Even as employers need skilled workers in order to grow and compete in the global economy, too many young Americans are shut out. Lack of opportunity, the cost of college, and a lingering stigma attached to career and technical education (CTE) prevents high school and community college students from acquiring the education, credentials, and skills they need to get and keep jobs that offer family-supporting wages. Whereas higher education and workforce training were once viewed as separate fields, there is now more focus nationally on programs that aim to prepare students for success in both, by means of “college and career pathways” — or “pathways” for short. States have begun developing clearly articulated pathways systems that start in high school and end in good jobs, integrating career and technical education, rigorous academic course work, employability (or “soft”) skills, and work-based learning. But despite support for this approach in many states and from the federal government, challenges to scaling up and sustaining effective pathways remain.

In early 2015, the Joyce Foundation asked MDRC and Jobs for the Future for assistance in planning an initiative to advance career pathways programs in the Great Lakes states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio). As part of that work, MDRC conducted a scan of communities in the Great Lakes region to identify those that had gained traction in pathways design and implementation with districts, postsecondary partners, and local employers, but that would require incremental investment and support if they were to achieve adoption on a greater scale.