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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Mariela Salas, Ph.D., executive director of SomosVC, a nonprofit focused on accelerating and elevating the presence of Latinos and Latinas in the venture capital industry. The organization argues that if more Latinos become VCs, more money will flow to diverse startup founders.

In simple terms, venture capital itself is a type of financing for startups and small businesses with very high, long-term growth potential. Despite making up 19.5% of the the U.S. populations, less than 2% of all professionals in the venture capital industry and ecosystem are Latino.

“There are various factors that are leading to us being underrepresented within the ecosystem. There are cultural barriers, socioeconomic barriers, lack of access, and lack of opportunity,” says Salas. “And I think there’s this big myth, especially for Latinos, that we do not, or have not been creating high-growth companies.”

Salas says typically venture capitalists tend to come from Ivy League schools such as Stanford and Harvard. “They go on to do some investment banking for a little while, or consulting, and then after that they decide to make the transition into VC.

“In addition to wanting to change or diversify the folks who are able to break into the industry, we’re also thinking about how do we diversify geographically, and how do we diversify in thought? Meaning how do we diversify and bring folks into the industry who didn’t necessarily go to one of these Ivy League schools,” she adds.

In our conversation, Salas and I discuss how SomosVC is trying to change the venture capital industry through career development, mentorship programs, and fellowships. She describes the nonprofit’s eight-week course which includes hands-on practicums and case studies on how to start your own fund.

Salas also explains which cities are ripe for these new VC funds and how adding more Latinos to the venture capital industry will lead to more Latino-owned startups.

You can listen to the entire conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 334: Dr. Mariela Salas, executive director, SomosVC
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith joins me to discuss how taking part in the national service program can help you serve your community, giving you a sense of purpose, while also helping you develop hard and soft career skills. Since 1993, AmeriCorps has been providing opportunities for Americans of all backgrounds to personally address the nation’s most pressing challenges and improve lives in their communities. They are working in our schools, working at food pantries, and working to advance the U.S. march toward climate-resiliency.

Today, there are more than 200,000 AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps senior volunteers that are serving in nearly 40,000 locations across the country.

“AmeriCorps, for 30 years, has operated on this simple belief that we may not have enough tax money to pay all the people to do all of the things that our communities need, but what we do have is this unique American ethos where people want to give back. They want to serve,” says Smith, AmeriCorps CEO.

“There is something that is wonderful and beautiful about service that is selfless, and we love all the selfless, passionate, compassionate people that want to serve. In many cases, they’re serving full-time jobs. Sometimes they’re moving their whole lives.”

When you serve with AmeriCorps, along with the sense of purpose and giving back, you get a living allowance and education benefits, including an Eli Segal Education Award and student loan forbearance while you’re serving.

There is also the on-the-job training benefit.

“A year of service is going to help you accelerate on your career path. You might walk away with certifications or credentialing. You get a variety of benefits that will help you to live while you serve, but maybe even more importantly will help to take you really, really far into your chosen career path,” says Smith.

While conservation has been a part of AmeriCorps since the very beginning, the newly-minted American Climate Corps launched this year, attracting people of all ages, but particularly young adults interested in climate-resiliency.

“What’s really cool about it is the demand is through the roof. Within six weeks of launching the American Climate Corps, 50,000 people signed up saying we want to be a part of this. We believe that there is something that this generation wants to do here, and we’re giving them an opportunity to take action now,” Smith tells me.

“We’ve got 9,000 American Climate Corps members that are in the field right now. They are gaining skills while they’re serving, and they are also being connected with resources to make sure that they can get the green energy and climate jobs of the future.

“You’ve got some people that are doing the traditional trail work. Those are the folks out in the woods. You’ve got some people that are doing solar panels in inner city communities or urban farming. You’ve got some folks that are working on climate education. You’ve got some people that are working on tribal land. We’ve come up with a lot of different options depending upon what your interests are, and we’re just really excited,” Smith says.

Our conversation continues with Smith and I discussing more of the work the American Climate Corps is doing advance climate-resiliency. We also discuss how you can find a service opportunity that suits your passions. And Smith talks about how the national service program is changing lives throughout the country, both for community residents and for AmeriCorps members.

You can listen to the entire conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also get the podcast on the Work in Progress podcast YouTube channel.

Episode 333: Michael D. Smith, CEO, AmeriCorps
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Antonio Tijerino, president and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, to talk about the two pillars of the nonprofit’s mission: workforce development and education for the Hispanic community, the fastest-growing part of the U.S. workforce.

Over the next seven years, nearly eight in 10 new jobs in the labor market will be filled by a Latino, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The majority of those jobs will require some level of digital skills. Tijerino says the Hispanic Heritage Foundation is working with major companies across the country to offer training.

“We have a value proposition as the Latino community, and we want to make sure that we’re prepping our community to provide that value proposition in the workforce.

“We’re working with AT&T, for instance, in terms of skills building all over the country for youth, but also for people that are currently in a particular job and want to transition into another job. Same with IBM,” explains Tijerino.

“We want to make sure that they have access to not just tools but also certifications and access to a career path in areas that we need to fulfill. We want to make sure that our community is in good position as they move into those jobs – that they’re in the skilled areas – that they’re in the technology areas that (those jobs) are in.”

Tijerino adds that education is a key component of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation mission.

“Education is workforce development in the first place because, ultimately, what you’re trying to do is build towards the rest of your life and what you’re going to do with that education.

“For instance, in education, we teach 100,000 students how to computer code. It’s broader than just simply trying to teach a bunch of kids how to code, trying to give them confidence with technology, feel a sense of belonging in technology, for instance, and also make sure we’re building social capital at every step as they go into their careers and have that touch point.”

The Hispanic Heritage Foundation is also trying to address the the digital divide in terms of Wi-Fi. A homework gap leads to a workforce gap, says Tijerino.

“We have found through surveys that we did with the Student Research Foundation that Latinos were most likely to say that their grades suffered because they didn’t have Wi-Fi at home to do their homework, most likely to say that they couldn’t finish their homework. Parents were most likely to say they couldn’t communicate with a teacher because they didn’t have Wi-Fi at home.

“We want to make sure that everybody’s connected because you can’t succeed in education or in the workforce or in community building if you don’t have access to Wi-Fi.”

We dive into how the Hispanic Heritage Foundation is working to close those gaps and increase tech upskilling. You can listen to the entire conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it here, on the Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 332: Dr. Antonio Tijerino, President & CEO, Hispanic Heritage Foundation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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Today, WorkingNation joins the rest of the nation in remembering the 2,977 lives lost on September 11, 2001, and honoring the thousands of first responders who became chronically ill when terrorists intentionally crashed planes into the World Trade Centers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and in rural Pennsylvania.

Akamai Technologies co-founder Danny Lewin died at age 31 aboard American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, the first plane to be intentionally-crashed into the World Trade Centers by terrorists. The 9/11 Commission confirmed Lewin was stabbed to death as he confronted the terrorists in an attempt to thwart the hijacking, becoming the first victim of the attackers that day.

Lewin was a friend and colleague to WorkingNation founder and CEO Art Bilger who remembers Lewin as a visionary computer scientist who changed the course of the internet during his brief career and as “the most remarkable” person he has ever met.

Without Lewin’s pioneering work in the late 1990s, and the company he created with Akamai CEO Tom Leighton, the internet as we know it today may have evolved along a different course. Since its founding, Akamai has grown into a multibillion-dollar company dedicated to making the internet “fast, reliable and secure” and is responsible for handling internet traffic and security for billions of people globally.

“He was the rare person of incredible intellect and action. A truly one-of-a-kind person. It is safe to say that meeting Danny completely altered the trajectory of my life,” Bilger recalls. “Without him, I don’t think WorkingNation would exist.”

This video remembering and honoring Danny Lewin was first released at WorkingNation’s “Cracking the Code: A Town Hall Event on Bridging the Cybersecurity Skills Gap” in June of 2018.

https://youtu.be/by5dKkaGWuI

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, STRIVE president & CEO Philip Weinberg and STRIVE board co-chair Roy Castro join me to discuss how the nonprofit has been connecting historically-excluded populations to life-changing careers and skills for the past 40 years.

“We believe in the principles of equity and justice and opportunity for all. There’s too many individuals, as we know, in our communities who are talented and looking for access to build a career, but often don’t know where to go. We believe at STRIVE in giving them a fair shot,” explains Weinberg.

The nonprofit was born in 1984 in the basement of an East Harlem New York public housing apartment building. Today, STRIVE is in about a dozen cities, including Baltimore, New Orleans, and San Diego, and has helped nearly 90,000 graduates gain access to the training and support needed to build a career.

Weinberg adds, “We show up in communities through partners that license with STRIVE to deliver our evidence-based workforce programming within their broader portfolio of services. STRIVE always shows up in concert with community, with public officials and mayors’ offices, and anchor institutions like community colleges, other nonprofit providers, and local philanthropy.”

Weinberg says most of their students come to STRIVE unemployed or in low-wage, low-quality jobs.

“Our average age is about 30. Most of our students come to us on public assistance looking to create a sense of financial independence and empowerment for themselves and their families. Over 40% of our students are parents to minors. 40% of our students do have experience with the criminal justice system.

“We’ve built a model that is comprehensive to support people who are often encountering significant hurdles in life through no fault of their own – injustices, racial injustices, injustices in systems,” he adds.

STRIVE offers 10 weeks of no-cost training that is customized to credentials local employers are looking for that can give the students access to high-quality, high-growth occupations. The program includes three to four weeks of intensive coaching and mentorship on team-building, managing conflict, and professional communications. After the training, the nonprofit’s employment team works with the students to connect them with employers.

Roy Castro is the co-chair of the STRIVE board and the founder and CEO of Castro Ventures, a multimillion dollar firm. He is also a STRIVE alum.

“22 years ago, I actually graduated from STRIVE. They took a Roy who was 28 years old, never had a job in his life, only knew the street life. After the street life, he only knew prison life. No job experience, no corporate America experience, never had a manager, didn’t like command and chain of command, didn’t understand that. And STRIVE was able to show this kid that there’s more out there,” Castro shares.

“I was one of the lucky ones that was able to go to STRIVE. STRIVE took me in and guided me at when I was literally at my most darkest moment in my life when I was most lost, and I needed more than just a job at that time, and STRIVE was there to pick me up,” he explains. “This is why I’m so passionate and why 22 years later I’m equally – if not more – as passionate and I give my time to STRIVE.”

Weinberg and Castro go into more detail on how the program connects students to those jobs and how the STRIVE program doesn’t end at graduation. STRIVE offers them lifetime support.

You can listen to the entire conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it on our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 331: STRIVE president & CEO Philip Weinberg and STRIVE board co-chair Roy Castro
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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Skilled trade workers are in big demand and short supply and it just might be a career pathway you should consider. WorkingNation and Scripps News have partnered on a new series, Fire Up Your Career, to explore the types of jobs available, what employers are doing to attract talent, and how you can get the skills needed for these good-paying jobs popping up all across the country. Read the article and listen to the podcast, then watch the video below of WorkingNation on Scripps News discussing what’s driving the demand and creating new job opportunities in the skilled trades.

In this episode of Work in Progress, we’re talking about the shortage of skilled trade workers and what employers can do about it. I am joined by Brooke Weddle, McKinsey & Company senior partner and co-author of the McKinsey report Tradespeople Wanted: The Need for Critical Trade Skills in the U.S.

The country is facing a hiring crunch for skilled workers such as carpenters, electricians, welders, and plumbers. What’s behind the critical demand for talent in the trades? Weddle says the shortage is not new, but the demand has skyrocketed over the past few years.

“That comes from things like the bipartisan infrastructure law. It comes from the energy transition. It comes from infrastructure investments beyond the Biden bipartisan infrastructure law. We see things like the CHIPS Act,” she explains.

“Two important supply-side trends are decreasing the number of skilled laborers in the U.S. workforce: the aging U.S. population and too few younger people entering the trades.” according to the report.

Weddle adds, “We are not seeing enough new entrants into those skilled trade roles, so thus the gap that we observe. It’s troubling because it’s getting in the way of productivity and performance of a lot of organizations.”

The report estimates that cost of the worker shortage to U.S. companies is over $5 billion. “We’re not talking about small numbers here. And having worked with many industrial manufacturing companies that are employing these skilled trades, I can tell you that this is not a HR topic. This is a CEO topic,” Weddle tells me in the podcast.

“If you listen to any earnings call of a large industrial company in the past 12, 24 months, I would be hard-pressed to find one that is not talking about workforce issues, whether it’s acquiring that talent or retaining that talent or making that talent more productive,” she says.

The report finds that the demand for workers in the skilled trades is only going to increase based on McKinsey’s analysis on the data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and talking with employers.

Weddle and I discuss some ideas of how employers can attract and retain new workers to fill current and future roles, including working locally with a variety of partners.

“So involving others in the community, whether those are economic development organizations, workforce councils. There is obviously the big role to play on the educational provider side. As we know, that is certainly not just higher ed, but it is community colleges. It is vocational schools.

“One of the things that we’ve seen is that when you’re orchestrating and integrating at this regional level, then you’re able to much more quickly match what are the skills and goals we need to how do we build the workforce that is required?

“I would say failure is not an option. We must be optimistic, but we must be smart optimists. We need to find new innovative ways to work together,” Weddle tells me.

We go deeper into specific examples of how this regional partner approach is getting results. We also talk about some of the reasons younger adults might not want to join the skilled trades and how employers can address those issues to attract a new generation of workers.

You can listen to the entire conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can read the McKinsey & Company Tradespeople Wanted report here.

Fire Up Your Career: The Skilled TradesAll this week, WorkingNation and our partner Scripps News will continue to explore the opportunities in the skilled trades, what’s driving the demand for workers, and programs that are helping to fill the worker shortfall.

I joined Scripps News’ Morning Rush this morning to discuss today’s podcast.

https://youtu.be/VONfQjDdApc?si=yGnP3FzC3FgPN_CETune into Scripps News each morning at 9:45 am ET to hear from our WorkingNation team as part of our Fire Up Your Career special coverage.

You can also find more of our ongoing WorkingNation coverage on the skilled trades here on our website.

Episode 330: Brooke Weddle, senior partner, McKinsey & Company
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, editor-in-chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Josh Elder, vice president and head of grantmaking for Siegel Family Endowment, joins me to discuss the importance of tech connectivity in creating access and opportunity to jobs in rural America. We also talk about the overall impact technology is having on society, education, and the way we do our jobs.

For more than 10 years, the Siegel Family Endowment, a private family foundation, has supported a wide range of grantees that are focused on understanding and shaping the impact of emerging technology on society. Of late that conversation has be more and more about artificial intelligence.

“The way that we’ve been thinking about it is understanding how AI is impacting work today, both in terms of the impact it is having on employers, but – and this is where we want to elevate this conversation – the impact of AI on workers,” Elder explains.

He says the big questions they are examining with their grantees are whether AI is being done to workers or is AI being done with workers. “Oftentimes when you hear about AI in the workforce, everyone immediately jumps to thinking about is AI going to replace people? Is AI going to displace people and reduce jobs? And we know we’ve seen some of the early stats and some of that is happening.”

He adds that as AI tools and products continuing to evolve, it is important to make certain the workers’ voice is being listened to and integrated into those tools “to really mitigate some of the harms and the bias that we unfortunately are seeing day-to-day with more and more emerging technology taking place and impacting workers, especially marginalized workers in the workforce.”

Early on, our conversation in the podcast turns to jobs in rural America and the importance of access to a solid tech infrastructure, connectivity, and broadband.

“If you don’t even have the fundamental elements of connectivity, you’re already facing obstacles and challenges that are putting you behind. That’s something that we’ve really been looking at – especially in places like rural America – to really create the connectivity and digital infrastructure that’s needed to then connect to both the physical and social infrastructure that you’re going to (need) in the workforce,” says Elder.

As rural America faces a “brain drain” of younger adults moving out of their communities to find jobs, that digital infrastructure takes on more importance.

“I speak as someone who grew up in rural America. I felt like I had to move out in order to be able to find the opportunities or pursue opportunities for things that I was interested in. I know some of that, unfortunately, is still the case.

“What we are trying to do, especially with CORI (Center on Rural Innovation) and others, is look at how can you create a rural innovation ecosystem and hubs that can provide more opportunities, either for entrepreneurship or for other companies to be developed, that can actually support and provide opportunities for citizens there and also grow talent pipelines.

“There’s amazing talent that exists in these rural communities. They often just don’t have connection to the opportunities to be able to build out for success. We’re really interested in looking at the connection between education, workforce, and infrastructure needed to be able to scale these opportunities at a rapid rate,” says Elder.

Josh Elder goes into much more details on how Siegel Family Endowment is working with grantees to address these issues, the importance of building equitable access to jobs and education, and how we all should have a voice in tech’s impact on society.

You can listen to the entire conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Or you can catch the interview on my Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 329: Josh Elder, vice president & head of grantmaking, Siegel Family Endowment
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, Brian Peckrill, executive director of the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, and Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president and CEO of SHRM, join me in a discussion on how an ethical leader can foster a strong culture of integrity and inclusion from the top of the organization to the bottom.

For the past three years, the McGowan Charitable Fund and SHRM have partnered to present the Ethical Leader of the Year Award to a CEO they believe embodies the belief that principles and profits are not incompatible.

“There are great leaders out there in the world who are making business decisions that have both great financial impacts, but are also mindful of their stakeholders, their customers, as well as their workforces,” says Peckrill.

Peckrill says there are six core competencies that make up an ethical leader – character, integrity, accountability, empathy, self-awareness, resilience, and courage. “Leaders need all of these. Sometimes they need different qualities at different moments, but to really put forth a leadership practice that doesn’t just benefit the financial performance of the organization but pushes the organization forward and serves its people, (leaders) need all of these values.”

He adds that CEOs that embrace these values are transforming both their organizations and society.

SHRM’s Taylor agrees and says without strong ethical leadership at the top organizations can struggle. “It’s because the culture is not one that makes clear that ethics is the way we do business. When you think about ethical cultures, it is both a treetop and a sort of ground-up grassroots effort to get this right. We need every employee, and we need all leaders. And we do this right, then we have business cultures that are successful and ethical.”

He says there’s a right and a wrong way to do business and the ethical decision is one that we’ve got to make sure that we teach our colleagues how to recognize.

