Advanced Vermont asks Senate committee for $600,000 to expand My Future VT career‑navigation services

Advanced Vermont asked the Senate Education Committee on March 31 for $600,000 in base funding to sustain and expand My Future VT, the nonprofit’s Vermont‑specific career‑education planning platform and navigator‑training program.

For the record, Tom Chen, executive director of Advanced Vermont, told senators the group’s work centers on “career navigation” — an organizing system that packages programs such as dual enrollment, career and technical education (CTE) and work‑based learning so students and adults can learn options, make informed choices and take concrete steps toward education or employment. “Our vision is that every high school student will graduate and plan for their next steps,” Chen said.

Why it matters: Chen said gaps in planning leave many students “floundering” after high school, creating statewide problems such as stalled ambitions, underemployment and a workforce that does not meet employer demand. He argued that a coordinated system — information, credentials, social capital, wraparound supports and enabling policy — will reduce those gaps.

What Advanced Vermont presented: Chen described My…