Following a hiatus in 2025, the Consortium will again host its hugely popular Future Ready Partnerships Conference (FRPC) in 2026.
Scheduled to take place on March 31 at Community College of Allegheny County’s Boyce Campus in Monroeville, the event will again bring together employers, postsecondary programs, and K-12 educators interested in sharing and learning about effective ways to help students explore careers and build future readiness before they graduate. It will be the sixth time the Consortium has offered the FRPC.
A formal request for presentation proposals will be coming out soon, but employers, postsecondary leaders, or educators interested in sharing successes they’ve had with partnerships aimed at future readiness can contact either of our directors of partnerships, Gina Barrett or Jenn Sethman. Anyone interested in sponsoring the Conference as a means of highlighting their support for career learning should contact Executive Director Jackie Foor.
From presenters and workshop hosts we’re looking for “practical ideas,” said Sethman. “We’re not looking for theory—we want these sessions to be about boots-on-the-ground. We want attendees to learn about partnerships they can replicate, or in which they might participate.”
Among partnerships to be showcased are examples from a group of districts whose school counselors participate in the Consortium’s Career Connections Network (CCN). The group, which comprises more than 20 districts, will offer a breakout session at the Conference. Participants have been working to analyze the partnerships their schools already offer to help students become future ready, to then identify gaps they might fill and look at ways to strengthen their programming going forward.
Also on hand will be representatives from our Future Ready Leaders (FRL) program, which brings together teams of students from 17 districts to work on projects aimed at improving future readiness opportunities in their schools. In addition to bringing student perspective to table discussions, some of the teams will present a breakout session.
Following the last Conference in 2023-24, one Cornell School District administrator remarked that he’d attended all of them and “never fails to find something of value.” Another from Big Beaver Falls Area School District said she came away “chock-full of ideas.”
Both educators and employers also invariably come away from the event with plenty of contacts to further explore avenues for partnership.
“No one goes away empty-handed,” said Sethman. “We’ve been hearing since we paused the Conference last year from attendees who’ve wanted to know when we’ll be holding another.”
