LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Gov. Andy Beshear announced a new program Monday meant to connect Jefferson County Public Schools seniors with college education, jobs at some of Louisville’s largest employers once they graduate or both.
“Everybody Counts” is a partnership involving JCPS, Evolve502, UPS, Ford, GE Appliances, Kroger and others, and Beshear said the program will include the Class of 2022 at Kentucky’s largest school district in hopes of having every senior registered for postsecondary studies or placed in a job before they graduate.
Students are expected to begin receiving materials on higher education options and “concrete” job opportunities with the four major Louisville-area employers by Feb. 1, he said.
“If we're going to dream big, then we’ve got to swing big,” Beshear said during a news conference at Pleasure Ridge Park High School. “If we want to grasp our destiny as being an economic leader — as not being the flyover state but the destination — we have to ensure we don't lose a single person, that we take everybody's value and ensure that those options at that bright future to be a part of something special is there for every single student.”
The quick pace of “Everybody Counts” is “critical because we cannot tell the current senior class that we won't be ready for a year,” the governor said.
“Waiting is not an option,” Beshear said. “There are too many young people who deserve this same opportunity at the end of this school year as we'll be able to provide at the end of the next school year.”
Monday's announcement comes less than a month since Evolve502 said its scholarship program had secured enough funding to cover two years of postsecondary tuition at Kentucky Community and Technical College schools or Simmons College of Kentucky for JCPS students through the Class of 2026, which covers those currently in eighth grade.
"Evolve502 welcomes the opportunity to partner with our major employers to provide pathways for our scholars and other JCPS students to careers that will allow them to reach their full potential and in many instances break that cycle of poverty in their families," said Marland Cole, the group's executive director.
This year's class of seniors may be the only one in the nation "where the district and the community is promising them full-tuition scholarship and a full-time job at one of the companies that are pillars in our community," JCPS Superintendent Marty Pollio said.
"That is something that is a game changer for our students and will make all the difference in the world, so I'm so excited to see our students in JCPS have the opportunity for college and career like no other district across America," he said.
"Everybody Counts" comes at a time when many employers are struggling to fill jobs, gaps in educational attainment persist and many youths have "lost hope," Beshear said.
"Those that get lost in our education system or sometimes even our criminal justice system, they deserve something good to look forward to, to strive for a bright future available for everyone," the governor said.
That was a point echoed by others who spoke during Monday's news conference at Pleasure Ridge Park High.
"People have hope when they know they have options," said F. Bruce Williams, senior pastor of Bates Memorial Baptist Church. "People lose hope when they feel like they don't have options.
"I believe that one of the reasons why the homicide rate is so high is because people don't think about tomorrow. They don't think they have a future, but this particular initiative provides an opportunity, an option."
Earl Jones, associate general counsel for GE Appliances, said "Everybody Counts" allows participating employers to refocus their recruitment efforts on JCPS students "who may have gotten lost somewhere in the system or who may be unprepared to really think about what their futures are due to the circumstances in which they find themselves."
"I think it's a mutual learning experience we'll have to go through, but I think at the end with the support of all these folks and the governor's leadership, we'll be able to do that," he said.
"When Gov. Beshear approached Ford about this initiative, it really struck a struck a chord with us," said John Alkire, human resources manager at Ford.
"There's no better way to get back to the community than by helping the youth here find a path for success. Whether their dream is to come and work at the blue oval or one of these other great companies or a form of higher education, we believe that industry can do its part in supporting them."
Madi Searcy, a Pleasure Ridge Park High senior who is in the school's teaching and learning pathway in the Academies of Louisville, believes "Everybody Counts" will help motivate JCPS students as they consider their futures.
"I feel as if a lot of students don't get the opportunities to attend college and to get these opportunities in these workforces because they feel as if they don't matter or maybe their work wouldn't make an impact, but as a student at JCPS I believe that all of us have an opportunity to excel in whatever we would like to do," she said.
More information on "Everybody Counts" can be found at this link.
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