BizVoice November/December 2016

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November/December 2016 – BizVoice/Indiana Chamber 5
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Making sure young people are ready for college or a career after
completing their secondary education should be a top priority for all.
The Indiana Chamber Foundation, through its Ready Indiana program,
is one of the resources identified in the Lilly Endowment’s
Comprehensive Counseling Initiative (a five-year, up to $30 million
effort) to help schools develop counseling programs to guide college
and career readiness.
The Foundation has conducted a series of studies over the past
three years to identify best practices and innovative school counseling
models. Education-employer connections are one of the keys to
success, with businesses a valuable partner. Non-competitive planning
grants (applications are due December 15) are available for public
school corporations and charter schools to utilize Ready Indiana
resources to prepare for competitive implementation grants (May 19,
2017 application deadline) that could be as high as $100 per student.
“Indiana Chamber Foundation research has identified best
practices to assist school counselors with meeting the college and
career readiness needs of their students,” says Shelley Huffman,
Indiana Chamber/Ready Indiana Director of College and Career
Readiness. “We can help schools, and their business partners, with
taking advantage of these models of success and crafting their grant
proposals in order to best implement them.”
Indiana’s current school counseling challenges are part of a larger
landscape of lagging educational attainment and economic prosperity,
according to the Lilly Endowment. Too many Indiana students face
limited earning potential and weak prospects for satisfying careers,
which jeopardizes long-term quality of life for themselves, their
families and their communities.
The Chamber’s Indiana Vision 2025 plan calls for at least 90% of
Indiana students who graduate from high school being ready for
college and/or career training. With the Endowment’s
Comprehensive Counseling Initiative, talented and dedicated education
professionals in place and employers prepared to play an active role in
meeting future workforce needs, now is the time to work toward that
goal and beyond.
The Indiana Youth Institute and the Center of Excellence in Leadership
and Learning (CELL) at the University of Indianapolis are additional
technical resource partners in the Comprehensive Counseling Initiative.
Grants Available: Chamber’s Ready Indiana
to Assist Schools, Employers and Students
Learn more about Indiana Chamber Foundation research at and the Endowment initiative at
Contact Huffman or 317-264-7548) to learn how the Indiana Chamber and Ready Indiana can be of assistance.
CHAMBER REPORT