Newsroom

By Meg St-Esprit, The Atlantic, March 6, 2019 When college is held up as the one true path to success, parents—especially highly educated ones—might worry when their children opt for vocational school instead. Toren Reesman knew from a young age that he and his brothers were expected to attend college and obtain a high-level degree. […]

The Opportunity Jobs Academy (OJA) will begin its seventh class at Edgewater High School in March 2019. Students are encouraged to submit a completed application to the Front Desk Secretary by no later than Wednesday, January 16, 1:00 PM. If you should have any questions, please contact sierra.newhouse@cityoforlando.org. Download the application and apply before it […]

ORLANDO, Fla. (October 12, 2018) – This week marked the beginning of the sixth class of the Opportunity Jobs Academy (OJA) at Edgewater High School. A community-based initiative of the Opportunity Jobs Foundation (OJF), OJA is an after-school program designed to introduce 16-18 year olds and other high school students to the skill sets they […]

By Lizz Schumer, The New York Times, September 26, 2018 Professional mentorships used to be the workplace norm, but today they’re hard to find, even though they matter more than ever. Here’s how to find one, and how to get the most from it. My first desk had an inert hand grenade in one corner and […]

By Aimee Picchi, CBS, August 17, 2018 There’s a good news/bad news situation with youth unemployment. More young Americans — defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as people between the ages of 16 to 24 — are working this summer, pushing the unemployment rate for the group to a 52-year low. But there’s a […]

By Ron Ruggless, Nation’s Restaurant News, August 9, 2018 Restaurant companies are increasingly reaping rewards from employee benefit programs such as tuition assistance and other educational advancement, leaders in such companies as McDonald’s Corp. and Chipotle Mexican Grill say. As companies look to increase employee retention rates in an increasingly tightening labor market, the educational […]

By Alvin Chang, VOX, Aug 3, 2018 Every spring, millions of students graduate high school with every intention of attending college. By the fall, an astounding portion of them never show up to college This phenomenon is so common it has a name: “summer melt.” And the effects are stronger for students from a lower […]

By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, July 30, 2018 With employers scrambling for workers, they’re increasingly viewing summer hires not as temporary laborers to meet a seasonal surge in demand but as a tantalizing pool of potential employees. As summer jobs season enters its final weeks, more businesses are making permanent job offers to their seasonal […]

By Kelsey Gee, The Washington Post, July 29, 2018 Americans looking to land a first job or break into a dream career face their best odds of success in years. Employers say they are abandoning preferences for college degrees and specific skill sets to speed up hiring and broaden the pool of job candidates. Many […]

By McDonald’s Corporation, July 24, 2018 McDonald’s today released the findings of its Workforce Preparedness Study that sought to understand American opinion of skills development and workforce preparedness across generations. Soft skills, such as teamwork, customer service and responsibility were found to be overwhelmingly important. McDonald’s commissioned Morning Consult to conduct a survey in May […]