By Eric Elming, VP of Growth
Indiana is moving fast and so is Skyepack
This year marks a defining moment for Skyepack and for career-connected learning across the state of Indiana. Through six awarded Career Coaching and Navigation grants, Career+ Pathways™ by Skyepack, is expanding from 18 schools to more than 130 statewide. In less than a single grant cycle, our reach is growing from 35,000 K-12 students to well over 200,000.
This growth reflects a system built to scale, by tiered support services for schools, dedicated school and employer success teams, and the engineering and operations backbone required to deliver consistently across an entire state.
Career+ Pathways™ wasn’t built in isolation. It started with a core group of schools in Greater Lafayette, working alongside Greater Lafayette Commerce to align education with real employer demand. As the model proved itself, it expanded to include the Region 4 Department of Workforce Development and the Wabash Valley Education Service Center. What emerged was a coalition-driven framework that now serves as a blueprint for delivering work-based learning opportunities to students across Indiana.
These awards confirm what our partners already know. Skyepack is the only solution in the state built to meet increased demand quickly, expand work-based learning capacity, and provide the reliable systems schools need to track outcomes and stay compliant.
Statewide Expansion, Powered by Regional Coalitions
The six awarded applications reflect Indiana’s interest in a regionally driven approach to workforce development and the growing need for a tech-enabled services model that can actually keep up.
Together, these regional coalitions now support nearly one-third of all school corporations in Indiana . Each region brings together workforce boards, education leaders, chambers of commerce, economic development organizations, employers, and school districts. Different geographies and different industries, while addressing the same problem.
How do you deliver high-quality career coaching and work-based learning to hundreds of thousands of students while meeting state requirements and still respecting local context?
Career+ Pathways™ solves that problem by pairing a proven service delivery model with a single connected framework. Schools, employers, workforce partners, and families operate inside the same system. Collaboration increases and administrative burden shrinks. Student access and engagement increase while employers and regional stakeholders gain clearer visibility into participation, skill development, and early talent pipelines.
Collectively, these awards represent one of the largest coordinated career readiness expansions in the state.
Built for Scale, Proven Under Pressure
As Indiana’s Career Coaching & Navigation grants accelerate demand, Career+ Pathways™ is uniquely positioned to respond.
Our delivery model ensures that students receive the individualized support they need through direct career coaching, and every student benefits from embedded curriculum, employer experiences, and career-connected learning woven into the school day.
This is how scale actually works in practice. Systems that make high-quality implementation repeatable.
To support this growth, regions are deploying strategies such as employer-led skills bootcamps aligned to workforce demand, student-run school-based enterprises, and co-designed virtual micro-internships that remove transportation and geographic barriers. Students also gain access to a regional work-based learning marketplace that connects them to job shadows, internships, apprenticeships, and paid experiences.
Because every experience, hour, competency, and outcome is tracked in one system, regions gain real-time visibility into what’s working, and where to go next.
Why Employers and Economic Developers Lean In
This expansion isn’t just about schools. It’s about building talent pipelines that actually hold up over time.
Through partnerships with Economic Development Corporations and Chambers of Commerce, Career+ Pathways™ brings employers into the system in a way that is strategic, scalable, and sustainable. Employers aren’t expected to design new roles overnight. We meet them where they are, creating low-lift work-based learning opportunities that offer students real career exploration and give employers meaningful points of validation.
At the regional level, workforce and economic development partners gain a clearer, shared view of industry demand, student interest, and participation trends, allowing them to coordinate outreach, target growth sectors, and make more informed decisions about where to invest time and resources.
The result is a workforce development ecosystem where employers co-design experiences and validate skills while connecting earlier with emerging talent. Schools and regions maintain consistency, equity, and compliance.
What’s happening in Indiana is also drawing attention beyond state lines.
Across the country, states are launching or expanding work-based learning initiatives and running into the same problem Indiana decided to face head-on. How do you serve multiple stakeholders across diverse regions at a meaningful scale?
Career+ Pathways™ offers a proven answer. The model adapts to different policy environments, regional economies, and education systems, making it a compelling solution for states ready to move from pilots to systems.
These six awarded grants make one thing clear. Skyepack isn’t just participating in Indiana’s workforce transformation. We’re helping power it.
Bio
Eric Elming is VP of Growth at Skyepack and has spent more than a decade with the company, starting as an intern and growing alongside the team. In his role, he focuses on expanding partnerships, scaling growth across schools and employers, and helping connect education to real-world career pathways. Outside of work, he enjoys van camping, skiing, hiking, and exploring new places.
