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INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY STRENGTHENING the 21ST CENTURY TALENT PIPELINE Through National Service in High-Need Schools Introduction

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INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY STRENGTHENING the 21ST CENTURY TALENT PIPELINE Through National Service in High-Need Schools Introduction INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY STRENGTHENING THE 21ST CENTURY TALENT PIPELINE Through National Service in High-Need Schools Introduction Employers are demanding new skills and competencies for Employers and City Year AmeriCorps members themselves today’s rapidly diversifying workforce, including problem are increasingly aware of the benefits of City Year’s unique solving, collaboration, communication, adaptability and approach to leadership development, civic engagement and self-awareness.1, 2 Postsecondary attainment has become skill building. Companies, organizations and public school an important determinant of success in the 21st century. systems understand that a “city year” is a career accelerator, By 2025, 65% of all U.S. jobs3 will require postsecondary and they are eager to mentor, hire and promote our alumni, education and training. Based on current rates, the U.S. will now more than 27,500 strong. Likewise, corps members be short several million skilled workers to fill these jobs.4 attest to the valuable competencies they build while serving in urban schools as part of a dedicated, diverse team – from As expectations for educational and skill attainment “hard” skills such as data analysis and project management rise in the U.S., more than 10 million children living in to interpersonal skills in high demand by employers, neighborhoods of concentrated poverty are being left such as learning how to collaborate with people from 5 behind. Large groups of students, including low-income diverse backgrounds, problem solving and relationship students, English language learners, students with learning development. These in-demand skills help to prepare differences and students of color, are graduating high City Year alumni for future career opportunities and also school at starkly lower rates than their peers and therefore strengthen our democracy.7,8 face dramatically diminished long-term outcomes.6 These disparities stem in part from a lack of access to high-quality Together with our school, research, nonprofit and educational opportunities and holistic supports that are philanthropic partners, City Year is working toward designed to meet the intensity of students’ needs. achieving our vision of educational excellence for all students. Central to this effort is our ability to recruit What if we could envision a different future that would a talented and diverse corps each year in a highly ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach competitive job market. While City Year has an impressive their full potential and contribute to their communities? track record recruiting capable and diverse young adults, it is also true that it has become increasingly difficult Every time a young adult signs up to serve with City to recruit top talent in the improved economic climate. Year, students gain access to a role model committed Moving forward, we will need to address the rising concern to building authentic connections that support their among segments of today’s young adult population that a holistic development and academic growth. These year of service could get them off track with their careers. developmental relationships heighten student engagement, Additionally, it is imperative that we recruit even larger improve school culture and increase the chances that numbers of diverse young men from across the country in students will graduate from high school, prepared to order to better reflect the students we serve. contribute to the workforce and their communities. Over time, the cumulative efforts and commitment of This business case highlights new opportunities to inspire thousands of AmeriCorps members each year can have a more young adults of all backgrounds to serve students dramatic impact on America’s highest-need schools and attending our nation’s highest-need K-12 schools and to neighborhoods. Their service ensures that thousands of build the next generation of leaders. students at risk for dropping out receive the support they need to succeed in college and career – positive outcomes that benefit all of us. In addition, the country gains a cohort of young Americans who have developed valuable skills and mindsets as AmeriCorps members who are now prepared to serve their country in other ways – as professionals, mentors and civic leaders. SHELBY LINDSEY-VAUGHN, CITY YEAR BOSTON ’17 Shelby Lindsey-Vaughn embraces his mentor, Mercedes McCurdy. Recruiting the Next Generation of Mentors, Tutors and Role Models When Shelby Lindsey-Vaughn met his City Year Boston AmeriCorps member as a ninth grader in Boston, he didn’t realize he was seeking a role model and mentor. A corps member came to my school and we clicked, She was genuine and real with me. Right away, I was hooked. Shelby’s AmeriCorps member, Mercedes, “let me know right off the bat that she was here for me,” he says. “Her constantly reminding me of that helped build our