Project

Membership in the Pathways to Prosperity Network

Working closely with state and regional leaders, we transform education and workforce systems. Together, we meet future talent needs and empower young people to build better lives.

What members say

“Our coaches from PtoP have been vital resource deliverers and help us codify what we're doing so that we can not only learn from other Network members, but also share our learning with the Network. The Network adds legitimacy and officialness because we're being led by partners on a national stage. Some of what is compelling is spending time and energy to convene as a community, face challenges, and have honest conversations.”
“The JFF Pathways team has helped in a number of different ways. They’ve been really great partners on the highest-level strategy work, as well as the deeper-level nuts and bolts of where we are and where we need to build.”
“I have worked closely with the Pathways to Prosperity team for three years and consider their partnership critical, both to the success of our contractual workstreams, and to the maintenance of my sanity. Through JFF, I have benefitted from unparalleled expertise, rigorous thought partnership, and an impeccably facilitated community of professionals facing or recovering from the challenges I navigate daily.”
“Our state pathways framework was deeply informed by practices in the Network and research JFF has done around college and career pathways. Pathways to Prosperity exposed us to new strategies and ideas and helped us think of different ways of communicating where we need to go, why we need to go there, and who needs to go with us.”
“The PtoP Network catalyzed our work by inspiring, challenging, and motivating us. Our participation gave us an excitement to try things that others have tried before us, learning from the things they learned. Whether you’re in a large or small state, the Network is a way to apply things others have tried in your state or regions of your state.”
“First and foremost we are stronger together. The Network is a way for the field to come together and collectively create. It allows us to show our uniqueness and our differences. We’re able to implement based on the needs of our localized or regionalized context, but we’re collectively driving a broader agenda.”

Drive progress as a PtoP Network member

Discover how you can make a difference in your state or region—we’re right by your side.

Partner with a pathways expert

Get monthly consultations with a Jobs for the Future (JFF) pathways expert, planning and facilitation support for team events, and just-in-time responses to ad hoc questions.

Collaborate with our team to develop custom pathways strategies and models that are tailored to your goals, education and workforce systems, and labor market needs.

Joyful young people using laptop in the library

Access best practices and resources

It’s all at your fingertips. Explore core JFF resources and the Pathways to Prosperity Network website for tools and information all in one place.

A multi-ethnic group of students sits in a lecture hall listening to their classmates deliver a presentation. They are attentive while smiling and encouraging their mate to continue.

Join a national conversation

Our members are like a team, sharing their successes, best practices, challenges, and lessons learned across state and regional lines, supporting and lifting each other up along the way.

Bring up to 10 team members to twice-annual, two-day (highly coveted!) PtoP Institutes, gain senior leader membership in the Pathways to Prosperity Leads group, and participate in additional meetings and remote engagements throughout the year.

Wide shot of a group of students and their teacher gathered around a table in a technology classroom. They are all wearing casual clothing and are situated in a secondary school in Gateshead, England.

Tap into all that JFF offers

Access up to 15 hours of consulting with JFF experts from across the organization on topics such as employer mobilization, artificial intelligence, apprenticeship, federal policy, and sector strategies.

Worried that it’s not right for you? You’ll have time to identify the strengths you can build on for pathways work and possible sources of funding to support your efforts before you join, so you can make the best decision.

National community

Organizations across the United States have teamed up with the PtoP Network to reimagine how our systems work to serve young people from coast to coast.

Network members span the United States. We come together around our shared belief that our education and workforce systems should create equitable opportunities for young people, employers, and communities.

Network members include government officials, leaders in K-12 and higher education, intermediaries, employers, workforce development boards, and other leaders at the state, regional, and local levels.

We’re ready to pull up a seat for you, too.

Previous successes include


cross-sector regional partnerships launched in Texas	students supported annually by Arizona Pathways to Prosperity	in college tuition saved by dually enrolled Minnesota students

and this is just a glimpse into what we’ve achieved with some of our Network members.

Inspired to drive economic advancement and support young people in your community?

Contact us at ptopnetwork@jff.org to explore if Network membership is right for you.

Support services

Strategic, customized services for education and workforce transformation

Through tailored technical assistance and coaching, the Pathways to Prosperity Network amplifies your capacity to design, scale, and improve pathways.

	Each year, you’ll collaborate with the JFF team to craft a scope of work that meets your needs, based on our extensive knowledge and your unique context.
	We’re proud to say we establish genuine partnerships, and our approach allows us to be flexible and responsive to your needs while supporting you to drive progress.
	Customized coaching and strategic advising are available to support you in implementing pathways strategies and developing sustainable education-to-career ecosystems, complemented by tailored technical assistance that advances your plans and helps you realize your goals.

