Serve, Learn, Earn outlines workforce pipeline, requests $2.5 million in base funding

Kate Gluckman, director of Serve, Learn, Earn, told the Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development on Jan. 14 that the coalition of four nonprofits trains young people for jobs and pays participants stipends while they learn. "We feel like [the Agency of Natural Resources, Forests, Parks & Recreation] have been tremendous partners," Gluckman said, explaining why that agency administers the state funds that support the program.

The coalition — made up of Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC), Resource, Audubon Vermont and Vermont Works for Women, with a recent addition of NorthWoods Stewardship Center — describes its model as “serve, learn, earn”: service-based projects that offer skills training and stipends. The group said it has enrolled nearly 1,500 participants across three completed program years and expects roughly 600 participants in the current year, about 70% of whom will be under age 24.

Why it matters: committee members on Commerce & Economic Development oversee workforce planning and budget recommendations. Coalition leaders told the committee that their work targets young people who complete high school but do not matriculate to college and that many participants face barriers such as poverty or justice involvement. The…