JP Morgan Chase 2015 Annual Report Download - page 41

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CREATING CAREER-FOCUSED EDUCATION
by Freeman A. Hrabowski III, President of the University of
Maryland, Baltimore County
Too many people are left out of work or are stuck in low-wage,
low-skill jobs without a path to meaningful employment and the
chance to get ahead. Among young people, this truly is a national
tragedy: More than 5 million young Americans, including one in
five African-American and one in six Latino youths, are neither
attending school nor working. JPMorgan Chase’s New Skills for
Youth initiative is an important example of educators and busi-
ness leaders partnering to equip young people with the skills and
experience to be career ready.
The social and economic hurdles faced by young people of color and
those who come from low-income families have been exacerbated
by the growing crisis of high inner city unemployment and low high
school graduation rates. With too many young people marginalized,
economic growth slows, and social challenges increase. The public
and private sectors must work together to change this.
Educators need to emphasize both college and career readiness.
They need to recognize that there is growing demand for technically
trained, middle-skill workers — from robotics technicians to licensed
practical nurses — and better align what they teach with the talent
needs of employers. At the same time, business leaders need to
support the education system as it strives to teach today’s skills and
help students develop into critical thinkers.
A bachelor’s degree is as important as ever, and universities must
do more to support students of all backgrounds who arrive on our
campuses. However, we need to recognize that not all college and
career pathways include pursuing a four-year degree immediately,
and we need to eliminate the stigma attached to alternate paths.
High-quality, rigorous career and technical education programs
can connect people to high-skill, well-paying jobs — and they
don’t preclude earning a four-year degree down the road. Classes
dedicated to robotics, medical science, mechanics and coding build
skills that employers desperately need. They also prepare students
to land great jobs.
Recent education reforms are making progress, but we still need
greater focus on preparing young people, from all income levels,
with the skills and experiences to be college and career ready.
The public and private sectors need to forge deeper relation-
ships and make greater investments in developing and expanding
eective models of career-focused education that are aligned
with the needs of emerging industries. This is an investment
not only in growing our economy but also in providing more of
our young people with a tangible path out of poverty and a real
chance at economic success.
COMMITMENT TO OUR VETS
by Stan McChrystal, Retired General, U.S. Army
In early 2011, two employees of JPMorgan Chase came to
wintry New Haven, Connecticut, to talk about veterans.
Specifically, they told me that Jamie Dimon felt the bank
could, and should, do more to help the many veterans
returning from service — many who were in Iraq and
Afghanistan — take their rightful place in civilian society.
Since 9/11, the military had enjoyed tremendous support
from the American people, but seemingly intractable
problems of reintegration, particularly challenges with
meaningful employment, haunted an embarrassingly large
number of former warriors and their families.
I listened with interest and no small amount of cautious
skepticism. I was aware of countless programs initiated
with the best of intentions that soon became more talk
than action and was worried this might be the same. The
JPMorgan Chase people asked if I thought the bank should
create a program to help veterans find employment and if
the bank did start such a program, would I join the advisory
council for it.
I thought for a moment and then responded: “If Jamie
is seriously willing to commit the bank to the eort,” I
replied, “it’s the right thing to do, and I’m in. If not, there
are other, far less ambitious ways to oer the bank’s help
for veterans.” As we talked further, they convinced me that
Jamie, and the full energy that JPMorgan Chase could bring,
would be behind the eort.
That was almost five years ago, and JPMorgan Chase has
surpassed my every hope and expectation. By committing
full-time talent and including the personal involvement of
senior leadership, the firm has been the strongest force
in veterans’ employment in America. The Veteran Jobs
Mission program has not only implemented truly cutting-
edge programs inside the bank to recruit, train, mentor
and develop veterans — resulting in an increase of more
than 10,000 veterans within the bank since 2011 — but the
program also has demonstrated the power of commitment.
An impressive number of American businesses have set and
met employment goals (to date, over 300,000 veterans have
been hired collectively, with a goal of hiring 1 million) that
would have been considered unattainable at the start.