Through Earn Up, a higher education collaborative aiming to award 60 percent of adults with training certificates or college degrees by 2025, FSCJ has partnered with universities and colleges including Edward Waters College, Jacksonville University, University of North Florida, St. Johns River State College and others. 

The collaborative promotes “higher earning through higher learning,” based on research that shows the single greatest predictor of economic success in a community is the number of degreed and industry-certified people who live there. Of the working age population in Northeast Florida, 38 percent have a two- or four-year degree.

FSCJ’s participation in the Earn Up initiative includes our I-Tech program, which is designed to fast track the careers of IT professionals who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more.

JAX Chamber is one of six organizations to receive the Award for Education Attainment this year. Selected from a competitive pool of 27 applicants, Earn Up has demonstrated momentum in setting an education attainment agenda and establishing innovative post secondary attainment goals and strategies.

ACCE launched its Award for Education Attainment in 2014 to engage the business community in efforts to transform education attainment and workforce outcomes. Since launch, 18 chambers of commerce nationwide, including the six recipients this year, have received the coveted award.