Learn More About Data for the American Dream

Career seekers face a confusing landscape when choosing a training program to obtain the skills they need to land their chosen job. This is especially true of low-income and other disadvantaged people that may not have the private resources or networks that would lead them to the necessary information. Employers also face uncertainty about how well prepared any given candidate will be for an open position based only on the training she or he has completed. In an era of technological advancement, we can help people determine if a training is a good fit and if it is aligned to the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed in the labor market.

The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Office of Innovation, the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, the New Jersey Council on Community Colleges, the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, and the New Jersey Department of Education are addressing these problems by developing a “smart disclosure” tool based on an expanded set of open educational and training data. Although the tool will be available to the public at large, it will be designed with and for low-income people and people from other disadvantaged populations. The tool will operate on its own and be linked to New Jersey Career Network, the larger set of digital tools being developed for New Jersey residents anywhere along their respective employment journeys.

New Jersey Data for the American Dream (D4AD) is supported by Schmidt Futures and Lumina Foundation. The funders’ implementation partner is the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS).

For the latest updates on NJ D4AD, check out our Medium posts here: https://medium.com/njinnovation/d4ad/home