NextWork, the Opportunity Platform™, is an experiential learning portal designed for students to connect with local businesses through education, internships, job opportunities, job fairs and speaker series events. The goal of the platform is to provide a secure, student-focused portal to provide experiences and opportunities for students to become familiar with careers and local companies so that they may make informed decisions about their future. The platform also affords opportunities for school staff and community members to become aware of and understand their local business sectors.
Connecting students, the business community and educators:
The platform, created in part through a grant from Cleveland Foundation, is currently in pilot with 1,500 students and about a dozen companies through May 2021. Full rollout will occur in the Fall to approximately 200,000 students as part of the ESC NEO collaboration.
As with any technology that needs to stay relevant, NextWork will continue to evolve and improve. In beta is a learning management system with content and prescriptive learning paths, as well as a set of aptitude surveys and a ‘career configurator’ that will match student interests to potential career and educational opportunities. Additionally, the platform is in process of adding an iOS/Android app component to allow better longitudinal data with student progress after high school.
The ongoing promotion, operations and maintenance of NextWork is funded by business memberships and sponsorships, and will always be free to use for students, schools and parents.
NextWork is the Opportunity Platform for Students to Find and Prepare for their Future Careers
NextWork is an opportunity platform that allows businesses, school districts, students and parents to connect through education, internships, jobs and speaking engagements.