Pilot 'career guide' program using Rooted Alliance shows early gains in FAFSA completion

At the March 25 House Education Committee meeting, Department of Labor and Workforce Development Director of Employment and Training Services Paloma Harbor and Monica Goyette of DEED outlined a pilot career‑guide initiative built on the Rooted Alliance model that provides one‑on‑one planning for high‑school seniors and a culturally responsive curriculum.

Monica Goyette, DEED’s director for innovation and education excellence, said year‑one served 197 seniors across partner providers and that stakeholder satisfaction was high: "85% of participating students reported being satisfied with their career guide" and "100% of career guides reported feeling valued and supported." Goyette said FAFSA completion for participating seniors was 41%, which she noted was above the statewide rate displayed on the slide.

Paloma Harbor said the pilot leverages existing workforce data from the Department of Labor, partners with organizations such as the See Alaska Heritage Institute and Bristol Bay regional CTE consortium, and uses Rooted Alliance’s curriculum and Salesforce-based data tracking. The pilot’s goals include helping seniors leave high school with a concrete plan, increasing FAFSA completion, and expanding career exposure in remote communities.

Why it matters: the program is small so far—Goyette cautioned the cohort is not large enough to draw statewide conclusions—but committee members were interested in scalability. Goyette said the model is designed to be flexible: a "career guide" might be a counselor, a teacher, a tribal organization staffer or a state agency representative, depending on local capacity. The presenters said they are pursuing MOUs with additional districts for year two and building a database to track equipment, programs and instructor skills.

Committee members raised questions about whether the model should target juniors rather than seniors and how to capture subsistence livelihoods in career pathways; Goyette said the Rooted model can reflect subsistence choices and the pilot is considering more granular pathway categories. Presenters also said the Department of Labor will host virtual "lunch and learn" sessions for students and employers to raise career awareness.

The committee did not take action on a bill tied to career guidance at this meeting; presenters said the pilot will scale through district partnerships and continued partnering with Rooted Alliance and local providers.