Jobs for the Future (JFF) is launching the Advancing AI-Resilient Early-Career Pathways Initiative to identify, pilot, and learn from innovative models that support early-career workers in an AI-transformed labor market and help ensure AI leads to quality jobs for all.
Donor Name: Jobs for the Future
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Awards and Prizes
Deadline: 02/25/2026
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Less than 1 Year
Details:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is fundamentally changing how people enter the workforce and advance in their careers. While AI can create more productive and meaningful work, it also risks widening economic divides by displacing jobs and closing off entry points to stable careers, particularly for early-career workers who disproportionately hold entry-level, routine-task roles most vulnerable to automation.
The initiative is grounded in JFF’s belief that AI should make us all better off: AI technologies should lead to the creation of quality jobs and ensure access to those jobs, particularly for workers from populations facing barriers to advancement. If this vision is realized, early-career workers will be able to confidently navigate an AI-integrated workplace and access clear pathways to career advancement; employers and education and training providers will invest in developing early-career workers’ human capabilities alongside AI adoption; and workforce and education systems will be set up to rapidly adapt to technological change.
Areas of Interest
- Intervention Area 1: Reimagining Work-Based Learning
- Intervention Area 2: Employer Incentives and Business Value
- Intervention Area 3: Articulation and Assessment of Durable Skills
Funding Information
$50,000 to $100,000 per grant; award size will vary depending on the winning pilot project’s maturity.
Project Period
April 2026–November 2026.
Eligibility Criteria
To address the multifaceted nature of supporting early-career workers, we encourage a wide range of organizations to apply. Eligible applicants may include, but are not limited to:
- Workforce development organizations
- Postsecondary education institutions
- Training providers
- Intermediaries or nonprofit organizations
- Employer-led entities, including corporate human resources or learning and development functions
- For-profit organizations, including early-stage companies or startups
For more information, visit JFF.
