Building Equitable Pathways
Our Goals
Driving Equity
Building Equitable Pathways strives to improve our education and workforce systems so that all young people can move seamlessly and successfully from high school to college, career, and beyond.
A deep commitment to equity stands at the heart of Building Equitable Pathways. This work aims to ensure that, at every stage and key transition point in their lives, Black and Latinx youth and young people who are experiencing poverty can access the knowledge, skills development opportunities, support, and relationships necessary to thrive in education and in the workforce.
Building better, more equitable college and career pathways systems, and supporting and uplifting the organizations that make them possible, is an important part of how we can make that happen.
Changing Systems
Building Equitable Pathways is a community of practice with 14 innovative intermediary organizations, JFF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Walton Family Foundation.
Intermediaries bring together key players and mobilize cross-sector partnerships to advance equitable pathways. They connect leaders in K-12 education, postsecondary education and training, industry, and government to forge partnerships, craft strategies, and secure funding to develop high-quality college and career pathways.
Together, we seek to increase our individual and collective capacity to change our education and workforce systems for the better. We will identify best practices, create tools, and develop a theory of action to support the efforts of high-quality intermediaries to transform our systems and scale and sustain equitable pathways. We aim to drive engagement across these systems, improve their sustainability, and ultimately, influence more equitable student outcomes in academics and careers.
Our Focus
Building Equitable Pathways focuses on the role intermediaries play in three key areas: facilitating racial equity in the design and scaling of college and career pathways, advocating for policy solutions, and building strong data and infrastructure practices.
Racial Equity
We aim to advance a vision for racial equity in pathways systems by implementing anti-racist practices and policies that affect the lived experiences of youth and the adults working to support them.
As the connector within a pathways ecosystem, intermediaries are uniquely positioned to facilitate the reimagining and creation of equitable pathways systems that truly support all young people in their efforts to succeed in college and careers.
Policy and Advocacy
We aim to cultivate and mobilize the policy expertise and advocacy capacity of intermediaries so they can more deeply influence their policy environments and create a groundswell of collective policy action nationally.
Intermediaries are uniquely positioned to influence policy because they have a commitment to equity and the ability to bring together—and learn from—a diverse set of partners.
Data and Infrastructure
We aim to build strong data and infrastructure practices to facilitate efforts to collect, monitor, analyze, and act on data to support equitable outcomes in pathways ecosystems.
By focusing on their data collection and infrastructure strategies, intermediaries can better shape, advocate for, and evaluate policy and equity solutions.
Our Partners
The 14 intermediary organizations in this initiative are working to strengthen national systems of high-quality college and career pathways to better serve Black and Latinx youth and young people who are experiencing poverty.

Career Connect Washington

Career Connect Washington
Career Connect Washington bridges the gap between employers and educators in the state of Washington by providing the connections, funding, and support they need to deliver high-quality academic and work-based experiences for Washington students, especially those with the most limited access to opportunity.
Through Building Equitable Pathways, the organization is excited to connect with and learn from peers across the county and to help drive the national policy agenda on career-connected learning.

CareerWise Colorado

CareerWise Colorado
CareerWise Colorado believes that by harnessing the transformative impact of modern youth apprenticeship programs across the country, we can drive lasting changes in the way Americans move between education and employment for more equitable outcomes in the modern economy.
CareerWise is eager to join Building Equitable Pathways this unified coalition has the potential to unlock exponential increases in upward mobility for Americans by clearly defining the critical changes we need in our policies and practices for education and employment in the modern economy.

CityWorks DC

CityWorks DC
CityWorks DC's mission is to dramatically improve the early career outcomes of young people in the District of Columbia by ensuring that they all have an opportunity to acquire the “social mobility trifecta” of academic and professional credentials, paid and relevant work experience, and access to a supportive network of professionals so they can secure and thrive in family-sustaining careers in the local economy.
As a member of the Building Equitable Pathways cohort, CityWorks DC aims to deepen its impact and improve its practice by learning from and alongside the other high-quality intermediaries.

CSCU Student Success Center

CSCU Student Success Center
The Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) contribute to the creation of knowledge and the economic growth of the state of Connecticut by providing affordable, innovative, and rigorous programs.
The organization's goal for Building Equitable Pathways is to increase its capacity and develop a coherent, consistent practice to leverage pre-college and non-college opportunities to support students of color in attaining high-value postsecondary credentials.

Delaware Department of Education

Delaware Department of Education
The vision of the Delaware Department of Education is that every learner will be ready for success in college, career, and life.
Building Equitable Pathways will support Delaware’s work to ensure that 65 percent of the state’s workers hold a college degree or professional certificate by 2025, matching the percentage of occupations that require postsecondary skills, and that all students graduate from high school prepared for continuing education and a career.

