Catalyze Challenge

Overview

Catalyze Challenge aims to reimagine the connections between K-12 education, higher education, and careers for young people — helping them to build their identities, self-efficacy, and career readiness. Grants will be awarded to novel approaches and exploratory work aligned with one of two themes to advance career-connected learning.

Catalyze exists to jumpstart innovations in the field of career-connected learning. Catalyze grantees work to plan, pilot, and implement innovations that provide learners aged 11-22 with learning opportunities and pathways into fulfilling careers. 

We want to fund innovations that serve young people who are disconnected from school and work. Many opportunity youth are involved in the juvenile justice system, criminal justice system, or foster care system. This includes youth who are incarcerated, in foster care, unhoused, or youth exiting or having exited these systems.

Catalyze surfaces and funds innovations across two themes — career exploration for young adolescents and activating employer partnerships.

Theme One: Career Exploration for Young Adolescents
Innovations that build awareness of and exposure to career paths, and that develop self-efficacy towards educational and career goals. Proposals should share innovations that scale direct reach to youth independently from school and/or that allow guided exploration within or adjacent to schools. Within Theme One, we seek innovations that benefit learners directly.

Theme Two: Activating Employer Partnerships
Innovations that enable employers to engage in learning experiences to support students as they attain practical skills, credentials, and improved employment outcomes. Proposals should activate employer partnerships and change behaviors of key actors to connect youth with the world of work. Within Theme Two, we seek innovations that include an engagement with at least one specific employer.

All proposals should serve one or more historically underserved groups and ultimately benefit learners ages 11-22.

Grantees notified: December 2023

Catalyze Challenge will award up to 25 pilot grants to power 6-12 months of exploratory implementation.