Forging New Pathways: Bloomberg Philanthropies Backs Next Prep’s Career Pathways Model
Date Posted: August 25, 2026
Posted In: Discussion, What we are thinking about, Workforce,
From The Opportunity Trust: Four years ago, we launched Next Prep as an experiment. Today, Bloomberg Philanthropies is investing $8 million to bring it to scale.
For too many high school students, the path from graduation to a living-wage career is disjointed, leaving graduates unprepared for either college or career.
College, certifications, apprenticeships, and career opportunities often exist in separate systems, leaving students and families to navigate them on their own. At the same time, employers across the region continue to identify talent as one of the biggest barriers to growth.
Next Prep, an initiative of The Opportunity Trust, was built to help close that gap.
Bloomberg Philanthropies has selected Next Prep to receive an $8 million, three-year investment to expand access to career-connected learning, technical training, industry credentials, and registered apprenticeship opportunities in fields such as electrical work, carpentry, construction, HVAC, welding, advanced manufacturing, and related skilled trades.
School-Connected Career Learning
With this grant, Next Prep will expand its successful school-based career-connected learning model into a regional workforce development infrastructure, creating 100 new apprenticeship seats each year and expanding programming across three partner schools in St. Louis.
The investment validates The Opportunity Trust’s approach to strengthening the education ecosystem: identifying gaps, investing in innovation, brokering cross-sector partnerships, and building the infrastructure needed for promising solutions to scale.
A National Signal for a Local Strategy
With support from local philanthropy, Next Prep grew from a promising concept into a proven model serving hundreds of students across St. Louis. The model is already gaining national attention: education leaders and intermediaries from across the country have traveled to St. Louis to study our innovative approach to career-connected learning, and elements of the model are being replicated in communities, including the Bay Area and Indianapolis.
Bloomberg Philanthropies’ support builds on that momentum, allowing Next Prep to broaden and deepen its impact for students, schools, and employers in St. Louis. This investment in St. Louis is part of a larger $90 million national skilled trades initiative launching across nine regions, designed to help approximately 15,000 high school students access paid training, industry credentials, and clearer pathways into Registered Apprenticeships and high-wage careers.
“Millions of good-paying jobs are going unfilled, and too many students never get a chance to learn the skills necessary to get them. This new initiative will help change that,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and three-term mayor of New York City. “By bringing schools, unions, and employers together as partners, we can offer students free training and credentials that lead directly to rewarding careers.”
St. Louis Effort Lead by 40 Partners
In St. Louis, the work will be led by The Opportunity Trust through Next Prep, alongside more than 40 partners from local schools, employers, unions, and training partners – including Gateway Science Academy, Kairos Academies, University City High School, St. Mary’s Southside Catholic High School, Independent Electrical Contractors, Mid-America Carpenters Union, Streib Electric, Seyer Industries, True Manufacturing, Hoffman Brothers, Quest Specialty Products, Craftsmen Industries, Construction Forum, CareerWayz, Civil Design, Inc., and more.