California Workforce Association, Youth Conference Long Beach, California January 17, 2008 Luis Chavez Career Ladders Project Career Pathways

 Series of connected education/training programs— and related supportive services—that connect to employment within a specific industry or occupational sector. Each step is designed to prepare for next level of employment and education.  Long-term, comprehensive educational and training strategies designed to enable individuals to combine school and work in order to advance over time to better jobs and to higher levels of education.

 Target careers in industries of importance to the regional labor market;  Provide the basic skills, entry-level training, continuing skills advancement and ongoing education necessary to serve both workers and employers;  Create avenues of advancement for incumbent workers, jobseekers, and future entrants;  Build on partnerships, linking resources of community colleges, workforce agencies, employers, labor and community-based organizations on a regional basis.

 Careers that pay a living wage require skills and education beyond high school  These are the fastest-growing segment of the labor market, expected to account for nearly two-thirds of net new jobs between now and  Each of us must be prepared not for one job, but for a lifetime of skills.  A vibrant economy - and a healthy society – requires a well educated labor force.

Today, millions of American adults lack the education and skills needed to compete in a postindustrial economy – relegating them to "low- wage, low-opportunity jobs, as well as increasingly marginalized positions in the nation’s social and political life.” The same fate awaits hundreds of thousands of young people who leave school each year without a diploma or ill-prepared for college and the workplace. New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce

 Advocate for career pathways for the youth you work with...  Identify high wage/high opportunity career pathways in your area.  Establish partnerships with:  employers  community colleges  community organizations  Use supportive services to facilitate advancement  Inform youth about career paths–choice and voice

 Career Advancement Academies – large scale, regional demonstration projects: ◦ Central Valley ◦ East Bay ◦ Los Angeles  One student’s story...

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