Policy & Advocacy
No Dead Ends
JFF’s National Policy Campaign for Eliminating Dead Ends at School, at Work, and in Life
Why No Dead Ends
Our country’s education and workforce systems have not kept pace with the changing needs of learners and workers or the evolving conditions of the labor market.
It’s time to put an end to dead ends at school, at work, and in life.
The Problem
This country’s approach to learning and work was built for a bygone era. It still assumes that most people make a linear journey through life: graduate from high school and, perhaps, college, get a job, raise a family, and retire.
Nowadays, many people change career paths multiple times throughout their lives. Their professional interests may shift. Job sites shutter. New career opportunities emerge. New technologies upend old ways of working, making some skills and job tasks obsolete. Family responsibilities require a rebalancing of priorities and result in career detours.
Yet, as they try to navigate these changing circumstances, people are encountering education and workforce systems that are too rigid, fragmented, and cumbersome to help them move on to new stages of their lives, learn new skills, and discover new careers. Antiquated systems and policies lay all the burdens, risks, and opportunity costs on workers and learners themselves—and often leave them facing dead ends instead of pursuing new opportunities for economic advancement.
We can put an end to these dead ends at school, at work, and in life.
According to JFF's June 2024 survey, 81% of registered voters—including 89% of Democrats, 78% of Republicans, and 75% of Independents—affirm the core tenet of No Dead Ends: Everyone should get the support they need to explore their learning and work options and make decisions that best match their goals and needs.
People deserve an education and workforce system that provides boundless opportunities to advance economically.
No limits on the aspirations of learners and workers.
No artificial endpoints on career pathways.
No impossible choices between pursuing opportunities to advance one’s career and taking care of family responsibilities.
No harmful risks when making decisions to change directions in one’s work and learning journey.
Accessible: All options for learning and work are available through permeable entry points, regardless of where people are along their learning and work journeys.
Discoverable: Everyone can explore their learning and work options and make decisions that best match their goals and needs.
Achievable: All options for learning and work are attainable, no matter the circumstances and challenges people encounter.
01.
Empower people through data, guidance, and resources to navigate their work and learning journeys.
02.
Recognize everyone’s skills, knowledge, and expertise, regardless of when and where their learning and development experiences occur.
03.
Blur the lines between learning and work to foster common purpose among educators and employers.
JFF Shares Budget Recommendations With White House
To help usher in an era where workers and learners face “no dead ends,” JFF has offered the Trump administration policy and funding recommendations for its FY 2026 budget request to Congress.
Urge Congress to Pass Workforce Pell
One of JFF’s top legislative priorities is expanding Pell Grant eligibility to include shorter-term postsecondary education and training programs that lead to industry-recognized credentials. Urge your members of Congress to vote in favor of Workforce Pell.
Six Critical Actions for a New Congress in a New Year
JFF urges the 119th Congress to prioritize six key policy actions in 2025 to ensure that U.S. workers and learners face ‘no dead ends’ on the road to economic advancement.
JFF’s Federal Policy Blueprint for the Trump Administration
In this memo to the Trump Administration, JFF breaks down our federal education and workforce policy recommendations for the incoming president and presents a unifying, practical, bipartisan plan to eliminate the dead ends that millions of people face every day at school, at work, and in their lives.
Why Workforce Development Must be a Federal Priority
JFF Workforce Policy Director Taylor Maag explains in an op-ed for RealClear Education why workforce development is a powerful tool for equipping current and future workers with the skills they need to thrive in today’s economy. Maag urges federal policymakers to invest in workforce development and cites JFF's new survey of registered voters, which finds that 81% support creating more affordable and flexible alternatives to the traditional four-year college degree, including job training and models like apprenticeships.
Here's What Voters Want the Next President to Do for Higher Ed
Katherine Mangan from The Chronicle of Higher Education covers the results of JFF's September survey of 1,800 registered voters and JFF's bipartisan virtual panel of political experts on the future of education and workforce policy on Sept. 30. The survey found that 84% of respondents said it was somewhat or very important for the next president to support apprenticeships and skills-first hiring in his or her first 100 days.