Governor Eric J. Holcomb attended his first meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board in Washington D.C. yesterday where he shared that more Hoosiers are achieving education and training beyond high school due in part to his Next Level Jobs initiative.
The number of Hoosiers with education beyond a high school diploma reached 43.4 percent in 2018, bringing Indiana closer to its 60 percent attainment goal by 2025. This new data from Lumina Foundation represents an increase of 1.5 percentage points in one year and 10 percentage points since 2008. These gains are supported by Next Level Jobs, which provides tuition-free certificates in high-demand fields and funding for employers who hire, train and retain new employees.
Since Next Level Jobs launched in August 2017, 36,000 people have completed the short survey to connect directly with an education provider, including Ivy Tech Community College and Vincennes University. Over 13,800 people have enrolled in Next Level Jobs Workforce Ready Grant program, and more than 5,000 of them have completed a certificate program in some of Indiana’s highest demand sectors, including healthcare, information technology and advanced manufacturing.
Next Level Jobs builds on recent efforts and reforms at the K-12 level to better prepare students for future success—such as computer science courses in every school and graduation pathways requirements for high school students that incorporate a focus on career exploration and postsecondary readiness.