Outsourcing nonprofit lands $500K grant to expand student work program
INDIANA, UNITED STATES — Education at Work, an American outsourcing nonprofit organization, aims to use the $500,000 grant from the Salesforce Foundation to expand its virtual work-based learning program for college students in the United States.
The move will help university students earn money to pay for their hefty tuition fees and at the same time, obtain part-time employment opportunities with Fortune 500 companies.
President of Education at Work Jane Swift said that “the traditional way that students earn money to pay for college is broken.”
University students in the United States, as well as several other countries, are buried in student loans that take them years to pay.
Education at Work will use part of the grant it received from Salesforce to design, build, and launch a software that would allow major companies to remotely hire and manage students across the country. Companies will gain access to a student talent pool with varied skill sets. They can then have the chance to evaluate and employ these students in a parttime arrangement to aid in their internal operations.
On the other hand, the nonprofit will utilize part of the grant to construct an employment center in downtown Indianapolis. The hub will enable Education at Work to accommodate and serve an additional 200 students by 2025.
Like the software, the facility aims to connect students to work and learning opportunities with the top companies.
“This is a more modern version of how you can achieve a college education,” Swift said. “A lot of work is shipped overseas that students could be performing here.”
She noted that over the last few years, jobs have been a mix of customer service, information technology, accounting, marketing, and dozens of other specializations. To meet the surging and varied demand, a hybrid model of in-person and remote work and learning is imperative.