Educate Texas

Educate Texas
Educate Texas, an educational initiative of Communities Foundation of Texas, is the trusted change agent that strengthens public and higher education systems in the state.
As part of its work in the Building Equitable Pathways initiative, Educate Texas is developing an organizational framework for equity that can be measured internally and externally.

Education Systems Center

Education Systems Center
The mission of Education Systems Center at Northern Illinois University is to shape and strengthen education and workforce systems to advance racial equity and prepare more young people for successful careers and lives in a global economy.
As a member of Building Equitable Pathways, the organization hopes to gain a deeper understanding of racial equity and, in turn, build the tools to promote equity in order to better support its partners in Illinois.

EmployIndy

EmployIndy
EmployIndy supports residents in its community on their journey to economic prosperity by guiding the local workforce ecosystem and making strategic investments that remove barriers to quality employment.
Through Building Equitable Pathways, EmployIndy's aims to create better alignment between employers and education, creating a positive trajectory for students, schools, employers, and the community as a whole.

HERE to HERE

HERE to HERE
HERE to HERE champions youth in The Bronx by bringing together business, education, and community leaders to build equitable avenues to lifelong career success.
As a member of the Building Equitable Pathways cohort, HERE to HERE will work to support equitable system-level outcomes for Black and Latinx students by creating successful programs, policies, and investments, and changing the mindsets of all stakeholders.

Rush Education and Career Hub

Rush Education and Career Hub
The Rush Education and Career Hub (REACH) provides innovative, hands-on STEM instruction to increase postsecondary achievement rates for participants and increase diversity in health care and other STEM professions.
Through its work in Building Equitable Pathways, REACH looks forward to working alongside like-minded leaders who push each other to do extraordinary things to serve young people and advance our dreams for a better tomorrow.

Say Yes Buffalo

Say Yes Buffalo
The mission of the Say Yes Buffalo partnership is to remove barriers to educational attainment, workforce participation, and economic mobility for students in public and charter schools in Buffalo, New York.
As a member of the Building Equitable Pathways cohort, Say Yes Buffalo will use best practices to support and scale its new youth apprenticeship pilot program while learning from and with other intermediaries that are engaged in similar efforts to support their communities.

United Way of Greater Atlanta

United Way of Greater Atlanta
United Way of Greater Atlanta’s vision is that Greater Atlanta metro area will be a thriving and inclusive community where every person, regardless of race, identity, or circumstances, has equitable opportunities to live a healthy life and to acquire the education and skills they need to earn a family-sustaining wage so that they may achieve their full potential.
Through Building Equitable Pathways, the organization aims to create a model of an approach Georgia can take to increase equitable access to education and economic opportunities by centering youth voice and scaling and sustaining youth apprenticeship in Greater Atlanta through CareerReady ATL.

Urban Alliance

Urban Alliance
Urban Alliance is building a diverse next-generation workforce by providing job skills training, mentoring, and paid internships to high school youth from under-resourced communities, predominantly youth of color.

YouthForce NOLA

YouthForce NOLA
YouthForce NOLA's vision is that New Orleans graduates—the vast majority of whom are youth of color experiencing poverty —will thrive economically and be the most sought after talent in high-wage career pathways.
Through Building Equitable Pathways, YouthForce NOLA aims to enhance and accelerate its efforts to build and continuously improve equitable pathways in New Orleans.
We also want to thank and recognize the contributions of the first Building Equitable Pathways cohort: Boys and Girls Club of Greater Memphis, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Career Connect Washington, CareerWise Colorado, HERE to HERE, Rush University Medical Center, YouthForce NOLA, Equal Measure, Mission Minded, and Square Button. Their partnership, expertise, and support were key to developing the tools and resources that follow.
Blog Series
Learnings and Insights About Racial Equity, Policy, and Data: The Building Equitable Pathways Blog Series shares provocations, insights, and lessons from the partners in the initiative.
We are excited to share the challenges we face, the questions we are grappling with, and the solutions we create through Building Equitable Pathways over the next two years. We hope you will learn with us as we seek to increase our individual and collective capacity to change our education and workforce systems for the better.
Podcast

In the Building Equitable Pathways Podcast by Jobs for the Future (JFF), host Kyle Hartung speaks with leaders from across the country working at the intersection of education, training and workforce development. Together, they discuss the work their organizations are doing to create equitable pathways systems so that more Black and Latinx youth and young people experiencing poverty succeed in college and their future careers.