Four Takeaways from Catalyze’s 2023 Impact Report

Catalyze’s 2023 Impact Report uncovered crucial insights into what works in the current career-connected learning landscape — and we're eager to share what we've learned. From recognizing the power of boosting learner agency to understanding how to most effectively partner with employers, we have summarized four key takeaways from the report. Below, we unpack these findings and how they can help advance career-connected learning on a broad scale.

The ultimate goal of career-connected learning should be to boost learner agency.

There is no one-size-fits-all model to help young people into their ideal careers. Instead, the ultimate goal of career-connected learning programs should be to increase young people’s agency to find meaningful and fulfilling career pathways on their own. Through our learnings Catalyze has identified that the most effective programs share three core elements — they develop self-awareness, self-efficacy and career readiness.

These elements are incorporated widely in programs offered by organizations in the Catalyze community, with measurable positive outcomes. Across round one and round two Catalyze Challenge grantees, 69% of program participants demonstrated greater self-awareness and refined their career interests and 70% reported an increased sense of self-efficacy. And, 71% showed greater career readiness by taking steps towards pursuing their career goals. This impact is particularly impressive compared to the sentiments of the general student population — only 44% Gen Z students report feeling prepared for their future. 

Employers must have a seat at the table in shaping programs and crucial conversations.

Through partnerships with employers, the Catalyze community bridges the gap between education and employment, providing learners with valuable insights into career opportunities and workplace operations.

Of the 95% of round one and two grantees that partnered with employers, learners were offered opportunities to hone their self-awareness, enhance self-efficacy, strengthen career readiness, and work with employers who hired program graduates. Partnerships like these are crucial as career-connected learning can help fill talent gaps and prepare the next generation. A proactive employer approach, combined with investment, can yield substantial long-term benefits by shaping the future workforce into valuable assets. 

It's essential to accurately measure impact and share learnings, especially to scale early-stage programs.

Catalyze continues to gather insights that will give us a deeper understanding of career-connected learning best practices. Early feedback suggests that it’s often challenging for new programs to receive funding without proven results. 

Through Catalyze, our grantees receive support from some of the top funders in the United States, which validates their work and positions them to receive future funding from government, philanthropic, corporate and individual sources. More than 60% of Catalyze’s round one grantees raised a cumulative $11M+ in additional public and private funding thanks to the availability of impact data and validation of existing funding.

Catalyze is building a community of practice that expands impact and provides original insights.

Catalyze is building the largest career-connected learning community of practice in the country to expand impact and provide original insights to advance the field. Our goal is to foster knowledge sharing and innovation, contributing to the growth and development of effective career-connected learning models. 

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