JPMorgan Chase invests $7 million
JPMorgan Chase is investing $7 million in Denver students, a grant designed to bolster Denver Public Schools’ youth apprenticeship program and make the jump from high school to higher education easier, the global financial services firm announced Wednesday.
The money is the first commitment JPMorgan Chase has unveiled out of a promised $75 million, five-year, 10-site global investment to better prepare youths for the workforce, said Jamie Dimon, the firm’s chairman and CEO.
Dimon made the announcement in Denver on Wednesday among civic and education leaders, including Mayor Michael Hancock, DPS Superintendent Susana Cordova and representatives from local colleges.
The $7 million will go to the Denver Education Attainment Network, a collaborative effort between Denver Public Schools, the state education and higher education departments, and several local higher education institutions. DPS will receive the bulk of the funds.
“This grant would help our students and parents explore what their career interests are and how we actually make that dream come to reality in terms of making sure that all the systems in secondary and post-secondary are aligned in a way that makes it easier for the students and parents to understand the path and what the expectations are,” said Bernard McCune, senior executive director of DPS’s College and Career Success.
Cordova said the money will help introduce career paths and options to students earlier and provide opportunities for teens to try them out and decide whether they’re a good fit before they’re paying expensive college courses toward a degree they end up disliking.
During the announcement, held at Denver’s Pinnacol Assurance workers’ compensation insurance company, Angela Mendoza Rico said Pinnacol’s high school apprenticeship program is getting her closer to her dream of working as an immigration lawyer.
“It’s really hard to be a high school student and working at an adult job,” said Mendoza, who works 20 hours per week and now attends Community College of Aurora after graduating from Northeast Early College. “I thought working at an office would be like the TV show ‘The Office,’ but it’s not. It’s a great opportunity. It’s a lot of hard work, and I’m very tired, but I see how much opportunity there is.”
Dimon said a lot of people from underserved populations and those replaced by automation have been left behind in the workforce.
“It’s not right,” Dimon said. “It’s fixable. This fixes it. This is the right thing to do for business, for morality reasons and for economic growth.”