About American Graduate: Path to the Future

American Graduate: Path to the Future

 This multi-year initiative, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and The WNET Group, strives to help students explore and prepare for high-demand careers, including the 30 million open middle skill jobs that require a one-year occupational certificate or two-year associate degree. Learn More:

WXXI has been part of the national American Graduate for 10 years. During the past several years WXXI has collaborated to advance education and career readiness in the region by building awareness of career pathways to attain “good jobs.” WXXI has produced over 30 local content videos focused in-demand career sectors that require training beyond high school but less than a four-year degree to get started in the field.

WXXI's American Graduate work emphasizes:
• Thousands of in-demand jobs that go unfilled in our region
• Accessing careers through training, apprenticeship, professional certificates,
associates programs, and on-the-job training
• Sharing inspiring stories of how people found their career pathway
in our region and how individuals can get started pursuing a career
• Connecting to resources to research new career options
• Local hands-on career events, industry tours, career days and job fairs
• Connecting with career counselors at educational sites and one-stop job centers to make 

• WXXI connects schools, parents, youth and young adults with career exploration resources in the region such as

• WXXI American Graduate Career Profiles Playlist
• PBS LearningMedia career profiles
• WXXI's Career Series: I Can Be What?!
• GLOW With Your Hands Virtual career site
• Interactive Career Coach To Learn About Career Pathways in the 9 Counties (from MCC)
• Career Documentaries On-Demand from Public Media
• Community Career Resources Including: One Stop Centers, Career-Technical Programs, Community Colleges, Explorer Programs

National American Graduate: Getting to Work  

Launched in 2011, American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen has helped young people stay on a path to a high school diploma and has had an impact on thousands of lives.

Over a period of 10 years, more than 125 local stations, 40 national producers, and 1,700 local and national partner organizations became part of the American Graduate initiative.

Public media’s content, combined with community public forums and town halls, increased awareness among national and local leaders from the public and private sectors and inspired them to collaborate and partner with public media.

This initiative attracted students, teachers, parents, and mentors, who all worked together as champions on behalf of young people at risk of dropping out. Public media played an important role in raising awareness and highlighting solutions as the country increased its high school graduation rate.

Now, American Graduate is exploring how the pandemic is affecting long-term employment trends for young people as well as the kinds of skills and training they will need to navigate the new job market.

American Graduate: Path to the Future will build a library of digital career profiles designed to directly appeal to young people ages 13-18 and will be led by the WNET Group, New York.

Find out more through WXXI or cpb.org/americangraduate.

See the video archive with WXXI Education from June 8, 2021 at 7 PM ET for the American Graduate: Path to the Future virtual launch event. This multi-year initiative, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and The WNET Group, strives to help students explore and prepare for high-demand careers, including the 30 million open middle skill jobs that require a one-year occupational certificate or two-year associate degree.

Watch the national presentation on-demand

Watch the local discussion 

ABOUT THE NATIONAL EVENT: From 7-8 PM  learn more about American Graduate: Path to the Future and explore careers, career paths, and the post-COVID economy with youth and leading experts, including Patricia de Stacy Harrison, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Dr. Miguel Cardona, United States Secretary of Education; Vanessa Barnes, Dean of Students, Counseling and Student Services, Millbrook Magnet High School, Raleigh, NC and ASCA 2021 School Counselor of the Year Finalist; John Bridgeland, Founder & CEO of Civic; ShuDon Brown, Supply Chain Professional: RPA Shared Services, SW Product Introduction & Customer Support, IBM; Dr. Shari L. Camhi, Superintendent of Schools for Baldwin Union Free School District and President-Elect, AASA, The School Superintendents Association; Anthony Carnevale, Director and Research Professor, Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce; Carolina Dominguez, Assistant Director, Americas Corporate Responsibility, EY; Christina Ha, Journalist & TV host; Victoria Hodge, Senior, University of Virginia; Margaret R. (Peggy) McLeod, Ed.D., Vice President of Education, Workforce Development and Evaluation, Unidos US; Monique Miles, Vice President, Aspen Forum for Community Solutions, Aspen Institute; Eduardo J. Padrón, Ph.D., President Emeritus, Miami Dade College; Rey Saldaña, President and CEO of Communities In Schools®; Hari Sreenivasan, Anchor of PBS NewsHour Weekend and a Senior Correspondent, PBS NewsHour; and Rick Wade, Vice President of Strategic Alliances and Outreach, US Chamber of Commerce.

*This event will be hosted on OVEE.itvs.org and you will receive directions for how to connect to the national event and to your local conversation following. 

From 8PM-8:30PM please join WXXI Education for a 30 minute local follow-up conversation with panelists from workforce and education to react to related issues facing our 9-county Greater Rochester and Finger Lakes Region and reactions to the national event content, moderated by Marion French, WXXI's Vice President, Education & Interactive Services

*The WXXI regional discussion will be on ZOOM. You will receive the ZOOM link to connect at the end of the national event. 

