ROCKVILLE, MD— In the first three months of in-school operation, MoCo CAP has made great strides in getting the initiative’s message out to the Montgomery County Public Schools’ (MCPS) community.
In January, MoCo CAP began service delivery in all MCPS middle schools, six high schools, and two special schools, focusing primarily on 6th and 9th graders. Monthly reports show that Career Coaches contacted 16,942 students during that time through classroom presentations, large group assemblies ranging from 100 to 500+ students, smaller group discussions during student lunch periods, and participating in middle school Career Days and high school Career Fairs, among other activities.
Coaches also helped chaperone freshman college visits starting in February. Between then and the end of March, 1,865 students from 15 high schools participated in the visits, with a dozen schools scheduled for visits in April and early May.
Twenty new Coaches started in mid-February, beginning their acclimatization period in their new schools in March. Most of these Coaches are deployed to high schools and began service delivery in mid-April, completing MoCo CAP deployment.
Also in February, MCPS held a welcome event at Gaithersburg High School to formally introduce MoCo CAP to the roughly 500 Teacher Champions who will play a critical role reinforcing the work done by the Career Coaches.
Industry Engagement, which works to bring local employers in to support MoCo CAP, began creating a “supporter” list of hundreds of contacts willing to help in a variety of ways, along with joining Coaches on several Career Days and Fairs at MCPS schools.
The MoCo CAP social media accounts also showed promising growth over the quarter, posting weekly original explanatory graphics, Career Coach introductions, calls-to-action, and photo collections documenting the work being done inside and outside of schools.
The Instagram (@mococapmd) account gained 48 followers, added 62 posts, and received 247 likes and 5 comments, while the MoCo CAP Facebook group gained 113 members, added 63 posts, and received 2 comments, 99 reactions, and 1,139 views.
The MoCo CAP website, www.mococap.com, received a total count of 8,231 visits in 2024.
These numbers only reflect a small portion of the hard work and dedication from everyone involved in the MoCo CAP effort, but the progress recorded so far has been very promising and encouraging for the future of the initiative.
About MoCo CAP
MoCo CAP, short for Montgomery County Career Advising Program, is a collaborative effort headed by WorkSource Montgomery, along with partners Montgomery County Public Schools, Montgomery College, and the Universities at Shady Grove. The goal is to address one of the requirements related to the College and Career Readiness pillar laid out by the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a $3.8 billion overhaul of the state’s public education system. For more information about MoCo CAP, visit mococap.com.
About WorkSource Montgomery (WSM)
WSM is the fiduciary agent for Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding in Montgomery County. The organization operates the American Job Centers in Wheaton and Germantown and provides employment services to Montgomery County residents who are unemployed or underemployed. WSM engages employers in various industries throughout the county to ensure that their workforce needs are being met. For more information about WorkSource Montgomery, visit worksourcemontgomery.com.