JFF Strategic Plan 2009-2014
The Jobs for the Future Strategic Plan details how we will all work together with
our partners to design and promote policies and practices that enable lowincome youth and adults - traditionally those most underserved - to have access
to education and career development that prepare them to succeed in jobs that
earn family-sustaining wages. Ensuring this happens requires a multifaceted
approach, from advancing job training opportunities in high-demand careers, to
improving postsecondary credential rates, to increasing the numbers of collegeready high school graduates.
Truly preparing people for “jobs for the future” means the nation must start with
the roots of an adequately prepared workforce, improve K-12 and postsecondary
education, and ensure that state and federal policies support innovation and
implementation in education of all kinds. Advanced education is a prerequisite
for opportunity and success, and JFF is the unifying voice across many diverse,
innovative programs, schools, and districts that span the necessary continuum of
improved education at secondary, postsecondary, and workforce levels. Our
Strategic Plan shows how JFF will build on our unique and critical niche - where
research and practice intersect - to inform policy and enable solutions that
provide educational and, thus, economic opportunity for all.
JFF’s Strategic Plan details the goals and strategies we will employ over the next
five years to succeed as a think tank, developing innovative models and informing
policy; and as a support for on-the-ground implementation, helping education
systems and employers put solutions in place that research and data prove are
the strongest catalysts for improved performance. The result will be a better
prepared workforce capable of meeting employers’ needs for higher-skilled jobs
that enable workers to support their families in communities across the nation.
JFF Strategic Plan 2009-2014 Created 10/2009; Updated 4/2011
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Mission
JFF works to accelerate the educational and economic advancement of historically
underrepresented and low-income youth and adults to improve their lives and make
America more competitive.
Vision Driving JFF’s Work for the Next 10 Years
By 2020, JFF, with its partners, is committed to doubling the number of low-income
youth and adults who attain postsecondary credentials or training that helps them
advance into family-sustaining careers.
Goals
To achieve its vision, JFF designs and tests models, supports wide-scale implementation,
and advocates locally and nationally for:
1. Innovative secondary school designs and pathways that prepare all students for
college success, feature early access to college-level coursework, and include
transitional supports to postsecondary education
2. Postsecondary academic and occupational programs and supports that increase
the degree and credential attainment rates of low-income, underprepared young
people and adults
3. Pathways and programs that accelerate advancement for lower-skilled adults
and local economies through partnerships of employers and educational
institutions
4. Federal and national policies that promote the development and wide-scale
adoption of the solutions supported by JFF and its partners as most effective in
accelerating the educational and economic advancement of low-income,
underprepared youth and adults
JFF Strategic Plan 2009-2014 Created 10/2009; Updated 4/2011
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Goal #1
JFF designs and tests models, supports wide-scale implementation, and
advocates for innovative secondary school designs and pathways that
prepare all students for success in college. These designs feature early
access to college-level coursework, and include transitional supports that
increase the percentage of students who continue on to postsecondary
education.
Strategies
a. Expand the number of successful Early College Designs that feature college-level coursework
in high school and supports for all students to reach a college-ready standard to achieve a
critical mass of quality schools in select states and regions of states through partnerships
with school development organizations, states, or school districts. (Primary Responsibility:
Cluster 1)
i.
With school development organizations, develop and refine proven and scalable
Early College Designs
ii.
Measure effectiveness of Early College Designs
iii.
Support continuous improvement of designs through analysis and application of
school and student data, structured professional development, and peer learning
iv.
Build demand for Early College Designs using outcome data that proves this solution
produces more effective results than traditional venues for this population
v.
Advocate for policies and support for states and districts that promote wide-scale
implementation of Early College Designs
b. Implement and scale-up back-on-track designs that improve high school graduation and
postsecondary success rates for young people who are not on track to high school
graduation or are out of school altogether. (Primary Responsibility: Cluster 2)
i.
Work with and across cities, states, and community colleges with active or emerging
Back on Track pathways to help them implement and sustain those pathways and
move toward systemic reform
ii.
Work with national youth-serving intermediaries and networks to enhance/ improve
current diploma granting and GED programs into more powerful pathways thru
postsecondary
iii.
Develop comprehensive leader/teacher and counselor training programs that
support schools/programs in key cities/states, networks, postsecondary institutions
in the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of quality Back
on Track/GED to College Pathways
iv.
Assist 4-6 states to develop policies that will remove barriers and create incentives
to raise graduation and post-secondary completion rates for off-track and out of
school
JFF Strategic Plan 2009-2014 Created 10/2009; Updated 4/2011
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c. Use research and development process to position JFF as a partner to investors in next
generation learning pathways/models that improve outcomes for low income and
underprepared learners. (Primary Responsibility: Cluster 2)
i.
Stay current on next generation learning models, including ones utilizing new
technologies
ii.
Build the field of student-centered and proficiency-based learning so that it informs
and is informed-by schools and programs that increase the degree and credential
attainment rates of low-income, underprepared young people and adults
Goal #2
JFF designs and tests models, supports wide-scale implementation, and
advocates for accelerated pathways for underprepared youth and adults
to achieve sub-baccalaureate postsecondary credentials that have value in
the labor market.
Strategies
a. Design, promote and scale effective models that help low-skill youth and adults prepare
for, enter, and succeed in sub-baccalaureate pathways.
i.
Refine and scale effective ABE/GED/Dev ED on-ramps tailored to students entering
at different skill levels.
ii.
Develop and implement credit-level occupational and technical pathways for
underprepared younger and older adults.
iii.
Codify the core elements of evidence-based models that accelerate time to
completion and/or integrate on-ramp and credit-level pathways designs.
b. Assist states to remove barriers and implement policies, practices and incentives that
enable scale-up of effective sub-baccalaureate models.
i.