This year, McGowan and SHRM presented the Ethical Leader of the Year Award to Marvin Ellison, president and CEO of Lowe’s. Peckrill says Ellison was an easy choice based on how, under his leadership, the company has invested in its workers and the communities it serves both during and after the COVID pandemic.

Listen to the podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts to learn more about Ellison’s leadership and also more about the benefits to a company when the CEO makes a clear choice to set ethical standards and insist they are followed from the top to the bottom of the organization.

Or you can catch the interview on my Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 328: Brian Peckrill, executive director, William G. McGowan Charitable Fund and Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president & CEO, SHRM
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Scott Pulsipher, president of Western Governors University to talk about how the online university flips the standard postsecondary education model to create individualized learning plans for each student. We also discuss the latest WGU offering: a new fund designed to help prepare students for jobs in nursing, which is now facing a critical shortage nationwide.

Since its founding in 1997. Western Governors University (WGU) has prided itself in innovating the way higher education prepares students to enter the workforce.

Pulsipher says at the heart of that continuing innovation is the idea that every person is unique, with unique needs and circumstances, as they enter into the workforce or seek a career that will provide them with economic mobility.

“It starts with a very simple truth: there is inherent worth in every individual and that we believe – and know, in fact – if given the opportunity, each one has something big to contribute. Everyone has the innate capacity for learning. It doesn’t mean that we learn the same way or that we go at the same pace,” he explains.

“We apply that by just simply recognizing everyone can learn and everyone has the opportunity to contribute, so how do we make these pathways as accessible and affordable and traversable for every individual?”

Pulsipher says that translates into offering individualized and personalized plans for each student, along with a mentor to help them navigate the pathway to their career goals.

“The program mentor is someone who’s with you from the day you start your program until the day you graduate. Their job isn’t to just augment your instruction and your learning, but to also help you deal with all the challenges, disruptions, offsets that you may have. It’s like a bit of a secret sauce into helping our students complete at much higher rate than they might otherwise.”

Another key to helping the students, according to Pulsipher, is working with employers across the country, accessing what skills they are looking for right now and in the near future.

“We always adapting and advancing the curriculum to be relevant to the world of work. Certainly, technology’s increasing the pace of that change. We know the shelf life of skills is declining or the knowledge is declining, meaning you’re going to have to make sure that what you’re learning. Our curriculum is directly relevant to the opportunities you see within the next three- to five year horizon, two- to three-year horizon, one- to two-year horizon.

“We’re always leveraging our engagements with our employer networks – we have over 250 employers – so that we’re always ingesting that workforce data back into the design and development of our curriculum. I think one of the key things that our students rely upon us is for the relevancy of what they’ve learned to the jobs they want to pursue,” he tells me.

One field that is in big demand right now is health care. For example, there’s as many as 40,000 unfilled jobs for nurses across the country right now.

“We know that number is going to keep growing because of the aging population and the higher demand for the health care services that are needed. (WGU) is a nationally-scaled provider of nursing programs. We’re an institution that operates in the most states for pre-licensure nursing programs, we’re now in over 20 different states.

“This allows us to leverage that scale to solve a strategic workforce gap that exists in health care. The hospitals, health systems, community health centers that need those qualified individuals, here is a talent provider now that can do that with a high degree of relevancy and really high pass rates,” says Pulsipher.

That combination has led WGU to partner with Social Finance to create the Reinvesting in Nursing Education and Workforce (ReNEW) Fund, which “aims to address these challenges by helping to cover the cost of the final two years of WGU’s prelicensure program for individuals with financial barriers, including last-mile training costs, such as the costs of in-person labs and clinical placements.”

In the podcast, Pulsipher and I go into greater detail on how the fund works and how it can help lead to a good-paying job in the health care field. We also discuss how WGU is using technology to make all the curriculum more accessible to more people.

Pulsipher sat down with me at the JFF Horizons 2024 conference in Washington DC.

You can listen to the entire conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts. Or you can watch the interview on my Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 327: Scott Pulsipher, president, Western Governors University
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I’m joined by Brittany Greer, the executive director of Rosie Riveters, a nonprofit that is working to close the gender gap in the STEM workforce.

There are an estimated 2.8 million unfilled STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs in this country. Meanwhile, women make up just 28% of the STEM workforce. Since 2016, Brittany Greer has been working to change that.

The nonprofit she founded aims to inspire girls aged 8 to 14 from diverse backgrounds to explore careers in the field through hands-on learning kits.

“It’s all of the materials needed to complete the project operationally. We do everything from explore hydraulics – making a hydraulic desk lamp where the arm goes up and down – to exploring the science of sound. To build a harmonica, we have popsicle sticks and rubber bands and straws and if you put those together in the right way, you can make a harmonica that vibrates and make sounds,” explains Greer.

She says that part of the lesson of each Rosie Riveters learning kit is to understand how that science project connects to a career in STEM. For example, the connection between the science of sound to a career in the audio-visual industry.

She adds, “The whole goal of our programs is not only excitement and awareness of the opportunities that are available in STEM, that’s one part of it. The real core of what we do is providing girls in our programs with an opportunity for productive struggle, a space to get things wrong before they get them rights.”

As a result, the young girls not only build critical thinking and problem-solving skills, they build their confidence. “It’s watching a kid go from, ‘I can’t,’ to, ‘Look what I did.’ Because once you get through the struggle and you have completed the task and you did something that you didn’t think was possible or you didn’t think was fair, there is a radiance that comes off of a participant after that moment and they’re excited to show you and talk about it,” explains Greer.

Greer believes that building those skills and building confidence is what drives more young girls to consider STEM as a career.

“If you can invest in them early, they will know that they can come and find you at the end. You’re going to have a far greater participation rate of of people who have not gone to participate in your space before because you’re welcoming them and you’re inviting them, and you’re showing them the opportunities that are available to them.

“I think the more that we can do that, the more that we can open up opportunities that haven’t previously been available to a lot of the population,” Greer adds.

Listen to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts, to learn more about how Rosie Riveters gets the kits into the hands of the girls they are hoping to inspire.

You can also find it on my Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 326: Brittany Greer, executive director and founder, Rosie Riveters
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I’m joined by Sarah Keh, the vice president of corporate social responsibility at Prudential Financial to discuss the company’s $180 million committment to helping opportunity youth find a pathway to good jobs and wealth building. Keh sat down with me to discuss the philanthropy in June at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Opportunity youth are young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who currently are not in formal education or training and are unemployed. There are almost 6 million people who fall into that designation, a number that has grown since the COVID pandemic.

Even before the pandemic, in 2019, Prudential decided to invest $180 million by 2025 in programs that will help young people across the globe gain the right skills to compete for and succeed in quality jobs.

“The reason why they have come into the situation that there are in…is not because they don’t have the will or the desire. It’s oftentimes they are born into a situation that doesn’t provide them the access to the opportunities that you and I may have had in our upbringing,” says Keh.

She says the Prudential believes it is important to look at opportunity youth for their potential and act on it. “We’re really focused on this population because we believe these are our future leaders of nonprofits, of businesses, of government, and they just need access to the right resources and tools to provide them the good skill.”

Keh says the company has already achieved in five years what it had set out to achieve in six – the $180 million in nonprofit programs that are providing that training and opportunity.

“We’ve invested in over 20 different organizations globally that have impacted hundreds and thousands of young people. We know even just last year through our impact data that over 500,000 opportunity youth were connected to training opportunities and employment opportunities.”

Here is the U.S., those workforce development programs include Year Up, YouthBuild, and Per Scholas.

Keh and I go into details on how these programs are helping and how the can help young people build wealth. We also discuss Prudential’s work of a local level in Newark, New Jersey, the headquarters of the company which turns 150 years old next year.

You can listen to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also find it on my Work in Progress YouTube channel.

This podcast was recorded at the Aspen Ideas Festival, in collaboration with the Aspen Institute.

Episode 325: Sarah Keh, VP Corporate Social Responsibility, Prudential Financial
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I am joined by Vilas Dhar, president, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and a global expert on AI, equity, and how artificial intelligence is shaping our society. We sat down at the Aspen Ideas Festival in June to discuss whether AI is having a positive or negative impact on the workforce.

Vilas Dhar calls the release of ChatGPT an important social moment, not a technological one.

“AI didn’t start in November of 2022. Researchers, scholars, people like me, have been building AI products for decades,” says Dhar.

“AI moved out of the background, out of the shadows, and became something that every person on the planet could touch, feel, interact with, see how it might influence their lives. And because of that, we entered into this new phase of a discussion that moved from ‘What does the technology do?’ to ‘What do humans have to do to be ready for the technology? and “What kind of society do we want to build and how will AI help us get there?”

He emphasizes the need for a diverse range of stakeholders, including technologists, policymakers, civil society, communities, employers, and workers, to be involved in shaping the future of AI and how any changes it brings are equitable ones.

Dhar challenges the notion that AI will necessarily lead to job displacement, highlighting the potential for AI to enhance human capabilities and create new opportunities by automating mundane or dangerous tasks, freeing up time for creativity and innovation, and improving health care and community services.

He calls for a shift in the narrative around AI from fear and risk to one of public investment and public ownership.

“It’s a moment in time where we can actually use it to force a bigger conversation about equality and equity, about how we distribute economic benefits, about the fact that if we think somebody is going to be displaced, what’s the responsibility of the person who displaced them?

“Note that I didn’t say the machine that displaced them, but the person who made a choice to bring in a machine that displaced that worker. How do we think about creating a new social compact so that every person feels dignified and participatory in the decisions we’re making about our AI future? If we were to start having those conversations, I’d be so hopeful about our future,” he adds.

Dhar has a lot more to say about why we need to change our thinking around artificial intelligence and how it can be a benefit to workers. You can listen in our conversation here, or get it wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also find it on my Work in Progress YouTube channel.

This podcast was recorded at the Aspen Ideas Festival, in collaboration with the Aspen Institute.

Episode 324: Vilas Dhar, president, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland. We sat down together at the Aspen Ideas Festival last week to talk about what his administration is doing to create economic mobility and opportunity for all its citizens.

When it comes to putting people to work in Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore says he embraces the ethos he first learned when he joined the U.S. Army as a teenager: Leave No One Behind.

“It’s a great lens on how we should view our work. It’s not just because it’s important psychologically, it’s important for mission accomplishment. It’s a core criteria for mission accomplishment,” he tells me in the interview.

Moore says that “A growing economy is a participatory one. A stagnant and stalled economy is one where you have a huge swath of society that is not participating. Forget a moral sense, it doesn’t make economic sense for us to do that.

“If you continue to have areas and communities where you essentially have these deserts of economic activity, that’s not benefiting anybody. It’s not benefiting that local jurisdiction. It is not benefiting the state that local jurisdiction exists in.”

In our conversation around employment and jobs, Gov. Moore and I discuss the ways Maryland is building workforce development partnerships with nonprofits and employers to ensure that everyone in the state has a chance for economic mobility. He shares how the money from the bipartisan federal infrastructure bill is already creating thousands of jobs in Maryland alone, including good-paying union jobs in construction.

Gov. Moore also addresses the economic reason he pardoned 175,000 people with misdemeanor cannabis convictions.

And he tells me about the state’s first-in-the nation public service year program for high school graduates that is designed to put teens and young adults on a pathway to a good-paying career. “Our high school graduates now have a chance to have a year of service to the State of Maryland. They can work in the environment. They can work in education. They can serve veterans. They can serve returning citizens. It’s completely their choice.

“But it’s a year to have a paid opportunity making $15 and getting a $6,000 stipend at the end of it and to be able to go out and define that thing that makes your heartbeat a little bit faster and go after it.

“We did it because we believe in experiential learning. We did it because we believe in paid financial cushions. We did it because we believe in this time of political divisiveness and vitriol that service will save us.

“But also this has become a remarkable workforce development tool, where some of the first people that signed up have actually been the private sector who said, ‘We’ll take three of them.’ When you think about that, the ability to democratize these opportunities by making sure that they are paid opportunities, really is crucial for any type of thing we’re trying to get done,” adds Gov. Moore.

You can learn more about the work being done in Maryland to create and fill jobs in the podcast. Listen here, or get it wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also find it on my Work in Progress YouTube channel.

This podcast was recorded at the Aspen Ideas Festival, in collaboration with the Aspen Institute.

Episode 323: Gov. Wes Moore, Maryland
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by John Mitchell, president & CEO, IPC International to discuss the increased demand for workers in the semiconductor manufacturing industry and how the group is developing the workforce of the present and the future.

Semiconductors are the backbone of the digital economy, powering our cars, planes, medical tech, cybersecurity, our dishwashers and TVs, and they are at the heart of AI. Nearly everything we touch needs a chip, and commercial construction is surging in the U.S., driven in part by federal government investments designed to bring more chip manufacturing to the country.

We’ve asked this question many times – and have heard the same answer – do we have enough workers in the wings ready to fill the tens of thousands of jobs that are expected as a result of this boom in manufacturing construction? The answer is “not yet.”

When we think of semiconductions, we simply think of the processor in our computer, says Mitchell. But, he explains, that small chip couldn’t exist without the electronics manufacturers that IPC represents.

“Let’s use the analogy of a car. It’s the engine of your car. And it’s a fairly complex thing just like an engine is.

“There are companies like Intel and TSMC and Samsung that really design and create the silicon. But the silicon, as itself, is not really good for much. But you add all the connections and ‘wheels and doors’ and electronics that tie through all of the systems. And when you put all of that together, then you end up with a ‘car.’

“So, we cover from the semiconductors to the assemblers, people that design the products, the board manufacturers, materials, and equipment manufacturers that help make all of that possible.”

That’s a lot of moving parts and a lot of potential workers.

“I’ve sat in a couple of workforce meetings on the CHIPS Act, and in the White House, and it seems to be about 50-50 technicians versus engineers that’ll be directly working in the industry,” Mitchell tells me.

He says that while the engineers and researchers are highly-degreed roles, you don’t need a degree for many of the technician roles and IPC can help you get the skills in electronics that you need to work in the chip industry.

“IPC has credential programs where you can literally get a certification or a credential and develop those skills very quickly in a matter of hours. And you could be starting helping out in an electronics factory and then you continue to add from there. They are stackable credentials and there’s pathways.

“As of last November, we’re the first federally-recognized electronics apprenticeship programs. We originally had two that were approved in November, and since then we’ve added another one. We expect to continue to add as time goes forward,” says Mitchell.

Want to know more about these workforce development training programs? Check out the podcast. You can listen here, or get it wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also find it on my Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 322: John Mitchell, president & CEO, IPC International
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by writer-producer Ron Friedman and David Gittins, executive director of Age Inclusion in Media, to talk about the way the media portrays older adults and how these stereotypes can have a profound impact on workers and job seekers in the real world.

I’m going to start out by saying, you can read about this conversation, but I believe you need to hear it or watch it for yourself to really capture what it means to be portrayed as “out of your prime” just because of your age.

At 91, Ron is a great example of someone whose creative mind and spirit are just as sharp as they were when he started writing more than 60 years ago.

The name Ron Friedman may not be familiar to you, but there is no doubt you’ve heard of some of the television shows that he’s written for in his career – All in the Family, Get Smart, The Odd Couple, Happy Days, and Starsky and Hutch to name a few.

In all, Ron has written more than 700 episodes of television and is well-known among action hero fans for creating the animated series G.I. Joe and developing Transformers for American TV. Along with his good friend Stan Lee, the pair created The Marvel Action Hour.

“I still get residuals. I still get fan mail. Somebody wrote to tell me that they loved my Odd Couple. I wrote that in the 70s, but they’re still playing it. I must have known something valuable to contribute what I contributed to give something that life expectancy,” Ron says.

Yet, despite all the early success, as he got older, he found that he was getting hired for fewer and fewer writing jobs. He says it come down to ageism, and, unfortunately, it is something most older adults face today when they are looking for work, whether it is in entertainment or another industry.

“Not only is it acceptable, but of all the protected classes – where you have to be on guard not to use the offensive terms or reproduce the memes that offensive – ageism is still not even considered,” says Ron.

Ron, David, and I sit on the board of Age Inclusion in Media, a nonprofit campaign to change the way older adults are portrayed in film, TV, and advertising.

“It’s still a very stereotypical way, and that’s down to the fact that we don’t have proper representation behind the screen. We don’t have proper representation in the writer’s room,” David argues. “When we don’t have older writers writing for older characters, we get stereotypical portrayals of what an older character is, which means we get tropes, we get cranky old characters, we get forgetful old characters, and we get sidekicks as opposed to central characters in their own lives.”

David says that this lack of representation, and the stereotypes it creates, has an impact on every older adult.

“From what we show on screen teaches us how to believe and that then teaches us how to act. So, if we see older characters being portrayed as passive morons who are just leaching on society, then we start to treat older people like that in their life, which then circles back in and saying, we’re not going to hire an older person because we know they’re idiots. We know they’re useless because we’ve seen not on TV and we believe it.”

Ron says we’ve got to stop telling the “same old story.” Older adults, like all of us, come in many different shapes and sizes – one stereotype doesn’t fit al. Society needs to embrace that age is jus one part of who we are. We are an amalgamation of our life experiences – what we have learned at school, in our jobs, and just living our lives.

Like everyone, it is very personal. He believes that despite already being “two and a half times older than Taylor Swift,” the older he gets, the more he has to share.

“Writers remind us of our humanity, and if we do it well, we create an event. Those are moments by which life becomes livable and beautiful and life is made up of moments. That’s what we remember. It doesn’t matter what you had for breakfast on Tuesday, it’s rather how you felt when you heard something at your kid’s graduation from college or what you felt when your child said his first sentence,” says Ron.

There is so much more to our conversation and I invite you to listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

You can also find it on my Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 321: Ron Friedman and David Gittins
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Bijal Shah, Guild‘s new CEO, to discuss how big companies are helping their employees find their next career step inside or outside the company through education benefits. And, we look a new Guild partnership that’s helping Olympians find their next career beyond sports.

Shah is new to the job of CEO, assuming it full-time in April after 34-year-old CEO and co-founder Rachel Romer stepped down to focus on her continued recovery from a stroke she suffered last summer.

The number of employer partners has grown over the years and now includes businesses like Chipotle, Discover, Hilton, and Target. With growth, Guild has had to deal with some of its own structural changes. In May, the company cut a quarter of its own workforce.

“As Guild’s business continues to grow, we must ensure that we deliver on our mission as efficiently and effectively as possible…we have decided to restructure our organization,” Shah said in a statement. “While difficult, these changes will ensure that moving forward, we operate more efficiently, innovate faster, and continue to deliver strong outcomes for our stakeholders,” she added.

