Jobs for America’s Graduates is a national nonprofit with 39 state affiliates serving 75,000 youth and young adults across 1,500 communities. JAG’s mission? To empower the nation’s young people with the skills and support to succeed in education, employment, and life. Students experience the JAG Advantage, which aligns Trauma-Informed Care, Project-Based Learning, and Employer Engagement, and as a result achieve incredible results. JAG graduates have a 95%+ graduation rate and a full-time positive outcomes rate of 78% (inclusive of employment, post-secondary education, and/or the military). JAG partners with 19,000 employers who hire JAG graduates annually and engages thousands of volunteers annually to help students develop their employment and leadership skills in their communities.
Whether you’re just developing a TA strategy to reach future talent pipelines, you want to learn more best practices to advance your existing one, or just want to feel good about America’s future, join us!
Learning Objectives:
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Janelle Duray
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Jobs for America's Graduates
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Janelle Duray has over fifteen years of experience in education and workforce development consulting and nonprofit management. She serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Jobs for America’s Graduates, a national nonprofit that has served 1.5 million youth since its inception 40+ years ago, and currently serves 75,000 youth across 1,500 communities. In her role, Janelle oversees JAG’s internal and external efforts and collaborates with national and state public and private sector leaders, to provide critical services to youth and young adults through the JAG programming.
Janelle has served many roles at JAG since 2012. In January of 2020, she was named Executive Vice President and subsequently led the organization through the COVID-19 pandemic making critical investments in technology, student engagement programming, Federal procurement infrastructure, and overall organizational development for the JAG National Office and its national network made of up 39 State Affiliates. Her leadership throughout the pandemic led the Board of Directors to adopt JAG’s Youth Opportunity and Outcomes 2024 Strategic Goals – the most ambitious goals in JAG’s history.
Prior to her commitment to JAG, Janelle has consulted with leading Fortune 500 companies and national nonprofits, including ADM, HCA, United Way Worldwide, the AARP Foundation, the National Urban League, and more, to grow their fund development, external affairs efforts, and overall strategy.
Janelle received her Masters of Arts in Public Administration from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and her Bachelors of Arts in Global Studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.
Throughout her post-secondary education, Janelle held positions at the Association of American Law Schools and former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty’s office.
Outside of JAG, Janelle enjoys traveling, concerts, good wine, musing about the cosmos, and her first passion, playing piano.
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Niki Childers
Director of Corporate Development
Jobs for America's Graduates
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Niki has served the education and non-profit world for the past 20 years teaching, training, and offering professional development to educators and non-profit staff.
For over 10 years, Niki has worked with Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) at the state and local level. She began her journey in the classroom working with high school youth, to leading staff as a Regional Director, to then creating a training and professional development process for all incoming JAG Specialists (educators) across Kansas. Niki’s work led her to the JAG National team where she co-developed a learner-centered approach to support young people obtaining employability skills.
Since 2020, she has led in JAG’s Development department, starting as Director of Partnerships, bridging relationships between JAG National’s employer partners and its 39 state affiliates. After evolving in this position, Niki moved into her current role as Director of Corporate Development where she oversees all private sector relationships, both current and future, working closely with JAG’s EVP & Chief Operating Officer on all fundraising efforts and developing strategies to expand its portfolio. Current corporate partner relationships include Hilton, SHRM, Honeywell, Lowe’s, Nike, IHG, Regions Bank, Synchrony Financial, Principal Foundation, AT&T, and ADM to name a few.
Niki received her Master of Science in Organizational Dynamics in Organization Development and her Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management and Leadership from Friends University.
Outside of JAG, Niki is an adjunct instructor at Wichita State University and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She enjoys traveling, exploring new Vegan cuisines, and spending time with family that includes her husband and adult children.
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Steven J. Smith, SHRM-CP
Chief Hiring Expert
ApplicantPro
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Steve will be the first to tell you that recruiting is marketing. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance at Brigham Young University and started his career in recruiting in Feb 2005. In 2008, he took a risk during a recession to help start a new company with Ryan Kohler, called ApplicantPro, a full suite HR platform for small to mid-sized businesses. With 11,000 clients and close to 300 employees, ApplicantPro has made the Inc 5000 list 11 years in a row, Top Places to work in Utah 3 years in a row. ApplicantPro was also named an Indeed Platinum Partner in 2023, one of five companies in the country to receive this designation. Steve is SHRM-CP and PHR certified, and currently volunteers on the Utah SHRM State Council as the immediate past State Executive Director. His book, The Hiring Tree: Laws of Applicant Attraction, was released in early 2023, and has helped thousands of organizations across the country rethink the way they approach hiring. If you need help understanding the principles and role of SEO, marketing, and AI when it comes to attracting job seekers, Steve provides a solid framework for hiring.
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Lauryn Howard
National Career Association Secretary
Jobs for America's Graduates
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Lauryn Howard is the National Career Association Secretary. Lauryn is a senior at Little Rock Southwest High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The 2021-2022 school year was Lauryn’s first year in JAG which helped her develop a plan for her future career. She plans to attend Duke or Washington University and study Biomedical research to learn how viral infections, diseases, and hereditary/genetic afflictions react in and affect the human body and the methods in which to cure or treat said afflictions. Currently, Lauryn works at Zumiez, a clothing store for skating apparel and footwear.