Get Focused Stay Focused

What Get Focused Stay Focused does

Get Focused Stay Focused (GFSF) is a California-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, founded circa 2015, that develops and supports implementation of a K-12 career guidance curriculum. The organization operates as a public/private partnership with Academic Innovations, which serves as the curriculum partner, while GFSF acts as the program developer and technical assistance provider. Its core offering is a classroom-based 9th-grade course in which students develop a 10-year career plan that is updated annually through high school; the curriculum is California's only A-G approved career class offering dual enrollment or early college credit for freshmen. Wrap-around services include Professional Learning Communities for teachers, Career Mentor Workshops, Labor Market Webinars, and an Annual Career Planning whole-school initiative that uses the 10-year plans for counselor-led coaching.

The business model is a hybrid of nonprofit revenue streams rather than a commercial pricing structure. GFSF generates revenue through (1) grant management and fiscal agency services on state and federal workforce grants (e.g., the $700,000 Green Futures LA program from the LA County Department of Economic Opportunity), (2) charitable contributions from a diverse base of foundations and corporate donors (Henry W. Bull Foundation, Walmart Community Grant Program, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, Limoneira Foundation, Berkshire-Hathaway, Williams-Corbett Foundation), and (3) curriculum licensing and technical assistance to partner schools, colleges, and adult schools. Customer segments include K-12 schools (primary), adult schools and community colleges, opportunity youth aged 16-24 (including justice-involved individuals served through grant-funded programs), and K-12 educators. Since 2023, the organization has expanded into fiscal agent roles on multiple California workforce development grants spanning Los Angeles County, Kern County, Tulare/Visalia, and Antelope Valley.

The organization is small (11-50 employees), headquartered at 115 North K Street in Oxnard, California, and relies on a research-backed value proposition built on commissioned impact studies (2017-2022) showing measurable improvements in A-G completion, graduation rates, suspension rates, and community college persistence for students who progress through the program. Distribution is direct to schools via partnerships and supported by digital channels (website, monthly newsletters, webinars, online interest forms). GFSF holds Candid (GuideStar) Platinum Transparency certification and is recognized through the Aspen Institute award received by partner Santa Barbara City College.

Name

Get Focused Stay Focused

Legal name

Get Focused, Stay Focused nonprofit

Website

https://getfocusedstayfocused.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Get Focused Stay Focused is a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit that develops and supports implementation of a classroom-based K-12 career guidance curriculum, including a 10-year career plan, annual career planning, professional learning communities, and grant-funded workforce development programs for opportunity youth.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Career and Technical Education (CTE) Services

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

K–12 Core Curriculum Small-Group Tutoring Centers (Math/ELA/Science/Social Studies) (EDANAHAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

University/College Continuing Education (Extension) Programs (EDAAAEAA), Transition-to-College/Independence Skills Tutoring for Learning Differences (EDANAFAJ)

Keywords

• Career guidance curriculum
• K-12 education services
• Workforce development programs
• College readiness curriculum
• Teacher professional development

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Barbara

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Management & Fiscal Agency Services: GFSF acts as fiscal agent on collaborative state and federal grants supporting career planning and workforce preparation programs. Revenue comes from managing grants such as the $700,000 Green Futures LA program grant.
2. Donations & Charitable Contributions: The nonprofit receives support from foundations and corporate donors including Henry W. Bull Foundation, Walmart Community Grant Program, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, Limoneira Foundation, Berkshire-Hathaway, and Williams-Corbett Foundation.
3. Curriculum Licensing & Technical Assistance: As the program developer and technical assistance provider, GFSF supports quality implementation of the GFSF career curriculum in partner schools, colleges, and adult schools.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Get Focused, Stay Focused is a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides a classroom-based, comprehensive career guidance curriculum (the GFSF program) to K-12 schools, colleges, and adult schools. The core offering is a 9th-grade course in which students develop a 10-year career plan, updated annually through high school. The nonprofit also delivers wrap-around services including Annual Career Planning, Professional Learning Communities for teachers, Career Mentor Workshops, Labor Market Webinars, and Dual Enrollment/Early College Credit facilitation. The program operates as a public/private partnership with Academic Innovations.

Product overview

Get Focused, Stay Focused is a nonprofit organization offering a single core product: the Get Focused…Stay Focused!® (GFSF) career curriculum, developed in partnership with Academic Innovations. The portfolio consists of a unified core curriculum program supplemented by multiple add-on modules including Annual Career Planning/Whole-School Initiative, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), Career Mentor Workshops, and Labor Market Webinars. Additional services include Dual Enrollment facilitation and Grant Project Services where the organization acts as fiscal agent for workforce development grants. The organization also provides impact evaluation research studies. The core curriculum is designed for K-12 schools, colleges, and adult schools across California, with implementation spanning middle schools, high schools, and adult education institutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Get Focused…Stay Focused!® (GFSF): A public/private partnership between the Get Focused, Stay Focused nonprofit (program developer and technical assistance provider) and Academic Innovations (curriculum partner) offering a classroom-based comprehensive career guidance curriculum.