relationship and brought me to where I am now.” Mercedes checked in with him frequently via text messages. She started attending his football games and church events. She made a point of occasionally eating meals with him. She showed “how I could connect with people, express myself and recognize potential in other people, because she was showing me how I could conduct myself and choose to live,” he states. Now in his early 20s, and a graduate of Roxbury Community College, Shelby’s relationship with Mercedes has endured, and the two are still in touch. He says it was her example that inspired him to become a City Year Boston AmeriCorps member in the fall of 2016. He served at the John F. Kennedy STEM Innovation School, working with fifth graders every day. “What I had with Mercedes is what I’m striving to be with my kids,” Shelby says. 1 The Need Improving Access to a High-Quality Education and Leadership Skills Next Generation Leaders include valuable transferrable skills such as critical thinking, teamwork and grit that employers believe job To succeed in school and career, all young Americans must candidates need to succeed in the workplace.14 cultivate key skills and mindsets that help them to learn, achieve at high levels, recover from setbacks and work Creating and supporting experiences, such as full-time effectively in diverse teams. national service programs like City Year, that help to cultivate social-emotional and leadership skills in the next In today’s global economy, there is a growing gap between generation are increasingly beneficial for today’s workforce the skills many young adults possess and those they need to and society. Each year, City Year provides thousands of compete in the 21st century workforce.9 In the early 1970s, young adults with formative opportunities to support the just 28 percent of U.S. jobs required an associate degree or success of students attending our nation’s highest-need higher. By 2025, an estimated 65 percent of domestic jobs schools, thereby both strengthening the urban graduation will require some form of postsecondary education.10 Based pipeline and laying a foundation for a lifetime of service, on current trends, the United States will miss the mark by influence and leadership in the communities where several million workers.11 Already, employers from a wide we serve. variety of industries are struggling to fill vacancies for skilled jobs with 45 percent of small businesses reporting in 2017 that they could not identify qualified applicants for The Gap open jobs.12 It is increasingly apparent that the United States will In addition to technical expertise – STEM skills focused be unable to significantly close its skills gap without on science, technology, engineering and mathematics increasing high school graduation rates for traditionally – companies are placing an increased emphasis on underserved subgroups, including low-income students and foundational competencies that are often cultivated students of color, who frequently live in neighborhoods through effective social-emotional development.13 They of concentrated poverty.15 Sixty-seven percent of students currently attending low-graduation-rate high schools are black and Hispanic, and 60 percent are low-income.16 Apart from incalculable human costs, each student who drops out City Year is building skills needed to of high school earns $670,000 less over his or her lifetime than those with a high school credential.17 We all pay the thrive in today’s workplace by providing a price for this loss of talent and potential. unique leadership experience that focuses Contributing to the stark disparities in graduation rates is on areas such as collaboration, critical the reality that too many schools in high-need communities thinking, communication and problem struggle to provide the level of personalized attention, solving. These are exactly the type of connection and support students need to reach their full potential.18 The number of schools in the United States leadership skills we look for in talent designated as “high-poverty,” meaning a school in which at Comcast NBCUniversal. A resume more than 75 percent of students are eligible for free or with City Year goes to the top of our reduced price meals, has doubled since the 2000-01 school year.19, 20 These schools disproportionately serve children of application pile. color. Nearly half of black and Hispanic students currently attend a high-poverty school, compared with only 8 percent David L. Cohen, Senior Executive Vice President of Comcast 21 Corporation and Chief Diversity Officer of white students. 2 This challenge is intensified in schools in high-poverty CHILDREN OF COLOR ARE MORE LIKELY TO ATTEND communities where the majority of students experience HIGH-POVERTY SCHOOLS. 22 adversity and stress that impact their readiness to learn. Nearly half of black and Hispanic There is an urgent need for diverse role models and students attend a educators who can relate to students’ perspectives, high-poverty school experiences and cultures in schools. Research shows that students “who share racial or gender characteristics with compared with eight their teachers tend to report higher levels of personal percent of white effort, happiness in class, feeling cared for, student-teacher students.
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