In April 2022, Indianapolis was awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to implement Accelerate ED. The Design Team completed a blueprint for an accelerated IT Operations and Cybersecurity pathway to an associate degree. In year 2023-24, the collaborative worked to implement a pathway pilot in IPS (Shortridge) and Warren MSD. All teachers have been credentialed, and Shortridge will be able to implement the dual credit with the freshmen next year (24-25). Starting with the freshman cohort next year, students will be able to earn 9+ dual credits in the IT Operations pathway. Additionally, plans are being made to offer the CompTIA A+ certification as part of the program. 

As part of an effort to reduce barriers to college for Indianapolis students, EmployIndy worked with NSRN partners Indiana University Indianapolis (IU-Indy) and Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS)  to create a seamless admissions process that automatically admits IPS students with a 3.0 GPA or higher to IU-Indy– no application process, no application fee, and no need to send transcripts. 

NSRN partners have worked together to educate and advocate for policies supporting career awareness, education accessibility, and more seamless transitions to postsecondary education and careers. This work had influence on recently passed bills from the State Board of Education (SBOE) including: 

• HB 1243 which requires the SBOE to develop a new diploma that considers career readiness and competency. 
• SB 8 which sets up more flexible postsecondary pathways. 
• HB 1001 which streamlines and fine-tunes the career scholarship account and career coaching grant programs that were set up last year. 

In year 2022-23 of the NSRN initiative the collaborative made significant progress in developing a career advising framework to support the postsecondary planning/transition of all Indiana youth. This framework addresses the strengths and context of Indiana to integrate career advising with existing counseling and advising systems. In year 2023-24, The IDOE and ICHE largely adopted the Career Advising Framework that EmployIndy and the New Skills Ready Network developed with the support of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. The state's goal is to release a draft of this framework with the release of the Career Coaching Grant.