JP Morgan gives $2 million to Delaware jobs program [video]

Delaware is one of ten states to get the funding as part of the company’s “New Skills for Youth” initiative.

In Delaware, the money will be used to fund the Pathways to Prosperity program, which helps students nearing graduation obtain the skills needed to become employed in good jobs.

“[Pathways] really does a great job of ensuring that students when they leave school, they’re ready to go to work, they’re prepared for what they need for employers, they provide immediate value to employers,” said JP Morgan Chase Managing Director Marge Hannum. “It’s really importantly (sic) helpful to us, as well as other employers in the state.”

Delaware joined the Pathways program in 2014. Only 27 students graduated from the program in that first year. Since then, the program has grown to 6,000 students.

“We need to expand that by double or more to make sure that every student graduating from high school in Delaware is either prepared to go to college or go into a job that’s going to pay them enough to support a middle class family in Delaware,” said Governor-elect John Carney, D- Delaware. “One of the real legacies of Gov. Markell is building this Pathways program.”

Governor Jack Markell joined Carney for the announcement in Dover Wednesday morning. He said 38 of the state’s 44 public high schools have students enrolled in the program.

“This grant will support initiatives like this that are critical to preparing all students for success after high school,” Markell said. “We will come closer to achieving our Delaware Promise, which is that by 2025 the percentage of Delawareans with a college degree or professional certificate will match the percentage of our jobs that will require one: 65 percent.”