Panelists in the local discussion:

• Atwan Williams, Director of Youth System Services for RochesterWorks!
• Charisma Travis, M.S., Program Director of Afterschool Academy, Urban League of Rochester, N.Y. Inc.
• Jay Lazarony, Executive Director, Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming Counties GLOW Workforce Development Board
• Jill Slavny, Executive Principal, WEMOCO Career and Technical Education Center Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES

Regional Event Partners include:

• Young Women's College Prep Foundation, Inc.
• PathStone Corporation Workforce Program & National Farmworkers Jobs Program,
• Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES Career and Technical Education (WEMOCO)
• Livingston County Area Chamber of Commerce | Livingston County Education Alliance
• GLOW Workforce Development Board
• NYMAT Machine Tool Corp
• Finger Lakes Works Youth Programs of Finger Lakes Workforce Investment Board & Sodus Central School District with Wayne County Consortium Schools
• Genesee County Job Development Bureau 
• Genesee Valley BOCES: CTE schools in Batavia & Mt. Morris, NY
• Optimax Systems
• Explorers Program, Scouts of America
• RochesterWorks!
• LandPro Equipment
• Livingston Associates
• Urban League of Rochester, After School Academy

About WXXI Education's American Graduate Work

WXXI has been part of the national American Graduate over a number of phases. During the past several years, WXXI has collaborated with regional partners to advance education and career readiness in the region by building awareness of career pathways to attain “good jobs.” WXXI has produced over 30 local content videos focused in-demand career sectors that require training beyond high school but less than a four-year degree to get started in the field. 

WXXI's American Graduate work emphasizes:

• Thousands of in-demand jobs that go unfilled in our region
• Accessing careers through training, apprenticeship, professional certificates,
associates programs, and on-the-job training
• Sharing inspiring stories of how people found their career pathway
in our region and how individuals can get started pursuing a career and continue to learn
• Connecting to resources to research new career options
• Local hands-on career events, industry tours, career days and job fairs
• Connecting with career counselors at educational sites and one-stop job centers and workforce resources to make connections for students

• WXXI connects schools, libraries, out of school programs, parents, youth and young adults with career exploration resources in the region that are free to all such as: 

• WXXI American Graduate Career Profiles Playlist
• PBS LearningMedia career profiles
• WXXI's Career Series: I Can Be What?!
• GLOW With Your Hands Virtual career site
• Interactive Career Coach To Learn About Career Pathways in the 9 Counties (from MCC)
• Career Documentaries On-Demand from Public Media
• Community Career Resources Including: One Stop Centers, Career-Technical Programs, Community Colleges, Explorer Programs, Apprenticeship: Youth and NYS options

Learn More About: WXXI Education | WXXI American Graduate

About American Graduate: Path to the Future

American Graduate: Path to the Future is a multi-year initiative from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and The WNET Group created to help students across the country explore and prepare for high-demand careers, including the 30 million middle skill jobs that require a one-year occupational certificate or two-year associates degree.

The focal point of Path to the Future will be hundreds of inspiring and informative digital career profiles delivered in a style that 13-18-year-olds can relate to and that can be found on social media, a dedicated website, and an app.

Here's how it works: as a student, you answer a few questions about your talents, interests, and skills, as well as favorite subjects in school. Path to the Future assesses and then gives you a selection of short, fun videos profiling people who work in different high-demand jobs and careers in your community that may be a good match for you. Each video will show you what people’s jobs are like, what a typical workday involves, explain what the person likes and dislikes about the job, and describe the path they took to get to that career. The site will connect you to websites, programs, and organizations where you can learn more about the job and help put you on a path towards your career!

About the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.

CPB is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting and the largest single source of funding for public radio, television, and related online and mobile services.

CPB’s mission is to ensure universal access to non-commercial, high-quality content and telecommunications services. It does so by distributing more than 70% of its funding to more than 1,500 locally owned public radio and television stations.

CPB strives to support diverse programs and services that inform, educate, enlighten and enrich the public. Through grants, CPB encourages the development of content that addresses the needs of underserved audiences, especially children and minorities. CPB also funds multiple digital platforms used by thousands of public media producers and production companies throughout the country.

About The WNET Group

The WNET Group creates inspiring media content and meaningful experiences for diverse audiences nationwide. It is the nonprofit parent company of New York’s THIRTEEN – America’s flagship PBS station – WLIW21, THIRTEEN PBSKids, WLIW World and Create; Long Island’s only NPR station WLIW-FM; and ALL ARTS, the arts and culture media provider. The WNET Group also operates NJ PBS, New Jersey’s statewide public television network, and newsroom NJ Spotlight News. Through these channels and streaming platforms, The WNET Group brings arts, culture, education, news, documentary, entertainment and DIY programming to more than five million viewers each month.

A leading public media producer for nearly 60 years, The WNET Group presents and distributes content that fosters lifelong learning, including multi-platform initiatives addressing poverty, jobs, economic opportunity, social justice, understanding and the environment. Through Passport, station members can stream new and archival programming anytime, anywhere. Community-supported, The WNET Group represents the best in public media.