We’re confident we can support you. Our past work with Network members has included:

Discovery and design

Asset mapping and landscape analyses
to identify promising starting points and potential barriers

Facilitation and strategic plan creation
to guide development of a shared vision for pathways, design shared governance structures, and move stakeholders to action

Initiative design
such as support creating signature education initiatives or planning and administering competitive grant programs to spur pathway development

Pathway development

Strategies to launch or leverage existing models and programs
including early college, P-TECH, and career and technical education (CTE)

Pathway maps
detailing programs of study that strategically align K-12 and postsecondary education and lead to quality jobs

Strategic dual enrollment
course sequences that accelerate students’ progress toward stackable industry-recognized credentials of value

Competency mapping
with education and industry leaders to ensure that pathways are aligned to employer needs

Career navigation system design
to support education and career advising and exploration experiences

Work-based learning system design
to scale work-based learning opportunities, including apprenticeships

Implementation supports

Intermediary capacity building
to drive coordinated action on pathways design and implementation

Tools, resources, frameworks, and playbooks
to support pathways implementation and scaling

Strategic communications
including communications strategy, storytelling, documentation, and dissemination

Employer engagement strategies
to strengthen education-industry collaboration and build public-private partnerships

Policy and funding

Support leveraging federal policies and funding streams, including Perkins and WIOA
to support state and local pathways work

Identification of policy barriers
at the state and local levels and development of action plans to address them

Policy development
including strategic advising to state leaders, reviewing existing policies, and drafting new ones

Braided funding strategies
to direct a mix of public, private, and philanthropic funding sources to support pathways

Data systems and analysis

Analyses of labor market information
to identify promising sectors for pathways development

Identification of metrics
to monitor progress and impact

Pathways data systems and cross-sector data collection strategies
to inform and monitor equity-centered processes and outcomes and support continuous improvement

Peer learning and convening

Community of practice and network design and support
such as in-state networks of local pathways leaders, to support peer learning

Planning and facilitation of events
like meetings and workshops that build engagement and capacity in your pathways ecosystem

Success stories

Arizona

The Center for the Future of Arizona needed to develop a regional pathways ecosystem strategy and a strong career navigation system that begins in middle school. PtoP conducted asset mapping, provided strategic advising, and supported partnership development to design key initiatives and innovations, including a secondary-postsecondary co-advising model and a strategy for supporting career exploration in the middle grades at scale. Statewide, over 12,000 students are enrolled annually in early college pathways.

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Colorado

Colorado’s governor needed a standout education initiative, better state policies, and coordinated action. PtoP stepped in with facilitation, strategic advising, and legislative recommendations for the cross-sector “Big Blur” task force to support their charge to blur the lines among high school, college, and careers; modernize programs; boost student access; secure funding; and build stronger partnerships—making Colorado a leader in education policy innovation. 

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Dayton, Ohio

The Montgomery County Educational Service Center needed a strategy to engage employers to ensure that all students have clear pathways from education to the regional labor market. PtoP partnered with educators and business leaders from key regional industries to identify key competencies and map aligned pathways that include strategic dual enrollment and aligned coursework across K-12 and postsecondary, advising, and work-based learning. PtoP also developed a series of case studies to strengthen public-private partnerships.

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Hawai‘i

Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Hawai‘i Executive Conference, and Hawai‘i P-20 needed a more equitable approach to talent development and pathways that lead to quality jobs after the state’s tourism-based economy was hit hard by the pandemic. PtoP engaged state leaders in business, K-12 and postsecondary education, and education and workforce development and analyzed the latest labor market information to create a new talent road map for the state to spur economic recovery and economic advancement for all of Hawai‘i’s residents.

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New York City

The Mayor’s Office needed to launch a workforce initiative to ensure that NYC youth were prepared to meet the talent needs of local employers and participate in the city’s economy. PtoP worked with a cross-sector team of leaders from NYC public schools, workforce programs, and the CUNY system to support the development of a policy framework, a career readiness framework, and an employer engagement menu to build the coordinated system of academics, work-based learning experiences, and comprehensive supports necessary for a public talent pipeline in NYC.

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Texas

The Texas Education Agency, Higher Education Coordinating Board, and Workforce Commission needed a statewide strategy for education and workforce development and a plan for translating state policy to local action across Texas’s economically and geographically diverse communities. PtoP facilitated strategic planning across the three agencies and supports ongoing implementation of the strategy. That includes designing and providing technical assistance to a statewide network of regional intermediaries and cross-sector pathways partnerships that has engaged 45 regions in the state.

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