Program Helps At-Risk Students Graduate High School
Jobs for Nevada’s Graduates (JAG Nevada) will expand its program to serve an additional 600 students in four critical high schools in North Las Vegas as part of the “Go Deep” initiative, announced Frank R. Woodbeck, chairman of the JAG Nevada board. The four high schools include Canyon Springs, Cheyenne, Mojave and Legacy, which are rated as two-star schools in the Nevada Performance Framework.
Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) is an innovative non-profit program that has been credited with changing the lives of a million young people across the country by helping them stay in school, move on to pursue higher education and/or gainful employment. The results of the program were so inspiring that Governor Brian Sandoval helped bring the program to Nevada in 2013. The original JAG Model was launched in 1979 in Delaware and has since been adopted by 32 states, including Nevada.
The JAG Model consists of a comprehensive set of services that applies a holistic approach to assisting students. The components include: classroom instruction, competency-based curriculums, adult mentoring, advisement and support, summer employment training, student-led leadership development, job and postsecondary education placement services, 12-month follow-up services, and an accountability system.
Nevada was selected from among the 32 states affiliated with JAG to implement the “Go Deep” program which targets high schools with a high percentage of economically disadvantaged students, Woodbeck said.
"The JAG National Board is devoting their resources to a program that we think will have a positive impact on North Las Vegas, as our national demonstration site for future model replication across the country” said Ken Smith, president and CEO of JAG. “We were also impressed by the range of support the initiative received from the state, county and school district. This was a national competition, and I'm pleased that Nevada came out on top with unanimous support from our board.”
The JAG Board will provide $450,000 over three years, which is 20 percent of the program cost for the three-year period, Woodbeck said. AT&T, a JAG Nevada partner, will provide the first $150,000 of the commitment. The Clark County School District (CCSD) and Clark County government will each provide $150,000 each year for three years. The state of Nevada, through the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, will provide $90,000 each year for three years, while the JAG National Board will provide $150,000 each year for three years. The total program cost for the three-year period will be $2.3 million.
“We want to thank Governor Brian Sandoval for committing three years of federal workforce development funding for this endeavor which is designed to help prepare high school students for the workforce,” Woodbeck said. “The JAG Nevada board is also immensely grateful to Commissioners Lawrence Weekly and Marilyn Kirkpatrick for supporting our efforts to secure additional funding from Clark County, and CCSD Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky for also committing resources to this worthwhile effort. The public and private partnerships that make JAG Nevada thrive exhibit the unyielding commitment by the business and education communities to ensuring all of our young people have the tools they need to succeed in school and to become productive members of society.”
The national board is comprised of public and private sector leaders, including 10 state governors and corporate leaders from Microsoft, Western Union, Archer Daniels Midland, AT&T, Entergy, Ally Financial, The Business Roundtable, JP Morgan Chase, IBM, GE Transportation, Shell Oil, Educational Testing Service, HRG Search, General Dynamics, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, and Hospital Corporation of America.
“Go-Deep will bring the JAG Model to scale in North Las Vegas and statistically demonstrate the effectiveness of the JAG Model, which includes higher attendance, higher academic outcomes, higher graduation rates and lower dropout rates,” said Rene Cantu, JAG Nevada executive director. “We believe Go-Deep will lead to higher success rates and lower incarceration and public assistance rates for student selected for participation in Go-Deep. The impact of JAG will be demonstrated on the individual, the family and the community.”
ABOUT JAG Jobs for Nevada’s Graduates Inc.(aka JAG Nevada) is a private Nevada nonprofit formed at the request of the Nevada Governor’s office to serve as the home base for the Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) program in Nevada. The JAG Multi-Year Program is a highly effective, data-driven model that raises graduation rates and prepares participants by honing their work-readiness skills. JAG students graduate at higher rates than their peers and are exceptionally prepared with a tool box of workplace skills that lead to success at work, in post-secondary education and/or the military.
For more information, contact: rcantu@jagnv.org, (702) 810-3068, or visit the website at www.jagnv.org.