Skilling America Partnerships Course and Resource Library Pilot

The Hope Street Group team is excited to launch the pilot of the fourth Skilling America (SA) course, Partnerships, along with a robust Resource Library and a "News" section covering the latest news on SA and its partners. Over the past year, Hope Street Group has collaborated with operating partners Goodwill Industries International and the Institute for Educational Leadership as well as field experts to develop self-paced professional development that will equip Navigators to unlock access to better jobs. The pilot launch of the Skilling America courses and platform offerings is occurring at a particularly critical moment as millions of Americans have lost their jobs or had their hours or income from work reduced because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Now more than ever Americans rely on Navigators to guide them through this challenging time. Due to this latest wave of business uncertainty, demands for career coaching are expected to climb in future months. In order to prepare for this, Skilling America is offering users the opportunity to participate in the piloting of Skilling America’s latest offerings, the Partnerships Course and Resource Library at no cost. 

What is Skilling America? 

Skilling America (SA) is a professional development initiative for Navigators to uniformly guide and unlock access to better jobs and mobility for their clients. SA delivers valid and reliable learning and credentials, tools, and best practices in Navigation. Through the platform, users can develop the necessary competencies to lead efforts and to follow practice through to success for their own growth and development, the clients they serve, students and working learners, and communities. Funding for SA is provided by the Walmart Foundation, Autodesk Foundation, and Arconic Foundation.  

Pilot the Partnerships Course and Resource Library 

Providing Navigators with learning resources while teleworking is imperative. That’s why we are excited to pilot the latest courses and features of the Skilling America platform.  The Partnerships Course and Resource Library are available at no cost during the pilot phase (through June 30, 2020)!

• The Partnerships Course was designed to provide Navigators with the necessary competencies to establish successful stakeholder partnerships and regional sector initiatives. The five modules will train Navigators in competencies such as identifying key drivers and necessary stakeholders to advance a regional sector initiative and fostering opportunities to partner with stakeholders and customers.
• The Resource Library is a collection of job aids, tools, research, and materials referenced in the courses to support Navigators in guiding individuals to better jobs and mobility. Use the Resource Library to engage with peers and see how other Navigators are using the resources in their own practice. Users also have the opportunity to submit a resource for sharing with the Skilling America Navigator Community.

What’s New? 

Based on feedback from the Career Coaching Course pilot, the layout of the Partnerships course was redesigned adding new elements to better support users (such as videos, closed captioning, voiceovers and transcripts). We hope you will take advantage of this pilot opportunity and provide feedback on what other tools and features you’d like to see added to the platform.  

Missed the Career Coaching, Analysis, or Leadership Course Pilots? 

The Career Coaching, Analysis, and Leadership Courses along with Community Forum are still in pilot phase, if you haven’t completed the courses you are invited to provide feedback as we consider enhancements to the pilot version. As a reminder, these courses are free to access during this time and upon completion you will receive the associated course certificate. Check out the Pilot User’s Guide or watch this short video for instructions on how to access a SA course.

Pilot Schedule:  Piloting for all four Skilling America Courses, the Forum, and Resource Library is open through Tuesday, June 30th 2020.

Ready to Get Started? Check out our how-to video and Pilot User’s Guide for help with accessing courses and platform offerings. As a reminder, in addition to receiving free access to the four Skilling America courses, you will also be able to seek feedback from your peers in the Forum, access all of the job aids and tools from the Resource Library, and earn certificates for each completed course (please use access code “ACLCPilot” when signing up for a new SA account).  

What’s Next? Hope Street Group will provide more details on the Certified Skilling America Navigator (CSAN) application process this summer. Please use the Skilling America News page to check back for more updates as this will be the best place to find Skilling America announcements going forward. Or sign up for Skilling America News Updates to be notified by email when new stories are added to the Skilling America News page. 

Want to participate in a pilot focus group? 

The Hope Street Group team will be conducting pilot focus groups during May and June to garner feedback for future enhancements to SA courses and offerings. If you would like to participate please sign up here. 

If you have questions about Skilling America, please contact the Skilling America Team at contact@skillingamerica.org.