Paige Korbakes is a senior program manager at JFF. A member of the community college and nonprofit credentialing team, she focuses on issues related to adult employment. She provides technical assistance to direct service providers and supports the implementation of IT training programs, integrating educational opportunities, workforce initiatives, and economic partnerships.
Her skills and areas of expertise include:
- Partnership development
- Program design and implementation
- Employer engagement
- Philanthropic grants management
- IT reskilling project management
Before joining JFF, Paige was the central region program director at Upwardly Global, a national nonprofit that supports college-educated immigrants and refugees who are rebuilding their careers in the United States. In that role, she led Upwardly Global’s Chicago team through a regional expansion, managed the organization’s first online IT reskilling training programs, and established employer partnerships to help companies diversify their talent pipelines and recruit candidates more inclusively. In 2017 and 2018, Paige traveled to Germany to provide technical assistance to frontline workers to support refugee workforce integration efforts. She also had the opportunity to represent the organization at the 2018 European Migration Forum in Brussels.
Paige is a fellow in the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunity Network and a member of the Young Professionals Network of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
Paige says she was drawn to JFF by the opportunity to build a more equitable workforce and mitigate rapidly increasing income inequality. She often thinks about ways to create inclusive economies and level the playing field for vulnerable populations, and says she’s inspired by JFF’s innovative, multidisciplinary approach to advancing economic mobility at the systems level.
In her spare time, Paige enjoys researching new travel destinations, cheering on the Wisconsin Badgers, and assembling cheese boards for her book club.
