May 9, 2023

Education as a Partnership: Working Together to Upskill Your Labor Force

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Madison Gould

Navigate Reconnect supports employers throughout Tennessee by connecting its workforce with postsecondary opportunities and college navigation services to advance employee’s abilities and minimize skill gaps. This allows businesses to maintain their current workforce while strengthening organizational goals and expanding employee educational benefits.

Navigate Reconnect is the regional outreach component of Tennessee Reconnect, a last-dollar scholarship designed to meet the postsecondary degree needs of adult learners identified by former Governor Bill Haslam’s Drive to 55 initiative. Tennessee Reconnect provides adults the opportunity to return to college tuition-free, while also providing personalized guidance and support via Navigate Reconnect to improve matriculation and graduation outcomes.

Under Tennessee Reconnect, and at no cost to the employer, qualified individuals can receive the Tennessee Reconnect Grant to pursue an associate degree, technical degree, or technical diploma at a Tennessee community college or technical college tuition-free. If an employer is looking to upskill its workforce but does not currently offer an educational reimbursement plan, the Tennessee Reconnect Grant can provide funding to strengthen its talent pool and eliminate critical employee skill gaps.

Navigate Reconnect provides adults returning to college with personalized support to and through their college program via a Reconnect Navigator. This high-engagement support system provides adults with a single point of contact to help achieve positive outcomes. A Navigator offers institution-neutral college navigation services, assistance with understanding financial aid and college costs, and provides regular check-ins throughout the semester to support, guide, and encourage completion.

At no cost to the business, partnering with Navigate Reconnect can connect employees with educational opportunities to provide pathways to success for both employer and employee. Educational benefits can be used as a recruitment tool, to upskill the current talent pool, provide a competitive advantage, and to create a pipeline for long-term employee engagement.

To learn more about how to share information to employees about tuition-free college and college navigation services to expand and grow your talent pool, contact Whitney McLaughlin, Navigate Reconnect Regional Director of East/Northeast Tennessee at [email protected] or (423) 201-7095.

Additional information about Tennessee Reconnect is available at https://tnreconnect.gov/

About Drive to 55 and Tennessee Reconnect

Drive to 55 is a workforce development initiative created to meet the projected outlook that by 2025 at least half the jobs in the state will require a college degree or certificate. Tennessee Reconnect would help meet the Drive to 55’s goal of having 55% of Tennesseans with a post-secondary degree or credential by 2025.

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