5 in 5: Greg Johnson, Jobs for Maine’s Graduates’ Vice President of Institutional Advancement

Results for America Fellowship Alumni give five answers in five minutes. This month, we caught up with Greg Johnson, Vice President of Institutional Advancement of Jobs for Maine’s Graduates.

1. Summarize what you do and how you do it.
   At Jobs for Maine’s Graduates (JMG), we identify students who face barriers to education and guide each one on to a successful path toward continued education, a meaningful career, and productive adulthood.
2. Share something exciting that you’re working on.
   Over the course of the next year, we expect to build a new model of the JMG curriculum to incorporate stackable badges and micro-credentials. We will partner with Maine employers and higher educational institutions to build a more seamless transition for students into higher education or into the workforce.
3. Tell us one thing you learned from someone else during your RFA Fellowship.
   The RFA fellows were like a “dream team” of non-profit leaders focused on data and evidence in the sector and I was lucky to be a part of it. Each and every time we met I learned something new. I learned from Dale how to dream big and then deliver. Lauren set an amazing example of how to take what works and share it with others by thinking outside the typical delivery model. Molly demonstrated how someone with an amazing track record of accomplishments and evidence of success could remain ever so humble and appreciative of all those around her.
4. If you could wave a magic wand and have any data or evidence, what would it be?
   Most of my work over the last 20 years has been to demonstrate that high-quality, relationship-based advising to students from low income backgrounds will lead to higher success rates accessing higher education and the workforce. It would be nice to find a simple way to “prove” that (that didn’t take 6 years and cost more than $1M).
5. What’s the [pick-your-adjective] job you’ve ever had?
   My experience at Bottom Line for over 15 years was the most rewarding “job” I can imagine.

Extra Question: How is Jobs for Maine’s Graduates adapting its work in response to COVID-19 and urgent calls for racial equity?
Because JMG’s intervention primarily takes place in classrooms at middle schools and high schools and on campuses across the state of Maine, the COVID-19 pandemic changed our delivery model dramatically — moving it to the virtual world. We are fully prepared for this to continue into the fall. In addition to our career focused curriculum, equally important to the JMG approach is that our Specialists (classroom staff) are able to connect with students on the social-emotional level. This became the focus of our work during the last few months of the school year. During these uncertain times, we have been focused on the broader perspective of student well-being, and our Specialists are helping students overcome new or persistent barriers ranging from food insecurity to lack of access to technology and isolation. With 4 months of virtual delivery under our belt, we are more prepared for the fall semester, but we all remain hopeful that in-class and face-to-face student work begins soon.

Maine is one of the least racially diverse places in the country, but it has been nice to see that calls for racial equity have been reverberating throughout the state. To me, the highlight of the discussion in the recent weeks has been the creation of professional development training sessions and materials designed and led by some of JMG’s talented staff members. The remaining summer months and the fall semester will include an ongoing dialogue among our staff which will lead to building additional understanding and ways to incorporate new approaches into the JMG curriculum and into classrooms throughout the state.

Greg Johnson participated in Results for America’s What Works Nonprofit Fellowship.