Gitlab Foundation Makes its First Grant to BGI and JFF

GitLab Foundation Makes its First Grant to Help Job Seekers and Employers Make Sense of Postsecondary Credentials

$2.9M grant for Jobs for the Future and the Burning Glass Institute to expand Educational Quality Outcomes Standards as a tool to help workers, learners, employers, and policymakers make sense of rapidly growing landscape of postsecondary credentials

BOSTON, April 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the GitLab Foundation—formed by GitLab, Inc to improve people's lifetime earnings globally through access to opportunities —has announced its first major grant of $2.9 million to national nonprofit Jobs for the Future (JFF) in collaboration with the Burning Glass Institute.

The grant will be used to significantly expand the Educational Quality Outcomes Standards (EQOS) framework to measure education and training programs based on employment and earnings outcomes. JFF and the Burning Glass Institute will work together to incorporate new measures of racial, gender, and income equity—and create consumer and employer friendly applications that make it easier for job seekers and employers in the U.S. to assess a wide variety of education and training programs.

"Access to education and training helps workers build new skills and advance in their professional lives, driving income growth and economic mobility," said Ellie Bertani, CEO of the GitLab Foundation. "However, not all programs and credentials are created equally, and precious resources are wasted by learners and employers if they don't have access to reliable, data-backed insights tied to clear outcomes. Our collaboration with JFF and the Burning Glass Institute aims to increase transparency across credential programs in the US and help learners and employers make more informed decisions."

The announcement comes at a time when persistent talent shortages highlight fundamental inefficiencies in the labor market. In the absence of a validated means for candidates to signal their skills, many employers have clung to degree requirements.  That's starting to change: Burning Glass Institute research indicates that the prevalence of degree requirements has dropped 14% since 2017.  However, the lack of an effective credentialing infrastructure is slowing the progress of the skills-based hiring movement. ….

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