Identify, codify and disseminate examples of successful state scale-up of effective
sub-baccalaureate models.
ii.
Work with states to adopt policies that provide overarching support for
underprepared students and facilitate implementation and scale-up of promising
models and practices.
iii.
Provide capacity building products and services designed to drive and support
innovation, including supporting institutional redesign through state networks.
c. Demonstrate the use of data to guide the implementation of, and advocacy for, effective
program designs that increase the alignment and attainment of sub-baccalaureate
credentials to industry needs.
i.
Develop products and services that use labor market information to better connect
students with postsecondary career pathways that lead to high-demand high-wage
jobs.
ii.
Work with states to expand and align postsecondary programmatic offerings with
changing labor market demands.
JFF Strategic Plan 2009-2014 Created 10/2009; Updated 4/2011
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iii.
Implement a data driven improvement process that uses outcome data to inform
policy making, improve program design and encourage innovation.
Goal #3
JFF designs and tests models, supports wide-scale implementation, and
advocates for pathways and programs that accelerate advancement for
lower-skilled adults and local economies through partnerships of
employers and educational institutions.
Strategies
a. Strengthen networks of regional workforce funding collaboratives and partnerships that
promote workforce models and system changes to help lower-skilled workers succeed in
education and careers. (Primary Responsibility: Cluster 2 and 3)
i.
Increase and strengthen funding collaboratives that leverage philanthropic, public,
and economic development resources to support career advancement for lowskilled workers
ii.
Strengthen and expand regional partnerships that develop and implement unified,
comprehensive strategies for economic growth and prosperity that address critical
workforce issues
iii.
Build and expand workforce partnerships to engage employers and service
providers in increasing career advancement services to low-skilled workers
iv.
Develop and promote state and local policies that support funding alignment,
regional collaboratives, workforce partnerships, career advancement, and employer
engagement
v.
Increase the field’s ability to implement funding collaboratives, workforce
partnerships, and regional associations through research and documenting success
b. Through a sectoral approach, expand and promote employers’ best practices for lowerskilled worker education and advancement policies and programs. (Primary Responsibility:
Cluster 2 and 3)
i.
Identify and document effective advancement approaches from current employerdriven JFF initiatives that have potential to accelerate credential attainment and
movement into jobs with family-sustaining wages
ii.
Promote employers’ adoption of effective adult learner-friendly workforce policies
and practices
iii.
Scale up and replicate proven models for employer-based adult-learner career
advancement approaches, beginning with frontline health care workers and
expanding to other sectors
iv.
Create career pathways in “green” sectors of the economy
c. Elevate effective career advancement pathways for low-skilled adults and under-prepared
youth that improve their access to jobs providing family sustaining incomes. (Primary
Responsibility: Cluster 3)
JFF Strategic Plan 2009-2014 Created 10/2009; Updated 4/2011
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i.
ii.
Build effective models that help low skilled adults and youth prepare for and attain
industry recognized and union credentials that have value in the labor market.
Work with local and state leaders to advocate for and support implementation of
policies that support career advancement pathways and models
d. Apply quantitative and qualitative research methods to adult workforce development
projects in order to test approaches, determine effectiveness, and inform the human capital
development field. (Primary Responsibility: Cluster 3)
i.
Develop a comprehensive research agenda to ensure projects are evaluated using
rigorous quantitative and qualitative research methods to determine field and
population impacts
ii.
Use research to demonstrate the effectiveness of specific workforce development
practices and to inform and improve projects
Goal #4
JFF designs and advocates for federal and national policies that promote
the development and wide-scale adoption of the solutions supported by JFF
and its partners as most effective in accelerating the educational and
economic advancement of low-income, underprepared youth and adults.
Strategies
a. Build and leverage JFF’s advocacy capacity and reputation to bolster its position as a
thought-leader among policymakers and other influential individuals and institutions.
(Primary Responsibility: Cluster 4)
i.
Establish appropriate funding and staffing for national advocacy operations
ii.
Position JFF as recognized experts influential with members of Congress and the
Administration in crafting innovative solutions to raise the educational attainment
and career advancement of low-income youth and adults
iii.
Build and broaden alliances with key national organizations and with policy-focused
foundations
b. Determine strategic federal policy targets and advocacy action plans that support JFF goals,
strategies, and solutions. (Primary Responsibility: Cluster 4)
i.
Develop a cross-organizational federal policy agenda and targets, and identify
appropriate federal policy vehicles to advance them
ii.
Advance the JFF policy agenda by conducting government relations and outreach
efforts directed at federal policymakers in Congress and the Administration
c. Collaborate with state and local partners to inform and influence federal policy in ways
that promote the implementation of JFF solutions at the state and local levels. (Primary
Responsibility: Cluster 4)
JFF Strategic Plan 2009-2014 Created 10/2009; Updated 4/2011
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i.
ii.
iii.
Organize and deliver high quality, timely opportunities for state and local allies and
early adopters and leaders in the field to weigh in on federal policy
Help partners at the state, regional and local levels secure funding so that JFF’s
preferred models and strategies benefit
Infuse JFF’s state policy sets into the agendas of national organizations to shift the
conversation about student completion and success and exert additional pressure
for policy change within states
d. Create national momentum for widespread policy changes that support JFF-advocated
solutions by providing consistent, shared messaging and policy positions, model policy
sets, and standard analytical tools. (Primary Responsibility: Cluster 4)
i.
Develop and disseminate common analytical tools that help elevate JFF-advocated
solutions, and support states that seek to implement these tools
ii.
Build demand for the adoption of JFF-advocated models, pathways and solutions
through publishing policy briefs, scans and research, presenting at high leverage
national convenings, and sponsoring events
JFF Strategic Plan 2009-2014 Created 10/2009; Updated 4/2011
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