The Coalition supports member schools, employers, and community-based organizations in providing quality career development programs for students to facilitate their development of career goals.
Career Pathways is a conduit for students to pursue careers that best fit their interests and skills. Career Pathways provides career information for students, aids them in choosing the right courses that will best meet their future career needs, and expands student opportunities for learning and career preparation.
BerksWorks is an online database designed to connect students with employers who offer internships, cooperative work experiences, or other career-development opportunities.
College and high school students use BerksWorks to identify opportunities with local companies and organizations. Employers use BerksWorks to publicize those opportunities and to prospect for interns.
insideBerksbusiness is a five-day learning experience for educators. It brings members of the education and business communities together in a program that gives educators an inside look at local businesses and enables employers to connect with schools and students.
The Berks Business Education Coalition has been selected as the Intermediary Organization to facilitate the planning and implementation of a Regional Career Education Partnership in Berks County. The Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry have selected the Coalition as an experienced organization that can work with the local Workforce Investment Board and Youth Council to promote career preparation for students throughout the county, to partner with Project 720 high schools to address key career-related elements, and to work with the Commonwealth on broad strategies that encourage employers to support Pennsylvania's vision for high school reform.
Partnership activities include the revision of the Berks Career Pathways Web site, the implementation of a county-wide site license for a career search and development resource called Career Cruising, and the implementation of an online resource to enhance communication among students, parents, schools, and employers. Additional activities include the facilitation of the development of a Career Day resource kit. Information on the Career Pathways Website and the online employer database can be found at www.berkscareerpathways.com
Berks County was identified as part of a nine-county, regional, Northeast Pennsylvania Business Education Workforce Partnership Transformational Initiative. The initiative is funded by the Federal Government and coordinated regionally by the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board. The Berks Business Education Coalition, in partnership with the Berks Workforce Investment Board and the Berks County Intermediate Unit, facilitates the initiative throughout the county. The Partnership focuses on expanding career development through funding support for Career Pathways, Career Cruising, and other business education projects to enhance career and workforce development.
The Berks Business Education Coalition is committed to assisting schools in increasing the number of their graduates who transition successfully from high school to further education. The Higher Education/Basic Education initiative has at it's foundation the enhancement of communication between basic and higher education within Berks County. A standing committee composed of representatives from higher and basic education meets frequently to discuss strategies that can be utilized to increase the participation of high school graduates in further education.
Programs that have developed from the initiative include:
- facilitated entire class visits to college campuses in Berks County to introduce college life to students in grades 8 and 9, and to provide the necessary information for students to plan appropriately for entrance into college, and "
- "How to Get to College" posters that describe the necessary preparatory steps students need to take to successfully enter college.