The Harvard Project on Workforce Spotlights Willow
Case study on our work with Persist Nashville
The reason why no legacy college and career readiness platforms help students navigate quality workforce (non-college) options is that there is no trustworthy data source. This is a massive problem, as ~40% of graduating seniors don’t go to college after high school. And of those who do, only ~60% will go on to earn a degree (either BA or AA). Put simply, helping people navigate quality entry-level jobs and non-college workforce programs matters. A lot.
There are a few strong efforts nationally to change that. The Project on Workforce at Harvard is helping lead that charge with their Workforce Almanac.
Persist Nashville was one of our first pilot partners. They do incredible work supporting first-gen college-going students (their work has increased enrollment rates by 25%, and persistence rates by 16%), and it’s a privilege to partner with them.
Case Study Excerpt
Excerpted from The Workforce Project at Harvard
Background
Willow Education is an AI-native career exploration curriculum and platform designed to guide young people toward purposeful postsecondary pathways. The majority of jobs (68%) require some postsecondary education, but understanding the alternative postsecondary pathways and their value is difficult. Founded in 2023, Willow is helping schools and non-profits address three core challenges related to postsecondary pathways navigation.
Quality. Willow allows counselors to recommend programs that demonstrate a strong return on investment (ROI).
Beyond college-only. Willow helps partners wade through non-college pathways to provide students with quality alternatives to college.
Career exploration. Willow allows students to explore potential careers in a fun and engaging way via exposure windows built specifically with Gen-Z in mind (e.g. through social media-style videos).
Willow Education’s mission is particularly critical as nearly 40% of the students in the US do not pursue college immediately after high school, and many who do face low graduation rates and overwhelming debt. Willow disrupts this cycle by mapping out high-quality college programs and alternatives to traditional college pathways and providing tools that help students make informed, impactful decisions about their futures.
In 2023, Willow partnered with Persist Nashville, a non-profit supporting first-generation college-going students in Nashville, Tennessee. Here, Willow sought to solve a pressing challenge for Persist: ensuring students make informed decisions about their postsecondary options. Persist realized that many students were selecting majors or institutions that didn’t align with their career aspirations or financial goals. Additionally, a significant number of students wanted to transition directly into the workforce but lacked knowledge about high-quality local training programs.
How they use the Almanac
Willow began helping Persist map out the Nashville market of non-college postsecondary training providers. The challenge began with a data gap: many high-quality training programs were not included in federal databases like IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System), leaving Persist Nashville without a full view of local workforce opportunities.
(To keep reading, check out the full Case Study here).
Upcoming Events
Tomorrow! Join us to discuss The Harvard Project on Workforce work and their second version of the Workforce Almanac. Register here.
September 18th.
Join Donnell and me for a real conversation about the importance and challenges of work-based learning. Register here.
Onward,
James