HERE to HERE, a nonprofit that champions youth in The Bronx by bringing together business, education, and community leaders to build equitable avenues to lifelong career success, launched the Braided Pathways Community of Practice, a working group of local high schools, six CUNY colleges, and community-based organizations (CBOs) engaged in work-based learning to share best practices, problem-solve, and work together to expand these opportunities for New York City youth and strengthen New York City’s economic recovery. Braiding learning from work into educational pathways enables young people to build 21st century skills and professional networks. Ultimately, these programs create a competitive local workforce and a more equitable economy. The Community of Practice includes Brooklyn STEAM; Health, Education, and Research Occupations High School; Bronx International; James Baldwin School; CUNY’s Lehman College; the College of Staten Island; the City College of New York; LaGuardia Community College; and 18 other organizations.
Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York and Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, the Community of Practice will offer members the opportunity to learn with their peers, share and highlight their own approaches, improve their practices, receive coaching from H2H staff and experienced members, and design solutions to shared challenges facing the youth talent development field. Together, HERE to HERE and the Community of Practice will produce new case studies, playbooks, and research to highlight best practices and needed policy supports for integrated work-based learning across NYC.
Download Community-of-Practice-Release-1.pdf