Our nation is at a critical juncture at this point in time. In the midst of a deeply polarized society, consistent threats to already meager education budgets, increasingly frequent violence and hate crimes and attempts to silence student voice, centering student needs and facilitating opportunities for their success need to be priorities among every actor in the early childhood to employment pipeline. Ensuring that every student feels supported, valued and prepared to enter the working world supports an ongoing mission to celebrate diversity and support its manifestation in the workforce, a goal that has yet to be reached nationally or globally.
According to Gallup’s 2017 College Student Survey, many recent college graduates will be unemployed or underemployed with their college degrees. Only half of the students surveyed believe that they can secure a good job with their major, and only a third believe that they have the skills and knowledge to be successful in the working world.
This is amplified for first-generation and low-income students, as 89 percent of them will drop out of postsecondary school with no degree.
National Council for Education Statistics data from 2017 further illustrates this conundrum. The most at-risk students are not graduating and reaching their potential when going through our educational system, students who do graduate feel unprepared for the professional world and employers lament a lack of skilled job candidates.
With such an inconsistent track record of ensuring that every student has equal educational opportunity, and of producing a prepared, diverse workforce, something must change.
How can we generate a greater impact on diversity and inclusion in education and professional systems? GlobalMindED creates a space in which organizations and stakeholders whose missions often overlap or complement each other can leave their operational silos and connect with others who are striving to reach the same goals. To support at-risk college students in achieving career success, our education system needs support from every sector interacting with students, from teaching to hiring, to create a diverse talent pipeline that delivers opportunity for every student and a capable workforce.
GlobalMindED is a nonprofit global collaborative, education-innovation network through which members seek to eliminate the barriers to equal access to educational and professional opportunities that result in prosperous jobs. GlobalMindED’s mission is centered on the belief that the people on the ground are the best people to solve our most pervasive problems in educational and professional access.
