Generation

Project Description

Generation is a global nonprofit that trains, places, and supports people of all ages into life-changing careers that were previously inaccessible to them. 

The global pandemic has led to an unprecedented surge in unemployment. Even before the pandemic, more than 75 million young adults were out of work globally, and three times as many were underemployed—and 375 million workers of all ages needed to learn new skills by 2030.

Launched in 2015, more than 38,000 people have graduated from Generation programs, which prepare them for meaningful careers in 28 professions in 14 countries. Ninety-three percent of our graduates were unemployed with no income prior to joining Generation, and 86% are placed in jobs within three months of graduation. We work with more than 3,900 employer partners, and dozens of implementation partners, community partners, and funders. 

Covid-19 Response

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it a massive increase in unemployment, and those who already faced systemic barriers to employment have been hit particularly hard. It has made Generation’s work more relevant than ever, and we have responded in three ways:

• We halted in-person programs and accelerated moving our programs online. Our top priority was the safety of our learners, staff, and partners. We were already moving some programs to a blended format and accelerated our plans to increase online delivery.
• We developed upskilling programs for healthcare professionals who treat and care for COVID-19 patients. We wanted to help our communities, and rapidly formed coalitions with healthcare institutions and systems to combine their clinical expertise with our activity-based learning methodology in order to support frontline health professionals who treat and care for COVID-19 patients. Together, we developed nationally accredited online modules that cover subjects such as personal protective equipment use, non-invasive ventilation procedures, infection control and prevention, and stress management under crisis conditions. We have launched programs in France, India, Italy, Mexico, and Spain, reaching more than 200,000 healthcare workers to date.  For example, in Italy, we have reached 60,000 nurses and 15,000 doctors, with 83% completion. The course has been well-received, with 80% of participating nurses saying the course was immediately relevant to their work and 93% saying the quality of the course was excellent or very good. 
• We are committed to an inclusive recovery. We have launched a COVID-19 recovery strategy, and we are building a coalition of partners to enable this work and make certain that no one is left behind. We are developing an online delivery model. We are closely tracking which job roles are still hiring and are even likely to experience growth. And we are listening to and engaging with our alumni so that we can ensure recovery includes them.

The resilience and commitment of our learners, our graduates, our partners, and our team have been extraordinary. We believe that together we can create an inclusive recovery and reimagine the systems that support it.