When partners take the time to get aligned from the start, everyone benefits. In this Q&A, we unpack how vision-setting shapes stronger employer partnerships and more meaningful learning experiences.

Strong programs start with shared purpose. In this post, we look at how employers and learning providers can collaborate to create experiences that honor learner aspirations while addressing real-world workforce challenges.

Catalyze hosted Jennifer Mellor from the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation, a Catalyze grantee, and Ron Mack from Mayo Clinic for a fireside chat about ElevateEdAZ’s collaboration with Mayo Clinic. Through this relationship, Mayo Clinic employs Arizona high school students as paid interns, offering learners direct experience in health care, IT, and operations roles. 

Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation will use Catalyze funding to expand ElevateEdAZ’s structured career exploration and work-based learning to seven new high schools in Arizona via meaningful employer partnerships and co-designed CTE programs.

Propel America will use Catalyze funding to launch new earn-and-learn pathways for Medical Assistant and Pharmacy Technician roles in Los Angeles and Philadelphia alongside three new employer partners.

American Student Opportunity Collaborative is using Catalyze funding to expand virtual and in-person middle school career exploration programming to rural communities in Colorado and Ohio through their partnership with National Rural Education Association.

Educate Texas, a grantee from Round Three of the Catalyze Challenge, and Ascension Texas, a national hospital and healthcare system, have built an exemplary employer engagement model in Central Texas that connects high school students with real-world healthcare experiences, delivering impactful results for learners and the community as a whole.

In case you missed our webinar on employer partnerships, watch the discussion in full and get the top takeaways.

In summer 2023, Oregon STEM supported a program giving 86 students the unique opportunity to intern with 28 employer partners throughout the state.

When the Catalyze Challenge launched more than a year ago, the idea was to…