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National Lewis and Accelerate You pitch "job-first" pathway for ETHS graduates; first Ev anston hire reported
Summary
At the May 11 Evanston Township High School board meeting, National Lewis University representatives described Accelerate You, a job-first training program that pairs short, stackable college credit with employer partners; speakers announced a $1,500 stipend for ETHS community members and the first local hire in Ev anston.
Thaxton Lundy, a representative of Accelerate You and National Lewis University, told the Evanston Township High School Board on May 11 that the program flips the traditional college-then-job model, seeking instead to get participants into good, employer-backed jobs first and then use those jobs as a bridge into a degree.
"We try and get people a job on the front end of a degree instead of at the back end," Lundy said, describing Accelerate You as a "job-first" model with short training cycles, coaching and employer partnerships.
Lundy said the program focuses on healthcare and technology pathways (for example, medical assistant and tech-sales tracks), uses employer partners including Endeavor and Northwestern Medicine, and offers extensive wraparound supports. He told the board that anyone who attended ETHS or lives in Evanston is eligible for a $1,500 stipend to offset participation costs. He also reported that an ETHS graduate who completed the Ev anston pilot had been hired last Friday by a local partner, calling it the program's first local success.
National Lewis staff described program targets and outcomes: the national model has served roughly 1,200 learners, currently trains about 360'370 students a year, and aims for an internal "80/80/20" outcome (80% completion, 80% job placement in-field within three months, $20,000 annual compensation bump). Lundy said the program is at about 75% completion, roughly 70% job placement, and that graduates are seeing average compensation gains in the mid-teens of thousands of dollars over several months.
Board members questioned credit portability and timing. Lundy said credits are stackable and transferrable to other institutions and that the training is designed so that credits can fold into degree pathways: "The credits if they take any of our coursework, they can apply it to anywhere else," he said. Board members pressed on employer commitments and recruitment timing; Lundy said Accelerate You works with an employer-engagement team to line up internships and hires and that the Ev anston pilot is scaled to grow from the current 15 ETHS graduates participating to a longer-term goal of 50 students per year in the community.
The program will also offer a tech-sales track that Lundy said typically has a base salary around $55,000, with many early-career hires earning $60,000 to $80,000 in their first year.
The presentation closed with an invitation for community help finding learners and employer partners. National Lewis promised to provide the board with slides and additional materials.
Next steps: National Lewis and ETHS staff plan continued recruitment and partnership work in Ev anston; the board did not take a formal vote on program funding at this meeting.
