Rural Innovation: Advancing Education and Workforce Systems

Rural communities, often overlooked and underestimated, are powerful hubs of collaboration and innovation. Rural communities make up 20% of the U.S. population, but only 7% of philanthropic funding goes toward rural areas. This May, JFF’s Lone Star STEM project celebrated and amplified the unique work within rural communities through the "Education and Workforce Transformation in Rural Communities” webinar series. This series explored unique strengths and challenges in rural communities by spotlighting JFF projects that focus on dual enrollment, quality green jobs, work-based learning programs, and rural immigrant populations. Our series' goal was to share examples of how rural leaders across the country are working to implement pathways solutions in their communities, share best practices, and inspire innovation across the country. At the end of our series, one common theme emerged: there is a lot of dynamic opportunity and potential in rural education-to-career pathways initiatives.  

The webinars were inspired by JFF’s Design and Implementation of College and Career Pathways in Rural Communities report, which highlights three promising strategies for implementing rural pathways: 

• Build on local strengths and context 

• Prioritize inclusive economic development 

• Embed remote opportunities 

During the webinar series, we shared several examples of rural partners implementing these strategies in their communities. 

Developing green career pathways for the next generation. Through Climate Resilient Employees for a Sustainable Tomorrow (“CREST”), specifically the Quality Green Jobs Regional Challenge, JFF works with diverse Challenge Members across the country to develop regional green jobs strategies. The nonprofit Lyra Colorado, for instance, supports five Climatarium "hubs": rural collaboratives creating sustainable intermediary structures that foster efficiency and innovation in rural Colorado. Hubs include 20 school districts, seven institutions of higher education, and a wide range of community partners committed to expanding opportunities for all rural students. Through this work, they are building a skilled green talent pipeline by developing pathways in skilled trades, outdoor recreation, regenerative agriculture, water conservation, and cleantech. Pathways are supported by green skills frameworks that support the integration of industry-defined durable and technical green skills in existing pathways. Lyra Colorado also influenced state policy by developing and passing the Seal of Climate Literacy in Colorado. This is possible because Lyra is an effective statewide intermediary—with influence across stakeholders—developing a shared vision of economic resilience and educational opportunity that reflects the values and norms of rural communities.   

Co-designing rural apprenticeships with industry partners. The California Registered Apprenticeship Forest Training (CRAFT) program, which is overseen by Shasta College and co-designed by state industry partners, employers, and the community college, focuses on the needs and context of California’s logging and forest health industry. Apprentices are full-time, paid employees of the sponsoring business for the 18- to 24-month program, which includes mentorship and wage progression for the duration of the apprentice’s participation. Serving all of California, CRAFT highlights its ability to increase profitability for employer partners by training apprentices through relevant education and hands-on learning. This statewide collaboration allows employers to share workforce needs and challenges, enabling Shasta College to incorporate current training methods within their educational and apprenticeship programs, while fostering readiness and confidence in their apprentices as they transition into the workforce. This has resulted in reduced turnover of employees and ensures that the training program and instruction are responsive to and harness the local strengths and assets of the industry and state, therefore providing a trusted talent pipeline for the future. 

Prioritizing rural immigrant success by way of proactive partnership. Through the Rural Immigrant Success Exchange (“RISE”), JFF convenes and supports a network of 10 organizations dedicated to the economic advancement of immigrants, refugees, and migrant workers in rural areas across the United States. RISE organizations are diligent about deeply understanding their participant and community contexts, as well as taking an asset-based approach to circumnavigate the many barriers to quality jobs that immigrant and refugee workers face. RISE Network member Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC) focuses on serving Latine populations in California’s Central Valley. Using RISE funding, CVIIC expanded their evidence-based entrepreneurship training into two new Central Valley communities, Madera and Reedley. CVIIC was intentional about expansion into these communities, proactively investing early in relationship building as well as securing formalized partnerships with local government, chambers of commerce, and other service providers. These collaborations have amplified and expanded CVIIC's RISE program reach, enhancing their name recognition and programmatic credibility along the way. CVIIC’s first RISE cohort served 21 entrepreneurs and their second cohort is currently underway. 

