Catalyze
Challenge
Expanding Bold Innovations in Career-Connected Learning
Since 2021, Catalyze has led five rounds of national funding challenges for bold, early-stage innovations in career-connected learning. Round 5 of the Catalyze Challenge is investing over $4 million to expand access for young people. Meet the organizations bringing their ideas to life in Round 5.
Catalyze Round 5:
Round 5 grantees receive:
Hands-On Technical Assistance: Expert support to refine your idea and develop a strong, actionable plan.
Funding to Launch Your Innovation: Up to $300,000 grant for finalists to implement their program during a full school year.
A Pathway to Impact: Help young people explore their interests, build in-demand skills, and connect to meaningful careers.
Round 5 supports organizations through a multi-stage review process shaped by educators, employers, funders, past grantees, and field leaders. All grantees are invited to join the Catalyze Community of Practice, made up of more than 100 organizations.
Thirty-one awardees were awarded $10,000 and three months of hands-on technical assistance from national experts to refine their ideas through a three-month incubation phase.
Fourteen organizations advanced to the third phase of Round 5, Implementation, to spend a full school year bringing their ideas into classrooms and communities with up to $300,000 and technical support from Catalyze.
Each member of Catalyze’s Round 5 cohort is innovating and testing a bold approach to career-connected learning in their own community, helping to move the field forward.
Congratulations to Our Round 5 Implementation Grantees!
Implementation Grantees will spend a full school year bringing their ideas into classrooms and communities with up to $300,000 and technical support from Catalyze.
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Congratulations to Our Round 5 Incubation Awardees!
Implementation Awardees will spend a full school year bringing their ideas into classrooms and communities with up to $300,000 and technical support from Catalyze.
Read more about the news
Catalyze Challenge: Round 5
Catalyze is a collaborative funding initiative that operates the Catalyze Challenge, awarding competitive grant funding to forward-looking organizations with bold solutions to specific career-connected learning challenges, particularly those faced by learners and young adults ages 11–22 navigating career pathways.
Round 5, launched in January 2026, focused on two themes:
Theme One: Career Exploration for Young Adolescents
Empowering middle and high school students to discover interests, build agency, and imagine their futures through hands-on, student-driven experiences.
Theme Two: Meaningful Work-Based Learning through Employer Partnerships
Connecting learners with employer co-designed opportunities that build technical and professional skills aligned with today’s workforce needs.
Round 5 also marked a shift in how Catalyze funds good ideas.
For the first time, learners themselves sat on the review panel with equal scoring weight, alongside educators, employers, funders, and past grantees. Dr. Michelle Cheang, Catalyze's Director, reflects on what changed and why in a Catalyze blog post, Why We Changed the Way We Fund Good Ideas After Five Years. Read the blog post here.