Financial Coaching: A New Approach for Asset Building?

Through a literature review and interviews with nonprofit financial coaches, examines the concepts, training, and capacity building involved in financial coaching for low-income families, as well as critiques of existing models and their implications

Ready for Tomorrow: Demand-Side Emerging Skills for the 21st Century

As part of the Ready for the Job demand-side skill assessment, the Heldrich Center explored emerging work skills that will affect New Jersey's workforce in the next three to five years. The Heldrich Center identified five specific areas likely to generate new skill demands: biotechnology, security, e-learning, e-commerce, and food/agribusiness. This report explores the study's findings and offers recommendations for improving education and training in New Jersey

The Rise of Innovation Districts: A New Geography of Innovation in America

As the United States slowly emerges from the great recession, a remarkable shify is occurring in the spatial geogrpahy of innovation. For the past 50 years, the landscape of innovation has been dominated by places like Silicon Valley - suburban corridors of spatially isolated corporate campuses, accessible only by car, with little emphasis on the quality of life or on integrating work, housing, and recreation. A new complementary urban model is now emerging, giving rise to what we and others are calling "innovation districts." These districts, by our definition, are geographic areas where leading-edge anchor institutions and companies cluster and connect with start-ups, business incubators, and accelerators. They are also physically compact, transit-accessible, and technicall

Critical Factors for Success among Social Enterprises in India

In addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it is expected that governments, private sector businesses and civil society organizations will be involved. Social enterprises, in particular, are attracting global attention. While international development agencies have increased their investment in social enterprises, empirical research on their business practices remains limited. For the purpose of determining factors critical to the success of social enterprises in a developing world context, this paper examines the cases of for-profit social enterprises that provide goods and services necessary for poor communities constituting the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) in India. The paper identifies the distinctive business approaches that enable social enterprises to continue their work in what can be described as a challenging and critical geographical context

Ready and Able: Addressing Labor Market Needs and Building Productive Careers for People with Disabilities through Collaborative Approaches

The report describes market-driven practices that increase hiring, retention, promotion and accommodation of people with disabilities through partnerships with employers.Approaches profiled in the research include: collaborations between major national employers and public sector agencies; models that focus on an industry or occupational sector; private and "alternative" staffing services that place people with disabilities; partnerships that expand opportunities for college students and graduates with disabilities; and local and regional hubs that connect people with disabilities and employers. The research also profiles two organizations where lead disability and employment partnerships act as catalysts

Digital and Media Literacy: A Plan of Action

Outlines a community education movement to implement Knight's 2009 recommendation to enhance digital and media literacy. Suggests local, regional, state, and national initiatives such as teacher education and parent outreach and discusses challenges

The Community College As Entrepreneur: Developing and Sustaining Effective Noncredit Workforce Training Partnerships

In an era of increasingly tight community college budgets, noncredit workforce training partnerships with local business and industry are becoming critical sources of revenue. These partnerships can underwrite otherwise unaffordable projects and build effective bridges from non-credit to credit-bearing coursework for students. However, little research exists on the nature of community college noncredit workforce training partnerships or how those partnerships are built and maintained. The purpose of this study is to identify how and in what ways Illinois single-campus community colleges develop and sustain effective noncredit workforce training partnerships. This qualitative case study of Illinois’ single-campus community colleges and their business and industry counterparts examines the entrepreneurial orientation of noncredit workforce training partnerships, analyzes the methods by which partnerships are built and sustained, and examines the levels to which partnerships are evaluated. A sequential multi-method approach to data collection gathered data and information from five community college administrators and five noncredit workforce training partners. The conceptual framework for this study incorporates Lumpkin and Dess’s (1996) Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct; Amey, Eddy, and Ozaki’s (2007) Partnership Development Model; and Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick’s (1993) Four Levels of Training Evaluation. The findings indicate that community college administrators frequently demonstrate the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct’s salient dimensions of innovativeness, proactiveness, and autonomy; however, these administrators rarely demonstrate the salient dimensions of risk-taking and competitive aggressiveness. In addition, noncredit workforce training partnerships are normally initiated by a x community college champion who may or may not be the college president; however, this individual must be viewed as a champion by both partners. All study participants found that the key to successful noncredit workforce training partnerships involves the use of a knowledgeable, experienced closer who attends to the relationship’s logistical details and keeps the champion apprised of partnership developments. The findings also indicate that most noncredit workforce training administrators limit their use of training evaluation to measuring learners’ reaction to training, which reaction is used almost exclusively for purposes of marketing and promotion. These administrators do not employ successive levels of evaluation to measure learning, behavioral change, or results, all of which could impact training effectiveness or future training initiatives. Interestingly, study participants also indicated a need for the community college to implement client resource management software, membership on local workforce investment and economic development agency boards, and noncredit advisory councils to assist in partnership development and maintenance. Finally, Condon’s Noncredit Workforce Training Partnership Model is presented to guide community college administrators in developing and sustaining noncredit workforce training partnerships

Mobility, Career Pathways, and the Landscape of Employer and Youth Engagement in the South

It's tough for a southern kid born at the bottom of the income ladder to get ahead. Overcoming regional economic hardship, long-tolerated racial inequity and subpar education infrastructure is almost impossible. But there is progress. This issue brief examines two key elements connecting southern young adults with rewarding employment opportunities: employer and youth engagement. The brief offers a framework to assess the preconditions for effectively engaging employers and young adults and identifies examples of promising efforts. It also considers what philanthropy can do to reinforce the importance of employer and youth engagement and expand the use of both in the South

Seizing the Moment: Realizing the Promise of Student-Centered Learning

This brief outlines policy recommendations for supporting student-centered learning at the local, state, and federal level

Corporate Higher Education: Models And Examples

Corporate education has become a major influence in higher education today.  The goal of this initiative is to explore the forms that higher corporate education takes.  Among the most prevalent are: specifically designed university programs, partnership programs between a company and a university, and corporation designed programs created and offered to meet the specific needs of educating their employees in training matters and providing development within the corporate structure.  While there is no set formula for fashioning a successful program the myriad variations provide an opportunity to explore the pros and cons of each model.  An example of a successful corporate higher education program is explored