Opportunity Youth Playbook: Strategies to Increase Post Secondary Graduation

Ensuring Disconnected Young Men of Color Complete Postsecondary Education and Training is one section of the “Opportunity Youth Playbook: A Guide to Reconnecting Boys and Young Men of Color to Education and Employment.”

Postsecondary education and training is more critical than ever. The job market is increasingly populated by middle- and high-skilled positions. Conversely, low-skilled jobs, which once allowed those with only a high-school credential or less to secure a decent paycheck, are becoming harder to find. Estimates show that jobs requiring a postsecondary credential will increase to 63 percent of the economy before 2020. A postsecondary credential is essential to the social and economic mobility of young men of color and their families. As the Center on Education and the Workforce found, “postsecondary education has become the gatekeeper to the middle class and upper class.” Young people who are born into the bottom 20 percent and go on to obtain a college degree improve their odds of getting out of the bottom bracket of income distribution by over 50 percent.”