Guild’s role with the partner companies is around creating education benefits, including training programs that will arm the workers with in-demand skills. Shah says this has proven beneficial for employers and employees alike.

“We are solving a problem. These (employees) are craving learning opportunities. They want to get their associate’s degrees or bachelor’s degrees. They want to further educate themselves, and the alternative is taking on student debt. This is a way that they don’t have to do that.

“Our data shows across our broad employer population, those who go through Guild are two times less likely to leave their employers than those who do not. There’s an immediate retention benefit.

“We also see benefits in attracting talent. When people are thinking about employers of choice, one of the things that I think folks are thinking about is how is the employer going to invest in me as the employee in a way that outlives even working at that employer or the specific job I have right now,” Shah adds.

One of the sets of skills employers are looking for is “durable” or “soft” skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and risk assessment. We go into the “how” of teaching those skills in the conversation.

We also take a look at the new partnership with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee that is providing education benefits to current and former Olympians.

“Many of the athletes don’t actually get those huge multimillion-dollar sponsorships, they’re living paycheck to paycheck. They spend all their time investing in their athletic careers, and then one day their athletic career ends and they need to find their second act,” Shah says.

Find out the details of the education plan in the podcast.

And you can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it on our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 320: Bijal Shah, CEO, Guild
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Steven Lee, CEO of the SkillUp Coalition, a nonprofit that has already supported two million people looking for training and job pathways in in-demand careers. We discuss the first four years of the organization’s work, and what is ahead this summer, including the launch of a new AI-powered tool.

The SkillUp online platform is free.

It offers both a curated selection of training programs that are low-cost, short-term, and offer industry-recognized credentials, and a job search tool that lists work in high-demand industries needing the skills you can learn through that training.

Lee explains that SkillUp purposely targets people without college degrees and earning under $40,000 a year to ensure they have equal access to careers offering livable wages plus benefits.

“Our mission is really to give them a leg up in their journey towards a skilled, high-quality job. We’ve tried to make it easy and simple for them to get the highest-quality information for them to make the right choice – whether that’s the right career that someone should choose, whether that’s the right training program from which they might get a credential to get that skill.

“We select programs that are a combination of low-cost because sometimes folks don’t have the financial resources, short-term because sometimes folks don’t have the time, and as best as we can, some proxy of quality. From the hundreds of thousands of programs out there, we’ve selected down to a few thousands that we think are best-in-class.”

Lee says the organization’s jobs tool only lists jobs that don’t require a college degree. “The jobs have to pay living wage in their local community, based on the MIT Living Wage Calculator. They also have to be with companies that we’ve identified as being good at upskilling their workers,” he explains.

Lee describes the SkillUp platform as a “choose your own journey” platform, with the user picking the types of training and jobs that they want to explore on their own.

In July, the nonprofit is rolling out a new tool – powered by AI – that it hopes will help the user discover even more career pathway options by “recommending” very specific programs to that individual. It’s called CareerNavGPT and it was developed by SkillUp in partnership with Brighthive, AdeptID, and Burning Glass Institute.

Listen to the podcast to learn more about how the CareerNavGPT tool will work. Lee and I also talk about the push toward skills-first hiring and whether employers are truly acting on the idea.

You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it on our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 319: Steven Lee, CEO, SkillUp Coalition
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, Gayle Goldin, deputy director for the Women’s Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor, joins me to talk about some of the longstanding barriers to good-paying jobs facing some women in the workforce today, and what is being done to fix the problems.

Women are a critical part of the U.S. labor force and contribute significantly to their families’ economic security and the U.S. economy, filling half of all jobs in the country. But women continue to experience longstanding disparities in the labor force – overrepresentation in certain lower-paying jobs, underrepresentation in other higher-paying ones.

When the pandemic hit, women, particularly women of color, were overrepresented in the sectors of the economy suffering the largest job losses – retail, hospitality, and education. Also, many women found it too hard to continue to work with the pandemic’s additional impact of closed schools, lack of childcare, and fear of illness.

According to Goldin, “The women’s labor force jobs often tie to care and service jobs and are undervalued. You’re a hotel worker. You’re a restaurant worker. You are in the care economies, providing child care or elder care. We also see that the jobs are at the lowest end of the pay scale, around minimum wage. They’re not paid as much as higher-paid, predominantly male-dominated jobs. That’s where we see that real disparity.”

While the number of women in the workforce has returned to pre-pandemic levels, that doesn’t mean the playing field is level, according to Goldin.

“We lost ground because of COVID. We still feel the reverberations of that a little bit. There certainly still is a gender wage gap,” she tells me in the podcast. “One of the things that we look at when we talk about the gender wage gap is what kind of jobs women are in – economists call this ‘occupational segregation.'”

She uses the example of skilled trade jobs. “Women only make up 4% of the skilled trades. Yet, particularly in those unionized jobs, those are pretty high-paying jobs, with good job quality. We want to make sure we’re finding pathways for women to both improve the quality of the jobs that they have, and new paths for women to enter into careers that are traditionally higher paying.”

What does this mean in dollars and cents?

Here are the numbers from the Women’s Bureau for 2020, the latest year with full data comparing the media wages of women who work full-time, year-round to the wages of men who worked full-time, year-round:

• “All women were paid, on average, 83% of what men were paid. Or put another way, women were paid 83 cents to every dollar paid to men.
• Many women of color were paid even less. For example, Black women were paid 64%, and Hispanic women (of any race) were paid 57% of what white non-Hispanic men were paid.”

Goldin and I discuss what the federal government is doing to encourage and support creation of those new paths to higher-paying careers and to address the need to provide supportive services to women for child care and elder care and for paid leave. She says these are important issues for women, their families, and the U.S. economy.

“The good news is women are back in the workforce, back up to the pre-pandemic levels. We have seen some growth in the amount of women with (young) children being able to enter the workforce, and that’s great too. And we need to keep going with the policy change that we need to see, so that we get the strongest economic growth that we can get.”

You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it on our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 318: Gayle Goldin, deputy director, U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor, employer engagement for AARP to talk about the aging workforce and why it is good business for employers to actively hire and promote older workers.

Refusing to hire a person or to promote them based on age is absolutely against the law.

Still, recent studies show that adults over the age of 40, including a vast majority of baby boomers, believe their age puts them at a disadvantage when it comes to finding a job, or limits their career opportunities.

Tinsley-Fix says the most recent AARP survey shows that 64% of workers over the age of 40 have felt or experienced age discrimination or ageism at work.

“It’s largely subtle because it’s unconscious. Most people have ideas about what ‘old’ means. Anyone who is older than they are is old. A 20-year-old thinks a 40-year-old is old and a 40-year-old thinks that a 60-year-old is old.

“But, in terms of feeling it at work, it can be slight comments like ‘I’m having a senior moment.’ It can be things like suddenly getting flat or even negative performance reviews when nothing in your performance has changed.

“It can be being passed over for innovative, or exciting, or challenging opportunities. It can be assuming that you’re not interested in learning new skills. Companies might be really pushing upskilling to the younger parts of their workforce and not to the older parts of their workforce.”

One of the perpetual and persisting stereotypes in society is that older adults are afraid of the changes in technology that continue to shape how we live, play, and work.

“It’s one of the most entrenched myths about older people – they’re ‘not good with technology,’ which is just ridiculous. Not only does AARP research show that 50-year-olds and up are just as active and avid consumers of technology as younger folks, we know that at work plenty of workers are able to adapt and move with the times and adopt to new platforms. It’s frustrating that it’s so entrenched and that it’s still there, but it does persist and it’s not true,” says Tinsley-Fix.

She emphasizes that these misperceptions about older workers and jobs seekers – including their “fear” of new technology – impact their ability to find work or get a promotion.

And its not only the employees that are suffering. Employers have been saying for years that they are having a hard time finding talent for certain jobs. They are missing out on the skills and talent of this growing part of the workforce.

Right now, about one-in-five workers is over the age of 55 and that is expected to grow to one-in-four as baby boomers continue to decide to stay in or reenter the labor market because they have to do so financially, or they simply want to do so.

Tinsley-Fix goes on to outline the skills the older worker brings to the job and the advantage an employer that embraces a multigenerational workforce has over their competition.

You can listen to the full podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 317: Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior advisor on employer engagement, AARP
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Courtney Brown, VP of strategic impact and planning for Lumina Foundation, and Stephanie Marken, senior partner at Gallup, share details of a new joint study that finds that college affordability is a top concern for Americans, despite seeing a degree as valuable to career success.

The Lumina Foundation-Gallup State of Higher Education 2024 shows that cost remains a major barrier for students seeking a postsecondary education, with 38% of students plunging deep into date to pay for their education beyond high school.

“We have seen over the last decade enrollments declining in postsecondary education. At the same time, we need more talented people in our country. This is a problem. We see over and over again that cost is a huge barrier,” Courtney Brown of Lumina Foundation tells me.

Stephanie Marken of Gallup adds, “We very intentionally interviewed people who don’t have a degree or credential because we want to understand their attitudes towards and experiences with postsecondary education pathways, whatever that pathway might be. We found that over half of those who we interviewed who were not currently enrolled reported it was a very or somewhat important reason as to why they were not currently enrolled.”

The researchers also talked to students who are currently enrolled about the high cost of higher education. “About a third of students who we interviewed reported that cost is a major barrier to continuing enrollment. We asked individuals if they considered stepping out in the past six months. We found about a third said that they had struggled to remain enrolled. Cost was the major reason for that,” according to Marken

The study also finds that 71% of those who borrowed for postsecondary education struggle for years to repay their loans, says Marken, delaying major life decisions “whether that was buying a car, buying a home, having children, returning to postsecondary education for those who had stepped out temporarily. It’s really keeping them from achieving important milestones that we would say is a life well-lived.”

Despite the high cost, says Brown, the survey found that people do value a degree or a credential beyond high school. “We see over and over again that they say having some credential after high school is extremely or very valuable. That includes a certification, a certificate, or a degree.

“And 75% of students who were previously enrolled say that it’s extremely valuable, so even the people that have not completed (their degree). I think it’s really important that we understand that people value it, they just can’t access it.”

Brown also talks about the impact of not being able to afford college. “It’s huge. We’re seeing more and more schools having to close because the enrollments are declining. So that becomes a problem. That also becomes a problem for the communities those institutions are in because they’re probably one of the number one employers in those communities.

“So there’s this cascading of effect when enrollments start to decline. And most importantly, we’re not going to have thriving communities. We’re not going to have a nation that can compete economically, socially with others around the globe.

Brown and Marken address some of the other fallout from college being out of range financially for students of all ages. You can listen to the podcast here, or find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Read the Lumina Foundation-Gallup State of Higher Education 2024 report here.

Episode 316: Courtney Brown, VP of strategic impact and planning, Lumina Foundation, and Stephanie Marken, senior partner, Gallup
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Carolyn Lee, president and executive director of The Manufacturing Institute, to talk about what’s behind the comeback in manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and what employers need to do to fill another 3.8 million jobs over the next eight years.

“We are at a all-time high since the Great Recession with manufacturing jobs filled here in the sector,” says Lee. “We’re just hovering at 13 million and that means we have recovered from all the jobs that were originally lost during the Great Recession and now we have gone back up all the way to the top of the mountain.”

What’s behind the resurgence in hiring?

Lee cites a number of reasons:

• consumer demand and spending has been strong since COVID,
• a favorable tax environment,
• and the drive to invest federal money through the CHIPS and Science Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

“From the CHIPS Act, there have been huge announcements of investment from Intel in Ohio. You have large investments being made in Texas and then a number of very large investments in Arizona. as well, and that’s just specific to CHIPS. If you look at EV manufacturing, there’s huge investments in Kansas and in Alabama and in Georgia and the Southeast,” she tells me.

Lee adds, “Not only has it been the CHIPS and the Infrastructure Bill that have driven a lot of government funding, there is a huge grants program out of the Department of Commerce, the Good Jobs Act, which came from a previous set of legislation that helped invest in job training. That’s something The Manufacturing Institute team has been working on in a number of regions including Fresno, California, Ohio, and Texas.”

She says employers continue to hire, but there are still almost 600,000 open jobs in the industry every month. Many of these jobs require tech skills.

“This is what modern manufacturing looks like. It is digital. It is digitally-enabled. If you walk up to a CNC machine, it is enclosed and all the hydraulic liquids are inside, where in years in past it looked different. We have connected factories. We need data scientists and computer scientists. We also need to have software developers and other engineers

“People say, ‘Oh, if you have those skills, you’re going to go in the tech sector.’ Well, a lot of the tech sector is the manufacturing sector, I would argue.

“In addition to those, we also need industrial maintenance technicians. The modern technology that is in manufacturing today cannot operate unless you have those high in-demand maintenance technicians and logisticians. Nothing works in a connected economy unless we have those really, really high in-demand logisticians that are helping us on the logistics side get everything where it needs to be. Not only the finished product, but all of your inputs too.

“Really, there’s something for everybody here,” explains Lee.”

In the podcast, we also spend a lot of time talking about a just-released report from The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte Consulting that says over the next eight years, the manufacturing industry will need as many as 3.8 million additional workers, many with these digital skills. The report lays out a strategy to help employers fill those jobs, particularly through investing in worker training.

Lee and I discuss what this means for the worker and job seeker and why they should consider being one of those millions of in-demand workers needed in manufacturing.

You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 315: Carolyn Lee, president and executive director, The Manufacturing Institute
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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A panel of distinguished leaders in philanthropy and business join me on the Work in Progress podcast to share their insight into the power of volunteering in your local community through your workplace.

Workplace volunteer programs have long been part of companies’ brand management and community relations strategies, but what do they offer the workers who actually perform the volunteer work?

A lot, as it turns out, from helping refine their skills to bringing a sense of purpose, of satisfaction, and a sense of empowerment as change agents in their communities, according to research from Ares Management.

Ares unveiled its key findings last fall in a white paper, Philanthropy, Purpose and Professional Development: Why Workplace Volunteer Programs Matter, and discussed them on a special LinkedIn Live event presented by Ares and WorkingNation, which you can listen to here.

Joining me in this conversation are:

• Michelle Armstrong, head of philanthropy at Ares Management, elaborating on the research’s findings about workplace volunteerism and why Ares employees are so passionate about giving back to their communities.
• Lee Fabiaschi, VP of employee engagement and community impact at Ares who shares insights into the company’s own workplace volunteer program, Ares in Motion (AIM) and how the company intends to grow the initiative.
• Joseph Fuller, co-head of the Project on Managing the Future of Work at Harvard Business School talks about the hidden benefit for employers who sponsor community-based volunteerism for their employees.
• Asha Varghese, president of Caterpillar Foundation discusses the incredible value these programs have on building skills for employees, particularly Gen Z workers.
• Angela F. Williams, president and CEO of United Way shares what she’s learned about the impact on the community when a company – big or small – invests in their employees who live and work there.

You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 314: The impact and value of volunteering in your community through your employer
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by MK Palmore, director, Office of the CISO, Google Cloud and Todd Conklin, deputy assistant secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury‘s Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection. We’re talking about how the federal government has partnered with Google Cloud to offer two new certifications and another training course to prepare workers for critical jobs protecting our national security.

For the federal government and private employers across the country, the demand for AI and cybersecurity skills is insatiable. U.S. employers posted nearly 200,000 jobs requiring AI skills in the past 12 months.

The World Economic Forum predicts demand for AI and machine learning specialists will grow 40% worldwide over the next five years. The demand for roles in cybersecurity is even stronger, with more than 400,000 jobs posted since April of last year. Both these areas of expertise point to employers’ need for talent that can analyze data.

However, simply put, there are not enough workers with the skills needed to fill all the available jobs.

This week at the ASU+GSV Summit, Google Cloud and the Treasury Department announced a public-private partnership offering new certificate courses in cybersecurity and data analytics and a course in generative AI.

It’s part of the government’s effort to help connect talent to these in-demand tech jobs across industries and sectors, including the government, which is in need of workers to protect our national security infrastructure.

“It’s a broad range of opportunities at Treasury in the cyberspace,” explains Conklin, who in addition to being Treasury’s deputy assistant secretary of cyber is also its chief AI officer. “You have the hands-on IT, actually being a person who is the first line of defense from a cybersecurity specialist perspective. We have general policy specialists that are more on the cyber policy that focus on how do we bolster standards.”

This includes in the financial sector. “Treasury ultimately serves as the bank for the U.S. government and we process a significant amount of payments on behalf of U.S. citizens on a daily basis, which rivals our largest [private] financial institution. Effectively, Treasury itself operates as a global bank to some degree,” explains Conklin.

In addition to cyber, he says there is also a demand at Treasury for people with advanced skills in data analytics and, now, AI, which is where the partnership with Google Cloud comes in.

“Generative AI is the dominating topic today among technologists and cybersecurity practitioners, so that’s the leading cert that’s come out, but we also have a complementary cybersecurity and data analytics cert along with those,” says Google’s Palmore.

“It’s a growing field in terms of certifications that we’ve weighed into because we realize the value of providing certifications to folks as a bit of a shortened pathway in some ways. It provides substantive guidance, advice, and skill levels that will help people enter these growing fields of technology and explore the possibility of a career there.”

Palmore says the certification tells the potential employer a couple of things, especially when combined with practice experience, which you get as part of the training.

“You are stating to an employer that not only can you grasp the academic portion of the work, but that you’ve shown the ability to then apply that work,” he says. “I’m a big believer in the certification pathway and capability. I tell folks that as long as you are willing to do the work the certifications will give you that starting point.”

So, what do you learn in the new Google Cloud certifications training?

“Everything in technology has foundational core components and elements. What we try and do in the certification space is infuse those foundational capabilities and skills into the cert so that at the end of that process the person gaining the certification has at least the foundational skills to get started in any one particular area,” says Palmore.

For example, the cybersecurity certification essentially readies a person for entry-level jobs as a security operations analyst.

“Security operations is the core fabric or content. I call it the ‘heartbeat’ of any functioning security apparatus,” Palmore tells me. “You learn the skills necessary to triage alerts. You may learn some simple coding associated with conducting queries or searches of datasets, compiling information, putting it in a structured way so that you can then relay its importance and impact to the enterprise to others. You’re given some level of ability to assess the information yourself because that’s a key component of any functioning cybersecurity apparatus, as well.”