Working toward equitable rural economic opportunity. In Eastern Tennessee, the University of Tennessee - Knoxville (UTK) is developing a partnership model that tackles workforce challenges by highlighting the role of community-based organizations (CBOs) as trusted communicators and by braiding funding sources to establish a sustainable regional workforce ecosystem. Recognizing the necessity of customized local solutions to address the complex obstacles faced by communities often marginalized in workforce systems, this model underscores the significance of collaboration among stakeholders. UTK’s research revealed that green construction and advanced manufacturing are priority industries for green job growth in Tennessee, but employers frequently raise the problem of not having a skilled workforce ready for these jobs. UTK is eager to solve this by building partnerships that center community voice and provide a haven for community members to discuss their concerns, such as racism, recidivism, divestment, and labor exploitation, about workforce and economic development. This strong community engagement has built trust and collaboration with diverse marginalized communities, crucial for stakeholders’ state-level efforts to bring focus to the requirements of the Justice40 Initiative to achieve effective and equitable workforce development outcomes. 

Reducing barriers to entry for rural apprenticeships. JFF’s Next-Generation Apprenticeship for Next-Generation Talent initiative is focused on building awareness and access to pre-apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship for young adults 16-24. One partner, Educate Maine, launched the Aquaculture Pioneers program in 2022. This is a certified pre-apprenticeship program that supports the growth of Maine’s aquaculture industry. Participants engage in short-term, full-time paid positions on farms around the state with advanced credit for on-the-job hours should they continue into a Registered Apprenticeship program sponsored by the Maine Aquaculture Association. To support equity and access to this pathway for more individuals, as well as small and micro employers, Educate Maine developed a common application. This streamlines the process for participants and gives them full visibility into the various placement opportunities available within the program. For employers, this process reduces the capacity needed to create and share job postings, eliminating an administrative burden. Educate Maine also centers trust-building in their engagement with participants and provides them with access to a network of supportive services while working with employers to provide training and support to help them effectively engage in the apprenticeship model.  

 Embedding social-emotional learning in online dual enrollment courses. Minnesota’s Increasing College Access Network (ICAN) enrolls 11th and 12th grade students of color and those experiencing poverty in online dual enrollment math and English courses that integrate social-emotional learning (SEL) into the course curriculum. ICAN addresses two urgent educational problems: 1) the deep inequities in access to, and engagement and success in, high-quality dual enrollment; and 2) the lack of SEL supports that amplify authentic learning. ICAN partners with the Greater Twin Cities United Way, The Learning Accelerator, and three community colleges that are working with 56 high schools serving 401 students in math and English online dual enrollment courses for the 2023-2024 school year. The courses are designed to improve skills such as relationship building, problem-solving, and self-management. ICAN highlights the need for student access to technology and establishes online learning as a viable alternative for rural schools, thereby ensuring equitable access to quality dual enrollment courses and saving students time and money. Integrating SEL into courses has provided key insights into the relationships between instructors and students. As the team enters the second year of implementation, ICAN will continue to refine its technical assistance model to support instructors and community colleges in implementing SEL courses focused on student completion.  

Exploring virtual reality to scale job readiness and safety training. Binghamton University leads New Energy New York (NENY), a coalition of over 50 industry partners and 27 counties in upstate rural New York. Supported by the Quality Green Jobs Regional Challenge, NENY is developing a virtual reality battery job readiness and safety training program. To ensure battery technology jobs are quality jobs, adequate safety training is required. NENY is committed to developing training and making it open source on the NENY Battery Academy platform and accessible to training providers and employers nationally. This initiative is set to enhance job quality for thousands of quality green job technicians. NENY programs are preparing the future workforce with training content spanning all education levels, from K-12 students to PhDs, and from those new to the workforce to existing employees looking to upskill across the battery lifecycle.   

Rural work across the country is demonstrating new, innovative engagement and partnership strategies centering the needs of workers and employers. But there’s still more we can do to scale and replicate these models, starting with recognizing and celebrating rural success and the role rural communities play in incubating innovative education and workforce development efforts, rather than viewing rural communities from a deficit-based perspective. It is also vital to design programming with the understanding that rural communities are not monoliths. We must continue to elevate and extrapolate lessons shared by rural education and workforce leaders to ensure we can all build accessible, equitable education-to-career pathways for our communities. Explore JFF's rural pathways report and join us in our efforts to transform pathways in rural communities.