LEAD TRAINING ANNOUNCES 2026-27 LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL CAREER COACHING PARTNERSHIPS

6,000 Local High School Students in 30 School Districts Will Benefit from Career Guidance, Job Readiness

 CINCINNATI, OH –September 1, 2026 – LEAD Training, a growing Cincinnati-based nonprofit that helps primary and secondary students build life and career skills, will provide dedicated on-premises career coaches or a fractional embedded career coach to 14 high schools for the 2026-2027 school year providing guidance to students as they prepare for their career after high school.  LEAD Training also has agreements in place with 16 high schools to provide career readiness resources, pre-apprenticeships, internships, and other customized workforce development partnerships to help school expand their student support pipeline.  LEAD’s high school career readiness support will help 6,000 students across 30 school districts in 6 counties including Hamilton, Warren, Clermont, Butler Clinton & Montgomery.

            “Our career coaches and career consultants are highly equipped to provide individualized support to high school students to help them explore career options that pair with their interests, strengths and passions – and create clear and actionable career plans,” noted Riley O’Grady, Founder and Executive Director, LEAD Training. “Development of employability skills is also critical to instilling a sense of confidence and readiness for the work world,” O’Grady continued. LEAD works together with high schools to expose students to a variety of career paths, including collaborating with potential employers to provide students with internships, job shadowing and pre-apprenticeships to help them decide on career pathways.     LEAD has contractual agreements across multiple school districts to serve the following public and private high schools:

-       Kings Local School District

-       Little Miami Local School District

-       Goshen Local School District

-       Clermont Northeastern Local School District

-       Norwood City School District

-       Deer Park Community City School District

-       St. Rita School for the Deaf

-       Reading Community City School District

-       Winton Woods City Schools

-       Princeton City School District

-       Monroe Local School District

-       New Miami Local School District

-       New Lebanon Local School District

-       Mason City School District

-       Franklin City School District

-       Forest Hills Local School District

-       Woodward Career Technical High School – Cincinnati Public Schools

-       St. Bernard-Elmwood Place City School District

-       Batavia Local School District

-       Bethel-Tate Local School District

-       Clinton-Massie Local School District  

-       Felicity-Franklin Local School District

-       Indian Hill Exempted Village School District

-       Lockland Local School District

-       Loveland City School District

-       Madison Local School District

-       Milford Exempted Village School District

-       New Richmond Exempted Village School District

-       Springboro Community City School District

-       Williamsburg Local School District

      LEAD Training recently received $ 250,000 in grant funding from the Ohio Department of Development and the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation’s Industry Sector Partnership Grant Program (ISP) to expand its successful Medical Pathways Partnership with 23 high schools in 4 Ohio counties.  LEAD is one of only fifteen Ohio organizations to receive ISP funding.   

About LEAD Training

LEAD Training is a Cincinnati-based nonprofit organization that helps students from kindergarten through young adulthood build the skills they need to succeed in life and career. LEAD designs and delivers impactful programs centered on career readiness, life skills and social-emotional learning (SEL) by instilling confidence and helping to create a clearer vision for their future. Through innovative programming such as its High School Workforce Initiative where 2,500 students participated and customized SEL modules and career coaching, LEAD works to guide students towards viable post-secondary paths, whether traditional college, polytechnic education, career or service. LEAD’s programs achieved measurable results in the 2024-25 school year including 93% of Career Quest seniors graduating with a clear career plan, 91% of High School SEL Future Leaders students reporting growth in their social-emotional skills, and a 96% overall satisfaction rate among students. To learn more about how LEAD fuels futures, schools and workforce development, visit https://www.lead-training.org/.

# # #