FORGE

Program Description:

FORGE was founded by a coalition of locally owned businesses in Mississippi after they identified a shared workforce challenge: finding qualified employees. Rather than competing for the same workers, these businesses partnered with educators and community leaders to strengthen the school-to-workforce pipeline by increasing career awareness, expanding hands-on learning opportunities, and connecting students with local employers.

Today, FORGE serves as the connector between education and industry, intentionally building a regional ecosystem where educators, employers, community colleges, workforce organizations, and community partners collaborate to prepare students for successful futures. This employer-led model helps students discover meaningful career pathways while giving business and industry an active role in developing tomorrow’s workforce. Through career awareness initiatives, hands-on learning experiences, career readiness programming, and workforce development partnerships, FORGE is forging a future where trades are valued while building individual wellbeing.

FORGE’s signature event, the FORGE Your Path Career Expo, brings together approximately 2,200 eighth-grade students from nearly 30 middle schools each year to explore careers through more than 50 interactive experiences led by business and industry partners. Students engage directly with employers, equipment, tools, and technology while discovering career opportunities available in their own communities.

Additional career readiness programs include Career Interview Day, where more than 600 career and technical education students participate annually in professional mock interviews with industry volunteers, helping prepare them for successful transitions into the workforce.

Impact:

FORGE is helping transform the school-to-workforce pipeline by creating intentional connections between students, educators, employers, and communities. Rather than relying on a single event or program, FORGE provides a continuum of experiences that introduce career possibilities at an early age, expand hands-on career exploration during middle school, strengthen career readiness in high school and community college, and support successful workforce entry. 

Each summer, BuildHER Girls Construction Camps introduce middle school girls to construction through immersive experiences in carpentry, electrical, plumbing, concrete, roofing, drywall, painting, and other skilled trades. Working alongside industry professionals and mentors, campers build technical skills, confidence, and awareness of career opportunities they may never have previously considered. 

Career awareness begins even earlier through elementary literacy initiatives that provide construction-themed books to schools and public libraries, while more than 1,100 seventh-grade Career Pathway Tool Kits encourage students to explore, create, and develop confidence using real tools before attending the FORGE Your Path Career Expo as eighth graders. 

Since its founding, FORGE has expanded from a single regional initiative into a growing statewide organization serving multiple regions across Mississippi through local chapters and strong partnerships with education, business, industry, and community organizations.

Population Served:

FORGE serves students from elementary school through community college, along with educators, employers, industry partners, and communities across Mississippi. By strengthening connections between education and workforce development, FORGE helps students discover purpose, employers develop future talent, and communities build stronger workforce pipelines. 

Learn more here.

Page last updated in August 2026