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American Graduation Initiative Bold Step Toward Transforming Workforce

(Washington, D.C.) Following is a statement from Evelyn Ganzglass, director of workforce development at CLASP, regarding the Obama Administration’s proposed American Graduation Initiative. President Obama announced the initiative, including the Community College Challenge Fund, the College Access and Completion Fund, and the Online Skills Laboratory, Tuesday during a speech in Michigan.

“The Obama Administration’s proposed American Graduation Initiative represents a bold federal effort to help more Americans gain the knowledge and skills they need to get ahead and that our country needs to compete globally. The initiative will support state and local innovation to transform workforce education services to ensure that America can regain its position of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

“We applaud the Administration’s commitment to increasing the educational attainment of America’s workforce. The administration has rightly focused its community college reform efforts on encouraging much needed change in policy and practice. Change is essential not only to increase college graduation rates, but also to ensure that education is a pipeline to employment.

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