NEW YORK, March 09, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MyKlovr, the AI-powered virtual college and career counselor, and Empowerly, a data-driven education technology company that provides personalized college and career guidance, today announced a partnership to launch Pathways as a new employee benefit product. Leveraging their combined technologies, Pathways offers an AI-powered solution and optional one-on-one counseling and college prep services to support families and help them confidently navigate the overwhelming decision of what students will do post-high school graduation – whether that means a top Ivy League university, four-year or two-year college, career and technical education, or joining the workforce after graduation.
Last year, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a public health advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health while data from McKinsey found that Gen Z reported the least positive life outlook, including lower levels of emotional and social well-being when compared to older generations. The most common source of stress for high school students, according to the APA Stress survey, is school itself, with 83% identifying it as a major stressor followed by getting into a good college or deciding what to do after high school (69%).
The pandemic brought the overlap of family and work to the forefront of our national conversation, highlighting the extent to which children’s mental health has an impact on employee performance and corporate success. Recent myKlovr data from 2021 shows that 92% of employees consider helping their children plan for college or career to be a source of significant ongoing stress. This stress causes up to 10 hours per week of lost productivity because of focus on college-related tasks. The launch of Pathways helps alleviate this issue by giving every high school student access to personalized data and tools to successfully navigate self-discovery, college, or career.
“Our partnership with myKlovr to launch Pathways comes at a critical time when uncertainty about the future has reached epidemic proportions for teens and parents,” said Changxiao Xie, co-founder of Empowerly. “Players in the market today address specific segments, but are not holistically solving the problem for all. With Pathways, we will be able to address the needs of every high school student, regardless of their current situation or goals for the future."
Working parents report that they are significantly disrupted by children’s mental health concerns. According to research from Nationwide Children’s Hospital mental health movement On Our Sleeve, 53% of parents reported being interrupted at work for children’ mental health. In addition to that, 56% of working parent American City Business Journal readers said the stresses of their job were much harder to handle because of their child’s emotional health and development or behavior status. Pathways expands the definition of education benefits beyond student loan payouts or tuition reimbursement and allows employers to provide expanded, family-related assistance to their employees to build strong loyalty and longer retention. This solution allows up to eight students per employee to access career and college guidance, reducing stress for employees and returning dollars to the pockets of employers through increased productivity.
“To recruit and retain talent in today’s market, employers need to listen to and support employees holistically,” said Gustavo Dolfino, founder and CEO of myKlovr. “Offering Pathways as an employee benefit ensures families of all backgrounds are supported with affordable and accessible counseling services beyond the standard path for their children, extended families or loved ones.”
MyKlovr and Empowerly will be in attendance at the Transform 2023 conference from March 27 - 29 in Las Vegas, NV where the team will be sharing more about Pathways at booth #809. To learn more about Pathways, visit LINK : www.myklovr.com/pathways.
About myKlovr:
MyKlovr is an AI-powered, virtual college and career counselor that empowers families by offering an affordable, accessible, and scalable solution to better help students achieve their personal path to success – whether through a 4-year university, 2-year college, career and technical education, or by launching a rewarding career immediately after high school. MyKlovr engages students as early as 9th grade to help them envision a path towards their future. The myKlovr system uses a combination of AI, behavioral analytics, and proprietary algorithms to deliver personalized expert advice, goals and opportunities including internships, scholarships, extracurricular and academic guidance, and real-world career insights. The platform has received numerous awards including special mention in TIME ‘Best Inventions 2022’, the 2022 ‘EdTech
Digest Award’, and ‘Best AI-Based College & Career Solution’ from Corporate Vision.
About Empowerly:
Empowerly is a data-driven education technology company that provides personalized college and career guidance to students and their families. To date, Empowerly has raised $12 million from investors, including Goodwater Capital, FJ Labs, Scrum Ventures, Translink Capital, Azure Capital Partners, Spero Ventures, Thinkplus Ventures and Mentors Fund. The company's mission is to empower students to become the most successful version of themselves. From college preparation, landing internships, and beyond, Empowerly supports students in achieving their academic and career goals.
Media Contact:
BAM for myKlovr & Empowerly
empowerly@bamtheagency.com
