By Miles Flynn | Southern Indiana Business Report
INDIANAPOLIS — North Lawrence Career Center in Bedford, Lost River Career Co-op in Orange and Washington counties, and Washington High School College & Career Academy are among the 20 Hoosier high schools and regional partnerships announced Feb. 2 as new participants in the state’s pilot program to match students and employers through work-based learning opportunities via the Employment Aid Readiness Network (EARN) Indiana grant.
The EARN Program
The EARN Indiana program is the state’s work-study program and was previously limited to college-enrolled students. Now, though, high schoolers with financial need also will have access to resume-building, experiential, paid internships, while employers receive state matching funds – 50% of the student’s hourly rate – for hiring them.
The EARN Indiana program is funded by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and managed through the state’s partnership with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s Work and Learn Indiana. The application review process was conducted by Work and Learn Indiana with the Indiana Department of Education, Indiana Commission for Higher Education and Governor’s Workforce Cabinet.
“The history of the EARN Indiana program is serving students that might not otherwise be able to participate in work-based learning experiences,” said Todd Hurst, executive director of the Institute for Workforce Excellence, a subsidiary of the Indiana Chamber. “With this investment, we look forward to helping hundreds of Indiana high school students be able to take advantage of this opportunity and create meaningful resume-building experiences, networking opportunities, career exploration and increased graduation pathways.”
Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education Teresa Lubbers sees work-based learning experiences as a critical way to help students find the right career and educational pathways for their individual lives. “We applaud the innovative ways the grant recipients plan on using the funding and look forward to seeing the outcomes from this pilot program,” she said.
Dr. Katie Jenner, Indiana Secretary of Education, said the expansion of EARN Indiana into high schools will help better prepare even more students for their next steps. “Whether a student is working towards employment, enrollment or enlistment leading to service, our students deserve to have access to pathways leading them towards their unique goals,” Jenner said.
Awardees will go through an implementation phase with the Work and Learn Indiana team, Indiana Department of Education and Governor’s Workforce Cabinet. They will receive supplemental grant funds to assist with implementation.
Throughout the grant process, Work and Learn Indiana will work with state partners to potentially expand access and opportunity to even more students in the coming months.
Local impacts
Local school officials told Southern Indiana Business Report that the partnership with EARN is seen as a tool to help existing programs step up to the next level. The approaches, though, vary by locale.
Steve Peterson, principal at Washington, said the entire high school embraced the college and career academy approach in 2019 to assist all students in finding their pathways to their next steps in life, whether they’re heading to college or directly into the workforce after graduation. Consequently, he said, visitors to the school won’t see many seniors in the hallways on a typical day. Peterson explained many of those older students are already involved in internships in the community. “We want to connect the education with the experiences,” he said.
Peterson sees the $5,000 implementation grant and additional reimbursement money for internships from EARN as a way to help local business partners affordably take on additional interns from the school.
As reported in a previous Southern Indiana Business Report story on North Lawrence Career Center, the Bedford-based facility partners with schools in a territory that includes Bedford, Mitchell, Medora, Brownstown, Orleans and Shoals. Amy Redman, NLCC director, said the center already enjoys a wonderful working relationship with local businesses and that the $5,000 implementation grant from EARN will grow those connections by helping to fund a staff member to act as liaison between NLCC and the business community. Redman said Kristina Baker, the center’s counselor, does an excellent job of coordinating the efforts now but that she has a lot on her plate.
The new liaison is seen as a tool to help bring in new experiences in fields such as cybersecurity. “We have amazing partnerships with our businesses, but we’re looking to expand into new career fields,” Redman said.
Other schools chosen
- Career Academy, Fort Wayne Community Schools
- Columbia City High School, Whitley County Consolidated Schools
- Community School Corporation of Eastern Hancock
- Daleville Community Schools
- East Central Educational Service Center
- Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation OptIN
- Gary Community School Corporation
- Hendricks College Network, Inc.
- Lincoln Middle/High School
- Monroe County Community School Corporation and Richland Bean-Blossom
- MSD Lawrence Township
- MSD Washington Township/North Central High School
- Oak Hill United School Corporation
- Pike Career and STEM Center
- South Bend Regional Chamber
- Tri-Creek School Corporation, Lowell High School
- Whitko Career Academy
- Winchester Community High School