BHEF and USA Funds Reaffirm Partnership to Provide Essential Insights into U.S. Educational Attainment and Workforce Readiness Landscape

Washington (September 13, 2012) —The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) was awarded $50,000 from USA Funds to engage corporate and higher education leaders to support improved education outcomes. USA Funds is a long-time supporter of BHEF's work around college readiness, access, and success, and, with this grant, BHEF continues to serve as the preeminent organization addressing the alignment of education and high-demand jobs to increase the supply of employees prepared for the 21st century workforce.

BHEF understands that the demands of today's global economy have fundamentally increased the competitive challenges facing American businesses, the economy, and the workforce. More so, awareness at the local level is the key to creating a college-going culture that aligns with high-growth careers. As leaders in their communities, businesses are the natural and most effective group to catalyze support around strategic initiatives designed to align workforce and educational outcomes.

Over the course of the grant, BHEF will engage members, their peers, and national business organizations to promote more effective alignment of education and workforce needs. This new effort challenges business and higher education leaders to act as agents of change, driving the creation of the innovation workforce necessary to keep regions, states, and the nation economically competitive by ensuring that high school and college graduates possess the core competencies necessary to succeed in the 21st century workplace.

Specifically, BHEF will work regionally within member communities to build the evidence base for education-workforce alignment. The USA Funds grant furthers this agenda and will result in a case study of the University of Houston's Petroleum Engineering Program—a "best practice" for corporate-led engagement with higher education to meet the regions workforce needs for petroleum engineers—as well as the implementation of an education-workforce alignment strategy in Louisville, Kentucky that partners business and higher education to align the region's 55,000 degree attainment goal to the 21st century workplace competencies needed to prepare students for success in today's global economy. BHEF will disseminate the effective scaling strategies derived from the regional work through our resource center StrategicEdSolutions.org®.

"BHEF values its continued relationship with USA Funds and is delighted to deepen this engagement," stated Brian Fitzgerald, CEO of BHEF. "These efforts will provide critical insight on how industry can generate and drive support to and ultimately strengthen educational, workforce, and regional economic outcomes."