CareerBound, a major new occupational skills training and career preparation initiative for young people in Baltimore, launched this week with a goal of helping thousands of participants build skills and move into family-supporting careers over the next several years.
The program had a formal launch May 15 with more than 150 community leaders from government, nonprofits, universities, corporations, philanthropy, and youth leaders in attendance, a reflection of the broad partnership supporting the initiative. CareerBound’s lead partners are Baltimore’s Promise, Baltimore City Public Schools and the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED).
CareerBound was developed to offer new training and career opportunities to young people, opening new pathways to jobs in high-growth industries for City Schools students and graduates who may not be interested in pursuing a traditional four-year college immediately following high school. The initiative expects to serve 8,300 youth by 2030 — a major increase in the city’s occupational skills and career training capacity. It builds on the success of Grads2Careers, which launched in 2018, also as a partnership of Baltimore’s Promise, city schools and MOED.