State awards $1M to Center of Workforce Innovations

The state of Indiana awarded the Center of Workforce Innovations $1 million to help students discover the job they love.

The award is part of the state's $25 million Career Coaching Grant program through the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. Only 28 organizations were selected for the program.

“We are deeply honored to receive this substantial investment,” CWI President and CEO Lisa Daugherty said in a press release. “This will enable us to significantly enhance the career coaching services we offer to young people in Northwest Indiana.”

CWI plans to use the funds in conjunction with Northwest Indiana school districts, JobWorks, Jobs for America’s Graduates, Indiana University Northwest, Ivy Tech Community College, Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana and other youth service providers.

CWI's Ready NWI will play a pivotal role in the process. The program combines the efforts of area K-12 schools, postsecondary institutions, workforce collaborators and employers. Career coaches will provide tours of the Region's industries and meeting with high school juniors and seniors about career choices.

“For schools, we will be specifically focusing on those districts with the highest levels of distress in the local community,” said Shaun Sahloff, CWI’s director of planning and fundraising. “This project will leverage a number of current projects and initiatives to scale the availability of career coaching services to the Region’s high school students.”

The Indiana General Assembly in 2023 developed the Comprehensive Career Coaching and Navigation Framework in collaboration with the Indiana Department of Education.

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