Governor Eric Holcomb of Indiana, Chair of the Board of Directors of Jobs for America's Graduates, and Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana, Vice Chair, announced today that Jobs for America's Graduates achieved the best results in its 38-year history, in serving some of the nation’s most challenged youth achieve education and employment success.
The results were announced by Governor John Bel Edwards at the 35th annual JAG National Training Seminar, held in New Orleans and attended by the largest number of staff in the history of the organization.
JAG is one of the nation’s largest and most successful organizations in serving students who face significant life challenges and/or have experienced trauma. Today, JAG operates in 35 states in 1,250 locations, serving 63,000 youth.
JAG provided 12 full months of follow-up college placement and career pathway support services, ending on May 31, 2018, for the JAG Class of 2017. The results for the Class of 2017 are the highest ever achieved over JAG’s 38-year history, with data collected from JAG programs across 35 states, including the most rural and most urban areas, from American Indian Reservations to the deepest inner city areas.
Results for the JAG Class of 2017:
- A 95%+ graduation rate – the highest ever in the 38-year history of Jobs for America's Graduates, while high school graduation requirements have become more demanding. In its entire 38 years, JAG has never had an overall graduation rate lower than 90%.
- An employment rate of 64% – also the highest in JAG’s history, while serving the part of the population least likely to be employed. The 64% rate JAG students achieved is twice the rate of non-JAG students in the same demographic.
- A full-time engagement rate of 91% (We define full-time engagement as working, in higher education, in the military, or some combination, on a full-time basis – at least 40 hours per week.) Also a record high for JAG.
- 44% were enrolled in higher education – at a time when overall college enrollments were down by 500,000 from the year before, and 1.5 million fewer than three years ago.
Research conducted by Drexel University’s Center for Labor Markets and Policy reported last year that students who participate in JAG are 230% more likely to secure full-time jobs than all other 18- to 20-year-olds in the general population – not only the more challenged population that JAG serves.
Five thousand employers across the country regularly hire the young people of Jobs for America's Graduates because they have mastered JAG’s 37 Employability Competencies, are enthusiastic about working, are customer-service oriented, and desire to build good jobs into good careers.
Governor Holcomb highlighted “These extraordinary results demonstrate exactly why I join so many Governors in service to the JAG Board of Directors—and why we want to bring JAG to 250 more high schools here in Indiana.”
JAG Vice Chair, Governor John Bel Edwards, has determined to reach at least 200 schools in Louisiana with the JAG program. He notes, “In Louisiana and around the country, Jobs for America's Graduates is once again delivering compelling results for the young people and employers of our nation. In Louisiana we’ve doubled the scale of JAG to 128 schools. In the future, we intend to grow the program further, creating additional opportunity for our Louisiana students.”
Ten Governors serve on the JAG Board of Directors – more than any other organization in the country. That group of Governors is truly “tri-partisan,” comprising Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
Please visit the JAG website: www.jag.org
Contact: Janelle Duray
Senior Vice-President, Jobs for America's Graduates
703.706.9645
janelle.duray@jag.org