New Options Initiative Focuses on Out-of-School Youth

In 2006 the AIM Institute was awarded an eighteen-month, $297,866 grant to develop a prototype for an alternative credential and credentialing system for out-of-school youth between the ages of 16 and 24.

The grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan, was aimed at the overarching goal of preparing young people for work or further education. AIM is one of six such community-based organizations nationwide that was awarded a Kellogg grant for this purpose and has focused on the information technology career pathway.

The grants to AIM and the other cohort members are part of the Kellogg Foundation’s New Options Initiative (NOI). The purpose is to work outside of the current employment and education system to seek out, strengthen, and partner with innovative community-based organizations, businesses, youth, education institutions, and municipal governments that want to create a new credentialing system to prepare young people for work or further education.

Urgent Need to Develop Talented Youth for Changing Workforce 

Designed to address the growing number of 16 to 24 year olds who are not enrolled in, or who fail to complete high school, the New Options Initiative will create legitimate and viable pathways to careers and education in line with youth passions, strengths, and interests.  AIM and its working committee of over two dozen community-based organizations and educational institutions from across the Midwest Region — together with the young people they seek to serve — have co-created a prototype plan that would result in the development of a new credential for the information technology career pathway that is valued by employers, educators, and young people themselves. 

“The New Options Initiative could not be undertaken at a more significant time,” says Gretchen Koch, director of Skills Development Programs for CompTIA and member of the AIM NOI working committee.

“With the changing demographics reminding us daily that many more Americans are getting ready to leave the workforce than are preparing to enter it, no talent and potential can be squandered among our youth,” notes Koch.  “With the increasing dependence on Information Technology across all industry sectors in our economy, every young person hoping to enter the workforce and gain a living wage needs to demonstrate a solid computer literacy in order to do so. CompTIA welcomes the opportunity to participate in this very important project.”

AIM-Kellogg Partnership Leverages AIM’s Mission and Experience

The AIM Institute was selected by the Kellogg Foundation to participate in developing the new credential and credentialing system for the information technology pathway because of its strong business connections and 15 years of experience in Information Technology workforce development.  AIM works closely with its consortium members and across the community in identifying the information technology needs of area employers and in developing curriculum and applied experiences to address these needs. 

Preparing students for 21^st Century careers and companies for 21^st Century global competition are two major focuses of AIM’s many technology education and business initiatives.  A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, membership organization that supports and promotes business development related to information technology, AIM  is comprised of local, state and regional businesses, area colleges and universities, secondary school districts, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, professional and non-profit organizations and the State of Nebraska. Many of AIM’s members and community partners have provided input and support to the New Options Initiative.

For more information, please contact:

John Jeanetta
Vice President of Research & Planning
(402) 345-5025 Ext. 127
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About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 “to help people help themselves through the practical applications of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.”  To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific areas.  These include:  health; food systems and rural development; youth and education; and philanthropy and volunteerism.  Within these areas, attention is given to exploring learning opportunities in leadership; information and communication technology; capitalizing on diversity; and social and economic community development.

Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern Africa countries of Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.

For further information, please visit the Foundation’s Web site at www.wkkf.org. The site offers:  in-depth information about the Foundation’s programming interests; information on the Foundation’s grant application process; a database of current grant recipients; and access to publications which report on Foundation-funded projects.