Business-Higher Education Forum and EY US Close Opportunity Gaps for Community College Students Through New Hiring Pathways as Part of Workforce Partnership Initiative in Texas

November 13, 2024 – Washington, D.C. – The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) and Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) were recently featured in a case study by the Business Roundtable, the nation’s leading association of chief executive officers of America’s leading companies, for their roles in a new initiative through the Texas Workforce Partnership Initiative. The case study highlights a collaboration between EY US and the Alamo Colleges District, facilitated by BHEF in collaboration with the Business Roundtable, to create impactful workforce pathways for Texas community college students.

As the Workforce Partnership Initiative’s business-higher education intermediary charged with driving regional collaboration between Business Roundtable member companies and regional higher education leaders, BHEF applied its evidence-based collaboration methodologies to break through historic siloes, create venues for shared collaboration, and establish a cutting-edge pilot program connecting EY US with aspiring talent through Alamo Colleges District.

Some of BHEF’s unique contributions and the initiative’s successful outcomes so far include:

Establishing Regional Alignment. BHEF supported EY US and Alamo Colleges coming together to shape a vision for success. By aligning these parties on shared goals and strategies for student engagement, BHEF facilitated consensus on terms that would drive a strong and enduring partnership.

Driving Faculty-Level Change. Through the process, BHEF created open forums to discuss the benefits of new job opportunities for students and how faculty could enhance student success. Through these conversations, BHEF secured faculty feedback, analyzed trends, and facilitated curricular changes to better prepare students for emerging roles in Texas’ workforce.

Creating Shared Input. BHEF collaborated with EY US to raise awareness among community college graduates of new workforce opportunities with professional services organizations. Activities included on-campus presentations and an immersive site visit to the EY US San Antonio office, helping students better understand the career paths available to them.

Last Partnership Model. Leveraging its evidence-based, business-higher education partnership methodologies, BHEF has convened more than 120 companies across Texas in collaboration with key intermediary like the Texas Business Leadership Council, Texas Association of Community Colleges, and Educate Texas. These methodologies have helped reduce silos in the state, driven collaboration across the private and public sectors, and created the framework and first steps to a sustainable, high-performing business-higher education structure to replicate and scale hiring programs like the EY US-Alamo College District.

“The launch of this pilot demonstrates the power of methodical, agile, and focused collaboration models that bring everyone to the table,” said Kristen Fox, CEO, Business-Higher Education Forum. “The relationship between the Business Roundtable, Business-Higher Education Forum, and state leaders like the Texas Business Leadership Council and Texas Association of Community Colleges shows how quickly we can create change at scale by creating focused, purposeful collaborations that provide shared opportunities.”

“The relationship between the private sector and higher education is an important one. It not only helps meet workforce needs but also provides career opportunities to the next generation,” said Ellen Glazerman, Executive Director of the EY Foundation. “It is through the EY US-Alamo College District pilot that we, together, were able to provide a pathway into professional services and create employment opportunities.”

“Having a framework like the Workforce Partnership Initiative, staffed by a national intermediary, is helping us accelerate our ability for business to move from policy to practice here in Texas,” said Texas Business Leadership Council President Justin Yancy. “With the Business-Higher Education Forum’s help, we’ve been able to convene hundreds of corporate leaders in productive, effective conversations with higher education leaders to create the career pathways our businesses need to thrive and grow here in Texas.”

The EY US-Alamo College District pilot program builds on the broader shared success of the Workforce Partnership Initiative. BHEF was recently awarded a $2M by the JP Morgan Chase Foundation to expand its role into Texas as the initiative’s national business-higher education intermediary, translating business talent needs into regional action through higher education institutions and closing opportunity gaps for Americans across the country. Launched in late 2022, the initiative has quickly grown in scale and success with multiple Summits and new credential maps.

Launched originally by the Business Roundtable in 2018, WPI started as a way to connect America’s leading CEOs with local colleges and universities in nine regions across the country to fill high-demand jobs in STEM-related fields and skilled trade positions. To date, the initiative has engaged over 360 large and small employers and 130 higher education institutions to create employment opportunities for 5,400 students and 14,000 apprentices.

For more information on the Business Roundtable Workforce Partnership Initiative, visit https://www.businessroundtable.org/corporate-initiatives#workforce-partnership-initiative.

For a selection of case studies on WPI regional sites, view BHEF 2021 case studies on Chicago, New York City, North Carolina, and more here, BHEF’s 2023 WPI Milwaukee case study here, and BHEF’s  2024 updated Chicago case study here.