ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ

Skip to content
A collage of four images: a woman using a tablet, a man in a garden, a technician on solar panels, and a doctor speaking with a parent and child.
About ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ

Our Vision

We envision a society where equitable economic advancement is attainable by all.
Join us

Who We Are

ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ (JFF) is a national nonprofit that drives transformation of the U.S. education and workforce systems to achieve equitable economic advancement for all.

We do this by designing solutions, scaling best practices, influencing policy and action, and investing in innovation.

We forge deep partnerships with employers, investors, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and education and workforce development providers to break down barriers and reimagine what’s possible.


Why We Exist
Our education and workforce systems are broken. They are inequitable, disconnected, hard to navigate, and filled with barriers to economic advancement.
Statistics

ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ

92 million

More than half the U.S. labor force is not in quality jobs and faces systemic barriers to advancement.

2x

The Black unemployment rate has been twice the white unemployment rate for more than 50 years.

14%

Less than 14% of students with low wealth who attend college complete their studies and graduate.

Our North Star

A low-angle view of a cable-stayed bridge with a blue sky and clouds in the background.

Our goal is to align education, workforce, and employment changemakers toward a shared North Star:

By 2033, 75 million people facing systemic barriers to advancement will work in quality jobs.

A quality job provides not just a living wage and benefits but also stability, flexibility, autonomy, and economic advancement.

Learn more
Why 75 Million?
Only 38 million people facing systemic barriers to advancement currently have quality jobs. This includes people without a 4-year degree, people of color and women of all backgrounds with a 4-year degree, and people with criminal records.

JFF's goal is to roughly double that in 10 years, bringing the number of people with quality jobs to 75 million.
Highcharts Chart

ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ


Our Focus Areas

Two overlapping arrows pointing right; the top arrow is red and the bottom arrow is black, with a dashed line design.

Creating learner and worker opportunity

Despite our best efforts, economic inequity continues to plague our society, with widening access, outcome, and wealth gaps affecting millions of people.

We will transform education, employment, and talent advancement systems to address systemic and structural barriers to equitable economic opportunity—including an intentional focus on Black learners and workers.

Simple line drawing of a compass with a blue needle pointing diagonally.

Strengthening education and career navigation

The vast world of education and training options is increasingly difficult for learners to understand and navigate.

We will clarify the chaotic learn and work ecosystem and empower people with data and guidance to find, finance, and flourish in personalized, lifelong career pathways.

A black starburst outline with a green checkmark in the center.

Ensuring program quality and efficacy

With myriad new education and training providers emerging, people lack the objective information they need to assess which programs will help them meet their goals.

We will organize and vet the dynamic marketplace, making trusted information about what works widely available to learners, workers, investors, policymakers, and partners and spurring providers to innovate and improve.

Icon of a person and a building connected by arrows, symbolizing communication or interaction.

Integrating learning and work

Prevailing models are disconnected and ill-equipped to prepare workers for our rapidly changing economy and meet employer needs.

We will meet unprecedented, ever-evolving labor and education market disruptions with new, integrated lifelong learning models that prioritize real-world work experience.

 

Icon of a map with an orange location pin on top.

Building strong regional economies

Inadequate education and workforce systems, isolated from regional economic strategies and innovative national approaches, hamper regional growth and development.

We will apply innovative and proven national practices at the local level to grow agile, resilient, inclusive, and globally competitive regional economies—and scale effective local programs at the national level.


How We Get There
We work within systems—and outside of them—to transform the lives of millions of people.

ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ

Click on the image to view the next one.

Our Partners

Five people gather around a laptop in an office meeting, discussing with focused expressions.

Our valued partners and collaborators include education and training providers, employers, government institutions, community-based organizations, learners and workers, investors and entrepreneurs, national nonprofits and industry associations, and philanthropies.

The ASA Center for Career Navigation at JFF will help 16- to 24-year-old learners find, evaluate, access, and pay for high-quality education and training programs while helping employers identify workers with skills that match their needs. Our goal is to empower 20 million young learners by 2030.Ìý

Support Our ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ

Learn more

Contact us today to learn how ÅÝܽ¶ÌÊÓƵ can support your organization, or subscribe to our mailing list to receive regular updates.