Publications & Toolkits

We need to take a new and different approach to prepare our nation’s young people – our next generation of workers and citizens – to be successful in school, on the job and throughout life.

The U.S. economy depends upon a strong pool of new entrants to the workforce who will continue the American traditions of innovation, research and development.  Improving workforce readiness of young people is a growing priority within the business community.

Businesses throughout the United States are facing a crisis. Young people today—the workforce of tomorrow—are not prepared to contribute to or succeed in a knowledge-based economy. This crisis is one that threatens our nation’s ability to compete in a rapidly changing and more competitive global economy.

Over the past seven years, Bank of America and more than 90 other corporations have partnered with Year Up to gain access to skilled talent. The Bank of America/Year Up partnership creates apprenticeship opportunities for low-income urban young adults ages 18–24 who have completed high school or received a GED.

When Accenture had the opportunity to rethink its corporate philanthropy in New York, the leadership wanted to see if starting something new and radically different could have a greater impact. With that goal in mind, Accenture worked with others in the business and nonprofit communities to found NPower NY, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing the technological capacity of the nonprofit community. Accenture worked with NPower NY to use its professional expertise and innovation to create the Technology Services Corps (TSC).

Young people ages 14 to 21 have a unique set of needs and represent the promise of the future. Too often in the past they have been looked upon as a potential problem group; however, with the proper range of opportunities and supports, they can be an invaluable asset – to their families, their communities and to the corporate sector.

Assesment of new workforce entrant readiness on "very important" skills (basic knowledge and applied skills rated as "very important" by a majority of employer respondents.

U.S. companies are competing in an ever-increasing global marketplace where workers must transition from an industrial to a knowledge-based economy. But just as employers need decades of institutional knowledge to meet the challenge of the global business environment, the baby boom generation – the most experienced workers with the greatest knowledge and skills – are retiring.