Employment & Education Solutions that Build Real Pathways to Mobility

This post is part of the Forward With Families series.

Forward With Families is a multi-year strategy led by Ascend at the Aspen Institute to amplify ideas and initiatives that make life affordable, economic mobility possible, and security attainable for every family in America. This strategy drives policy and systems leaders at every level to act on proven and promising solutions to ensure resources go farthest for the children and families who need them most.

Parents are students, caregivers, and employees at the same time, but most education and workforce systems are not built with that reality in mind. For the more than 3 million undergraduate students in the U.S. who are raising children, access to child care, flexible scheduling, and clear pathways to stable, well-paid work often determines whether education remains possible at all.

When education and workforce systems fail to account for child care needs, inflexible schedules, and the need to earn while learning,  student parents face barriers that make persistence far harder than it needs to be. When systems are designed around real family life, aligning education with employment opportunities and career advancement,  a different story emerges.

What Family-Centered Education Looks Like in Practice

Designing family-friendly college campuses

• At El Paso Community College in Texas, Student Parent Resource Centers reflect a leadership commitment to student parents, championed by President Dr. William Serrata and Lucia Rodriguez, Director of the Office for Student Success. The centers create welcoming spaces for parenting students—offering practical supports that recognize caregiving as part of student life and enable parents to stay enrolled and continue progressing toward their goals.
  
  
• At Howard Community College in Maryland, under the leadership of Dr. Daria J. Willis, the Children’s Learning Center is an essential resource for student parents and employees. Now serving 50 families, it’s helping reduce child care costs, providing Early Head Start programming for infants and toddlers, and supporting degree completion among low-income student-parents. 
  
  With more than 2,900 HCC students receiving Pell Grants in 2024—24% of whom have child dependents—the college continues to strengthen two-generation outcomes through wraparound supports, including dedicated study space, food pantry access, and family-inclusive classroom practices that allow children to remain with parents during in-person instruction.
  

Creating pathways through social capital and job training

• Climb Hire, a national organization founded by Nitzan Pelman, connects parents—especially single mothers—to career pathways that combine skills, networks, and long-term mobility. Central to Climb Hire’s model is community: learners move through programs alongside other caring parents, building affinity groups that foster peer accountability, mutual support, and persistence. That shared experience is a critical driver of outcomes, making a measurable difference in program completion, job placement, and sustained employment. 
  
  As Climb Hire demonstrates, high-quality short-term workforce programs with strong results depend on community as much as credentials, underscoring the need for Workforce Pell pathways that support proven models beyond traditional accredited higher education institutions.
  
  
• At Briya Public Charter School, led by Christie McKay in Washington, D.C., a comprehensive two-generation model integrates adult education, early learning, family engagement, and wraparound services—while placing families at the center of decision-making. Parents are program participants and co-designers, shaping the model through adult education pathways, student leadership structures, and representation on Briya’s Board of Directors.
  
  Briya’s ability to continually innovate alongside families, staff, and community partners is supported by D.C.’s public education funding formula, which recognizes learning across the lifespan, offering a powerful example of how policy can enable whole-family success.
  
  
• Climb Wyoming, led by CEO Kate Hogarty, works alongside single mothers to build durable pathways out of poverty through a holistic, psychologically informed model that integrates job training, mental wellness, and social capital. Designed in partnership with families and refined over four decades, the organization’s approach recognizes that long-term employment success is inseparable from well-being, trust, and lived expertise.
  
  Climb Wyoming’s outcomes extend well beyond job placement: graduates see sustained wage growth, improved mental health, and increased stability for their children—demonstrating how workforce strategies that center family expertise and neuroscience-informed practice can generate lasting economic mobility and community-level impact.
  
  

Why This Matters–Now

Education works best when it reflects the realities of family life. 

Parents are not choosing between being students and caregivers; they are both at the same time. When education and workforce systems provide child care, advising, flexible scheduling, and community support, student parents are far more likely to persist, complete credentials, and build lasting economic stability for their families.

Moving Forward With Families

What’s already working across campuses and communities points to a clear path forward: design education and training systems around families.

Forward With Families elevates these proven and promising approaches and helps move them from practice to policy so parents don’t have to navigate disconnected systems to build better futures.

We invite you to share your work to help map the momentum and spark new opportunities for connection, collaboration, and support. Tell us how you’ll take action here.