Privacy Policy

1. Scope

Thurgood Industries, Inc. (“Thurgood,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates the Verified Skills Graph and related web and mobile experiences. This policy applies to information collected through those experiences, including authenticated product areas and public pages that link to this policy.

2. Children and teen users

Some public Career Discovery experiences are designed to help young people learn about careers, capabilities, evidence, and training pathways. Those public experiences can be viewed without creating an account.

Thurgood does not require a child to create an account or submit personal information in order to use the public Career Discovery experience. Where a school, training organization, parent or guardian, or other authorized party enables an account or student experience for a minor, Thurgood handles that information according to applicable law and the requirements of the applicable institutional relationship.

We do not knowingly use personal information from minors for behavioral advertising. If you believe personal information from a child has been collected inappropriately, contact [email protected] or [email protected].

3. Information we collect

Depending on how you use Thurgood, information may include:

• Name, email address, telephone number, account identifiers, and authentication information.
• School, campus, program, pathway, field of study, graduation information, training organization, or employer affiliation.
• Job, role, work history, career interests, work-location preferences, and other profile information.
• Messages, support requests, feedback, and other communications.
• Payment or subscription information when applicable to a paid service.
• Information supplied to Thurgood by an authorized school, employer, workforce organization, sponsor, or other partner.

4. Evidence and Verified Skills information

The Verified Skills Graph may process photos, videos, project descriptions, portfolio materials, skill selections, skill-state information, pathway data, evaluations, and other evidence used to understand demonstrated capability.

We may generate or store derived information such as skill matches, evidence assessments, graph relationships, pathway alignment, employer-role overlap, recommendations, or similar product signals.

These signals are intended to support the product experience. They should not be treated as a government credential, professional license, or guarantee of future performance.

5. Information collected automatically

When you use our services, we may automatically receive technical and usage information such as IP address, browser type, device information, operating system, timestamps, pages or features used, referring pages, and security or diagnostic logs.

We may use cookies and similar technologies to maintain sessions, remember preferences, understand usage, protect the service, and improve performance.

6. How we use information

We may use information to:

• Provide, operate, personalize, maintain, and secure the Thurgood platform.
• Build and display skills graphs, evidence records, pathways, role requirements, and related capability information.
• Match or compare people, skills, pathways, careers, programs, jobs, and employer requirements.
• Provide recommendations, product coaching, assessments, and other requested features.
• Support schools, employers, training organizations, workforce organizations, and other authorized partners.
• Respond to support, safety, privacy, and account requests.
• Detect fraud, abuse, security threats, and prohibited conduct.
• Analyze and improve products, services, models, content, and user experience.
• Meet legal, regulatory, contractual, and compliance obligations.

7. How we disclose information

We may disclose information:

• To service providers and contractors that help us operate the platform and are subject to appropriate obligations.
• To a school, employer, workforce organization, training organization, or other authorized organization when the service is being provided through that relationship or when you direct us to share information.
• To protect the rights, safety, security, and integrity of users, Thurgood, or others.
• When required by law, legal process, court order, or government request.
• In connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, restructuring, or transfer of all or part of the business.
• With your consent or at your direction.

We may use and disclose aggregated or de-identified information that does not reasonably identify an individual.

8. Schools, training organizations, and institutional data

When Thurgood provides services to a school or other educational organization, the organization may provide student or program information or direct Thurgood to process information on its behalf.

Access to institutional information is limited according to the applicable product permissions, contractual relationship, and law. A school’s own privacy notices and policies may also apply.

9. Your choices and rights

Depending on your location and the context in which Thurgood holds your information, you may have rights to request access, correction, deletion, or other action regarding your personal information.

You may also control certain browser cookies through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect product functionality.

10. Data security

Thurgood uses administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information against unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, and disclosure.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. Users are responsible for protecting their passwords, devices, and account access.

11. Retention

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the services, maintain legitimate business records, comply with legal and contractual obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, protect users, and support security and fraud-prevention needs.

Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and the relationship through which the service is provided.

12. Contact and policy changes

We may update this policy as the Verified Skills system evolves. The effective date at the top of this page identifies the current version.