Info

JFYNetWorks was founded in 1976 to help inner-city high school dropouts find jobs. Soon after opening its doors, JFYNetWorks began the program experimentation that is its core organizational character, developing and implementing a series of successful education and training programs. From the beginning, JFYNetWorks has always emphasized the cultivation of strong relationships with employers, both to develop job opportunities for our clients and to keep JFYNetWorks training responsive to industry needs. In addition to job training and placement, JFYNetWorks developed a tutoring program in the 1970s, competency-based GED and pre-GED curricula in the 1980s, a youth entrepreneurship program in the middle 1980s, an alternative high school diploma program in 1987, and a specialized reading program in 1990. One of the keys to JFYNetWorks success has been its expertise as an intermediary between the needs of the community and the needs of the labor market. We bring together employers who have unfilled job openings and individuals who need training and motivation to enable them to work. JFYNetWorks has developed its curricula in collaboration with local employers, colleges and universities, and other community-based organizations. In response to the rapidly changing labor market, JFYNetWorks has continued to evolve new strategies that address the training needs of a skills-deficient labor pool and the increasingly specialized needs of industry. Beginning in 1990, JFYNetWorks developed new training programs to meet demands for entry-level workers with specialized technical skills in the biotechnology and environmental technology industries. The core innovation of the new model was the substitution of short-term, job-specific training for long term academic certification. The new model attracted the Ford Foundation to fund its replication.