Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) is a state-based national non-profit, working with young people who are most at-risk. In more than three decades of operation, JAG brings consistent, compelling results, helping students stay in school through graduation, pursue post-secondary education and secure quality employment and sustaining jobs and careers.

  • Youth unemployment is at a record high, especially for urban and minority teenagers, and we know this impacts their lifetime earnings and prospects. Yet at the same time, AT&T and other businesses are struggling to find workers who have the mindset, habits, and skills to help us succeed. Click here for the full article.CTNJ 5 7 16

  • neysha flores

    Looking for more JAG workers!

    Like many Connecticut employers, Neysha Flores, above, a vendor services supervisor with National Waste Associates of Glastonbury, is continually looking for workers who are smart, willing and able to learn, and who have the good work habits to fit in and help her company.

    In JAG, Neysha found a great worker, and she would like to find more.

    “Rossana came to us without any business experience, but she impressed us from the first interview, and she has gone on to learn many different elements of our business,” Neysha said, of Rossana Bustamonte, a Manchester High School JAG student she hired six months ago.

    “When she interviewed with us she was well-spoken and outgoing and made a very good impression. She’s doing a really good job, handling everything from cold-calling new vendors to dealing with emergency situations and different types of contracts.

    “She is a good fit for us,” Neysha continued. “I would definitely hire another JAG student in the future.”

  • Zakeya Herring

    zakeyah herringCongratulations to Zakeyah Herring of James H. Hillhouse High School in New Haven! Zakeya received a $1,000 Kenneth M. Smith Scholarship. The scholarship, named for JAG National President Kenneth M. Smith, is open only to JAG students; Zakeyah was one of 23 recipients, from 108 applicants from around the country. The scholarship is renewable next year. 

  • Design Thinking: JAG’s Strength and Effectiveness

    "My support for JAG is also that it is not an adjunct program; it is really built into the school day.

    "The strength of this program… is designing backwards from what we want graduates to look like in the end. Working with industry the message is consistently same: They want graduates that think and can problem solve and have the habits of mind to be part of an organization. The JAG Program, and schools that have that focus built in as part of their day, are better able to achieve this. The JAG program really focuses on teaching explicitly those soft skills and what we call habits of mind . You don’t always find that in conventional education."

    ~Steve Pynn. JAG CT Advisory Board member

    "Having been in education for a long time, I have never had a role like this, and it’s very rewarding."

    ~Justine Meyer, Lead JAG CT and Manchester High Specialist

    Excerpts from MetroHartford Alliance's Pulse of the Region, November 21, 2015

  • Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) is a state-based national non-profit organization dedicated to preventing dropouts among young people who are most at-risk. In more than three decades of operation, JAG has delivered consistent, compelling results – helping nearly a million young people stay in school through graduation, pursue post-secondary education and secure quality entry-level jobs leading to career advancement opportunities.

Mar
24

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Articulate. Good eye contact. Clarity of thought. Mature.

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Asked about JAG CT students’ performance at our first Career Development Conference, judges had high praise:

“Calm, positive and articulate.”

“Listened and considered others’ suggestions.”

“Excellent first impression, very personable.”IMG_0499-sm

These and other detailed comments  were shared with students and Specialists after the Tuesday event, which drew 150 students and nearly 50 volunteers and observers to Capital Community College in Hartford. The event marked the first time students from all seven JAG CT partner schools came together, to compete in the professional skills they are learning, as well as practice their networking skills and learn from a Career Panel and other guest speakers.

“I was absolutely blown away by the stories and struggles behind the speeches the students gave today,” said Rep. Jeff Currey, one of the Public Speaking Judges.

Students competed in Public Speaking, Employability Skills, Career Planning, Problem Solving and Critical Thinking. Speakers included State of Connecticut Department of Labor Commissioner Scott Jackson, pictured at right; Department of Correction Commissioner Scott Semple; Capital Community College President Wilfredo Nieves; Senator Gary Winfield; and Sgt. Sean Grant of the Manchester Police Department. Click here for the full agenda for the day. Reps. Mark Tweedie and Henry Genga also served as judges and presented the Outstanding Students awards.

gary 2Several JAG CT students were honored for their commitment and accomplishments in demonstrating JAG’s values of Accountability, Attitude, Perseverance and Teamwork. Click here for the event program, containing a listing of Outstanding Student bios and for judge and volunteer biographies.

Career Panel member Tina Longo of the New Britain Hospital for Special Care, who spoke about the growing number of health care jobs, said she enjoyed the event and would return.

“It was a pleasure being there,” she said. “The best part of it all was the handful of students that came to introduce themselves and asked additional henry maryanne career presentquestions.  That is the glimpse of light that shines to demonstrate that this program is and will be effective for these students!”

 

brian hall handshake

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emp skills interview

Mar
23

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Mayor and Superintendent Join JAG CT in Thanking AT&T

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HARTFORD — Mayor Luke Bronin and Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez joined JAG CT students, Hartford Public High School staff, and others Monday to thank AT&T Connecticut President John Emra for AT&T’s support in expanding JAG into Hartford.

“I am grateful that I have been part of the JAG program,” said Jennifer Candelora, who is enrolled in JAG at Hartford Public High School, and was part of JAG at East Hartford High School before transferring to HPHS. “Since I joined I have been prepared to leave high school with great background knowledge on how to pursue my future career goals. JAG is a sense of hope for people who have no hope. I would recommend this program to all high school seniors.”

“Your support for this program will go a long way to making sure we can be there for students who need it the most,” said Mayor Luke Bronin. “This is exactly the kind of partnership we need to make sure we are preparing students for a successful career and future.”

“Partnerships like these are key to establish strong connections between our schools and their surrounding business community,” said Superintendent Beth Schiavino-Narvaez. “Hartford Public Schools thanks AT&T for making this important contribution. We hope that this new program will improve our rising rates of success for at-risk youth.” 

“We are encouraged by the recent news that for the first time we are on a path to reach a 90 percent national graduation rate by 2020, but we also know there is more work to be done,” said John Emra, President of AT&T Connecticut. “Bringing to scale programs like JAG that are making a measurable impact on the students that need it most is one of the key ways we can stay on track to meet our graduation goal and prepare more students for the jobs of tomorrow.”

Martin Estey, Executive Director of the Hartford Consortium for Higher Education, and Marco Tirillo, Assistant Principal at Hartford Public High School, were also in attendance.

Since 2008, AT&T and the AT&T Foundation have provided more than $6 million in funding to JAG and its local affiliates. This support is part of AT&T Aspire, AT&T’s $350 million signature education initiative that drives innovation in education to promote student success in school and beyond.

Mar
8

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Students teach at New Horizons

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teabout and george

New Haven– Students in my New Horizons’ JAG class have been researching and learning about various fields of life skills. Topics included financial literacy, life, health and auto insurance, budgeting and the importance of documents such as passports, state ID’s and birth certificates.

Students in my JAG classes were assigned with a project in which they were to pick a topic we have been recently focusing on and ‘teach it’ to the class. Sophomore Walnaesha Teabout is seen here assisting a student in searching for and applying for a local part time job. Ms. Teabout chose to teach our class how to search for jobs using popular job search websites, like indeed.com. She did such a wonderful job instructing her peers. It takes confidence and skill to present in front of peers and Walnaesha did so with tact and patience.

This project exercises several of the 37 competencies of the Jag senior model, including  delivering a presentation to a group; communicating verbally; and  demonstrating team leadership.

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