Conklin says that if you go through the courses with Google, it qualifies you for at least an interview with Treasury and you don’t have to live in Washington D.C. to work for the government. “We’re trying to get access to a much more diverse pool of employees and then also geographically diverse pool of employees. I want to break us out of the cycle of recruiting just from inside The Beltway, as we call it in D.C.”

Both Palmore and Conklin agree this public-private partnership might be the answer to closing the skills gap and meet the growing unmet need for cybersecurity, AI, and data analytics skills in the U.S. government.

“The government certainly recognizes the problem. This is one of the areas only public-private partnerships can really bring together the necessary resources and provide those resources to a potential workforce, so that we can then welcome them and provide them with an entryway into the workforce in a solid fashion,” says Palmore.

He adds, “When you bring the immense resources of the U.S. federal government to bear on those problems along with the private sector, there’s no problem that we can’t solve. But it takes that intentionality to do that.”

Conklin says he is also trying to reach people who might think Silicon Valley is their only option.

“It’s a mission that would attract people who want to help support national security, people who want to be part of the public good, who want to use their skills, their brain power, and their experience to promote U.S. national security and the strength and health of the U.S. economy.

“We’re trying to make it clear that you can have that attitude and mentality, and be successful, and have a good career that you’ll enjoy at Treasury, because we’re offering a lot of entrepreneurial opportunities for employees at the entry level coming in the door,” says Conklin.

Both Conklin and Palmore go into greater details on how the partnership was launched and how it could benefit workers and employers.

The new training and certification courses are being offered on YouTube free of charge to give more people a pathway to enter this field, including career changers and those without a college degree.

You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 313: MK Palmore, Google Cloud, and Todd Conklin, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, we share a WorkingNation panel discussion on apprenticeships for people with disabilities from the SXSW EDU conference in March in Austin, Texas.

Moderated by WorkingNation Advisory Board member Josh Christianson, project director for the Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeships at the U.S. Department of Labor and senior specialist at the Cadmus Group, the panel examined apprenticeships as a rarely-tapped source of employment for people with disabilities.

Joining him on the panel were Mike Hess, founder & CEO of The Blind Institute of Technology, David Fazio, founder and president of Helix Opportunity, and Zariah Cameron, an equity UX strategist.

The distinguished group of panelists discuss the importance of inclusive apprenticeships, the benefits for both apprentices and employers, and the need for accessible technology and workplace environments.

They also address challenges such as outdated job descriptions, the lack of support from vocational rehabilitation programs, and the discrimination faced by individuals with disabilities.

The panelists provide resources and suggestions for creating more inclusive apprenticeships and vetting employers to ensure fair treatment of individuals with disabilities.

You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

WorkingNation is a proud media partner with SXSW EDU.

Episode 312: Josh Christianson, Zariah Cameron, Mike Hess, and David Fazio
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Jennifer Maher, CEO of TechForce Foundation, to discuss one of the fastest-growing jobs in America – professional transportation technician – and how the nonprofit is supporting people of all ages and backgrounds trying to get into the field.

Over the next four years, jobs in the transportation tech field are expected to grow by nearly 800,000, according to TechForce Foundation, as older workers leave the workforce and brand new jobs are created by advancements in technology.

“We’re talking about automobiles, airplanes, trucks, motorcycles, boats, race cars, anything that moves, even stationary engines,” explains Maher. “And not only is it automobiles as we would traditionally think, but now it’s the autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles. It’s drones. It’s charging stations. They all need skilled qualified technicians to keep them moving.”

Maher describes the crucial role the technician plays in our society.

“Our motto at TechForce is ‘When Techs Rock, America Rolls!’ COVID gave us the term ‘essential workers,’ that there are certain jobs that have to keep going to keep us all rolling. The technician remains an essential job.

“We all need to get to work, to get to school, to get groceries to our shelves. We need to be moving products and things all over the world, and we still want to take our vacations and/or fly from here to there.

“Imagine the world without techs and how different it would be if everything came to a grinding halt. And that is why we advocate for this profession and for the industry because we need them,” says Maher.

Maher says anyone interested in working with their hands, problem-solving, and new technology should consider a career as a professional technician. But she adds, you will find the skills needed a little different than you would have imagined in the past.

“There’s still the outdated stigma of the shade tree mechanic or the grease monkey. And yes, there is wrenching and, yes, there’s oil and lubricants and things, but it is so much more of a STEM career today – the science, technology, engineering, and math; the circuitry; the computer and the diagnostics; the calibration; and the advanced safety systems. You can’t just lift your hood and work on most vehicles today. You’ve got to be trained and skilled.”

TechForce Foundation’s mission is helping students of all ages and backgrounds – including older adults wanting to change careers – explore and enter the field through scholarships, connections to internships, and support of workforce development training.

In the podcast, Maher shares stories of how the scholarships have help hundreds – including a veteran named Jose and a 16-year-old girl named Chris – found their paths to becoming professional transportation technicians.

So how much does a tech make? Location and cost of living can affect a salary, but automotive techs typically average more than $60,000 and with additional certifications that salary can reach into six figures. For aviation techs, the average salary after three years ranges from $72,000 to over $100,000, depending on location, according to TechForce.

Interested in exploring a career in transportation tech? You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 311: Jennifer Maher, CEO, TechForce Foundation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I am joined by Catherine Collinson, president and CEO of the nonprofit research foundation Transamerica Institute, to discuss the crucial role older workers can play in filling in-demand roles across the economy and how ageism may be standing in the way of tapping into that talent pool.

“Ageism should be something in the past, not in the present. It’s time to get over it,” says Collinson, especially as employers express an inability to “attract and retain talent, as they’re looking to grow their businesses. It is negatively impacting their ability to conduct business.”

A new report from Transamerica Institute and its Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies released this morning – Workplace Transformations: Employer Business Practices and Benefit Offerings – says employers are feeling the impact of a prolonged labor crunch. Thirty-seven percent (37%) say it is negatively impacting them. For larger employers, the number is much higher. It goes to six, even seven, in 10.

There are four – some even say five – generations of workers in the labor force now. Midcareer and older workers are making up a bigger share each year.

Since 1987, the share of workers aged 65 or older has grown from a little more than one in ten (11%) to almost one in five (19%). Currently, about 30% of the U.S. labor forces is over the age of 55.

While these workers want or need to continue working, they are often overlooked when it comes to opportunities to “skill up” to do the jobs that employers say they having trouble filling, explains Collinson.

“Our survey found almost nine in 10 employers feel that they are age-friendly and provide opportunities, resources, and training for workers of all ages to be successful. But when we looked a little bit further, we found not so much, especially as it relates to attracting and retaining talent.

“Very few said they gave a great deal of consideration to age 50+ job applicants. Even some of the things that we saw in terms of professional development opportunities – which, by the way, they could be doing a lot more for workers of all ages – they just seem to be not yet tuned into that opportunity.

“Employers on one hand are contending with labor crunches, and yet they’re missing out on this talent pool that has expertise, experience, wisdom, that wants to work. Why are they not paying closer attention? That’s a rhetorical question, but it also leads to that we’ve got to retire ageism.”

Collinson and I go on to discuss ways in which employers can attract workers of all ages and the benefits of a multigenerational workforce. We also discuss the impact of employers using artificial intelligence to “augment their human workforce.” In Collinson’s words, “Robotics and artificial intelligence may be revolutionizing the business world, but human workers are still critically needed.”

You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 310: Catherine Collinson, president and CEO, Transamerica Institute
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Mayor Justin Bibb of Cleveland talks about how a coalition of American mayors are attacking the impact of extreme weather and environmental challenges in their communities and are bolstering their local economies by creating clean energy jobs.

I recently traveled to Miami Beach for the Aspen Ideas: Climate conference, a gathering of global, federal, and local policymakers, corporate leaders, and scientists, brought together by the Aspen Institute to discuss solutions to the impacts of climate change and pollution.

There I met members of Climate Mayors, a coalition of 750 mayors from 48 states representing more than 60 million Americans.

Climate Mayors lays out its mission as:

• Supporting sustainable infrastructure projects that bolster resilience to extreme weather and climate change, and modernize the electric grid,
• Advancing environmental justice, and
• Creating an abundance of clean energy jobs in their communities.

Mayor Justin Bibb of Cleveland – the chair of the group – sat down with me at the conference to discuss those goals and how the mayors are working to achieve results for the people they serve.

He highlights the need for public-private partnerships and collaboration to drive sustainable economic growth and bring jobs to his cities and others around the country. Mayor Bibb says the bipartisan federal legislation that’s making funding available for rebuilding infrastructure and creating jobs is key to those partnerships.

“We’re at the front lines of making sure we take this historic federal investment and have real solutions, real models of best practices in cities, from Madison to Cleveland to LA to New York City. Part of our work is ensuring that cities have the capacity and technical assistance they need to navigate the labyrinth of federal guidelines and regulations to navigate this funding.”

Mayor Bibb stresses the importance of making the benefits of the greening of the economy accessible to all residents, particularly those in marginalized communities.

He also shares his vision for Cleveland as a resilient, equitable, and prosperous city that can serve as a model for the rest of the country.

“We want to create high-paying, good-quality jobs, particularly in the building trades, for a lot of the work we need to do to address the built environment. We’re also really focused on leveraging our roots in advanced manufacturing, and this new growing movement of sustainable manufacturing. The new reshoring trend that we’re seeing coming out of the pandemic is going to bode well for the nation and bode really well for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.”

I asked him he wants the country to describe Cleveland in the near future.

“Hope, promise, resilience, opportunity. We’ve been a city that has been tough on ourselves for a long time. We know how to rebound in a way that I think is an embodiment of the Great American can-do spirit. And in many ways, Cleveland is America, and America is Cleveland from the legacy issues we’ve had around race, and disinvestment, and segregation and how globalization impacted our city’s economy. And if we can see an equitable, prosperous, inclusive comeback in Cleveland, and I think it shows the nation that if it can be done in Cleveland, it can be done anywhere.”

You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

This podcast was created in collaboration with the Aspen Institute.

Episode 309: Justin Bibb, Cleveland mayor and Climate Mayors chair
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’ve brought together a group of experts to discuss the challenges faced by people with disabilities in finding meaningful employment, advancing in their careers, and the importance of creating inclusive workplaces. The discussion centers on how disclosing a disability and seeking a reasonable accommodation can be a difficult decision, one that has a profound impact.

“Progress has been made, but certainly not enough has been done,” says Wendi Safstrom, president of the SHRM Foundation – addressing the fears and misconceptions that employers may have about hiring individuals with disabilities.

She notes, “The more we can get HR professionals to learn and listen to one another in terms of some of the opportunities that they’ve had getting people [with disabilities] into their organizations and some of the great experiences they’ve had working with individuals who have disabilities, I think are a great way to really amplify that particular message. That’s why we’re continue to be committed to this kind of work across all of our untapped pools of talent.”

In this episode, you’ll hear from:

• Kirk Adams, Ph.D., managing director, Innovative Impact, LLC
• Everette Bacon, VP of blind initiatives, Aira
• Deb Dagit, president and consultant, Deb Dagit Diversity
• Sam Estoesta, project manager with a social innovation specialization, TD Bank
• Scott Hoesman, CEO and founder, inQUEST Consulting
• Becky Kekula, senior director of the Disability Equality Index, Disability:IN
• Wendi Safstrom, president, SHRM Foundation

You can listen to the podcast here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find it our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 308: A Discussion Around the Decision to Disclose a Disability at Work
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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Ikram Mansori, chief operating officer of VetsinTech, speaks with journalist Hari Sreenivasan about the personal and professional issues that veterans face while transitioning out of military service and into the civilian sector, as well as the opportunities and programs available to them.

VetsinTech is a leading nonprofit dedicated to advancing career opportunities for veterans in the tech industry. The organization consists of 20 chapters across the country and harnesses their coalition of tech companies to help transition veterans returning from active duty into tech careers. Each chapter offers tech-based programs in education, employment, and entrepreneurship that empower their network of 70,000 vets to pivot into some of the nation’s most in-demand jobs in technology.

Each year, VetsinTech trains approximately 1,000 veterans in technical skills pertaining to cybersecurity, web development, and cloud computing, and their support extends to include mentorships, workshops, boot camps, hackathons, and startup pitch competitions.

As COO, Ikram Mansori facilitates the organization’s vision of helping put more veterans on a path toward entrepreneurship, which has seen a precipitous decline over the last 50 years primarily due to a lack of access to capital.

At present, only 10% of U.S. businesses are veteran-owned, but VetsinTech plans to lower the barrier to entry by introducing a range of key initiatives, including the Startup Network, Venture Equity Project, and Veteran Venture Capital.

Mansori oversees these entrepreneurship programs as well as work to expand and enhance the reintegration services available to both veterans and military spouses.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Debbie Compeau, Washington State University’s Carson College of Business interim dean. A.I. I’m not sure if there are any other two letters in the English language right now that have evoked such anticipation, discussion, debate, or concern.

A new report released by the Carson College of Business finds that people are generally excited about the possibilities of new generative AI tools in the workplace. But, more than half of professionals surveyed for the report (56%) are concerned they are going to be “left behind” unless they have the opportunity to learn how to leverage the newest iterations of the artificial intelligence.

“Overall, people are seeing things in a positive light, but their approach is measured because they see the positives but they see the negatives,” says Compeau. She adds that the workers expressed personal concerns about the speedy adaptation of new AI applications. “‘I don’t know how to do this. And if I don’t know how to do this, I might lose my job’ is very much on people’s minds.”

Compeau says employees want more information from their employers on what to expect.

“Only 32% of our professionals have received general news and resources on AI. Only 31% have received specific training on how they would use AI tools in their job, and 26% have received information on risks. One in four say that their organization hasn’t provided any resources to them to learn how to use this. I think in that kind of an environment, people are feeling a little bit lost,” she tells me.

But, says Compeau, employers themselves are still trying to figure out the use cases for generative AI in the workforce. “When we think about generative AI, if we’re all still trying to figure out where do we want to use it, I think the challenge today specifically around training is what would you train people to do?”

Ultimately, it will be important for employers and higher education to step up and help prepare the workforce of today and tomorrow for the AI skills needed in the workforce in order for workers to thrive with the technology. She puts it this way: “Generative AI is not going to take your job. People who know how to use generative AI are going to take your job.”

Compeau and I go on to discuss the critical role higher education must play in preparing the next generation of workers, as well as preparing them for the potential risks that come with the technology.

You can listen to my full conversation with Compeau here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find this conversation and other recent podcasts on our Work in Progress YouTube channel.

You can read the full AI and Business Readiness report here.

Episode 307: Debbie Compeau, Washington State University’s Carson College of Business
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Nitzan Pelman, the founder and CEO of Climb Hire, a nonprofit that upskills and builds a social network for working adults aged 24-to-40 for job opportunities in tech. No college degree required.

“Who you know matters as much as what you know” is the guiding principal behind Climb Hire. Pelman explains she saw “a need to create economic opportunity and mobility for working adults with great potential but limited growth in their current career paths.”

Climb Hire accepts workers and job seekers making less than $30,000 a year to the online training program for in-demand tech jobs in IT and cybersecurity, combining the hands-own hard skills with relationship-building and networking skills.

Pelman says the idea for the nonprofit came from her realization that four-year college graduates have built a network of people they can turn to when they are searching for work, especially in high-paying careers.

“When you spend time in a four-year institution – and you live in dorms and you sing in acappella clubs and you play lacrosse and you write for the newspaper – these are all ways that you get to spend hundreds of hours with peers in a coming-of-age moment in time. And that’s great.

“But the vast majority of people coming from low-income communities don’t go to schools like that. They go to community colleges – mostly for affordability purposes and so that they can work and take care of family members and be closer to home.

“What happens to that population is that they finish school and they start applying to jobs cold. It’s very hard to be noticed when you apply for jobs cold and you don’t have relevant experience and no one’s vouching for you,” she adds.

Climb Hire gives the student first-hand experience by exposing them to employers who act as mentors when it comes to relationship-building. It can lead to direct hiring of the student or helping them find someone who is hiring.

If accepted into the program, the student doesn’t pay anything until they reach a certain post-graduate income level.

“It is a program specifically targeted to people that are low-income workers and we know that they can’t possibly afford to pay. They’re already drowning in their own bills and not being able to make ends meet. We don’t expect for them to pay upfront, but once they get a job that does pay them at least $47,000 in California and above $40,000 in other places, it’s $150 a month for four years, so that’s $7,200,” says Pelman.

We go into much more on the power of social networking in your career pathway. You can listen to my conversation with Pelman here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find this conversation and other recent podcasts on our new Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 306: Nitzan Pelman, founder & CEO, Climb Hire
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Pete Stavros, founder and chair of Ownership Works, a nonprofit leading the employee-ownership movement, whose mission is to provide employees with the opportunity to build wealth at work by making them owners of the company for which they work.

At scale, Stavros says, employee ownership can help millions of lower-income workers and people of color build savings and wealth – often for the first time – at businesses that are more dynamic, resilient, and successful. He says it allows employees to benefit from the value they help create in a business.

“The foundation of it is sharing stock ownership inside of a company with all employees, from the C-suite to the most junior colleagues who just joined the company, maybe working on the factory floor,” explains Stavros.

“If you look at Federal Reserve data on household wealth, and you look at why the top 1% and 10% are in the position that they’re in financially versus the bottom 50%, the biggest driver by a mile is the ownership or lack of ownership of stock assets.

“It’s not housing. It’s not other assets. It’s really ownership of appreciating stocks that has created this massive gulf of wealth inequality, and it’s what the folks at the bottom are lacking. I do not think this is going to solve all of our problems magically, but this is a way to help the bottom half of the country that does not own much in the way of assets. It’s a way of getting appreciating assets in their hands.

“One of the core principles is workers are not investing out of pocket, so they’re not risking whatever savings they do have and they’re not giving up wages or other benefits to get stock. This is a free incremental benefit.”

Ownership Works partners with companies and investors to find what Stavros – who is also co-head of private equity at KKR – describes as “fundamentally good businesses, with solid market positions, but where they’re not fully optimized.”

He adds, “There are ways to accelerate the growth, take more market share in their market, maybe expand into new markets, be more productive, more efficient, et cetera. That’s what we’re looking for. We’re buying the business. We’re investing in the company. And we’re going to make everyone an owner.

“It’s really about creating a different kind of culture – we call it an ownership culture – so people feel a different level of involvement in their business, not just through ownership, but through all of these different mechanisms that create a different kind of culture.

