Education & Talent – Nashville Chamber Annual Report

EDUCATION AND TALENT DEVELOPMENT

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“It really, really does give you this sense of comfort and this level of ‘things are going to be okay.’”

Meet

Shane, Nashville Flex Student

Working while going to school is hard, so the Chamber partnered with TN College Access & Success Network to launch Nashville Flex, a Kresge-funded program supporting part-time students at Nashville State.

Shane, a Nashville Flex student, recommends the program because “there’s a support system in place for any possible thing that can come up.” She didn’t think she would go back to school after high school, but Nashville Flex made that possible. “It really, really does give you this sense of comfort and this level of ‘things are going to be okay.’”

HIghlights

K - 12 Education

This year, the Chamber released the 2021 Education Report focused on leadership development, graduated the third cohort of Leadership Public Education, and began work to enhance the impact of the Academies of Nashville Partnership Councils.

Adult Attainment

TN Reconnect helps adults return to postsecondary to gain skills and advance in the workplace. Nashville Reconnect serves nearly 1,000 Reconnectors (338 enrolled and 628 pre-enrolled) with a focus on Promise Zone residents served by the Nashville Talent Hub.

Postsecondary Transitions

The JPMorgan Chase New Skills Ready investment is strengthening career pathways, scaling real-world work experiences, building seamless postsecondary transitions, and closing equity gaps. Through this work, 55 MNPS students participated in work-based learning opportunities during the 2021-2022 school year.

Talent Pipelines

The Chamber is implementing Talent Pipeline Management®, an employer-led approach to closing the skills gap. The Chamber is also partnering with Fort Campbell to retain spouses and soldiers exiting the military to fill regional workforce needs.

Education & Workforce Policy

1. With the support of statewide coalition TN BLU-SkillSPAN, the state legislature passed the Workforce Expansion law allowing legal immigrants to obtain professional and commercial licenses, impacting more than 10,000 people in Tennessee.

2. Clean Slate, supported by The Memorial Foundation, reengages Nashville State students with a past-due balance to move them to completion; state law does not allow forgiveness by the school. In May 2022, the first Clean Slate recipient graduated.

3. TISA is the newly-passed student-based public education funding formula. The Chamber supported this formula that provides additional, predictable funding, while encouraging solutions to address the cost of education in counties with a higher cost of living.