Over the past four years, through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the 360 Manufacturing and Applied Engineering ATE Regional Center of Excellence (360) has been working collaboratively to recruit, educate, and train workers for careers in manufacturing. 360 works with partner institutions in the Minnesota State colleges and…

This article recounts the experience of the Regent University Library in planning and implementing a festival of Tolstoy and Russian culture as part of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read initiative. The NEA launched the Big Read in 2006 to counter the alarming decline of literary reading documented in its 2002 report Reading at…

This document is designed to enlarge and expand the intergenerational community service mission and serve as a practical tool to anyone (including policymakers and program planning professionals) who wishes to learn about or start intergenerational community service programs (ICSPs). The following ICSP topics are discussed: rationale (building…

This document presents guidelines and resource materials to assist individuals in planning career academies. Chapter 1 defines career academies as programs designed around the following key elements: (1) development and cultivation of a small learning community; (2) a college preparatory curriculum with a career theme; and (3) partnerships with…

This booklet explains how service learning can be used to encourage out-of-school youth to return to an education program. The booklet begins with a discussion of the term "out-of-school youth" that includes the early warning signals indicating a potential for dropping out of school and circumstances and characteristics of potential…

This book explains the process of designing, developing, and implementing cooperative apprenticeship, a form of structured workplace training in which an employer, employer group, or industry, union or other community-based organization joins forces with a vocational-technical school and/or community college to provide formal instruction that…

This document presents practical advice to help managers of adult learning projects in communities across the United Kingdom manage their community projects for change. The following topics are discussed in sections 1-12: (1) the benefits of adult learning projects; (2) characteristics of adult learning projects and quality assurance mechanisms;…

This document is a practical manual to assist community-based organizations and coalitions in using voluntary industry skill standards in programs preparing people for success in the workplace and further education. The following are among the topics covered in the manual's six sections: (1) developing and maintaining systems (things partners can…

The new emphasis on welfare reform, self-reliance, and individual accountability and the new time limits imposed by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program have resulted in large numbers of people between the ages of 18 and 24 entering the work force. The three main career options for youth in transition from school to work are…