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Building Bridges to Careers (BB2C), a community, economic and workforce development initiative based in Marietta, is a program that’s meant to fill in the gaps that high school students face when it comes to choosing a career and connecting to future pathways and employers. 

“Students are graduating from school without knowledge, without preparation, without knowing where they’re going,” BB2C Executive Director  said. 

Through the BB2C, students are given time to explore and gain experiences that help them better understand where they might find meaningful pathways and potential work to pursue after high school. 

The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at 91̽�� has invested money into the BB2C programs in recognition of its impact as a major successful regional social enterprise. “BB2C solves a key social problem, engaging young adults with the workforce, while also creating revenue,” said Faith Knutsen, director of the school’s Social Enterprise and Ecosystem project. 

The Voinovich School has subsidized 25 to 30% of BB2C’s operational costs for the past five years, Knutsen said.

Before joining BB2C, Werry was a teacher for 12 years, and found herself working in a leadership position in 2011 with the Race to the Top initiative funded by the federal government. After her school district received grants related to the programs, Werry became the point person for it all. 

“College and career readiness became a thing that was not a thing prior to that,” Werry said, with some kids “accidentally” getting exposed to career readiness and awareness based on the teachers they had. 

Werry describes BB2C as a way to “provide (students) as many experiences that are key for (students) to make a decision that works for them for their future.”

Through the program, students are given the opportunity to speak with professionals directly, shadow professionals in fields they’re interested in and even intern in those professions. Werry says the process helps students understand ways they can explore multiple career paths if they learn that one does not work for them.

In her job, Werry connects to many in the school community, such as the superintendents, principals and teachers, to eventually reach the students through programming. BB2C employees also work with teachers and schools to get professionals into the classroom and connect business partners to schools to develop education projects.

With BB2C’s success in its home county of Washington, it’s been able to scale out to now work in 25 counties in Ohio, in part thanks to the increase in funding from the Voinovich School. The program also received a $364,000 grant through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – which was made possible through support and connections with the Voinovich School. 

“We’re building relationships. We’re building those human connections that get these kids connected to different things. You have to have people to do that,” Werry said.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Werry said that many schools had to pull resources away from any career readiness work they were doing. And, if it wasn’t for the BB2C program, some of those students may not have had any career development preparation at all, she said. 

BB2C is also helping keep students in the Appalachian region. Werry said many students believe they need to leave the area to be successful, which isn’t true. 

“Some of the internships or the job shadow placements, some of them are getting jobs with them, staying with them,” Werry said. “Were they intending to leave? I don’t know. But they now have a full-time job with someone they knew and they would not have met or may have not even known that the business existed.”