“We mean giving people financial information about the business, helping them understand the business plan and where they’re headed, really driving, measuring and managing to a higher level of employee engagement, teaching financial literacy, getting workers more involved in decision-making.

“It is a long-term effort and it’s got to be the top priority for the leadership team. The number one thing we are doing is we are going to engage employees in a different kind of way, and that is going to help us achieve all of our other objectives, which are secondary to this primary one of treating our people differently.”

Stavros says that, over a period of years, when it is well done, more value is created, benefiting the investors and allowing employees to build wealth at work. “I think this has a real potential across the entirety of the economy.”

Stavros discusses how his father’s career as a construction worker sparked his passion to start Ownership Works, as well as sharing some stories of employees who have built wealth at work from the employee-ownership movement.

You can listen to my conversation with Stavros here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find this conversation and other recent podcasts on our new Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 305: Pete Stavros, founder and chair, Ownership Works
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, a managing director of the Schultz Family Foundation, to talk about the American Opportunity Index, a joint project of the Schultz Family Foundation, Harvard Business School, and Burning Glass Institute that ranks companies on how they are driving economic mobility and career advancement for their workers.

Whether you’re looking for a job or already have one, how do you know if your employer is interested in helping you get ahead in your career and, importantly, if they are interested in promoting talent from within?

For the past two years, the American Opportunity Index has been looking at those questions, measuring the career trajectories of nearly 5 million employees at close to 400 of the nation’s largest companies, and examining how those employers hire, pay, and promote workers.

“Do employers value their human talent? Do they create pathways for them to advance? And do they see their people as real assets that they can continue to build and grow their businesses with?” Chandrasekaran says there are some of the core questions that the Index set out to answer.

“What is so unique about the Index is that it’s not looking at what companies say they do. There are plenty of other folks out there that try to compile lists of what corporate inputs are. That’s all well and fine, but we decided to look at what’s actually happening to workers.

“For many workers, particularly those in lower wage jobs, those in mid-skill jobs, the reason that many workers get ahead and others don’t isn’t really because of their work ethic or their intelligence or their gumption. It’s because of the practices of their employer,” says Chandrasekaran.

The American Opportunity Index measures a company’s success in creating career advancement and economic mobility for its workers through five key components: hiring, pay, promotion, parity, and culture.

During the podcast, we discuss all five. Here is some of what Chandrasekaran had to say about one of them: hiring.

“We look at two critical things in hiring. We look at first jobs. We look at the percentage of open roles at a company that are open to people with little or no experience. How inclusive is this employer? Are they creating opportunities for people to enter the workforce?

“And then we look at something we call ‘degree barriers.’ We’re looking at the degree to which a company really hires for skills versus degrees. You’ve got a lot of companies out there that say, ‘We are embracing skills-based hiring. We removed degree requirements.’

“That is a policy that’s made from on high and is intended to be cascaded down. But in reality, you have hiring managers, when choosing among the slate of candidates, will often still default to the candidate that has the degree, even if the job doesn’t require it. And so assessing companies based on their policies, yes, you can learn something from it, but what’s so unique about the Index is that it’s actually examining what’s happening within the workforce in these large corporations.”

We go into great details about each of the five measures that were used to create the index and which companies are performing best when it comes to economic mobility and career advancement.

Which of the nation’s top companies made the Top 10? What are some of the companies with the best initiatives and programs when it comes to helping promote workers from within? And why are the best companies helping their workers prepare for careers and jobs with other employers?

Chandrasekaran answers all those questions and much more.

Learn more about the American Opportunity Index, and how employers and employees can use the information to their advantages, by listening to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find the conversation on our new Work in Progress YouTube channel.

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Episode 304: Rajiv Chandrasekaran, managing partner, Schultz Family Foundation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Steve Ewell, executive director of Consumer Technology Association Foundation, and Keely Cat-Wells, founder & CEO of Making Space, to discuss how technology in improving access to jobs and career advancement for older adults and people with disabilities.

Using tech to advance accessibility at work and at home was a key theme at this year’s big CES 2024 conference in Las Vegas earlier this month. It is also the mission of the Consumer Technology Association Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the organization that runs the conference.

Executive director Steve Ewell says the Foundation was created to serve “two growing, yet often overlooked, populations: older adults and people with disabilities. We really approach ways to use technology to improve lives of people in those populations.”

“It’s really serving to both recognize companies that are doing this work really well, but also serving as a little bit of a carrot to attract the attention of companies that maybe hadn’t addressed aging or disability yet.”

Ewell adds, “There’s so much incredible innovation out there. Technology holds the promise to really improve lives across the board. When I meet these founders and look at the types of ideas that they’re creating, the problems that they’re trying to solve, I’m really a technology optimist for the opportunities that this technology can provide across work, home, and play.

“The other piece that often gets ignored is you can live independently at home, and you can go to work, but if you don’t have the opportunity to go out to a restaurant with friends, go to a movie, do other things like that, that’s another opportunity for technology to really create those connections and create just that meaningful life that people can have.”

Among the startups catching the attention of CTA Foundation this year is Making Space, an accessible talent acquisition and learning experience platform that allows media companies to identify, train and access disabled, overlooked, and underrepresented talent pools.

CEO Keely Cat-Wells explains that she founded Making Space as a result of her own personal experience as a person with a hidden disability in the workforce.

“I was training to be a dancer in my teens, and then II became very unwell and then ended up spending a lot of my years in hospital. I got misdiagnosed, undiagnosed, and went through a lot of medical malpractice and trauma, and basically came out the other side of hospital as a disabled person.

“I live with chronic illness and a hidden disability. I had never been in that space before. I had no idea what to expect, and I just started realizing that the world was so inaccessible.”

She says she was hired by a company in the entertainment industry, but after disclosing her disability and asking for accommodations and access requirements, she was told she no longer have the job.

“That was the light bulb moment for me that I really wanted to do something and try and make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else and just create a more equitable and accessible world for disabled people,” says Cat-Wells.

She says that Making Space has “built a tool and a feature within our platform that turns our lived experience of disability into transferable skills and professional strengths.” The company has now partnered with Netflix and Comcast NBCUniversal to provide training and access to jobs in the entertainment industry.

Learn more about those partnerships by listening to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find the conversation on our new Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 303: Steve Ewell, executive director, Consumer Technology Association Foundation, and Keely Cat-Wells, founder & CEO, Making Space
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Jean Eddy, president and CEO of American Student Assistance (ASA), to discuss the growing importance of putting kids on a career pathway early, which she explores in her book, Crisis-Proofing Today’s Learners: Reimagining Career Education to Prepare Kids for Tomorrow’s World.

How do we prepare our kids for careers post high school? College? Apprenticeships? What is the best pathway for career exploration? These are important questions that Eddy says we all must take a role in answering.

“(Teachers) put in an awful lot of time. They have an awful lot of things to deliver within a very short window. And now we are saying, okay, let’s switch it up and let’s do more. Let’s figure out how to get career education exploration into all of what you already do.

“Parents have got to be involved in this and help. Teachers have to basically put pressure on the systems that they’re within. It’s school departments. It’s employers too, and policymakers. We have to understand that this is an issue that one person is not going to be able to fix, or one system is going to be able to fix.”

ASA is a national nonprofit that describes its mission as helping students know themselves, know their options, and make informed decisions about their education and career goals early in life. “Our overall objective is to build a generation of successful individuals who are confident, competent, and ready to realize the future they envision,” according to ASA.

Eddy shares details of the digital ecosystem of platforms the are helping kids start on their school-to-work journey beginning in middle school.

“We have digital programs that are entirely free that kids can use to start the process. Our research shows that middle school is prime time to start with young people. And the first thing we need to help them figure out is who they are. What do they love to do? What are they good at? What do they get fun from? And use that to basically then go and see the number of careers that are possible by doing that.

“If we have kids figure out what they love, what they’re good at, what the world needs, and what they can be paid for, at the end of the day, they’re going to have a successful future.”

In the podcast, we go into much more detail as to how we get students to that point where they understand what they want to do and how to do it.

Listen to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find the conversation on our new Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 302: Jean Eddy, president and CEO, American Student Assistance
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast for WorkingNation, we travel to the largest technology show in the world – CES 2024 in Las Vegas – to talk to Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), about the impact of technology on the way we do our jobs and what job skills we’re going to need in the future.

CES, produced by the nonprofit CTA, showcases companies from around the world, including manufacturers, developers and suppliers of technology hardware, software, content, technology delivery systems, and more.

“AI is the buzzword for CES 2024,” Shapiro tells me.

From manufacturing to health care to cybersecurity, most of the 4,000 exhibitors on the showroom floor are highlighting how they are changing their industry using advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Here is some of Shapiro’s thoughts on the power of AI and the impact on the way we work and live.

“AI has been around for a while, but what’s changed in the last year or so is that generative AI has come along with ChatGPT, available to anyone who wants to download it, and, now, there’s some other competitors out there. It basically can create things and learn from them based on feedback, which I think is a good thing. Certainly, 99.99% of the uses of this learning AI is such that it’ll be very positive.

“I think the long-term future potential is combining AI and robotics, which is what a self-driving car is. But to take that one step further, there would be all sorts of devices and things which provide service and mobility.

“They’ll move some of the horrible jobs of society that are perhaps more dangerous. Clearly, it started out years ago with bomb disposal units. Why should a human sacrifice their lives in the hope they’re saving others, or their limbs, when a machine could do a lot of that, perhaps, with greater accuracy.

“In every area of endeavor where people are getting hurt, or injured, or they’re getting sick which is avoidable, I think we have an opportunity there with AI. And then, of course, some of the business processes that we all deal with in our jobs, those can be made more efficient with AI.”

Shapiro adds that in addition to highlighting the latest tech innovations using AI, CES is examining all tech’s potential impact on basic human securities – community security, health security, political security, environmental security.

“You combine these technologies in incredible ways and the future for eliminating human suffering, improving the human condition, solving fundamental global problems with technology, is absolutely amazing.”

Listen to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also find the conversation on our new Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 301: Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, Consumer Technology Association
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Ryan Rippel, the U.S. director of economic mobility and opportunity for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to discuss how the Gates Foundation is addressing barriers to economic opportunity for vulnerable individuals

Recently, the Gates Foundation announced more than $100 million dollars in new partnerships and investments in economic mobility with the mission of improving the lives of more than 50 million people experiencing poverty in the U.S.

Rippel says the Gates Foundation uses “200% of the federal poverty line, not as the only measure, but as a really important one…to tell a story of who is facing some of the greatest vulnerability in the country.”

“It is disproportionately people of color, individuals who identify as female, but it’s a population that is in every corner of our country,” he adds. “It is in urban areas, it is in small towns and mid-sized towns. It is in rural areas. And so it is a challenge that is not isolated to any one community but is present in all of our communities and is therefore a challenge for all of us.”

The Gates Foundation’s strategy to lift up this vulnerable population includes three pillars:

• making lives better now by focusing on the safety net and work opportunities,
• supporting small- and medium-sized businesses in creating good jobs,
• and working with local governments to prioritize economic mobility issues.

Rippel goes into detail about the Foundation’s recent investments and partnerships, which he says have the ultimate goal of creating momentum and tangible improvements in people’s lives, while also fostering a movement to address economic mobility challenges in the long term.

Rippel tells me, “There is no time to rest. This is a critical moment in the course of history for our country and my children and my generation and what’s going to be true 10, 20, 30 years from now. We have to be at work at it in new ways, in bolder ways, and in more collaborative ways.”

To learn more about the important work the Gates Foundation is doing to increase economic mobility for millions, you can listen to the full podcast here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts, including on our new Work in Progress YouTube channel.

Episode 300: Ryan Rippel, U.S. director of economic mobility and opportunity, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Transcript: Download the transcript for this episode here
Work in Progress Podcast: Catch up on previous episodes here

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In this final episode of Work in Progress for 2023, I am joined by Art Bilger, founder and CEO of WorkingNation, and Jane Oates, president of WorkingNation, to discuss the challenges and opportunities the workforce face in the year ahead, part of our The Future of Work 2024 series.

As you can imagine, artificial intelligence and its implications on the way we do our jobs, and the skills we need to learn to be a part of the change, continue to be top of mind for many as we head into the new year.

“The good news is, I think within companies, government, and the not-for-profit world, people are really digging in to gain an understanding of where AI can take them,” says Art. He adds that he’s beginning to see these organizations “implementing strategies for training and skilling personnel, so that they can participate in this very significantly changing work environment.”

Jane argues that AI is already having an impact, but doesn’t think that society has moved forward quite that quickly. “All jobs are going to change and right now we have no idea how. We’re still in the dark ages with this. I am not as optimistic as Art is that everybody’s getting into it and training with it and using it. I think half the world is ready to figure out how to use it, and half the world is scared to death.”

Jane raises concerns about the potential exacerbation of existing inequalities and the need for educators to adapt to the changing landscape. “I think there are big issues we have to solve early in this. The big worry in my mind is will it exacerbate the divide that already exists between well-resourced schools, K12, and colleges and people with fewer resources and schools with fewer resources,” she says.

Art agrees with Jane on the last point. “We have very serious risks with regard to the expansion of that divide. We’ve got to figure it out – how to get educators educated with regard to AI and how they can utilize it in their efforts. I see (AI) as a long-term opportunity. I do think there is going to be very positive outcomes that flow out of it, but significant bumps along the way.”

“There are sectors where we’re going to see the benefit. We’re already seeing the benefit in health care; I think this is going to make personalized healthcare a reality,” Jane says. She continues, “There’s a real opportunity to do individualized education for the first time ever in a time effective way if, as Art sys, we get teachers the training they need.”

Reflections from the WorkingNation Advisory BoardThe growth and use of AI is just one of the many workforce issues – and potential solutions – discussed in depth by members of our WorkingNation Advisory Board in our annual year-end series The Future of Work.

Art, Jane, and I also talk about some of those ideas, including the importance of lifelong learning, reskilling older workers, purposeful work, and equitable access to resources and support for workers in navigating the changing job market.

Listen to the full Work in Progress episode on this page, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

And you can read and listen to what our distinguished WorkingNation Advisory Board had to share with us here: The Future of Work 2024.

Wishing you a happy and prosperous new year!

Episode 299: Art Bilger, Founder & CEO, WorkingNation, and Jane Oates, President, WorkingNation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, Taj Eldridge, managing director of Climate Innovation at JFFLabs, joins me to talk about how the rapidly growing demand for workers in jobs that are addressing climate change.

The climate is changing and we need millions of green workers to help prepare for, recover from, and adapt to these changes. And we’re not just talking about solar panel installers and wind turbine technicians. In fact, these jobs make up a very small fraction of the green jobs and potential green jobs out there.

“We believe that all jobs can be and will be green jobs,” says Eldridge. “The reason for that is because we think that sustainability is no longer going to be this offset by itself idea. It is encompassing everything that we’re doing, from what we’re putting inside of our bodies, how our food has grown to what we’re putting on our bodies, the clothing that we’re wearing and the materials that we’re having as well.”

He adds that legacy companies in legacy industries are also thinking of new ways to become more sustainable to attract a new market. “We see that the population is pushing it, the population is wanting this. And I think that’s the difference from what we’ve seen before.”

In the Green Jobs Now report prepared by Lightcast for WorkingNation earlier this year, we estimate that there is the potential for 51 million green jobs – jobs helping repair the damage of climate change or preventing future damage – nationwide.

Some will be new jobs and some will be jobs that are redesigned with sustainability in mind. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which will repair our roads and refurbish our bridges, is creating opportunities in industries such as construction, manufacturing, and architecture.

“I love the fact that our federal government decided to have these laws in place from the Infrastructure Act to the CHIPS and Science Act, and so many others, to really move us forward,” says Eldridge. “I also think that this idea of climate resiliency, the focus on climate and workforce is a global idea, (but) we’re in the adolescent phase. There’s a lot of growth. There’s a lot of changes and there’s a lot of organic changes.”

Helping workers and job seekers find the career opportunities connected to that movement into the green space is the mission of the Climate-Resilient Employers for a Sustainable Tomorrow (CREST) initiative, funded by Ares Charitable Foundation. CREST aims to close the gap between the demand for skilled green workers and the training needed to fill those positions.

JFFLabs is one of the partners – along with World Resources Institute (WRI) – in the initiative. It’s a nationwide effort, touching communities big and small.

Eldridge explains, “We are working with local regional opportunities, organizations, municipalities, universities, schools, and community colleges, in order to train and place individuals into these jobs. We have a quantitative goal. The goal is 25,000 jobs within five years, but that’s the minimum goal.”

“The hope is that the work that we’re doing is catalytic, that other organizations would come on and see the issues that we’re attacking and add to it, because we’re going to need more organizations focus on this, more partners and everyone else,” he adds.

Eldridge and I go into detail about the types of climate-resilient jobs that are being created through this green jobs movement. We also talk more about the CREST initiative, including its support for entrepreneurs who have starting companies with protecting and repairing the environment in mind, and its support of micro, small, and medium enterprises in India that are key to the global supply chain.

You can listen to our podcast here or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

WorkingNation produced a digital magazine about the CREST initiative – Climate and Careers – which you can read here.

Episode 298: Taj Eldridge, managing director of climate innovation, JFFLabs
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I’m joined by Dr. Nicole Smith, chief economist for Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce and co-author on their new report examining which job skills will be the most in-demand over the next eight years and what kind of education and training will you need to get them.

As we start this conversation, it’s important to know that most jobs already require some kind of post-secondary education and training beyond high school.

“We’re not necessarily talking about a bachelor’s degree only, or a master’s degree, or some sort of technical PhD. We’re actually talking about skills in the middle,” explains Smith. “We’re talking about certificates, test-based certifications, vocational training licenses that deal with these technical jobs, and associate’s degrees, as well.”

Right now, about 68% of the nation’s jobs already require that additional training beyond high school. According to CEW’s After Everything: Projections of Jobs, Education, and Training Requirements through 2031, as we shift even more toward a knowledge-based, tech-based economy, the percentage of jobs requiring more than a high school diploma will soar to 72% by 2031.

CEW researchers project that the U.S. will have 171 million jobs in 2031, an increase of 16 million net new jobs from 2021. During that period, the analysis suggests there will be 18.5 million job openings per year on average, and some 12.5 million of these annualized openings will require at least some college education.

