Devon Miner - Opening Doors to Career Advancement
Higher Education, M.S.Ed., 2013
Increasing access to opportunity for low-income people and people of color is a priority of Jobs for the Future (JFF), and one that resonates on multiple levels with Devon Miner, GED’13. As an associate director for JFF, he works with local and regional players to launch and amplify innovative efforts that connect historically marginalized groups with paths to career success.
“I’m looking at how we can reskill individuals impacted by the pandemic,” says Miner, who joined the Boston-based nonprofit in the spring of 2021 and works remotely from Los Angeles. “We want to connect them with in-demand training and education opportunities, and then get them matched to in-demand jobs.”
Since COVID-19 hit, Miner says, skilled trades, healthcare, and business development have experienced more industry growth in comparison to hospitality and restaurant industries, while the move to at-home work for many has underscored the importance of closing the digital divide that impacts rural areas and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
One groundbreaking project that Miner has helped spearhead is the Bay Area Opportunity Onramps, a collaboration among JFF and other workforce development organizations to place five thousand Bay-area workers with skills—but without four-year degrees—in full-time, middle-wage jobs by 2024. The initiative aims to improve paths to employment for many of the region’s Black, Latinx, and veteran workers. “We’re looking at how we can funnel job seekers into high-demand industries,” Miner says.
“I’m seeing that when you invest in communities that are often overlooked, give them the proper resources and skills to succeed, they do succeed.”—Devon Miner, GED’13
Miner has a particular affinity for opening doors to opportunity because of his own trajectory growing up in Inglewood, California, a city that has been historically underinvested. He credits strong role models like his father, a retired probation officer, with his ability to find a path to UCLA and then Penn GSE.
That journey spurred him to make the educational success of students of color his focus during his time in Penn GSE’s Higher Education master’s program. Working with Dr. Shaun Harper, now founder and executive director of the USC Race and Equity Center at the University of Southern California, Miner wrote a thesis about programs and policies that support the success of Black men in college. In addition, he contributed to Harper’s New York City Black and Latino Male High School Achievement Study, which put a spotlight on the factors that students reported as contributing to their success in school.
Those Penn GSE experiences continue to inspire his current work, Miner says. “I’m seeing that when you invest in communities that are often overlooked, give them the proper resources and skills to succeed, they do succeed,” he says.
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