CBS national correspondent Jim Axelrod interviewed NewBridge CEO Robert L. Parker about the success of NewBridge Jobs Plus, the nonprofit’s successful alternative education and career program.
The online article that accompanied the video (which is no longer accessible) in June 2012 noted that 1 in 4 American high school students leave high school without getting a diploma. NewBridge Jobs Plus helps young adults earn their New Jersey State High School diploma and prepare for college, trade schools and good jobs.
The article quoted NewBridge Jobs Plus graduate Brian, whom NewBridge helped get into a top automotive school and who landed a job as a mechanic at a Mercedes dealership. Brian said: “I got my self-confidence,” he said. “‘I can get this, I can do this.’ It is no longer ‘I can’t.'”
Parker told Axelrod: “These young adults are the ones that we pushed aside, but that’s very shortsighted. They’re going to collect food stamps and they’re not going to be taxpayers. In a sense, we’re investing in these people in order for them to pay back.”
