HIRE Education Forum is a collaborative of post-secondary institutions throughout the bi-state, Greater Louisville region which focuses on linking colleges and universities to the business community.

VISION
Unite the Greater Louisville post-secondary community to collaboratively and effectively respond to community economic development challenges by bridging the gap between academia and business and increasing our region's post-secondary graduation rate.

MISSION
To function as a regional clearinghouse that fosters “coopetition” among the post-secondary institutions, aligns higher education activities with regional community economic development goals and serves as the premier education and workforce development system.

INITIATIVES
Following are some of initiatives of the HIRE Education Forum

Graduate! Greater Louisville: GED to PhD
A community initiative that is working to connect residents with higher education opportunities from GED to PhD – and everything in between.
To find out more, go to: www.graduategreaterlouisville.com.

College Day Out!
A district-wide program partnership with Jefferson County Public Schools, the event allows eighth graders to experience a half-day of college so they can learn more and whet their appetites for higher education.

Spring Fling
An event that specifically targets students who did not finish a credential while enrolled as an undergraduate in a post-secondary education. The goal is to motivate those students to re-enroll now.

Corporate Education Connection
An event which focuses on making the connection between businesses and academia so they can build mutually beneficial partnerships.

Community-Wide Internship Program
A new web platform which connects employers with talented college and university students through internships. At www.GraduateGreaterLouisville.com/interns, employers can post to find talented student interns and potentially future employees, and students can find internships to gain professional experience and exposure with employers.

Education Fair in a Box
A specially developed system which makes it simple for an employer to host an on-site higher education fair with the best colleges and universities in the region.

VITA/FAFSA Partnership
A specific program designed to offer assistance to those completing their tax returns at VITA sites to also complete higher education financial aid forms (FAFSA). The goal of this program is to be able to work one-on-one with those individuals filing their income tax forms to utilize the financial information, and potential tax returns, towards the pursuit of higher education.