Our Commitment

It has become increasingly important for businesses across every industry of this nation today to ask themselves if they are walking the talk of their promises, their commitments to each other and to those they serve, and to ask themselves what mark they will have on this world for many years to come. We have come to a time in this country where the employees and investors of the future are making their choices based on a company’s commitment to social and environmental responsibility. Companies are now beginning to evaluate their impact on the communities they serve and are working toward ensuring that their own internal values are a reflection of those communities. With new generational values at play, many communities are holding industries accountable to meeting the actions behind their words. This requires plans for environmental responsibility and a strong diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitment for equitable growth with diverse talent. There is a clear and distinct connection that exists between the sustainability of our environment and the ethics that are carried out in our interactions with each other on this planet; These are the three “Es” Environment, Ethics, and Economics.

It is a well-known fact that companies benefit when we all win. According to a 2020 McKinsey Report, companies that have greater gender and ethnic diversity among their executive leadership were more profitable and outperform their homogeneous peers with less diversity; yet we continue to see strong disparities in the numbers of women and people of color across industries and in many leadership positions across the country. For example, according to a 2021 McKinsey Report, women hold just 33% of entry-level roles in industrial manufacturing and engineering. Increasing these numbers could have a vastly different outcome for the industry and cause an attitude change toward the industry at large with younger generations. In construction 88% of the industry is identified as being White and 90% male, in industrial farming more than 95% of farmers were White and 62% over the age of 55, which is not in alignment with the next generation of workers, of which half under the age of 30 identify as being a race other than White (BLS, 2020). In nearly every STEM profession, women and people of color continue to see uneven progress in entry-level and leadership obtainment.

We are creating micro-credentials that promote the sustainability of our planet, through green, renewable, and sustainable practices across many industries. We are creating credentials that promote the technologies that will allow us to become a more sustainable earth across industries, such as those in advanced manufacturing, construction, and supply chain. We are developing credentials that will meet the need of the increased demand for more inclusive work environments and an equitable society that is positioned well for future generations. We are committed to the use of micro-credentials as gateway education into the jobs and industries that have long been blocked by expensive educational barriers to entry, which has negatively impacted communities of color for too long. We are committed to creating industry education that provides opportunity and access to younger generations looking for more fiscally conscious options to obtaining their career goals and getting the skills they need to be successful in many industries. We are committed to creating industry education that serves the needs of employers now, that will help to fill the job demands of today with a workforce that understands the new and emerging technologies that are transforming those industries. We are committed to working with our higher education partners to better understand their local economies, job demands, and industry trends, to create credentials that will serve and grow their communities.

We accomplish this by working with industry associations and subject matter experts from the field, who know what is happening in real-time, to be able to deliver education that can upskill and reskill the workforce of today and the generations of tomorrow. We seek partnerships with womens and minority professional associations across industries in the quest for creating industry relevant content that was written by people who need greater representation in those industries. We are creating credentials in both English and Spanish to ensure that the strong Latinx community in America has greater educational opportunities across industries, and to learn in the language of their preference. We work with state governments, workforce development boards, and the many other partners our of ecosystem that have a vested interest in seeing their local economies grow and flourish.