Description
The Career Pathways Exploration (CPE) program supports efforts to provide elementary and secondary school students with increased career exploration opportunities. The program provides competitive grants to States to build their capacity to integrate career exploration into statewide career pathways and workforce readiness programs. The program will help ensure access to opportunities that expose students to real-life workforce realities through a variety of career pathways programs that are aligned with State workforce priorities. Some key aspects of the program include:
* Providing career and/or college exploration and advising opportunities to promote greater awareness of postsecondary educational and career options
* Supporting workforce development programs that are aligned with State priorities
* Providing opportunities for students to use financial tools to compare the cost and benefits of career options and educational pathways
* Supporting the development of talent marketplaces that connect employers, students, and job seekers
* Prioritizing and expanding Registered Apprenticeships in education
The program has two absolute priorities and one competitive preference priority. The absolute priorities are:
* Career Pathways and Workforce Readiness – Career Pathways Exploration
* Career Pathways and Workforce Readiness – Workforce Readiness
The competitive preference priority is for projects that are designed to strengthen career counseling activities to improve student persistence, postsecondary access, and opportunity, and create a scalable data infrastructure that connects education to workforce outcomes.