OneTen, a Norfolk, Virginia-based nonprofit organization working to address the racial wealth gap, is partnering with the National Student Clearinghouse, also a nonprofit, to better identify former and current Black students who could benefit from the coalition’s efforts.
For OneTen, which has set a goal of employing one million Black Americans without four-year degrees into family-sustaining wages in 10 years, the partnership provides access to higher education data that will help the coalition continue building its pool of job applicants, said Maurice Jones, CEO of OneTen. The Clearinghouse, which has a robust research arm, provides electronic education record exchanges, and helps high schools keep track of their alumni.
The partnership “is designed to make sure we can reach out to that kind of scale of audience we need in order to do the work at the level that we’re trying to do,” Jones said. “And the Clearinghouse has access to millions of talent all across the country and that’s what we need.”
Jones said in an interview that more companies are removing four-year degree requirements for many positions, and instead relying on specific skills and competencies. Removing bachelor’s degree requirements will “remove a barrier” for people to access the middle class, Jones said. He added that 79% of jobs paying more than $50,000 currently require four-year college degrees, which excludes the 76% of Black talent over age 25 with relevant experience but no baccalaureate degrees.
