Spotlight on Education
CTE / Career Pathways
Innovate Birmingham

A lot of attention has been paid in recent years to the burden of student debt and the need for career pathways for students to enter the job market. A number of innovative programs are now available to help students in Alabama prepare for – and succeed – in high-demand careers. Alabama Public Television’s SPOTLIGHT ON EDUCATION explores a number of those programs Thursday, Jan. 24th, 2019.

Haley Kendrick with Innovate Birmingham discusses the group's workforce development bootcamps. With funding from a six million dollar America’s Promise grant, Innovate Birmingham is offering free coding bootcamps whose graduates are finding well-paying jobs. Birmingham has been recognized nationally for the number of new businesses being generated there, and many of these involve coding skills. Allanté Jowers, an IT/help-desk analyst, and Jake Downard, an application program analyst, both participated in the Innovate Birmingham program.

Following a successful six-year initiative, American Graduate, focused on increasing the high school graduation rate in Alabama, Alabama Public Television and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), launched a new phase of this project in 2018 called American Graduate: Getting to Work. APT is partnering with schools and businesses to help prepare students with the skill sets and training needed to be part of the new workforce, especially in high-demand fields. An extensive set of resources can be found at aptv.org/AmGrad. Included on the website are videos about students who have found their way to careers thanks to various innovative school programs, job apprenticeships, and other career training.