According to the report, these latest projections demonstrate the central role postsecondary education plays in preparing the workforce of the future, “despite the fact that young people increasingly doubt the value of a degree and college enrollments continue to decline.”

Smith says two major factors contribute to the increasing demand for postsecondary education and training – the fastest-growing industries require workers with disproportionately higher education levels compared to industries with slower growth and occupations as a whole are steadily requiring more education as tasks within occupations become more complex.

She says it is important that workers and job seekers look at the skills needed as the nature of work changes and seek out opportunities to stay up-to-date on those skills to stay relevant in the job market and advance their careers.

“All of our data, all of our information, all of our history, points us to the fact that, in order for you to move up in your job, in order for you to get that promotion, managers are requiring you to have higher levels of education, higher levels of skill, and you have to recognize lifelong learning as a thing now, where you go back and you get that certification” or additional training, says Smith.

You can listen to the full podcast here, or you can find it and download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 297: Dr. Nicole Smith, Chief Economist, CEW Center on Education and the Workforce
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I’m joined by Gary Eimerman, chief learning officer of Multiverse, to discuss the company’s new report on the continuing trend of workers over the age of 50 retiring early – the Great Retirement – and what can be done to retain employees thinking about leaving and bring those who have already left back into the workforce.

Hint: It has to do with reskilling. To be more precise, it has to do with employers offering them the opportunity to reskill and learn the newest technology being used in their jobs and professions today.

In Multiverse’s new report The Great Unretirement, the company says its analysis shows that there are over 2.4 million workers in the U.S. and another 450,000 in the U.K. who are thinking about leaving the labor market early because they can’t keep up with the skills demanded of the modern workplace.

“Technology has become pervasive in every single industry and every single role. That whole ‘software is eating the world,’ it’s absolutely come true. And the speed that technology is evolving at is accelerating. It’s not slowing down,” says Eimerman.

I ask him what I think are a couple of key questions: What’s the point of new technology if there is no one around who can actually use it? How can you flip the Great Retirement to the Great Unretirement?

“You just hit on the number one reason why having skills development strategies in an organization is so critical to being successful for any objective – whether it be a cloud transformation or (adding) AI into a business – whatever it might be. We’re already sitting here looking at all the shortages,” he points out.

“I get to talk with executives at some of the largest companies from around the world day in and day out, and they’re saying ‘We just don’t have enough security professionals, or we don’t have enough people who understand AI, or whatever it might be. Well, yeah, you’ve got to actually develop them. There’s a simple, simple solution to this.”

He says that the systems and practices that we’ve had around skills development haven’t kept up with that change and when you are talking about workers in their 50s and 60s – workers that might have had their last formal education in their early 20s – on-the-job training is key to updating their skill sets.

“If you dig a little bit deeper into the (report) data, four in 10 workers (40%) would be willing to stay longer if employers actually offer them true training and development and new skills at that company. Another data point on the workers interested in retiring in the next 12 months – 16% said that they’d actually change their mind if the employer would support training. Right there, you’re looking at almost half the people looking to leave your business who would be willing to stay if you just focus on skill development,” Eimerman adds.

Multiverse started partnering with businesses to offer apprenticeships focused on “skills of the future” in the U.K. in 2016 and expanded to the U.S. in 2021. The company has now trained over 10,000 professional apprentices with more than 1,000 global employers.

“The focus is tech, but the reality is this tech has expanded across every single industry. We’re working everything from fintech to retail. Part of our mission is to unlock economic opportunity for everyone and have that equality component and the best jobs right now around the globe are in technology,” says Eimerman.

He continues, “But I wanna be very clear, Multiverse is not just a technology training company. We’re working directly with a retail company on evolving how technology fits into their retail sales and actually front-of-the-store type training. And so really excited about continuing to grow the number of apprentice programs and create just a platform for everyone and anyone to be able to bring apprenticeships to their own role and skill needs in a way that hasn’t been done at scale.”

Getting back to the older worker, Eimerman points out that “one of every five of our apprentices is 40 or over, so we’re already working with a significant number of folks that have been in the industry for a couple years.”

“Before I joined Multiverse, I thought apprenticeships as a career starter, an It’s alternative to college. Yes, it is that and it’s so much more. This works at all levels and all stages of someone’s career. Career starter, upskiller, reskiller, it’s not unique to any one of those. We can ultimately do it together in every stage of our journey,” he concludes.

December 7, 2023 Update: The new report from Multiverse can be found here.

You can listen to the full conversation with Eimerman here on this page, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 296: Gary Eimerman, Chief Learning Officer, Multiverse
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music:** Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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On this Giving Tuesday, a panel of distinguished leaders in philanthropy and business join me on the Work in Progress podcast to share their insight into the power of volunteering in your local community through your workplace.

Since 2012, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving has been observed worldwide as Giving Tuesday. The message of the global movement is to give to your community – whether it is a donation of money or time – to help build a better world.

Workplace volunteer programs have long been part of companies’ brand management and community relations strategies, but what do they offer the workers who actually perform the volunteer work?

A lot, as it turns out, from helping refine their skills to bringing a sense of purpose, of satisfaction, and a sense of empowerment as change agents in their communities, according to research from Ares Management.

Ares unveiled its key findings September 20 in a white paper, Philanthropy, Purpose and Professional Development: Why Workplace Volunteer Programs Matter, and discussed them on a special LinkedIn Live event presented by Ares and WorkingNation, which you can listen to here.

Joining me in this conversation are:

• Michelle Armstrong, head of philanthropy at Ares Management, elaborating on the research’s findings about workplace volunteerism and why Ares employees are so passionate about giving back to their communities.
• Lee Fabiaschi, VP of employee engagement and community impact at Ares who shares insights into the company’s own workplace volunteer program, Ares in Motion (AIM) and how the company intends to grow the initiative.
• Joseph Fuller, co-head of the Project on Managing the Future of Work at Harvard Business School talks about the hidden benefit for employers who sponsor community-based volunteerism for their employees.
• Asha Varghese, president of Caterpillar Foundation discusses the incredible value these programs have on building skills for employees, particularly Gen Z workers.
• Angela F. Williams, president and CEO of United Way shares what she’s learned about the impact on the community when a company – big or small – invests in their employees who live and work there.

Listen to the discussion here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 295: The impact and value of volunteering in your community through your employer
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Patrick J. Murphy, chairman of the Task Force Movement, joins me to discuss job opportunities in cybersecurity, health care, and trucking for American veterans and how these former service members can help U.S. businesses fill their labor shortages.

There are more than 650,000 open cybersecurity jobs, as many as 100,000 open jobs for truck drivers, and more than a million job openings in health care right now in this county, and all those numbers are expected to grow over the next decade.

Each year, more than 200,000 men and women leave the military for civilian life. Task Force Movement is a public-private business initiative to address those shortages by bringing transitioning service members, veterans, and military families into those in-demand industries.

Patrick J. Murphy himself is a veteran of the U.S. Army, the former acting secretary of the U.S. Army, a former Congressman, a vetreprenuer, and chairman of the Task Force Movement.

The Task Force Movement was launched by the Biden Administration in April 2022 to help help close the labor gap in the trucking industry, specifically recruiting veterans and military family members.

“The fact is that we’re between 80,000 to 100,000 truck drivers short. They’re good-paying jobs. The average truck driver will make over $80,000 a year,” Murphy explains. “There’s misperceptions that most truck drivers are over-the-road or overnight truck drivers.” He says that the opposite is true and the majority of them are “home for dinner every night to be with their family.”

Murphy says veterans have the skills and values needed to succeed in this crucial industry.

“Trucking is what drives our country’s economy. We have a saying in the military, ‘Amateurs talk strategy, experts talk logistics.’ To be a truck driver, you need to be good at logistics.

“It’s not just about driving a truck. A robot can do that. It’s really doing the logistics on managing your time, managing when you’re going to pick up materials, drop them off, reporting, have a personal connection, but being safe and secure, not just with your payload, but also with the folks around you as well.

“(Veterans) live by the military values. Leadership, loyalty, duty, honor, self, and service. And then you look at personal courage and integrity.”

Task Force Movement has raised over $10 million with the private sector providing scholarship for training for veterans and members of the military community to get their commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) or certifications if they want to go into the cybersecurity profession.

Murphy and I discuss the growing unmet need for these cybersecurity professionals, jobs and careers that pay well and don’t require a four-year college degree. We also go on to talk about the alarming shortage of health care workers, including the need for registered nurses. The conversation includes a look at some of the veteran supporting agencies helping prepare the military connection community to these jobs and how to find them.

You can hear the full podcast with Patrick J. Murphy here on this page, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 294: Patrick J. Murphy, chairman, Task Force Movement
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Arturo Cázares, the CEO of the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN), to talk about the rapid growth in Latino entrepreneurship in the United States and how empowering these businesses can help the entire economy. We sat down at the Aspen Latino Business Summit in Washington, D.C. in September.

Latino-owned businesses, or LOBs, are making a significant contribution to our economy. In the last 10 years, Latinos created half the new companies in the U.S. Currently, there are more than five million LOBs, generating $800 billion in revenue, and creating jobs.

Cázares says that contribution could be even bigger if we could unlock more opportunity. He says that these businesses have the potential add another $3 trillion in revenue by 2030, if the entrepreneurs had more access to capital and a stronger network of support for starting and scaling up their companies.

That’s where the Latino Business Action Network comes in. Its mission is to empower Latino entrepreneurship. Its partner is Stanford University through the jointly led and supported Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) within the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

SLEI is described as “an opportunity designed for U.S. Latino business owners who generate more than $1 million in annual gross revenues or have raised at least $500,000 of external funding. This nine-week immersive program provides business owners with education, enhanced networks, personal mentorship, and a better understanding of how to access and manage capital to scale their businesses.”

Here is some of what Cázares tells me about the work LBAN is doing.

“The way that I phrase it is for Latino entrepreneurship, we’re building the ecosystem that Latinos have always deserved, but maybe we haven’t always enjoyed because of the other challenges in our society.

“Almost 1,100 Latina and Latino business owners and founders have gone through our program across the country. That ecosystem includes banks, VCs, angel investors, and a bunch of other organizations that we need to have a truly robust supportive ecosystem. Our ecosystem will include people like JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and all of these large organizations.

“As we build that ecosystem for ourselves, that ecosystem really is for everyone because we want even Latinos to examine how they’re doing things. They’re founders. You’re a gatekeeper by default. You’re deciding who to hire, who to partner with. So, if you can think about those processes better and think about all those things that used to keep us out – but now you do it a little better for everyone – that’s opening up the economy for everyone, that’s creating the ecosystem for the country that everyone needs.

“Stated in the mission, our purpose is to grow the American economy, but it’s through this Latino lens of entrepreneurship. We’re empowering Latino entrepreneurship, but the ultimate goal is to grow the American economy for everyone. We’re in this country, we want to be a full part of it, and we want the whole country to prosper.”

You can hear the full podcast with Arturo Cázares here on this page, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 293: Arturo Cázares, CEO, Latino Business Action Network (LBAN)
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I am joined by Ryan Craig, managing director of Achieve Partners, to discuss the role apprenticeship can and should play in developing a skilled workforce.

A four-year college education has played a vital role in the economic growth and prosperity for many people in this country, but it has not been the silver bullet for everyone for a variety of reasons, with time and money being two of them.

So, what is the alternative for employers desperate for talent and for job seekers who want to become part of that workforce of skilled and experienced talent?

In his new book Apprentice Nation: How the Earn and Learn Alternative to Higher Education Will Create a Stronger and Fairer America, Craig makes a very strong case that apprenticeship is one answer. But first, we talk about the role that college has played in career development.

“Colleges do as good a job as they’ve ever done at equipping students with the cognitive skills, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, and communication skills,” says Craig. “It’s not college’s fault, but the economy has changed. Digital transformation has fundamentally changed the skills that employers are seeking in employees and specifically for entry-level employees.”

He argues that colleges are “closed off to the real economy in a number of ways that make it very challenging to address the shortcomings that we’re seeing relative to equipping graduates with the skills that employers are seeking.”

How do we address those shortcoming? Craig says the learn-and-earn model is a powerful weapon, one that is often mistakenly looked at as just a pathway for people wanting to enter the skilled trades.

“Apprenticeship is unlike any other training or educational program or pathway. It’s a job first and foremost. When I first began working in this area, maybe a decade ago, I had the same bias, ‘Oh, that’s just for plumbers and electricians and roofers.’ What’s exciting about it is that it puts employment and the job first, which means that it’s truly a level playing field.”

According to Craig, apprenticeships provide a level playing field for job seekers, as they do not require past employment on a resume or student loan debt.

He uses the need for cybersecurity professionals as an example of where apprenticeships could be extremely valuable. The federal government estimates that there are more than 660,000 unfilled jobs in the U.S. alone and definitely not enough people with the experience to fill them.

“How are we going to close that experience gap? It has to be through something like an apprenticeship program where you’re coming in, you’re learning, you’re earning, you’re gaining experience, and then that employer then will have the opportunity to bring you on after you’ve had the experience of that apprenticeship program.”

He sees it as a win-win for employer and employee.

“You don’t need to worry about whether the job seeker or the prospective student can afford to take on a student loan debt or is willing to take on risk relative to ultimate employment. Those problems are solved because it is a job. It’s a full-time job that pays a living wage from the get-go.”

Craig also discusses the need for a stronger apprenticeship infrastructure in the United States and the role of intermediaries in setting up and running apprenticeship programs. He concludes by suggesting that colleges and universities will need to change as more students opt for apprenticeships, and that a robust apprenticeship system can lead to greater socioeconomic mobility and a stronger economy.

“I think that this is all about building the apprenticeship infrastructure we need in order to provide options for millions of career launchers through apprenticeship so that those students will have a real choice. And colleges and universities that aren’t addressing student needs will be forced to change because the students that they’re expecting won’t show up on their doorstep and won’t be paying tuition anymore.”

You can hear the full podcast here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 292: Ryan Craig, managing director, Achieve Partners
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Workers over age 50 will soon represent 25% of our nation’s workforce. Yet, few reskilling and upskilling programs are built to meet the needs of older workers and connect them with employers.

Earlier this month, WorkingNation collaborated with the Center for Workforce Inclusion and CWILabs on the Equity Summit 2023, a daylong event addressing the workforce needs of midcareer and older workers.

In this panel – Recruiting, Training, and Retaining an Age Inclusive Workforce – we discussed connecting older workers with the resources that empower them to pursue sustainable economic opportunity in today’s workplace.

My guests on stage were Hector Mujica, head of economic opportunities, Americas for Google.org; Dr. Mona Mourshed, founding global CEO of Generation; and Taylor McLemore, an investor and a partner at Future State.

The panel explored the challenges faced by older workers in terms of reskilling and upskilling, as well as the lack of programs tailored to their needs. We also looked at potential solutions, such as successful skill development programs and the importance of continuous learning.

My guests emphasized the need for employers to value the experience and skills of older workers and what they bring to the job, and for individuals to proactively invest in their own training and development. Organizations such as Google and Generation are providing that training and support for older workers. And all the panelists agreed that it is important that we re-imagining work and learning to create an age-inclusive workforce.

You can listen to that discussion here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 291: Hector Mujica, Google.org; Dr. Mona Mourshed, Generation; and Taylor McLemore, Future State
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I speak with Diego Mariscal, CEO and chief disabled person of 2Gether-International (2GI), about how his organization is working to flip the narrative about the way people think about entrepreneurs with disabilities.

“It’s really important that we start to highlight the competitive advantage of disability as opposed to disability just as something that needs to be cured or fixed rather than celebrated and embraced,” says Mariscal, who was born with cerebral palsy and who started his first business when he was just 17.

“I was born six months and a half into my mom’s pregnancy, a pretty tiny baby. My mom jokes and says that I’ve always been really stubborn even before I was born. I wanted to get out quickly. As a result of that I have CP, cerebral palsy,” he explains.

Mariscal shares his personal story of growing up and living with cerebral palsy to illustrate how it prepared him and other people with disabilities to be effective business people.

“Part of physical therapy for me has always been doing a number of exercises from swimming to playing soccer. Believe it or not, I was the goalie so that I could hold on to the goal, to the frame. Another exercise that we tried was horseback riding because horseback riding helps you with balance, and that was one of the things that my parents wanted me to improve on.

“I remember I fell off the horse and I was a little thrown off, but then immediately I said, ‘Okay, let’s get back up and let’s continue.’ I didn’t really think twice about it. But then the trainer went up and talked to my parents and said, ‘This is amazing. I’ve been coaching for years, and usually when people fall off the horse, they don’t want to get back up and it takes a long time for them to get comfortable getting back on the horse.’

“I share this story because it demonstrates how, as disabled people, we have to figure out how to solve problems every day and how to be resilient, creative, and tenacious. If we can get people to focus on that, on what are the competitive advantages that a disability brings to the table, then the whole conversation around disability changes. And not just the conversation, but also the priority around policy, around programs, around funding starts to shift.”

The MissionFounded by Mariscal in 2012, 2Gether-International is the nation’s only startup accelerator run by and for entrepreneurs with disabilities, connecting disabled founders with resources to help their companies grow.

“More than 70 startups have participated, and these businesses have collectively raised over $54 million dollars in funding from investment, revenues, and acquisitions from outside investors, according to Mariscal.

“We started off as your traditional accelerator, which looks at 10 weeks of programming, connecting people with mentors, resources, and supports to grow their businesses. What makes us unique is that we are exclusively focusing on founders with disabilities and the reason why that is so important is because entrepreneurship resources are often not accessible for founders with disabilities,” he explains.

With financial support from Comcast NBCUniversal, 2Gether-International just launched a new accelerator focused on founders with disabilities of early-stage, technology-based startups. Participants are given tools and guidance to develop and strengthen their pitch with the program ultimately culminating in a pitch competition where entrepreneurs can earn $10,000 in seed funding for their business.

“We go through the how do you go from one customer to 10? Or if you have 10 customers to 50 or 50 to a hundred, how do you accelerate your growth and create reputable systems that allow your company to grow? And so how do you actually create a business model?,” he explains.

“Most accelerators are pretty good about teaching folks the basics of financial customer development, customer discovery, business planning. The basics don’t necessarily change. What is unique about us is the way in which we’re delivering the service, in a way that is inclusive and accessible of all people that participate, and the community of other like-minded founders that are coming together and like-minded mentors that are wanting to be a part of this movement that we’re creating.”

