Preparing Students of Color for the Future Workforce - Lessons From Communities in Indiana and New Mexico

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mia

Race equity and community-centered preparation for K-12 students is examined through conversations with Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities in Indiana and New Mexico. The brief argues that current education systems fail to adequately support long-term career prospects and economic security, citing underrepresentation in high-wage work and higher unemployment during the pandemic. It proposes earlier, well-funded preparation for college, credentials, and work-based learning, while ensuring students are not tracked into low-quality programs through flexible, race-equity-informed community policymaking.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time33 min

AccessFree to download

Overview

Purpose and framing

Key themes from community conversations

Barriers to preparation

Background on CAP’s community conversations

Preparing Students of Color for the Future Workforce Lessons From Communities in Indiana and New Mexico By Ashley Jeffrey and Laura Jimenez April 22, 2021 When it comes to readying students for the jobs of the future, America’s K-12 education system too often does not sufficiently prepare Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students. Research has shown that this negatively affects these students’ life outcomes, specifically in terms of their long-term career prospects and economic security.1 For example, Black, Latinx and Indigenous people are currently underrepresented in high-wage jobs but overrepresented in low-wage work and among the unemployed.2 This is particularly significant because unemployment for low-wage workers—who are overrepresented as service industry essential workers—has soared during the coronavirus pandemic.3 To change this dynamic, K-12 schools and districts need to do much better at preparing Black, Latinx, and Indigenous for the future workforce. This means preparing them for college, training them to receive high-quality credentials that lead to good jobs with decent pay, and appropriately enrolling them in work-based learning experiences such as internships and apprenticeships. To benefit most from these experiences, students must be prepared for them long before they reach high school. And K-12 systems must also ensure that Black, Latino, and American Indian students are not tracked into low-quality programs4 or out ofa college degree, as such options continue to provide them economic gains. The K-12 education system is critical to enhancing this preparation cycle and should ensure that Black, Latinx, and Native American students receive the knowledge and credentials they need to secure stable, high-paying jobs in the future workforce. To achieve this, schools must apply community-centered policies in their student preparation efforts; in community-centered policymaking, lawmakers use a race equity lens to consider proposals’ potential impacts on communities of color.5 Applying such an approach to policymaking means encouraging and fostering community input and collaboration and ensuring that policies are sufficiently flexible to accommodate communities’ unique assets and needs. Community-centered policies can take the form of a rural school ending its partnership with an urban company to instead partner with a local agricultural company. Applying a race equity lens could entail analyzing curricula for racial representation, ensuring educators honor students’ native languages, or investigating advanced course enrollment rates by race.6 To understand what community members view as necessary to prepare students for the future workforce, the Center for American Progress conducted conversations via virtual forums with Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities in Indiana and New Mexico. The conversations helped the authors understand community leaders’thoughts as well as brainstorm potential solutions to issues raised during the forums. This issue brief applies a race equity, community-centered lens to understand how to prepare Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students for college and the future workforce. Major themes emerged from these community conversations, which have allowed the authors to identify major gaps that obstruct student preparation—including a lack of funding for college and career preparation and a lack of partnerships between K-12, higher education, and workforce systems. To address these gaps, K-12 schools and districts, higher education systems, employers, and local and state policymakers must work together to clarify future workforce changes and help students, teachers, and families build career knowledge. They must also ensure that Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students receive equitable and holistic preparation so that they can develop not only academic knowledge but also technical and 21st-century skills.7 Background on CAP’s community conversations To ensure that CAP’s policy

FAQs

Why does the brief focus on preparing Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students for the future workforce?

It explains that America’s K-12 system often does not sufficiently prepare these students, which harms long-term career prospects and economic security. The brief connects this gap to outcomes such as underrepresentation in high-wage jobs and vulnerability during unemployment shocks.

What does community-centered policymaking mean in this context?

Lawmakers use a race equity lens to consider how proposals affect communities of color, encouraging community input and flexibility for unique local assets and needs. It can include reviewing curricula for racial representation and examining advanced course enrollment by race.

What major gaps did the authors identify from the community conversations?

The brief highlights a lack of funding for college and career preparation and limited partnerships between K-12, higher education, and workforce systems. It calls for coordinated work among schools, employers, and policymakers to support students’ career knowledge and skills.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mia