Products and services

• Get Focused…Stay Focused!® (GFSF) Core Curriculum A classroom-based, comprehensive career guidance curriculum designed for K-12 schools, colleges, and adult schools that helps students develop an informed career choice and 10-Year Plan for the future. It is a public/private partnership between the Get Focused, Stay Focused nonprofit and Academic Innovations.
• Annual Career Planning / Whole-School Initiative Extends the core freshman career class by requiring all students to update their 10-year career plans annually. Counselors and teachers use the plans for counseling sessions and academic coaching to ensure successful post-high school transitions. A 2022 commissioned study found students who updated their 10-year plans outperformed peers on multiple indicators of college success.
• Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) Coaching and support services for new and experienced teachers of the GFSF curriculum, providing curriculum pacing guidance, teaching strategy sharing, and peer support during the first semester of implementation and beyond.
• Career Mentor Workshops A 2-hour workshop training middle school, high school, college, and adult education instructors to mentor students in overcoming negative thinking and boosting career self-efficacy, including curriculum crosswalk activities and coaching tools.
• Labor Market Webinars Informational webinars for educators, counselors, and stakeholders on regional labor market needs, featuring business and industry representatives as well as college instructors sharing training and education program information for high-wage, high-demand careers.
• Dual Enrollment / Early College Credit California's only A-G approved career class that provides dual enrollment or early college credit opportunities, enabling high school freshmen to earn their first college credit and launch their identities as college students. Thousands of students annually receive their first ever college credit in 9th grade through this offering.
• Grant Project Services Fiscal agent services for workforce training grant projects including the Green Futures LA program ($700,000 grant), California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship (COYA), and LA County's Care First and Community Investment Grant, providing career planning skills, technical training, work-based learning, and job placement support for opportunity youth ages 16-24.
• Research Studies & Impact Evaluation Commissioned research studies evaluating curriculum impact on student outcomes including A-G completion rates, graduation rates, suspension rates, and community college success indicators. Includes 2017-2020 impact study, 2021 Matched Schools Study, and 2022 Community College Study.

Quantifiable outcome

• Students who took GFSF freshman course performed better than students who did not take the course (2018-2020 study)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The Clover AgencycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 July 2025The Clover Agency partnered with GFSF to manage a $700,000 grant awarded by Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity for the Green Futures LA program, preparing youth for careers in green infrastructure, sustainable construction, and water management.
• Academic InnovationscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic Innovations is the curriculum partner in the public/private partnership that forms the Get Focused…Stay Focused!® program. The nonprofit develops the program and provides technical assistance while Academic Innovations serves as the curriculum partner.
• Los Angeles County Department of Economic OpportunitycoreGTM or Marketing PartnerFunder of Green Futures LA High Roads Training Partnership grant ($700,000) designed to address workforce gap in green infrastructure by preparing young adults facing employment barriers.
• Department of Industrial Relations' Division of Apprenticeship StandardsminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFunder of California Opportunity Youth Apprenticeship (COYA) apprenticeship planning grant supporting development of new registered apprenticeships in Kern County focusing on Healthcare and Advanced Manufacturing.
• California Workforce Development BoardminorGTM or Marketing PartnerFunder of High Road Training Partnership planning grant supporting work plan development to serve job seekers in Tulare and Visalia, focusing on industry partnerships and work-based learning.
• Antelope Valley Union High School DistrictminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in LA County's Care First and Community Investment Grant program, delivering Manufacturing and Healthcare sector training to systems-involved youth.
• Antelope Valley CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEducational partner in LA County grant program, collaborating on career readiness training and workforce development for opportunity youth.
• Antelope Valley Adult Education SchoolminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner school in LA County grant program focused on intervention and prevention programs for systems-involved youth with life skills and career readiness training.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Academic Innovations: Academic Innovations is GFSF's curriculum partner and the publisher of the Career Choices textbook that underlies the GFSF program. It is the most direct peer in terms of career curriculum content, though it operates as a commercial publisher rather than a nonprofit implementation provider.
• CFES Brilliant Pathways: CFES Brilliant Pathways is a nonprofit that partners with K-12 schools to raise college and career readiness for underserved students. It directly parallels GFSF's mission of using school-based programming to prepare first-generation and underrepresented students for postsecondary success.
• Naviance (PowerSchool): PowerSchool's Naviance is the leading K-12 college and career readiness platform used by U.S. school districts. It directly competes with GFSF's curriculum offering by providing digital college/career planning tools, though it lacks a classroom-anchored curriculum with teacher PLCs.
• Kuder: Kuder provides K-12 and adult career planning, assessment, and education planning tools, including the Kuder Career Planning System used in schools nationwide. It overlaps directly with GFSF's career guidance curriculum and 10-year planning concept.
• Xello: Xello (formerly Career Cruising) provides K-12 college, career, and future-readiness software used widely across North American districts. It is a direct competitor to GFSF's career planning mission, with comparable student-facing artifacts (portfolios, plans) but delivered as SaaS rather than classroom curriculum.

Others

• Year Up: Year Up is a national workforce development nonprofit serving young adults ages 18-24 facing economic opportunity barriers. It does not compete directly with GFSF's K-12 curriculum but operates comparable workforce pathways for the same opportunity youth demographic GFSF targets through its grant programs.
• ICF International: ICF provides education consulting and workforce development advisory services, including K-12 college/career readiness and opportunity youth program design. It is an adjacent player in the same ecosystem, frequently competing for the same grant funding.
• Jobs for the Future (JFF): JFF is a national nonprofit focused on workforce development and education-to-career pathways for opportunity youth and adult learners. It does not deliver K-12 curriculum but shares GFSF's opportunity youth and grant-funded operating model and is a peer in the workforce ecosystem.

Broad incumbents

• NAF (National Academy Foundation): NAF operates a national network of career-themed academies within high schools focused on career readiness through industry-aligned curricula. It competes for the same district budget dollars as GFSF but does so through academy-model school redesign rather than a single elective curriculum.
• Big Picture Learning: Big Picture Learning is a national nonprofit network supporting personalized, career-connected K-12 schools through internship-based learning. It shares GFSF's career-readiness orientation but operates at the school-design level across a broader portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/getfocusedstayfocused
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/getfocusedstayfocused

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Get Focused Stay Focused