Expanding access to high-quality career-connected learning opportunities is helping more high school students make informed decisions about their futures and successfully navigate the transition from high school to postsecondary education and the workforce. This important work continues with support from the Gates Foundation and is being led locally by EmployIndy. 

As a part of the Accelerate ED: Seamless Pathways to Degrees and Careers initiative, the Indianapolis “design team”, led by EmployIndy, will build on the success of their work in creating the Indiana Cybersecurity Pathway Blueprint and begin development of a new Indiana BioPharma Pathway Blueprint. With Central Indiana’s economy poised for rapid expansion in tech and biotech, EmployIndy and our partners will use a $500,936 grant provided by the Gates Foundation to create a new and scaled accelerated postsecondary pathway that will focus on quality education, seamless transitions, and dedicated support and resources to ensure equitable paths to success for all Marion County students who are interested in these growing industries.   

“EmployIndy is grateful to the Gates Foundation for their continued support as we lead the development of important new career pathway blueprints,” says Marie Mackintosh, EmployIndy’s President + CEO. “We know this work will be vital in addressing bioworkforce talent gaps and providing access to high-quality jobs for all residents.” 

Over the next ten years, there is an expected gap of at least 2,200 life sciences manufacturing workers per year in Indiana, which mirrors the national bioworkforce shortage. EmployIndy is also a subawardee of the Heartland BioWorks Tech Hub Program—a consortium led by the Applied Research Institute—as part of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) Tech Hubs Grant to support the development of the BioPharma pathway.  

Originally designated as an Accelerate ED community in 2022, EmployIndy will use proven methodology from the development of the Cybersecurity Pathway to bring together stakeholders from our K-12 and postsecondary systems into a design team to develop this new BioPharma Pathway with the goals of: 

1. Designing accessible career pathways that support students in earning 30 college credits by the end of high school, and; 

1. Guiding students into career-aligned courses, leading to an associate degree by the 13th year. 

To date, the Accelerate ED Indianapolis design team has improved student completion of high-quality career pathways through the JPMorgan Chase Foundation’s New Skills ready network (NSRN), created a career coaching framework adopted statewide by the Indiana Commission on Higher Education, enabled seamless postsecondary admission at IU Indianapolis, embedded Ivy Tech Community College career coaches at Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS), and built strong infrastructure enabling schools to access career-connected learning through Talent Bound, which includes immersive work-based learning opportunities like the Modern Apprenticeship Program (MAP). 

To learn more EmployIndy’s work within the AccelerateED initiative, visit www.accelerate-ed.org/communities/indiana.