We are committed to building a diverse talent pipeline and strengthening our workforce.

The Pathways Junior Fellows Program is designed to make a connection with students that will help them create a career pathway to a promising job in central Indiana. The program, in its second year, introduces students from neighborhoods in and around downtown Indianapolis to the working environment of financial services, building the students’ career readiness and creating a pipeline of future associates for OneAmerica and other financial services companies.

Over the course of the program, Junior Fellows are paired with - mentors to guide them through a five-week paid program that includes job shadowing in all areas of the business, project-based learning, skills development and training, and engagement with OneAmerica community partners in the arts and culture space.

Pathways is an innovative roadmap for cultivating talent and building community. Like many industries, financial services is facing a talent gap in the not-too-distant future. We have started to address that gap by introducing local students to career opportunities, mentors, networks and social capital to help them build successful careers and help us build a strong future workforce. Beyond talent and workforce considerations, the mentoring relationships that form as a part of this program are priceless in the ways they enrich both mentees and mentors.

OneAmerica engaged the Sagamore Institute to document the program during its initial year, enabling information to be easily shared as a tool kit with other businesses. The Lilly Endowment has also created a grant process to support collaboration between nonprofits and businesses, encouraging the development of similar programs to help more people make progress towards economic self-sufficiency.

In 2020, OneAmerica® hosted eight students – six high school students and two recent graduates – in its Pathways Junior Fellows Program. A secondary program goal is to share Pathways successes and opportunities in the hopes that other businesses – in Indianapolis and beyond – develop similar workforce programs to expand the working options available for local students.