What is the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative?
In July 2015, a coalition of founding organizations announced a new project: the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative.1 Propelled by global powerhouse Starbucks and the Schultz Family Foundation, the initiative successfully attracted several key partners hoping to bridge the hiring gap between unemployed youth and the millions of job openings companies strive to fill each year in the United States.
The plan focused on "opportunity youth" – young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 with no connections to education or employment. During that critical stretch of life, many members of this demographic end up derailed from the path to a sustainable future, and many never find their footing again. Without intervention, almost half of opportunity youth go on to remain perennial low-wage workers.2
Key Terms
- Opportunity Youth: Unemployed, out-of-school 16- to 24-year-olds facing barriers to jobs and education.
- Perennial Low-wage Workers: Approximately 53 million Americans aged 18 to 64 earning a low median hourly/annual wage with no clear path to career advancement.
- Middle-skill Jobs: Jobs that don't require a degree, pay a good wage, and provide the opportunity for meaningful career advancement (sometimes referred to as gateway jobs).
- Earn & Learn Partners: Employers offering on-the-job training and pathways to career advancement, providing employees with the skills and opportunities to perform in well-paying, in-demand positions.
The High Cost of Low Employment rates
As opportunity youth become stuck in a cycle of unemployment and scarce advancement opportunities, their communities are also affected. Employers struggle to find enough qualified applicants to fill job openings, disillusioned youth turn away from society, and local taxpayers are left holding the bag as law enforcement, housing, and social programs are overloaded and underfunded. According to one study, the overall lifetime cost to the community can top $700,000 for each disconnected youth when factoring in reduced economic gain to the community, healthcare costs, and other secondary effects of an underemployed population.3
Meanwhile, employers struggle to find suitable workers to fill the estimated 10 million job openings currently available in the U.S., slowing down business and impacting efficiency.4 It's no wonder foodservice employers, who rely on a large labor pool to fill vital service positions and meet ever-increasing consumer demand, were eager to address this gulf between jobs and job candidates.
Founding Foodservice Partners
In addition to Starbucks and the Schultz Family Foundation, other influential foodservice dynamos appear on the list of 100,000 Opportunities founding members, including Potbelly Sandwich Shop and Taco Bell. Targeting employee success and retention, each company offers a comprehensive benefits package along with a base salary, creating pathways for employees to advance their lives, education, and careers.
These three companies offer common benefits such as medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) matching, paid time off, and education assistance, but they didn't stop there. Potbelly Sandwich shop offers assistance with the cost of commuting to and from work, a prepaid life insurance policy, and discounts on cell phone plans and pet insurance.5 Taco Bell offers adoption assistance, paid parental leave, and for support center employees, an on-site gym and childcare center.6 Starbucks also offers parental leave and will cover as much as $10,000 toward the cost of adoption, surrogacy, or fertility treatments. The coffee chain additionally provides a weekly stipend of coffee or tea, premium Spotify subscriptions, and in-store discounts.7
Opportunity Youth & the Restaurant Industry
The benefits above reflect the goals and values espoused by the coalition these businesses helped found. In a time when the foodservice industry is facing high turnover rates and a shrinking talent pool, getting creative with benefits packages can help companies retain some of the 17 percent of restaurant workers who say they're leaving the industry due to lack of professional development and advancement opportunities. Post-pandemic, many foodservice establishments are straining to overcome a shocking 106- to 144-percent average employee churn rate,8 and those offering meaningful work with a path to advancement are better positioned to weather the storm.
The restaurant industry employs a disproportionate number of teenagers and young adults, so attracting new workers is paramount to sustaining that system. With around 4 million opportunity youth living in America,9 leading restaurateurs were quick to create ways of tapping into that under-utilized labor pool, improving employees' lives in the process. Starbucks alone committed to hiring 10,000 opportunity youths in its own stores by 2018. Surpassing that goal by a considerable amount, the coffee giant then doubled down and announced a new goal of hiring 100,000 opportunity youths, a number the company nearly attained by 202010
Founding the initiative not only promoted better hiring and retention practices within the foodservice industry, it provided a pathway to bridge the gap between unqualified, unemployed youth and the restaurant operators who needed them. Elevating the foodservice job market and increasing the pool of desirable candidates helps create changes that ripple outward from the organizations directly involved with 100,000 Opportunities. When previously lackluster, directionless youth are transformed into confident, competent job candidates, the entire foodservice industry benefits.
