Pathways, Demystified: Supporting Youth Career Journeys in Memphis
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Perhaps more so than any generation in recent history, our nation’s youth and young adults are contending with vast economic uncertainty as they enter the workforce. Even casting aside the ongoing shocks to our economic trajectory, feelings of disaffection and disconnection to career pathways have long persisted among young people.
Last May, our partners at Code for America led a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) initiative alongside youth and young adults in greater Memphis, TN (see here for the report). Coupled with further learnings from a follow-on research trip in November, we found that feedback from youth participants on their career navigation barriers can be neatly contextualized into three overarching themes:
- Limited Career Exposure: Expressed lack of visibility into clear next steps and realistic expectations for career pathways;
- Insufficient Support: Family or societal pressures, limited access to training and related support outlets;
- Skill Mismatches: Unclear, mismatched skills - confusion around evolving industry needs, demands, and pathways.
In March, the RiseKit team returned to Memphis, convening youth and young adults to give them access to the RiseKit platform, gather feedback, and further validate how technology can make a meaningful difference in demystifying pathways to opportunity for young people.
(To protect youth participant identity, feedback included in this post has been left anonymous).
Expanding Career Exposure
Alongside local partners like Hospitality Hub, Knowledge Quest, and Restore Corps, the RiseKit team met with over 30 young Memphians (aged 16-24) as part of a series of Career Connections workshops hosted across the city.
At each workshop, the young people were first introduced to our above thematic findings, which broadly resonated with attendees. While not monolithic, many young Memphians - especially those disconnected from work or education - are similarly beset with a lack of visibility into viable career pathways.
In the YPAR referenced above, youth participatory researchers recommended a centralized technology platform - a “Digital Hub” - be created to bring better visibility to career pathways for their fellow young Memphians.
Participants at each workshop were given access to this recommendation brought to life - RiseKit’s digital hub of resources, training, and job opportunities - all in one easy-to-use interface. Over 30 youth participants signed up for RiseKit using their phones, and began navigating the ecosystem in real time.
For some young Memphians in attendance, it sparked new exposure and a helpful starting point as they deepened their understanding of career pathways available to them:
“If you don’t know what you wanna do yet, RiseKit is a good place to start. It breaks things down and gives you real options. I’d show my friends how easy it is to use and how many different careers they can explore.”
Deepening Access to Support
As workshop participants explored RiseKit’s career navigation functionality, they were also exposed to tools designed to enable a supportive environment along their journey to employment.
For those working directly with vulnerable youth and young adults - case managers, career navigators, and the like - it can be difficult to stay connected with the wide range of support outlets, referral partners, and training programs that they might connect their young people to.
As the youth participants found, RiseKit is designed to offload some of this burden, as young people are empowered to self-navigate the digital hub all through their mobile device. Youth-serving nonprofit staff are likewise empowered, as they retain visibility on the resources their young people are exploring in RiseKit, and are enabled to suggest resources via text to their youth participants based on their unique barriers, interests, and pathways.
As we like to say, technology is not a silver bullet, but for at least one young woman, it made a difference in her discovery of new training and support opportunities.
Indeed, after attending the workshop, she remarked that she had never considered a career in hospitality, and was excited to learn that the very organization that invited her to the workshop provides training for a career in hospitality for her age group.
“[RiseKit] is easy to use and full of stuff you probably didn’t even know existed. Jobs, programs, resources, it’s all there.”
Unraveling Skill Mismatches
In addition to hospitality, youth workshop participants were given license to explore other local career pathways to quality jobs in manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, IT/technology, and the trades. Participants were able to follow each pathway from first identifying entry-level jobs, followed by discovering localized upskilling opportunities, and finally, exploring attainable quality jobs.
Some participants felt encouraged that these pathways to quality jobs could be charted with just a high school diploma or GED, beginning with low-skilled positions:
“RiseKit makes it real easy to find opportunities, even if you only got a high school diploma or GED. It shows you stuff you didn’t even know you could do. I’d say don’t sleep on it. It could change your whole mindset.”
According to Indeed’s 2025 US Jobs & Hiring Trends Report, there has been a meaningful shift away from degree requirements for employment - the share of job postings requiring at least a bachelor’s degree fell to 17.6% in October 2024 from roughly 20% before the pandemic.
As this trend toward skills-based hiring is expected to continue, it’s important for youth and young adults to understand the most marketable skills relative to the pathways they’re interested in. RiseKit was designed with this in mind—a hyper-local web of support that makes skill-matching and career pathway navigation easier for both job seekers and the nonprofit staff who support them.
One participant marveled that pathways to gainful employment need not always come solely through a college degree (and the high-interest student loan debt that comes with it):
“I used to think I had to go to college to get a good job, but RiseKit showed me there’s other ways. It connected me with programs that match my skills, and now I’m more confident about what’s next. I’d definitely tell others to give it a try.”
Pathways, Demystified
Our March trip to Memphis marked a significant milestone, as we engaged with and connected over 30 youth and young adults to career pathways. In partnership with Code for America, the Assisi Foundation, and our growing community of nonprofit partners, we will strive to connect 1,000 youth and young adults in Memphis to career pathways in 2025.
As we endure the fallout amid rapid shifts in economic policy and conditions, it is important that we prioritize career exposure, support access, and skill development for our future workforce. RiseKit is proud to serve as a backbone for this work in Memphis, and in communities across the country. Together, we’re on our way to reducing the barriers and mystification faced by our young people as they walk the path to opportunity.
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