About

In 2022, national education and workforce partners came together with philanthropy with one priority in mind: providing all learners with access to and supports through high-quality college and career pathways systems to facilitate economic and social mobility.

Photo by Allison Shelley/Complete College Photo Library

The need for accessible and sustainable college and career pathways

Our education system can be a driver of economic opportunity. College and career pathways provide intentional, career-aligned courses that span K-12 and postsecondary education. High-quality college and career pathways embed dual enrollment, work-based learning, advising, and lead to credentials of value—resulting in well-prepared individuals, strong economies, and thriving communities.  

High-quality college and career pathways:

  • Provide a clear roadmap to a good job and meaningful career that offers financial security and independence. 
  • Align programs to labor market demand with learners’ interests in mind, leading to better academic outcomes.
  • Equip learners with the skills and knowledge necessary for career advancement.
  • Contribute to economic growth by developing a highly-skilled talent pipeline that provides employers with the workforce they need.
  • Promote upward social and economic mobility by creating opportunities for learners to pursue careers that may have been otherwise inaccessible.

The Launch Initiative - A Look Back at the First Two Years

Launch envisions a future where every learner is able to access and succeed in high-quality pathways. The national partners, philanthropic organizations, and site teams who are part of the initiative believe that every young person deserves:

  • a high school diploma,
  • a postsecondary credential with labor market value, and
  • to be engaged in full-time employment or continued training toward a family-sustaining career in an economically strong community.

Since its inception in 2022, national partners have worked with leaders across 14 states to assess their pathways systems and develop plans for improving those systems to ensure they meet the needs of today’s learners and employers. Each state selected to participate in Launch was leading the field in its approach to pathways and career-readiness. Each site team included state education and workforce agencies, K-12 districts, postsecondary institutions, policymakers, and other intermediary partners.

Through a cohort model, curated academy-style learning, design thinking processes, and the expertise of the national partners, Launch elevated the levers that drive systems change—data, policy, funding, partnerships, and access. 

Site teams who participated in the Impact Cohort approached these levers through four of the integral components of high-quality college and career pathways: advising, work-based learning, seamless transitions, and credentials of value. This culminated in a strategic action plan for advancing each site’s pathway systems.

Site teams who participated in the Innovation Cohort approached the levers through a rigorous design thinking process, which culminated in a pilot concept that reimagines the status quo. Pilot concepts adhered to the following criteria for innovation: focus on specific users, blur traditional boundaries across sectors, generate new collaboration, and create opportunities for scale. 

Through every phase of the work, Launch continues to provide every site team with something as rare as it is valuable: time for collaboration. Launch convenings, both virtual and in-person, enabled those state teams to test old assumptions, generate new ideas, and seed true collaboration.

Conditions for Sustainable Pathways Systems

The site teams representing 14 states participating in the Launch Initiative are leaders in the pathways space, focused on scale and sustainability. As such, and through their work in Launch, they offered insights into the conditions that need to be in place to ensure that pathways systems are built to last. 

Drawing on the expertise of the local, state, and national leaders involved in Launch, and evidence from a national literature review, Conditions For Sustainable Pathways Systems, the first publication from the Launch Initiative, synthesizes these conditions to provide a framework for college and career pathways system leaders to follow as they pursue accessible, sustainable high-quality pathways systems at scale. 

Explore the conditions, strategies, and examples from each site team on the Sustaining the Work page.

Advancing the Work

In 2025, the structure of the Launch Initiative is evolving to best support site teams in the implementation of their action plans and pilots. Learn more on the Advancing the Work page. 

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