Evolution to the SkillUp Coalition
Over the years, the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative has met and exceeded multiple goals, growing and evolving along the way. Today, the Initiative's legacy lives on in the SkillUp Coalition – a 501(c)(3) nonprofit connecting workers with the tools, resources, and support needed to obtain quality jobs paying a sustainable wage in high-growth industries.11 Below, we'll cover a brief timeline of the changes that have taken place since the 100,000 Opportunities Initiative first launched.
July 2015: 100,000 Opportunities Initiative is formed by founding members Alaska Airlines, Cintas, CVS Health, Hilton Worldwide, HMSHost, JCPenney, JPMorgan Chase, Lyft, Macy’s, Microsoft, Porch.com, Potbelly Sandwich Shop, Starbucks, Taco Bell, Target, Walgreens, and Walmart. The group sets a goal to help 100,000 opportunity youth find meaningful employment in the next three years.1
August 2016: 100,000 Opportunities Initiative announces it has reached its goal of employing 100,000 opportunity youth two years ahead of schedule, then sets a new goal of working cross-sector with other institutions to create one million more opportunities by 2021.12
November 2020: 100,000 Opportunities rebrands and re-launches as the Hire Opportunity Coalition (HOC) and sets a new goal of helping 5 million opportunity youth connect with employers.13
June 2022: HOC merges with the SkillUp Coalition to form a national consortium of more than 90 nonprofits, training providers, and employers known as the SkillUp Coalition Employer Network. SkillUp sets a new goal of helping get 40 million workers rehired for in-demand positions in growing industries.14
Where are They Now?
The 100,000 Opportunities Initiative helped more than 100,000 opportunity youth get prepared for, and hired into, sustainable careers offering paths for education and employment advancement within the first year of its conception. Building off that success, the coalition has grown and changed rapidly, expanding from the hospitality sphere to IT, medical, and machining industries along the way. Today, the SkillUp coalition helps people of all skill levels change jobs and advance in their careers with short, affordable training programs, job recommendations, referrals, and assistance navigating the process of moving into a new field and attaining employment.
Although SkillUp has moved away from restaurant partners over time, Starbucks and the Schultz Family Foundation remain as involved as ever, and there's no denying the role the foodservice heavyweights who helped found the original program played in driving its many successes and achievements along the way.
References
- Top U.S.-Based Companies Launch the “100,000 Opportunities Initiative”. Starbucks Stories & News. Accessed November 2022.
- New Data Shows That Nearly Half of Young Entry-Level Workers Without College Degrees Struggle to Progress to Better-Paying Jobs Within Five Years. Schultz Family Foundation. Accessed November 2022.
- The Economic Value of Opportunity Youth. Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). Accessed November 2022.
- Data Deep Dive: A Decline of Women in the Workforce. U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Accessed November 2022.
- Awesome Employees With Awesome Benefits. Potbelly Sandwich Shop. Accessed November 2022.
- Benefits of Working at Taco Bell. Taco Bell. Accessed November 2022.
- Empowered to Live Life Well. Starbucks. Accessed November 2022.
- The Restaurant Turnover Rate is Astronomical. Here's Why (and How to Fix It). Notch. Accessed November 2022.
- Who are Opportunity Youth?. Aspen Institute. Accessed November 2022.
- Starbucks Outlines Strategic Growth Agenda & Elevated Social Impact Commitments. Vending Marketwatch. Accessed November 2022.
- SkillUp Coalition Partners with SOAR to Advance Training and High-Growth Careers in Eastern Kentucky. PR Newswire. Accessed September 2023.
- 100,000 Opportunities Initiative Exceeds Goal and Hires 100,000 Opportunity Youth In First Year. Walgreens Newsroom. Accessed November 2022.
- Why Employers Should Connect To Opportunity Youth In 2021. Forbes. Accessed November 2022.
- The Hire Opportunity Coalition Merges with the SkillUp Coalition, Helping to Accelerate the Mission of Both Organizations. PR Newswire. Accessed November 2022.
