JAG Early College Success

Jobs for Arkansas’ Graduates is a state-based non-profit organization dedicated to supporting young people of great promise. Nationwide, 70% of students facing academic and financial barriers that pursue a postsecondary education are unable to successfully complete their first year of college. The Jobs for Arkansas’ Graduates Early College Success program aims to serve those students to ensure their educational journey ends in graduation and job placement. 

This program is sponsored by the Arkansas Department of Education, Division of Career and Technical Education, Office of Special Populations and funded by the Arkansas Department of Commerce, Division of Workforce Services, Temporary Assistance Needy Families (TANF).

A JAG-trained College Career Coach will be with students throughout their college experience. The JAG coach will be the student’s college advocate and “go to” person when they have questions regarding registration, financial aid, career choices, or personal issues that may impact their college experience. Participants are provided with an orientation to college, resources, study strategies, college planning and college transfer fairs, pre-employment strategies, career planning, and career seeking skills. The JAG Coach will connect students with college, academic, career, and personal resources to ensure that each student reaches his or her college graduation and career goals.

UACCB Student Success Center

A JAG-trained College Career Coach will help students understand the steps needed to reach educational, career, and life goals by providing students with information about resources available to help them succeed and encouraging students to take personal responsibility for achieving their goals. Participants are provided with resources, pre-employment strategies, career planning, and career seeking skills. The JAG Coach will help the student to connect curriculum with career skills and planning. JAG is a partnership between the coach and the student for the purpose of exploring the student’s interest, values, skills, and abilities to perfectly fit them with a career. The JAG Coach will provide the student with industry and community connections, working with business partners to provide mentorship and job shadowing by a professional in their chosen career field, apprenticeship opportunities, and career fairs.

UACCB Career Coach

JAG helps young people of truly great promise succeed both in school and on-the-job, leading to a productive and rewarding career. Jobs for America’s Graduates is led by a public/private partnership at the national level, comprised of leading Governors, C-Suite Executives among the Fortune 500 and national community leaders. It is organized to support State Affiliates in the high-impact delivery of the JAG Model across middle school, high school, and out-of-school and collegiate young adult populations. JAG is proud to have served over 1.4 million young people since 1980.

What makes JAG unique from other programs is that the JAG model blends a trauma informed care approach with employer engagement and a learning community to support the JAG student. The JAG Early College Success program keeps students engaged through college and helps them successfully transition to life after.

An increasing number of JAG students have experienced trauma. In the book "Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom," trauma is described as “an exceptional experience in which powerful and dangerous events overwhelm a person’s capacity to cope.” JAG is a resiliency model. It demonstrates how to build relationships, gives learners voice and choice, teaches life skills, and helps learners overcome adversity.

Employer engagement has been a cornerstone activity of the JAG program since inception. In leveraging employer engagement as an instructional strategy, JAG elevates the practice by developing meaningful connections between our students and professionals, ideas and skills, and the classroom and real-life situations. Employers invest their resources, talent and knowledge to customize individual learning experiences for JAG students. Work-based activities and learning advances effective employer partnerships to provide students with the inspiration, motivation, knowledge and skills needed to be successful in post-secondary education and career pathways. This strategy deepens career exploration and first-hand experience in working environments to optimize advancement for learners.