Innovate+Educate’s The Close It Summit announced Monday the top 24 contestants for their national Jobs Madness contest to find the best ideas in the country working to solve the skills gap and bridge the opportunity divide.
“Jobs Madness was created to raise awareness of and elevate the newest, brightest and most disruptive ideas out there that we may not yet have known about,” said Jamai Blivin, CEO, Innovate+Educate. "The current education to employment system is fundamentally broken and it is going to take these fresh, innovative ideas building entirely new pathways to employment to solve the critical issues facing our economy today.”
Chattanooga-based Thinking Media’s Learning Blade is one of the top 24.
The 24 Jobs Madness contestants include: Akimbo, Benevolent, CSM Learn, Doran Jones, Inc., Enstitute, Fidelis Education, Global Skills X-Change, Hirepurpose, Job Market Maker, LeadersUp, Learning Blade, Learning Games Network, MindSumo, New Workforce Directions, Inc., Pairin, Inc., Ranku, SkillSmart, Student Dream, The Reset Foundation, SkillScout, theThings.biz, Treehouse Island, Inc., WorkAmerica and WorkHands, Inc.
Using a 90 second video and open-to-the-public online voting platform (http://closeit.org.jobsmadness), these contestants compete in two elimination rounds where the final six will live pitch at The Close It Summit in Washington, DC on Oct. 28. Attendees of the summit as well as a small group of national judges vote for the three winners who receive $50,000, $35,000 and $15,000, respectively, to support and scale their work.
Sheila Boyington, president of Thinking Media says that this again highlights to the rest of the country great innovation that is coming from Chattanooga.
Key partners and supporters of Jobs Madness include: The White House National Economic Council, Rockefeller Foundation, Hope Street Group, Wadhwani Foundation, Alcoa Foundation, Burning Glass Technologies, CompTIA, CareerBuilder and the Technology Councils of America.
Online voting began Monday at: http://closeit.org/jobsmadness. Scroll down to the bottom and find the Learning Blade video and vote.
Learn more about The Close It Summit at: http://closeit.org