallets with Verifiable Credentials (VCs) are making that possible. JFFLabs, alongside industry partners, is proud to lead a project that puts VCs to the test—empowering individuals to own their credentials and giving employers the tools to verify them efficiently. In our latest blog, we dive into how this technology works, why it matters, and the lessons learned from working with transitioning service members, women entrepreneurs, and biotech career seekers. Discover how VCs can drive economic mobility and create more equitable opportunities for everyone. https://hubs.la/Q02R2d-J0 | #FutureofWork #VerifiableCredentials

Celebrating diversity & building wealth: How rural organizations are creating holistic pathways for immigrant success. #WorkforceDevelopment Rural communities across the U.S. are embracing the many contributions of immigrant and refugee neighbors. These newcomers are spurring economic growth, opening businesses, and filling critical roles in industries like healthcare. However, they often face significant barriers to achieving economic mobility. JFF's Rural Immigrant Success Exchange (RISE) Network is addressing these challenges head-on. Through trust-building, storytelling, and policy engagement, RISE Network members are proving to be critical engines of economic mobility for rural immigrants, refugees, and migrants. Read the full blog post ⬇️ https://hubs.la/Q02S1dN40 to learn how the RISE Network is reshaping workforce development in rural America and creating more inclusive economic advancement pathways for all. #ImmigrantInclusion #RuralDevelopment #EconomicMobility

🔎 What was missing from last night’s #VPDebate with Senator JD Vance and Governor Tim Walz? A plan to help workers thrive in a shifting job market, prepare learners for career success, and ensure there are #NoDeadEnds on the road to a better life. Last night’s vice presidential debate was a refreshing return to policy in an election season that’s been largely devoid of details on how either party plans to address the issues voters care about. Vance, the Republican VP candidate from #Ohio, and Walz, the Democratic VP candidate from #Minnesota, appealed directly to low- and middle-income families on how their party platforms would make the American dream more attainable. What was sorely missing was any discussion of the vital role that education and skills training play in expanding economic opportunities. Walz emphasized the Biden-Harris Administration's economic policies, including clean energy investments that are creating good jobs and improving housing availability. But what he didn’t outline was a plan to ensure that workers have the skills they need to access those jobs. The new investments in the infrastructure, clean energy, and semiconductor sectors may help create 14 million jobs, but will there be enough trained workers to fill them? Vance focused on reviving American manufacturing and energy independence, touting tax cuts and deregulation as drivers of economic growth. But he, too, missed the mark by failing to address how these jobs will be filled without investing in upskilling and #workforcedevelopment. Walz could have elaborated on Harris’ skills-first priorities in her #OpportunityEconomy plan, while Vance could have explained how a second Trump term would prioritize skills, given the former president’s first-term efforts on #skillsfirsthiring and #apprenticeships. In our June 2024 voter survey, less than half of voters told us they are satisfied with the attention that candidates are giving to education and employment issues this election year. And in our newest voter survey from September, 85% of registered voters say improving economic opportunities for workers and their families is a high priority, while one-third of independents said they don't trust either party to act on these issues. At JFF, we know that job creation is just one piece of the puzzle. What voters demand—and what the next president must deliver—is a plan to transform our nation’s #education and #workforce systems. The future of work depends on all workers getting the skills, guidance, and support they need to succeed. That’s why JFF’s national policy campaign, No Dead Ends, lays out a road map for fixing the broken systems that leave millions of Americans without a path forward and urges candidates to center education and workforce policies in their #Election2024 campaigns. 🔗 Learn more about No Dead Ends, our policy recommendations, and how you can help by joining the movement, regardless of who’s in the White House: https://hubs.la/Q02RW_cv0

Technology, health care, and manufacturing are all sectors with good jobs, but in our analysis of how these sectors hold up to JFF’s Quality Jobs Framework, we found two key challenges across these sectors: educational requirements and occupational segregation. Check out our blog to learn more about how these challenges present in each sector and what can be done to address them >> https://hubs.la/Q02QCZtw0 #TransformWorkandLearning #ReimagineEducation #QualityJobs

"I think getting these kind of incremental changes and reforms that are being considered across the line and signed into law, I think would be terrific," JFF CEO Maria Flynn told moderator Paul Fain and a bipartisan group of policy experts at JFF's #virtual panel yesterday. "But I would also hope that the next administration—whoever's in the White House—can launch a more robust, holistic view and review of what is a lifelong learning or talent development system for the United States and what should that look like, so it isn't beholden or built off of systems that were designed for a bygone era." Almost 400 people tuned in to watch JFF's live panel, "The Outlook for Workforce and Education Policy," on the future of education and workforce policy in the U.S., where Maria joined policy experts Michael Brickman, Denise Forte, Seth Harris, and John Pallasch to discuss voter perspectives on policies from both political parties this election year and on JFF's bold federal #NoDeadEnds policy priorities. 📺 If you missed the stream, watch the full recording on YouTube: https://hubs.la/Q02RMzgC0 Fellow panelists from past Democratic and Republican administrations agreed with Maria’s call to action and shared common ground in encouraging the next president to take action on: 1️⃣ Promoting a skills-first approach to employment and education 2️⃣ Expanding Pell grants to include quality, short-term credentials 3️⃣ Focusing on data, performance, and accountability to better assess and fund what works and incentivize systems to better serve the needs of people 4️⃣ Enhancing career guidance so people are better equipped to navigate their learning and work options 5️⃣ Pushing for innovation and swifter governmental action to address critical workforce and skill needs But what does this mean for the learners and workers navigating our country's outdated #education and #workforce systems, whose paths to economic advancement are filled with dead ends? And what can you do to help? 🔗 Learn more about JFF’s No Dead Ends policy campaign, read our federal and state policy recommendations, and sign the No Dead Ends pledge to join us in advocating for change: https://hubs.la/Q02RLTy80 #Election2024 #skillsfirsthiring #HigherEd #federalpolicy #jobs #wkdev