Skills for America's Future (SAF) is a program of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., with campuses in Aspen, CO and Maryland. SAF aims to address the gap between the skills that employers need and the skills possessed by people who need jobs. The three main strategies SAF proposes to close the gap are: bring together economic development and skills development; demonstrate the efficacy of employer-community college partnerships; and enhance the demand-driven capacity of existing workforce intermediaries. SAF is developing a network of employer/community college partnerships. Currently, 17 successful examples are listed in the Models for Success area of the website, such as DuPont Washington Works, a partnership between DuPont and West Virginia University at Parkersburg, to train skilled workers for chemical operations, or Gap for Community Colleges, a workforce preparedness program, that teaches students resume writing, communication skills, and time management skills, to prepare them for entry-level retail management as well as career advancement.
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