User:Dobregon/sandbox

Jobs for the Future (JFF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1986 and headquartered in Boston whose mission is to drive change in the American workforce and education systems to achieve economic advancement for all. JFF has been named to The Boston Globe Magazine's Women & Power list of top 100 women-led businesses in Massachusetts in 2018 and 2021. Originally known as Jobs for Connecticut's Future, the organization was started in 1983 by Hilary Pennington and Arthur White. Between 1984 and 1989, White and Pennington expanded their work into Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, and Missouri. Today, JFF operates across the United States. Their current President and CEO, Maria Flynn, was a member of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration prior to joining JFF in 2007.

On April 20, 2021, Flynn testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee on COVID-19 Recovery: Supporting Workers and Modernizing the Workforce Through Quality Education, Training, and Employment Opportunities.

In February 2018, JFF launched JFFLabs to provide strategy and acceleration services to scale education and workforce solutions.

Work and Focus Areas
According to their website, JFF's work includes program design and corporate advisory services, scaling national networks to distribute tools and resources, influencing public discourse and public policy on education and workforce issues, and investing seed capital and re-granting. Its five focus areas include: creating learner and worker opportunity, strengthening education and career navigation, ensuring program quality and efficacy, integrating learning and work, and building strong regional economies.

The organization operates a number of programs and networks, including the Center for Apprenticeship & Work-based Learning which is focused on expanding apprenticeships and work-based learning opportunities to new industries and professions.

Acquisitions
In July 2019, JFF announced the acquisition of the Employment Technology Fund (now ETF@JFFLabs)which operates an impact fund that provides seed capital to startup companies operating in the education and workforce development sectors.

In February 2022, JFF announced the acquisition of the Education Quality Outcomes Standards (EQOS), a nonprofit standards organization that establishes universal, independent measures of education and training program quality to help people navigate the increasingly crowded and confusing education and training marketplace.