Mariscal says he firming believes that 2Gether-International is succeeding in its mission of redefining attitudes around entrepreneurs with disabilities.

“At the end of the day, being an entrepreneur, whether you have a disability or not, it’s still really, really hard work. The measurement that I take of whether we’re moving in the right direction is that every day I wake up and I feel like it’s Christmas. I’m excited to get up and do the work. And it’s not that there’s no hard days, of course there are, but at the end of the day, knowing that we’re making a difference in the lives of countless people with disabilities and the world makes all those hard days worth it.”

You can listen to my conversation with Diego Mariscal here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 290: Diego Mariscal, CEO and chief disabled person, 2Gether International
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by Nat Lyckowski, the global neurodiversity advancement leader for tech giant IBM.

“Neurodiversity is a concept to respect and accept neurological differences as a natural part of human variation. Just like eye color or our height, it’s part of who we are,” explains Lyckowski.

Neurodivergent differences includes things like dyslexia, ADHD, autism, Tourette’s, dyscalculia, and more. “It’s basically people who think differently based upon the way our brains are wired – whether we were born this way or acquired over time, either through injury or illness – but there are people who think differently, and it’s as simple as that,” she says.

For more than 100 years, IBM has been embracing diversity, according to Lyckowski. IBM was “one of the first companies to focus on equal pay for equal work, or hiring people regardless of race or religion, and one of the first to cover same-sex partners with medical benefits,” she says.

About ten years ago, IBM started its neurodiversity advancement program, which she leads. She explains that the company has targeted hiring programs in over 11 countries and have “touched IBMers in over 65 countries. We’ve also had over 13,000 IBMers complete our Neurodiversity Acceptance Training.”

In the past year, the company also started its Neurodivergent-Out Executive Program and its Neurodivergent Executive Allies initiative.

“If you stop and think how wonderful it is to have an IBM vice president come out and say, ‘I’m bipolar, and I’ve been here.’ ‘I’m dyslexic, and I’m here.’ and to be able to talk about these things, and talk about not only accommodations for being who you are, but just a success enabler of how best you work. And that we want your talents, and we want your energies to focus on the business and not have to mask or not have to be worrying about hiding your authentic self.”

Lyckowski understands the discomfort some people have had in the past with revealing their “authentic self” in the workplace. She self-identifies as neurodivergent.

“I’ve been with IBM about 30 years, and I did not come out at work probably until 2015, 2016, when things were harder, where I was spending a lot of time worrying about being me, worrying about ‘is that acceptable.’ Double checking, triple checking things, wasting a lot of time and energy, trying to fit in, trying to read the room.”

She says one in 20 people you may meet are neurodiverse.

Awareness, acceptance, and advancement are the three As of IBM’s global neurodiversity inclusiveness program.

“Awareness is a great place to start. That’s where you’re learning about what things are and are not. But awareness can be passive, and if you stay at that awareness phase, you run the risk of actually being discriminatory. You run the risk of being a well-intentioned ally that might be doing more harm than good.

“You can be aware that someone is autistic or dyslexic or whatever, but if you don’t want them on your team or if you don’t want to work with them…you’ve checked the box that you’re aware, but you haven’t stepped it up to that sense of acceptance.

“Acceptance is where you’re putting that knowledge to use to make sure that individual feels accepted.

“The last stage is advancement, and that’s where you are actively pursuing to help ensure that that individual advances, whether it’s a career path, whether it’s a development opportunity, whether it’s just ensuring that their voice is heard at a meeting or that their thoughts are being able to be expressed at a function, making things accessible.”

Lyckowski says all three – awareness, acceptance, and advancement – are needed to make the workplace more human-friendly. “When you make things more neurodivergent-friendly, you make them human-friendly. It’s really a win-win-win across the board.”

She makes the case that being more inclusive is also good for business.

“If we all think the same way, you are not going to get that innovation. When companies can embrace neurodiversity and help remove those biases, there is a firm business case that it leads to revenue, it leads to value, it leads to new innovation. So, it’s a matter of why not, especially when a lot of businesses are battling this skills gap.”

Lyckowski adds, “We are very proud that we are run and led by neurodivergents. This is something I can’t leave at home. It comes with me. It’s like me saying I’m a woman. It’s part of my identity.”

You can listen to my conversation with Nat Lyckowski here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 289: Nat Lyckowski, global neurodiversity advancement leader, IBM
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Henry Cisneros, the chairman and co-founder of the infrastructure investment and management firm American Triple I (ATI) and the former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton.

I sat down with Cisneros at the Aspen Latino Business Summit in Washington, D.C. in early September.

American Triple I focuses on investments in the transportation field, in the energy field, and in social infrastructure, which means schools, higher education, hospitals, and digital.

Cisneros was at the summit to talk about unlocking economic opportunities for the Latino workforce and Latino business owners in these high-growth areas.

“I think it’s very foresighted of Aspen to create a conference focusing on the next economy, the new economy. And Latinos can be an important part of that,” Cisneros tells me.

“We know that Latinos have been locked out of the economy and are characterized by smaller businesses. Most of Latinos are employed in one-person businesses. But this is a point of inflection for the entire American economy, and it suggests that if you’ve been locked out before, you don’t have to be locked out in the new economy,” he adds.

“We’re younger than the national average. A whole lot of young people getting trained in good schools. There’s no reason why we can’t have a inordinately larger role than we’ve ever had before in the American economy as it transitions into my field of infrastructure. I can tell you, we’re at a point of inflection where the next generation of infrastructure is not going to be the same.”

Cisneros describes the next economy as tech-driven and full of possibilities.

“It’s not going to be just wider roadways. It’s going to be roadways with technology embedded in them to guide traffic. It’s not just going to be fossil fuel-generating plants and power, but it’s going to be solar and wind and hydrogen and a lot of other new fuels. It’s not going to be just traditional communications, but it’s going to be broadband into the neighborhoods that have been left out to this point. It’s not going to be just traditional airports, but fantastically different airports with space for vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with different passenger experiences.

“Everything about the country is changing. It’s one of those moments when if you can dream, if you can imagine, if you can train yourself for the future, then you can play in the new economy.”

But, says Cisneros, skills development is key to full participation in the future of work.

“There clearly does need to be a concerted effort. It would be just a terrible thing to have this moment of transition to new fields where we’re not locked out but – for lack of training, for lack of skills, for lack of preparation, for lack of knowledge – are left out again. It’s absolutely critical that the (Latino) community be able to make that transition.”

You can hear more from Henry Cisneros by listening to the podcast here. Or, you can download and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 288: Henry Cisneros, American Triple I chairman and co-founder
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Dwana Franklin-Davis, CEO of Reboot Representation whose mission is to double the number of Black, Latina, and Native American (BLNA) women in the tech industry by the year 2025.

I sat down with Franklin-Davis at the Aspen Latino Business Summit in Washington, D.C. in early September.

Reboot Representation Tech Coalition was launched in 2018 by Pivotal Ventures, Melinda French Gates’ incubation organization, which advocates for expanding opportunity and accelerating equity through high-impact investments and partnerships.

It was a direct response to the small percentage of women of color graduating with computer degrees and working in the tech industry.

“BLNA women in 2017 represented 4% of the graduating population, and that number was down by 33% from the previous decade and wasn’t projected to double to 8% until the year 2052 without interventions,” explains Franklin-Davis.

Pivotal and McKinsey surveyed 32 corporations representing $500 billion in revenue and $500 million in philanthropic giving to determine what they were spending on women and girls in tech.

“It turned out they were spending 5% of their philanthropic dollars on women and girls in tech, and less than 0.1% went intentionally to Black, Latina, and Native American women and girls in tech. So the magic number – I got my air quotes around magic – the magic number from that less than 0.1% way back in the day 2017 was $335,000. That’s it,” she says.

Eleven founding companies joined with Pivotal to form Reboot Representation to increase representation and investment in BLNA women in tech. Today there are 23. In a new report, Reboot says their partners have helped increase the number women in the field, but there is a long way to go.

“The number of computing degrees awarded to BLNA women nearly doubled between 2016 and 2021, but continued intentional investments will be required to sustain and propel these efforts,” according to that report.

Franklin-Davis tells me, “I am ecstatic to watch the numbers of BLNA women graduating with computing degrees. We’ve almost reached our doubling goal. We’re almost there. So, that is definitely something to celebrate. But also, I don’t want to give the pat on the back to say we’re done because although we’re watching the actual numbers increase – which is beautiful and amazing – the percentages are only slightly nudging up, which is not good enough.”

Even with that progress in the graduation rates, the industry representation is heading in the opposite direction.

“The numbers of BLNA women in the industry are going down at the very moment that graduation rates are going up. So, we have a graph that looks like a very visible X and that is alarming. That’s what keeps us up at night, which is why we produced this second report because we want to make sure that corporations have the tools they need in order to make the minor adjustments to work smarter and not harder and be able to effectively recruit, retain, and advance a diverse workforce.”

The new report offers up nine suggestions to guide companies seeking to encourage and retain that more diverse workforce, including adding more BLNA women.

Franklin-Davis and I discuss those suggestions.

Find out more in the podcast, which you can listen to here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 287: Dwana Franklin-Davis, CEO, Reboot Representation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I discuss increasing access to capital for Latino entrepreneurs with Isabella Casillas Guzman, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and Nina Vaca, the founder and CEO of Pinnacle Group, a global IT staffing agency.

I sat down with Guzman and Vaca at the Aspen Latino Business Summit in Washington, D.C. in early September.

Small businesses are driving economic growth across the nation, according to the SBA’s Guzman, noting more that 13.1 million applications from entrepreneurs wanting to start a new company. It might surprise you who is starting those companies.

“What we’re seeing is that women and people of color are propelling that growth, starting businesses at really high rates,” says Guzman. “There are over 5 million Latino businesses here in this country creating jobs, creating products that are boosting our economic output. They have a 2.8 nearly trillion dollar impact in our economy, overall.”

Despite being at the lead of the small business boom, Guzman says investment in this community’s entrepreneurs has, typically, lagged. And, she says, that is hurting those business creators and the economy.

“We’re really tracking the changing face of entrepreneurship…to make sure that they have the tools to succeed because they have historic underinvestment that has limited their growth. And we need to change that if we want to see our economy grow into the future.”

Guzman tells me that many of the entrepreneurs are credit-worthy but are being shut out when it comes to getting the financial capital they need to start up and to grow. “If they don’t get those loans then that means they’re not creating jobs, they’re not creating the output. Maybe they’re not going to trade abroad in a new country. All that limits economic activity and limits opportunity for all.”

She points out that the SBA was created 70 years ago to fill capital gaps through lending programs, investment programs, and to propel and direct the federal spending around R&D to innovation grants to small businesses. “We need to do that with equity in mind to ensure that we’re reaching and serving and creating access to everyone,” Guzman concludes.

WorkingNation’s Ramona Schindelheim interviews Isabella Casillas Guzman and Nina Vaca at the Aspen Latino Business Summit 2023 in September.Pinnacle Group’s Vaca echoes Guzman, “It is clear that the Latino community is impacting America in a variety of ways, but in entrepreneurship in a very meaningful way. Thirty-four percent (34%) of the new businesses are started by Latinas and women of color. The contributions that we’re making to the American economy are clear.”

Despite those contributions, Vaca says growth is a challenge. “While there are many Latina-owned businesses in this country, less than 10% of them are actually scaling in a very meaningful way. And capital isn’t just one challenge. It’s access to capital, but also access to contracts.”

She continues, “Government is an opportunity for contracts, so is corporate America. I think corporate America can play a very important role getting their supply chains acquainted with these HBEs, these Hispanic business enterprises that are out there. Because while many of them are small, there’s also scaled global mature Hispanic businesses as well.”

For Vaca, supporting her community is a passion. “I am spending a lot of my time advocating to the Latina, Latino community that business is an incredible place to be – not just STEM and technology – but business.”

“Business is for everyone, and it’s absolutely for Latinas. When I look at the level of Latinas that are in the C-suite, or in executive roles, or on boards, I don’t get mad. I get motivated because we need to give awareness to our young next generation how powerful business can be.”

You can hear much more from Guzman of the SBA and Vaca of Pinnacle Group on how to increase access to capital for Latino entrepreneurs in this week’s podcast, which you can listen to in this article or download wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 286: Isabella Casillas Guzman, SBA Administrator, and Nina Vaca, Pinnacle Group founder & CEO
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I’m joined by William Raduchel, a pioneer in the tech industry and author of The New Technology State: How Our Digital Dreams Became Societal Nightmares – and What We Can Do About It.

Bill Raduchel has been fascinated with technology since he was at summer camp that was trying to get teenagers interested in a career in STEM.

“One of the things they did was show us a computer at the local Air Force base and it controlled the anti-aircraft missiles that defended the base. We walked into this room and there was a huge RCA tube-based computer. They made it play a song and flash a flag. As a 15-year-old, that was really exciting,” explains Raduchel.

“Then we got back to the campus and they actually had an IBM 1620, which if people know their computer history, that was the first-ever digital computer made with transistors. That’s when I first started programming. That’s 62 years ago.”

That life-changing experience led him to study chemical engineering at Michigan Technological University, then on to Michigan State University, where he got a B.A. in economics, and then to Harvard, where he got his Ph.D. in economics.

Raduchel’s mix of hands-on tech experience and understanding of the economics of tech served him well in his career, which has included executive roles at some of the biggest names in the field over the past 50-plus years, including Sun Microsystems and AOL, where he was chief technology officer.

He’s poured all that knowledge into his book The New Technology State, an examination of both the positives and negatives of constantly-changing technology on society and the workforce.

He shares some of what he’s learned in the book and here in the podcast.

“I wrote the book because I’m concerned. I think technology could bring us nothing but a wonderful future, but we got to manage it and we got to manage it well. And I think right now we’re not.”

“Technology can be really helpful and has been and can continue to be, but there’s a downside. So how do we limit that? I’m an economist by training and I believe that competition is the way you do that and by empowering people to speak with their dollars about where they do things.”

“AI (artificial intelligence) is really nothing new. It’s just a really enhanced form of algorithm. The ancients had algorithms. They weren’t very computationally complex, but Stonehenge is an algorithm to try to predict what’s going on because it mattered for agriculture and agriculture meant survival. So, AI is just an enormously more complicated form of algorithm.”

“The one thing I learned early on is the technology never takes away a job. It takes away part of a job. It eats away. And eventually, usually what would happen, you’d get a recession, people would then restructure and they would find that they had a lot of people who were not 100% employed, and they would find a way to restructure the jobs and some jobs would disappear. Until then, there were a lot of people who were working, but technology made their jobs easier. That’s going to go on, and it’s going to continue to go on.”

“I think we’ve taken the job pyramid and we keep grabbing it about halfway down and then pulling it toward the middle. We keep getting fewer and fewer great jobs at the top and a lot of jobs at the bottom. It isn’t necessarily the number of jobs particularly that goes away, but the quality of those jobs declines.”

“If you’re a worker, I think the message is the same as it’s been for a long time, which is you’ve got to be constantly worried about your employability. You can’t assume that you’re employable forever. And I ask, have we trained people to do this? Do we have structures to support them? I don’t know.”

Raduchel has a lot of provocative and, as he says, potentially unpopular solutions to the downsides of technology.

You can hear some of them here in the podcast, which you can listen to from this article or download wherever you get you podcasts.

The New Technology State is now available on Amazon at this link.

Episode 285: William Raduchel, author, The New Technology State
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Today, WorkingNation joins the rest of the nation in remembering the 2,977 lives lost on September 11, 2001, and honoring the thousands of first responders who became chronically ill as a result of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the crash of a commercial plane in Pennsylvania.

Among those who died on that day 22 years ago was Akamai Technologies co-founder Danny Lewin, a friend and colleague to WorkingNation founder and CEO Art Bilger who describes Lewin as “the most remarkable” person he has ever met.

Lewin died at age 31 aboard American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, the first plane to be intentionally-crashed into the World Trade Center by terrorists. The 9/11 Commission confirmed Lewin was stabbed to death as he confronted the terrorists in an attempt to thwart the hijacking, becoming the first victim of the attackers that day.

Lewin was a visionary computer scientist who changed the course of the internet during his brief lifetime. Without his pioneering work in the late 1990s, and the company he created with Akamai CEO Tom Leighton, the internet as we know it today may have evolved along a different course. Akamai since then has grown into a multibillion-dollar company dedicated to making the internet “fast, reliable and secure” and is responsible for handling almost one-third of global internet traffic.

“He was the rare person of incredible intellect and action. A truly one-of-a-kind person. It is safe to say that meeting Danny completely altered the trajectory of my life,” Bilger recalls. “Without him, I don’t think WorkingNation would exist.”

This video remembering and honoring Danny Lewin was first released at WorkingNation’s “Cracking the Code: A Town Hall Event on Bridging the Cybersecurity Skills Gap” in June of 2018.

https://youtu.be/by5dKkaGWuI

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Marci Alboher, vice president at CoGenerate, and Janet Oh, director of innovation at CoGenerate, a social-impact nonprofit dedicated to bringing older and younger people together to help create a more inclusive and prosperous future.

CoGenerate today announced the launch of the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity, an initiative to elevate gogenerational models that can transform the economic landscape for people of all ages living and working side-by-side.

The Challenge will engage thought leaders to inspire and activate others, provide $20,000 investments to each of eight innovative initiatives, and sponsor a virtual public showcase of their cogenerational work.

Additionally, leaders of the selected initiatives will participate in a six-month accelerator providing a supportive community, plus expert and peer coaching in program development, expansion, storytelling and fundraising.

Marci Alboher says the Challenge comes out of the work the organization has been doing to break down barriers between the different age groups that make up our society.

“We are perhaps the most age-diverse society that we have ever experienced. We have more people living at every age between 17 and up to the 80s than have ever been alive at once. A lot of people talk often about how we’re an aging society, but the interesting thing is we are actually an all-ages society. But, at the same time, we are a highly age-segregated society.”

Some of that segregation is in the workplace, adds Alboher.

“In many workplaces, there are age silos. We’re seeing some movement where there are organizations that are really trying to reach out and make age diversity part of how they hire and how they structure teams. The benefit of doing that, of course, is that you could speak to different audiences, you can make your products and services relevant to people of all ages, but we have a long way to go to get there,” she says.

Janet Oh explains that work is just one of the many aspects of society the CoGen Challenge will be looking at.

