Imagine the following career trajectory. An elementary school student goes on a field trip to a science center where she flies a plane and walks in space—virtually of course. Several years later, as a high school student, she enrolls in an apprenticeship program with an aviation manufacturing company that will lead to a well-paying job after graduation. She is then presented with opportunities to grow her skills either through acquiring additional industry-recognized certifications or through pathways to college degrees.

States and cities across the nation dream of achieving outcomes like this for their residents. In Mobile, Ala., this vision is quickly becoming a reality thanks to innovative collaborations among key institutions and leaders.

Last summer, Mobile opened Flight Works Alabama—a 15,000-square-foot science center where visitors can fly virtual jets, walk in space, attend workshops, and earn certifications. Flight Works Alabama is a joint venture between state lawmakers and educators working with Airbus, a leading aerospace manufacturing company that has a major facility in Mobile. At the beginning of this year, the first graduates of Flight Works Alabama’s FlightPath9 apprenticeship program began their careers at Airbus. FlightPath9 is a workforce training program for high school seniors that combines hands-on technical instruction with soft-skills development, preparing students for Airbus’ onboarding program. Flight Works Alabama Director Michelle Hurdle explains that the vision for FlightPath9 is to provide “an avenue for students to master an array of skills while delivering an educational program to our community with clear and measurable results.”

These efforts reflect a growing momentum in Mobile’s efforts to create talent pipelines for its residents. In a 2018 profile of Mobile, the Lumina Foundation spotlighted a comparable internship program for high school juniors and seniors offered through Outokumpu, a stainless steel manufacturing firm with a 1,500 employee plant in Calvert, Ala., an unincorporated community in Mobile. This internship opportunity is also connected to cooperative programs offered through two community colleges in Mobile: Coastal Alabama and Bishop State (which is one of the nation’s few two-year HBCU institutions). In recognition of Mobile’s innovations, the Lumina Foundation designated the city a Talent Hub in 2018 and awarded the Mobile Area Education Foundation with a sizable grant to support the Foundation’s goal of boosting postsecondary education attainment rates.

Read the full article about systemic racism in Mobile's manufacturing sector by Andre M. Perry, Carl Romer, and Anthony Barr at Brookings.