Introducting 918 Educate

In 2017, Tulsa was designated a Talent Hub by the Lumina Foundation.

Each Talent Hub focuses intensively on one of three populations that is critical to raising the nation’s overall post-high school attainment level to 60 percent of working-age adults by 2025: 18-to-22-year-old students; older adults with college experience who stopped out before finishing their studies; or adults with no formal education beyond high school. Talent Hubs are committed to eliminating deep disparities in educational outcomes among African-Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians, who fare poorly in contrast with white and Asian students.

Tulsa is 1 of 17 cities chosen because we have met rigorous standards toward attracting, retaining, and cultivating workforce talent.

918-Educate-Logo-Final-FullColor-web-retina
LuminaFoundation-Logo

A Collaborative Team

Tulsa has a history of productive collaborations between various partners. 918 Educate is no different. Currently, these organizations are partnering to bring post-secondary attainment opportunities to underserved populations through the Lumina Foundation grant. As the partnership grows, more organizations will be added below. If your organization would like to partner on this initiative, please contact us below.

TCC-Logo
TCW-RegularLogo-Final-2018
TulsaRegionalChamber
TulsaTech

The Facts

Nationally:

The United States will need 16.4 million more middle- and high-skilled workers by 2025. The need is increasing at a higher rate than the population is being trained. One of the Lumina Foundation’s goals is to increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees and certifications to 60 percent by 2025. Increasing post-secondary attainment is a proven strategy at creating wealth and pulling people out of intergenerational poverty.

UnitedStates

Locally:

In Oklahoma, there is this same large skills gap – and it’s continuing to grow. Organizations, like Tulsa Community WorkAdvance, work with employers to understand their needs and train people to fill those roles. In just 8 years, Oklahoma will need 600,000 more workers with post-secondary degrees, certificates, or credentials. This is above and beyond the current graduation levels – meaning 600,000 NEW individuals to the workforce. Oklahoma’s goal is to increase post-secondary attainment from 40% to 70%.
Oklahoma

The Goal

OklahomaGraph

How do we boost Oklahoma’s post-secondary attainment from 40 to 70% in a few short years?

Here’s some of our ideas:
  • Break down barriers and obstacles to ease entry into post-secondary education
  • Ensure more students complete education through collaboration
  • Serve at-risk populations, with a special emphasis on our Hispanic population and individuals with no post-secondary education
  • Raise and lift up education as a whole
  • Align people with high-wage careers
  • Show the value of stackable credentials
  • Collaborate with community partners currently working with the populations we could and will serve
  • Create links between technical education, higher education, and non-profit organizations

Conclusion

Time is critical. The time to educate and bolster the workforce is now. With 2025 just around the corner, we have incredible work to do in the next few years.

If you want to be a part of the movement and help 918 Educate connect people to higher paying jobs and post-secondary credentials, contact us below:

Contact the 918 Educate Team

If you are interested in contributing to or being a part of 918 Educate, please let us know below. We welcome your questions and comments as this program shapes the future of the high-skilled workforce in Tulsa and all of Oklahoma.