Publications & Toolkits

Brookhaven College's industry apprenticeship program leads to specialized training, increased postsecondary credentials, and local business efficiency.

Professional energy services employer partners with technical college to develop high-tech, credentialed heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC-R) talent pipeline.

A Talent Development Solution aggregates many lessons learned from Learn and Earn partnerships. A primary lesson is that Learn and Earn partnerships work. These partnerships serve business interests, enabling employers to build a better-skilled workforce by leveraging the strengths education providers bring to the table. At the same time, these partnerships create valuable opportunities for employees—especially for lowerincome individuals, who often have no choice but to earn a living while they pursue higher education.

A Talent Development Solution, provides a summary of research Corporate Voices conducted the past 24 months identifying the practices, characteristics, and returns of innovative, business-led partnerships between employers and education providers.

For the past several years, Corporate Voices for Working Families has identified and promoted innovative Learn and Earn partnerships across the country. These partnerships between business and education providers help bridge the skills gap for employers while encouraging and/or supporting current and future employees’ attainment of postsecondary credentials with labor market value — the most significant benchmark for achieving economic sustainability. Learn and Earn partnerships are talent development models that provide a real return for leading companies.

Research on education and skills levels of employees and jobs available in the future is clear. Recent projections by The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce indicate, by 2018, the economy will experience 47 million job openings, two-thirds of which will require some postsecondary education or training. Predictions indicate that there will not be enough people qualified to fill three million of these jobs, jobs which require at least a two-year associate’s degree.

Bright Horizons provides a blended e-training program to help teachers acquire their Child Development Associate credential, professionalizing the field of early education and achieving greater center accreditation, the industry standard of excellence.

AREVA, in partnership with Central Virginia Community College, hires high school graduates and provides them the opportunity to earn an associate degree, creating a pipeline of skilled and educated workers and ensuring AREVA is an employer of choice in the central Virginia region.

Crest Cadillac has cultivated a partnership with Brookhaven Community College in the Dallas metro area to offer an Automotive Service Education Program (ASEP), which is a nationally recognized, dealership sponsored cooperative associate degree program in automotive technology. Through internships, tuition reimbursement, mentoring, curriculum development with employer input, flexible scheduling and other supports, the program provides the dealership with a highly competitive and loyal workforce.

Applied Scientific Instrumentation has developed a strong cooperative education partnership with Lane Community College (LCC) in Eugene, Oregon, through which it secures a reliable source of skilled talent to meet its workforce needs in the high-tech industry.