What is Jobs for Ohio's Graduates (JOG)?

Jobs for Ohio's Graduates is a statewide program for helping youth successfully transition from school to work upon graduation. Its mission is to assist at-risk students to graduate from high school and thereafter find and keep quality jobs. Launched over a decade ago, JOG is accredited by Jobs for America's Graduates. JOG is a comprehensive, performance driven strategy for shifting positively the disturbing societal statistics regarding rates of dropout, graduation, and transition from high school to the private sector labor force--one student at a time!

Mission:

Our mission is to assist at-risk students to graduate from high school and successfully transition to work either directly upon graduation or after completing post secondary education. This is done in a classroom setting providing training in career development, job attainment, job survival, basic skills, leadership, and self-development competencies. JOG also assist in a dropout prevention and recovery system.

How is JOG funded?

JOG, Inc was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2003 with the ability to pull together the resources and commitments of a state-level public/private partnership as the most effective way to carry out the program and to have consistent growth, including the broadest diversification of financial support.  This structure created an increased capacity to reach out to the state legislature, the Workforce Investment system, and community and school resources to build the program to a new level of impact in the state. It created a mechanism to help attract a broader array of financial support from public and private-sector organizations.  The new non-profit organization provides improved statewide services to the local JOG affiliates in job development, the Ohio Career Association, staff development/training, technical assistance, quality control, visibility, and advocacy.  It expands training, technical assistance, employer marketing, and access for better quality jobs and added resources for future growth and services to targeted young people. 

JOG is partially funded by local non-profit agencies in cooperation with local school systems.  State revenue provides 25% of the needed funds. Local buy in provides 75%. The JOG program has impressive 'bottom-line results' for only $1500 per student.

What are JOG's goals?

The ultimate goal of JOG is to help each student secure a quality job that will lead to a career. To accomplish this, JOG Career Specialists work with students to:

• improve employability and job readiness traits and skills that employers believe are fundamental to success on the job, such as: personal motivation, teamwork, and communication,
• ensure a strong attachment to the labor market through avoidance of long periods of unemployment following graduation, and
• to increase the ability to achieve improvement for self in terms of hours of work, wage increases, and/or promotions during the year following graduation.

Jobs For Ohio’s Graduates, Inc. Board Of Directors

Chair - Jim Baffone
Vice Chair - Carol Rivchun
Secretary/Treasurer - Kathy Beechem
President - Thomas F. Needles
Senator John Carey
Representative David Daniels
Deborah Martin
Senator Tom Roberts
Senator Cooper Snyder
Richard Stoff

What is the 'Bottom-Line Result' of JOG?

Since its inception, JOG has achieved extraordinary results in keeping at-risk youth in school through graduation and assisting them with transition to the workplace. Due to strong support by Ohioans, the program has tripled the number of students served and increased the number of schools involved by a factor of four since 1991. JOG's new delivery models exhibit the strife for continuous improvement and successful innovation.

During 2004-2005 the JOG Program will serve 3000 youth from 60 high schools in 50 districts and JOG Career Specialists will follow-up on 1300 participants in the class of 2004. These graduates are likely to experience success similar to past JOG participants: Over 90% will graduate, over 80% of graduates will be in a positive situation (working, in the military, or attending post secondary training or college education) within 9 months after graduation, and over 60% will work after graduation with 85% of this group working full-time or part-time while attending college. When compared nationally to other similar young people, the students will be 30% more likely to be employed.

Bottom-Line Result: JOG works!

Our high school Graduation Rate has averaged 91% for the past 17 years.

JOG’s full time placement rate, in jobs, military, or college plus work, is 85%.

81% of JOG’s graduates remained enrolled in college for their second year.

At the beginning of the 2001-02 School Year, 19% of JOG seniors had not passed the Ohio Proficiency Tests. By the completion of follow-up, 98% had passed.

What does a student experience in a JOG program?

The Senior School-to-Work Program, the original delivery model for JOG, targets high school juniors who are at-risk regarding graduation and/or making successful transition to work. In the senior year, the student begins a 21-month involvement with JOG Career Specialists, including an average of 100 hours of in-school, small group activities.

The Five-Year Dropout Prevention Program, a newly developed model, identifies students at-risk at the end of the 8th grade. The student receives JOG services for one year past graduation, including 720 hours in-school classroom contact and summer school over a 60-month period.

The Out-of-School Connections Application, also newly developed, targets a student who has not graduated and has been out of the educational system at least six months. The student strives to achieve a high school diploma or GED, marketable skills, and a quality job through occupational-specific training in an existing career and technical education program.

Regardless of the program the student is in, the student experiences:

• Individualized support from a JOG Career Specialist, a specially trained facilitator and advisor to help establish a career path, to confront and solve problems, and to prepare for the adult world of work.
• Group and individual instruction to attain JOG Core Competencies established by specialists and employers. The 37 competencies are grouped into the areas of career development, job attainment, job survival, basic academic competencies, leadership and self-development.
• Participation in the Ohio Career Association, a highly motivational student organization with national affiliation that involves the local community and employers. Often for the first time, the student undertakes social and civic responsibilities, builds leadership skills, and learns how to work in a group setting.
• Assistance with job placement and development upon graduation. A JOG Career Specialist will meet at least monthly for one year with the graduate and employer to ensure sustained success for the graduate, particularly regarding employment. This component of JOG is recognized to be highly effective and makes JOG highly accountable, unlike similar programs.

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