SXSW EDU 2026 PanelPicker: Support our Catalyze Grantees!
SXSW EDU is an opportunity for our Catalyze community to take the stage and share their groundbreaking work and innovative programs with the broader community. As an organization committed to amplifying the voices and insights of our community of practice, we're excited to showcase the incredible expertise within our network.
This March, several of our grantees have submitted compelling session proposals about career-connected learning for SXSW EDU 2026. These presentations promise to offer valuable perspectives on the latest developments in workforce development and career connected learning.
We invite you to support our grantees by reviewing and voting for their sessions using the PanelPicker links below. Your votes help ensure that these important conversations and insights reach the SXSW EDU audience!
Cast your votes for our Catalyze grantees:
Catalyze
Vote Here - From High School to Hired: Hear from the educators, employers, and chamber leaders making it work, and explore how cross-sector partnerships are reshaping talent pipelines.
CareerWise USA
Vote Here - Earn While You Learn: Redefining Career Readiness: Learn how states and employers are investing in youth talent pipelines and what it takes to scale high-quality earn-and-learn pathways nationwide.
Vote Here - New Pathways: Transforming Systems with Apprenticeships: Discover what it really takes to build apprenticeship-ready ecosystems that last. We’ll share what works (and doesn’t work) and you’ll learn to align partners, shift mindsets, and design stronger, more dynamic career-ready education opportunities.
Vote Here - Rethink Your Pipeline: Grow Teachers with Apprenticeship: In this session, partners behind Colorado’s Teacher Degree Apprenticeship program share how they're reimagining educator pipelines. Attendees will hear from in K–12, higher ed, and apprenticeship design professionals who came together in Colorado to build a registered apprenticeship that offers paid, on-the-job training and a debt-free path to a degree.
CAST Schools
Vote Here - Choice Filled Lives: Relationships for Youth Voice & Agency: Discover how building intentional relationships strengthens students’ social capital and creates pathways to choice-filled lives, expanding their voice and agency both within school and beyond.
Vote Here - Leaving a legacy at 16 with PBL: Genuine student agency begins with authentic learning experiences such as project-based learning where choice, voice, equity, relationships and community impact are integral components.
Chicago Scholars
Vote Here - We Don’t Need Another App. We Need Each Other: This workshop brings together K–12 and university educators, nonprofits, and edtech leaders collaborating to redesign learning and workforce pathways. We’re sharing power, centering students, and building on each other’s work instead of starting from scratch.
CodeSpeak Labs
Vote Here - Level Up! Role-Playing Games for Well-Being in the Classroom: Discover how tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) can support social-emotional learning and mental health through an interactive, hands-on workshop.
Collegiate Edu-Nation
Vote Here - Reimagining Learning: Gen AI & Uvalde ISD's P-20 Ecosystem: This session explores how Uvalde CISD is reimagining learning through a resilient, future-focused P-20 model. Highlighting the Batesville AgriTech Leadership Academy, the discussion will focus on integrating Generative AI, place-based passion projects, and career-connected pathways in agriculture and leadership.
Vote Here -Rural Innovation Hubs: Groundwork for a Digital Workforce: This session examines how the EPIC/Edu‑REACH initiative is building regional innovation hubs and laying the groundwork for future apprenticeships and digital careers.
Education Design Lab
Vote Here - From Frontline to Future Ready: With smart investment and human-centered training, we can unlock a pipeline of future-ready talent and rewrite their economic story. Discover how to build adaptive, skills-first pathways shaped by the voices of opportunity youth themselves.
Hidden Genius Project
Vote Here - Is the Math still Mathing on Computing Degrees?: This session explores what readiness means in a post-AI world—and why an ecosystem approach supporting students to and through degrees can help them enter and lead the next wave of innovation.
Launchpad Philly
Vote Here - Is High School Too Soon for Students to Pick A Career Track?: In this session, Launchpad’s leader and a program graduate will explore how students can shape their experience by building skills, confidence, and clarity – without locking into a rigid career path too soon.
National Education Equity Lab
Vote Here - Triple Enrollment: Pathways to College and Career: This panel explores a “triple enrollment” model where students earn high school, college, and industry-recognized credentials at the same time.
nXu x New Bridge Cleveland
Vote Here - Durable Skills at Work: Building the Healthcare Pipeline: In this session, New Bridge Cleveland and nXu will share how their partnership addresses the healthcare workforce shortage while equipping students with the durable skills needed to thrive.
SkillUp Coalition
Vote Here - 3 Tech Platforms Transforming Non-Degree Pathways for Youth: This session brings leaders from SkillUp, the Schultz Family Foundation, ASA, and Willow Education to share youth-focused tech and content strategies that expand non-degree career pathways for young adults.
Vote Here - Crack the Code: Building an Inclusive Clean Energy Workforce: This session explores how states, workforce innovators and mission-driven tech platforms are designing talent pipelines for the clean energy economy, particularly for workers without a four-year degree.
Vote Here - Powering Tomorrow’s AI Talent Through Skills-Based Hiring: This session explores how skills-based hiring and targeted upskilling can connect overlooked talent—especially those without degrees—to high-growth roles in AI, cybersecurity, and data, closing the gap between innovation and opportunity.
Vote Here - Single Stop AI: Agentic-AI Supervitamin For Low Wage Workers: This session explores Single Stop AI, a Google.org-funded initiative that unites AI tools in career navigation, mentorship, and financial support into one agentic AI experience.
