Collaborative Effort Leads to $2 Million Grant to Support Wisconsin Regional Career Pathways Project

The State of Wisconsin has been awarded a $2 million Phase 2 New Skills for Youth grant to strengthen and expand career-education opportunities for Wisconsin students. Wisconsin was one of 10 grant recipients announced by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and JPMorgan Chase yesterday.

The School District of New Berlin was one of three Wisconsin districts included on the planning team to provide insight into how the grant objectives would support and build capacity for the work already going on in Wisconsin districts to ensure students graduate college and career ready.

"It is our collective work to ensure all students graduate as informed consumers of post-secondary education/training, expedite time to degree, provide opportunities that can fuel innovation and job creation, and support projected workforce needs,” School District of New Berlin Superintendent Joe Garza said. “We have been honored to have been part of such a collaborative effort to ensure all key stakeholders play an active role in these efforts.”

Grant funding will support the new Regional Career Pathways Project, which will draw on CEO Champions within four pilot regions to effectively connect education to high demand industries so that they have a broader view of the opportunities available as well as the preparation required for careers of interest.

The SDNB has been a recognized leader in the implementation of Academic and Career Planning. It has also developed many new programs to allow students to explore industries and careers of interest to increase the relevance of what they are learning. Additionally, students are able to take advantage of a variety of experiential learning opportunities across a variety of industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and education.

The district has nearly tripled its offerings in computing and related disciplines, given these skills support all industries. SDNB provides support to students who are ready to take advantage of post-secondary learning experiences while they are still enrolled in high school. This includes youth apprenticeships, internships, and/or access to college level coursework.

New Berlin students with an interest are provided support to complete their first year of a technical degree at Waukesha County Technical College, the first year of a bachelor’s degree (including pre-professional prerequisites), or even complete a full associate’s degree through UW Waukesha depending on their personal, academic, social and career goals.

During the 2016-17 school year, students have also been provided an opportunity to participate in a capstone entrepreneurial skills accelerator program through a partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Lubar Center for Entrepreneurship and the Innovation in Milwaukee Commons program.

"Our work would simply not be possible without the support of our local and extended community,” said Laura Schmidt, SDNB’s Strategic Advisor to the Superintendent. “The additional regional support afforded by the New Skills for Youth grant will serve to build capacity and coordinate the collective efforts of our local resources to provide a more sustainable impact on postsecondary outcomes and economic growth over time.”

Additional information on Wisconsin’s Regional Career Readiness Project can be found on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s web site.