By Clare Bertrand, Director, JFFLabs & Tyler Nakatsu, Senior Manager, JFFLabs

While uncertainty is a trademark of youth, the pandemic revealed that young people experience work, learning, and life at a clip more defined by pace than patience.

And we’ve seen that their response to these rapid changes has manifested in activism and innovation. Young people are using their voices and the tools at their fingertips—their phones—to influence decisions and institutions that impact their futures, and to learn skills that help them navigate how they learn and earn a living.

Nonetheless, young people still face significant challenges despite their talent, resilience, and promise. Barriers make it difficult to navigate options that guarantee advancement. A recent study showed that during the 2020-2021 school year, students from high schools classified as “high-poverty” were less likely to enroll in college than their peers. Further, unemployment among young people increased from 8.4 to 24.4 percent during the pandemic. Youth unemployment and disconnection from education can also cost taxpayers $93 billion in taxes annually and $1.6 trillion over their lifetimes in lost revenue and increased social services. Educators, counselors, and supportive adults often lack the capacity to provide guidance on which postsecondary programs to choose, and what occupations and industries will be a good bet in a post-COVID world.

Technology has great potential, but current solutions to help young people navigate postsecondary and careers have yet to meet the mark at scale. Platforms for employers seeking workers are seemingly everywhere, as are tools for corporate workers in search of new professional opportunities. But career technologies that help young people access information about postsecondary and career pathways lack the information about career advancement, skill-building, and credentials necessary for young people to create long-term plans that allow for pivots, off-ramps, and up-skilling.

Empowering young people to succeed is one of the central challenges of our education systems, and it’s a human one: what do young people need to discover and succeed in a career in an economic landscape upended by a global pandemic that is reshaping how we all live and work? How are these needs unique for young people from low-income communities? And what technology could help young people and the systems that serve them so they can navigate options and engage with relevant supports to help them along the way?

Career navigation is a lifelong process that involves engaging students early. It’s a process that should equip learners with a new set of skills that make up a contemporary career: adaptability, resilience, self-reflection, and self-directed lifelong learning.

Youth Career Technology has the potential to unlock these skills and connect learning to the labor market, enabling economic mobility by offering young people the opportunity to make informed choices about their educational options and employment. Further, these technologies can leverage both data and the very human connections that lead to advancement.

EdTech Week, JFF, and American Student Assistance have partnered to produce a platform to shine a light on youth-driven solutions in career technology. We’re inviting young entrepreneurs to apply to the Youth Career Technology Shark Tank.

This opportunity will elevate the voice and solutions of the learners themselves. Through this challenge, young entrepreneurs will submit a postsecondary or career navigation decision-making technology. Chosen finalists will have the opportunity to participate in an EdTech Week “Shark Tank” to pitch to and receive feedback from our “Shark” investors dedicated to supporting innovators. The winner will receive the ASA Prize—including $5,000 cash—and three months of mentorship via some of the world’s best accelerator programs. All applicants will be invited to virtually access EdTech Week’s learning and networking events, April 19-22.

This challenge will provide the crucial perspectives that young people bring to the technology development and career navigation solution market. Through the Youth Career Technology Shark Tank, we’re building a sustained student-centered future, where young people are at the table for decisions about how they navigate their futures in the classroom as well as in their careers.

Applications are due Tuesday, April 6, 2021.

Apply here, and pass it along.

—

Clare Bertrand is a director at JFFLabs. She leads efforts to integrate technology and innovative best practices to ensure that young people can make well-informed decisions about their education and career pathways.

Tyler Nakatsu is a senior digital manager at JFF. He is responsible for developing and executing strategic marketing and communications plans and product development for JFFLabs. He manages special projects for JFF’s communications team including those which involve video production and digital tool creation.