“One goal of the challenge is to really unleash people’s creativity on how to utilize the talents of youngers and olders. We totally expect to be surprised and delighted by the things that we see. Sometimes we find solutions that are hidden in plain sight that are already there, but haven’t really been named and identified. And then sometimes we find ideas that are first of their kind.”

Oh says the Challenge is seeing U.S.-based initiatives that will advance economic opportunity for everyone.

“We’re looking for innovators who are really eager to jump in and be with peers to test and learn and to be generous with each other and be in this iterative state. We found that our innovators are often very lonely, that this is a new field, and so coming together in this group gives them a chance to, as one innovator said, take off their mask and really be honest about what is hard and what is working, and then come together to open doors for one another,” Oh tells me in the podcast.

Applications for the CoGen Challenge are due by October 16. For more information and to apply, visit their website here.

Funding for the CoGen Challenge to Advance Economic Opportunity has been provided by the Ares Charitable Foundation.

You can listen to the podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 284: Marci Alboher of CoGenerate and Janet Oh of CoGenerate
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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During the height of the Industrial Revolution, the labor movement fought for decent wages and days off. As a result, economic conditions for working men and women have been dramatically improved over the last hundred plus years.

President Grover Cleveland signed a national act in 1894 making the first Monday in September Labor Day, a federal holiday.

Watch our animated video to learn more about the history of Labor Day.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm joined by Joseph Fuller, professor at Harvard Business School and co-head of the school's Managing the Future of Work Project, and Rajiv Chandrasekaran, head of strategy at the Schultz Family Foundation.

Everybody benefits from an upwardly mobile workforce,

So, how is corporate America doing when it comes to creating a culture of advancement for workers within their businesses, particularly those without a four-year college degree?

That’s the question at the heart of the American Opportunity Index (AOI), a dynamic analysis of the nation’s top 250 biggest companies – and their investment in their employees and their careers – from Harvard Business School, Burning Glass Institute, and the Schultz Family Foundation.

“American businesses are struggling to hire, grow and retain the workers they need to remain competitive. They lack visibility on how their workers advance and how their policies affect their employees’ prospects. They are missing critical components of the big picture,” says Fuller, one of the authors of the report.

He adds, “The Index assesses how effectively large corporations manage their human talent, identifies which companies are leading the way, and provides a framework for benchmarking progress."

The Index focuses on worker outcomes and is based on the real-world experience of more than three million of their employees.

AOI measures which companies are most likely to create opportunity for workers in roles open to non-college graduates across three criteria: 

access (who is able to join the company), 

wage (how well they are paid), and

mobility (how far a worker will advance – either at that company or once they leave for another company).

"Our objective is to get companies to ask 'Have we implemented policies that advance our workers prospects of growing with us? (Are we) creating an environment that creates opportunities for growth in all dimensions, growth in skills, growth in income potential, growth in promotability for their workforce? Are we tracking those metrics because you are what you track, you are what you measure? And are we pursuing best practice in light of what we can see other people are achieving?" adds Fuller.

According to Chandrasekaran, the fundamental goal to give both employers and workers greater transparency into how workers can get ahead and how companies can most effectively use their human capital.

"We believe that when workers can advance, when they can find upward mobility, they can achieve the pathways to continue to grow their careers, everybody benefits. It's not just the workers, but companies themselves. Turnover is reduced. Companies become more efficient. They can fill their talent needs more effectively from within," he adds.

Chandrasekaran explains what the Index to "empower workers to make better decisions as to what positions to seek and what firms to prioritize in their job searches; recognize companies that are setting an example of how to create opportunity; and arm corporate executives and HR leaders alike with data they need to take meaningful action within their companies to boost the competitiveness of their workforce."

The original American Opportunity Index was published last fall, identifying the 50 best firms across five different models of opportunity creation: the Best Workplaces to Advance Within, the Best Workplaces to Start From, the Best Workplaces to Stay and Thrive at One Company, the Best Workplaces to Advance Without a College Degree, and the Best Workplaces That Grow Their Own Talent.

The highest-ranked companies overall include: AT&T, American Express, Cisco, PG&E, Microsoft, Fiserv, HF Sinclair, Liberty Mutual Insurance, International Paper, and Southwest Airlines.

The 2023 American Opportunity Index will be released later this fall and Chandrasekaran says it will cover even more of the Fortune 500 and expand into several new categories of assessme...

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On this episode of Work in Progress, I'm discussing increasing representation of Black talent in the tech industry and the new career exploration tool Black Genius Academy with Rachelle Olden, head of Google's Tech Equity Collective, and Ruben Harris, co-founder and CEO of Career Karma.

Black talent is underrepresented in some of the fastest-growing jobs in the country. According to a report from McKinsey, Black talent makes up 12% of the U.S. workforce, but only 8% of the tech industry.

Tech Equity Collective (TEC) – a Google initiative – is on a mission to accelerate Black innovation and representation in tech. TEC has partnered with Career Karma - an app and web platform that connects career transitioners with coding and tech boot camps – to launch the a new career exploration app – Black Genius Academy.

Ruben Harris says Black workers in the U.S. are overrepresented in some industries and underrepresented in others, partially because of lack of exposure to certain career pathways and training.

"Of the 17 million Black workers in the United States, 65% of them developed their skills through alternative routes. Those alternative routes are often not the career paths that we are talking about in technology," says Harris. These alternative routes can be work experience, some community college, or even military service.

He adds, "Even if you might have heard of a career path and you have been exposed to the right training, if you don't have access to someone that can guide you, or that has been through what you've been through, a lot of times you don't move forward. And so having someone that can mentor you or guide you, that also has been through what you've been through, is a very powerful thing."

Rachelle Olden agrees that there is an exposure gap and that there are multiple challenges in getting Black workers better access to the tech industry.

"There are series of different exposure points to prepare someone to enter into tech, whether that is early childhood and you are playing with LEGO (bricks), so you are learning how to build. Whether that's having STEM available in your school. Whether that's having engineers who are in your community or in your family. It's a plethora of things," explains Olden.

She adds that "we, as an industry have to continue to think holistically about talent and how we identify talent and how we bring talent in. What schools are we going to? What communities are we going to? What organizations are we going to? How are we evaluating talent? Everybody is coming into the tech space with very different lived experiences and really placing value on those lived experiences."

Addressing these issues is what has brought TEC and Career Karma together to create the new Black Genius Academy.

"Black Genius Academy (BGA) is a career exploration app that gives Black people resources and knowledge and access to people that help them identify, enroll, and succeed in technical education programs," says Harris.

Olden describes BGA's goal as demystifying the tech ecosystem. "A lot of people may ask, 'Oh, is it for me? Can I do it?' We want to demystify that for so many people who have been underexposed to opportunities in tech. In addition to that, we want to celebrate all of the amazing contributions that the Black community continues and has made to the tech ecosystem."

BGA has audio and video of successful Black tech leaders to give app users/learners guidance and coaching in one of three career paths – cybersecurity, UX design, and software engineering.

She continues, "Once you choose a career pathway, you'll take a deeper dive and you'll start to hear from Black industry leaders in these spaces about their experience. You'll learn more about what is it, for example, what does it mean to be a software engineer? What do software engineers do? How do software engineers spend their day? What is required and expected of a software engineer?"

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I'm joined by Alex Kotran, the co-founder and CEO of The AI Education Project (aiEDU) to discuss preparing K-12 students for the impact of artificial intelligence on the way we learn, work, and live.

While AI – more precisely ChatGPT – seems to be the word of 2023, aiEDU has been focused on the issue of artificial intelligence and education for the past few years. The nonprofit advocates for a nationwide adoption of AI studies in the classroom, educating and empowering student with AI literacy.

"We've focused on middle school and high school now, but we have ambitions to go as soon as possible to K-5. Our curriculum is designed to embed into core subjects, in addition to computer science and CTE. It's really important, getting into core subjects, because that means that students don't get the chance to opt out or opt in," says Kotran.

aiEDU sees teachers as the first line of defense, arming the educators with both curriculum and professional development. He argues that advances in artificial intelligence are coming at us quicker than ever before, and concerns about whether ChatGPT would make it easier to cheat on homework and tests are minor compared to the long-term impacts of AI on the economy – the stakes are too high.

"We have to move past this question of should we allow students to use ChatGPT? We don't have 20 years to get this right with AI, we have three. That's the velocity of the technology; that is really where the challenge lies," Kotran tells me.

"The normal pace of education is not going to keep up with the pace of adoption in the economy because industry and business have already decided that this is not a question of should, it's a question of how. Full stop. They see it as a competitive advantage, or competitive risk, because the future of work isn't pausing to consider whether ChatGPT is legitimate for somebody to use. Schools are going to have to get there."

Kotran says AI, machine learning, ChatGPT are not going away. Educators have to speed up their assessment of what it looks like for every student to use ChatGPT effectively and competently. They have to act now.

"You have to have a clear strategy to ensure safe and responsible use of the tool, and that will include things like policies at the district level and privacy considerations and safety considerations. But one of the biggest components of safe and responsible use will be having a teacher at the wheel. This is not about automating the work that teachers do. This is about giving teachers more capacity to do their best work as educators.

"When we think about teacher training and education, it's really almost a necessary condition for students to really be able to explore these tools. It also happens to be a great way for teachers to enhance learning, and it has profound implications for accessibility and actually enabling us to provide more supports to the students who are frankly the most marginalized. The most marginalized kids today are the ones who benefit the most by far."

Kotran argues that schools already have the right foundation in place with investments in computer science and STEM education, but it can't stop there.

"Steve Jobs talked about the computer as the bicycle for the mind. And right now everybody's riding a bike and some bikes are faster than others. Some students, they're at a different starting line, but they're all on bikes. And what AI is to the mind is it's a sports car.

"Over the next few years, there are going to be some students who are going to be trying to race on their bicycle against kids in sports cars. And that is scary, but it's also an opportunity because it means that we can hand kids the keys to a technology they could not have fathomed.

"The imperative thing is that every single student needs to learn about what AI is? Why is it important for me? How does it impact me, day-to-day in terms of the products that I use?

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Jayshree Seth, chief science advocate and corporate scientist for global manufacturing company 3M.

Seth's role at the company is two-pronged. As a corporate scientist, she uses her engineering skills to solve complex problems and, in her words, "find solutions that stick." (It is 3M after all!)

As the chief science advocate, she works with people of all ages – including young girls and women and individuals from underrepresented populations – to help them develop a passion for science, one that might lead to a career and help fill a global skills gap especially in the skilled trades.

She says there is a negative perception of the skilled trades that is hurting recruiting efforts despite the fact the majority of these jobs demand some kind science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM) skills.

"Skilled jobs are STEM jobs The advances are so rapid that the skills needed also evolved. But whether it's chip making or ship building or solar panels or wind blades or EVs to 5G, the role of STEM skills is there in all of them. Whether it is with associate degrees in skilled trades or whether it is advanced degrees and all the way to graduate degrees, they're highly skilled in science and engineering and they're needed," explains Seth.

"Our entire STEM advocacy platform is about creating a solid pipeline of STEM talent. We are active across the entire ecosystem, which is from early encouragement, exposure, empowerment, education, economics, and equity across the spectrum. It's important because we also want to make sure that we are getting enough diversity. Without that diversity, we are not gonna be able to solve the problems that we face, not just our company but our country."

Seth says she hopes to install a passion for STEM in the young people she reaches out to through 3M's STEM awareness programs. Although her parents expected her to go into engineering, like her father, she didn't develop her own passion for it under she was deep into her training.

"Believe it or not, it was in graduate school. I never quite appreciated why I was doing it, because I always thought, I want to help people, I want to improve lives, I want to make a difference. And I wasn't sure how I would do that. Then I was working on my Ph.D. project and I saw the human context in it and I realized I could make a difference," she tells me.

"You need to make sure people see the passion and in other people having a satisfying career in these fields. That's why when I'm talking to students. We want to show that your potential is exponential. You can blaze trails, you can shape your careers, you can bring your interest.

"I talk about bringing my interest in humanities and social sciences into STEM. And that's the whole idea of breaking these preconceived notions and dismantling the stereotypes and archetypes that people have of these certain fields. It is so important.

"The reason why it's important is that science needs that diversity. Science needs you to be you. Our world requires innovation. Innovation needs science. Science demands diversity and diversity warrants equity."

You can hear more of how Jayshree Seth and 3M are encouraging young people to follow a STEM career pathway in the podcast. Listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 280: Jayshree Seth, Chief Science Officer & Corporate Scientist, 3MHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Joanna Smith-Ramani, co-executive director of the The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (FSP), and I discuss how we, as a society, can improve financial security and democratize access to wealth to improve economic equity across our country.

Every day, more than 50 million Americans live in or near financial crisis. Financial instability has gone mainstream, threatening our economy and our democracy.

Last month at the Aspen Ideas Festival, I sat down with Smith-Ramani to discuss the FSP's new report, The New Wealth Agenda: A Blueprint for Building a Future of Inclusive Wealth.

The report offers "a goal that is equal parts ambitious and achievable: by 2050, we must increase by ten-fold the wealth of households of color and those in the bottom half of the wealth distribution in the United States."

The New Wealth Agenda identifies eight objectives that the organization believes are the most effective path forward for reaching that goal. 

One objective we discuss is supporting young adults on their pathway to a lifelong career, one that could change their financial future forever.

Here is some of what Smith-Ramani tells me.

“In our country, when you are 18-to-25, your job should be to invest in yourself. And that means either traditional college, or it could be a training program, apprenticeship, or vocational school. There are lots of options, right? But the reality is, as a country, we have to say whichever option is yours, we are gonna support you doing that.

"We're gonna sort of bubble wrap you and insulate you so you have what you need. That could be everything from ensuring that our public benefit system provides the basic needs for students who are studying. It also means making sure there are housing subsidies so they can live stably and know they have a home to go to, to study in and then get to class the next day. The biggest part is that they need non-labor income."

Also in the conversation, we talk about the other seven objectives, preconditions for building sustainable wealth, proven wealth-building strategies in need of greater scale and refinement, and emerging innovations.

Our conversation was originally recorded for the Aspen Ignites series.

Episode 279: Joanna Smith-Ramani, Co-Executive Director, Aspen Institute Financial Security ProgramHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Andy Van Kleunen, founder and CEO of the National Skills Coalition. We sat down in the "Bucky Dome" on the Aspen Institute campus at the Aspen Ideas Festival to discuss what is being done to upskill workers to fill the 10.1 million open jobs across the country.

Since 2000, the National Skills Coalition (NSC) has been advocating for what it describes as "a national commitment to inclusive, high-quality skills training so that more people have access to a better life, and more local businesses see sustained growth."

Founder and CEO Andy Van Kleunen explains that the NSC was created as a reaction to what was happening in federal policy at the time. "There was kind of a bipartisan decision that training didn't matter for low-income folks or folks who'd been laid off from their jobs or young people who were just out of high school."

23 years into the mission, he says, he believes that there is a consensus that training is integral to economic mobility and prosperity.

Here is some of what he told me:

"I think there's bipartisan agreement. The dynamic around why it is that we, as a country, should be investing in working people and why we should be looking particularly at folks who are not in that traditional high school-to-college full-time pipeline has changed dramatically.

"We have a labor market that is desperate for skilled people to fill a bunch of open jobs. Even coming out of recession, we still have shortages of skilled workers in really key industries. Now, it's just a matter of getting some consensus about what government can be doing in partnership with industry and education trading providers to provide that.

"It's not that the private sector doesn't understand that we need to be investing in training in order to stay ahead of the tech logical curve. We need to get industry to start to invest in some of the folks at their entry levels because those are skilled jobs as well. Those jobs are becoming increasingly skilled, becoming increasingly digital.

"92% of the jobs today have some either explicit or implicit digital skill requirement. That's basically every job in the economy. We are not investing in every worker to be able to be ready for all of those jobs. And I think industry needs to take that seriously and start to think about how to invest in their entry level and mid-level workers to help keep them ahead of the curve. And then government needs to do its part to make sure that we're building a pipeline of folks who can move into those jobs.

"We're going to have a whole $3 trillion worth of federal investment that's going to be going into communities to finally rebuild our infrastructure in a number of different ways, which is going to create even more skilled jobs. I think everybody recognizes we've got a challenge and that we need to do something about it."

Van Kleunen offers more specifics on these and many other aspects of the ongoing efforts – and opportunities – to upskill workers for good, family-sustaining jobs in today's workforce.

You can listen to the full podcast here, or find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 278: Andy Van Kleunen, Founder & CEO, National Skills CoalitionHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm joined by Johnny C. Taylor, president and CEO of SHRM – the Society for Human Resource Managment – from their annual conference held last week in Las Vegas.

There was a lot of talk at the annual conference about skills-based hiring and skills training, notably from guest speaker former president Bill Clinton and from the SHRM leadership, including Taylor.

"We shouldn't require a college degree if the job doesn't require it. There are a lot of benefits to going to college that go way beyond economics, but we shouldn't make our economy less efficient by lowering workforce participation when we have 10 million open jobs," President Clinton challenged the in-person audience of 21,000.

That's a message we have been hearing a lot lately in workforce development, so I took the opportunity to ask Taylor a question that I have been thinking about: If you don't use a college degree as a proxy for what a job seeker knows, how does an HR professional screen for skills and talent?

"It's really hard and it's time consuming. It's not efficient. Part of the degree requirement was it was efficient. I could weed out people who didn't have it. A proxy for smart was what the degree was. Well, now that means HR's got to go back to the fundamentals, and that is interview people," Taylor tells me.

He says that those HR managers need to ask questions that show just how curious and smart an applicant is.

"We need smart people. Smart doesn't mean you went to Harvard and have a college degree. Can you figure things out? During the interview process, HR people are trying to figure out how does your mind work. I'll ask you questions. How can you solve problems? And are you curious? That's real big," Taylor says.

He adds that being a team player and having the willingness to work hard are equally important.

"There's nothing that you can communicate better during an interview to a hiring manager more than the fact that you're willing to work and you're going to work hard at it and work smart. If applicants will get that across – hiring managers, if you're looking for those things – we can almost train anyone to do anything."

And that brings us to the next big question: How do employers attract and retain talent?

"One of the issues that's top of mind right now is training and development. Given that 50%, even as much as 70%, of the jobs that exist today won't exist five years from now – or will be so meaningfully reconstituted that they won't exist – if we are not investing in our employees' professional development...then employees will leave because they're going to go where they can get the talent to remain competitive for decades," says Taylor.

He the companies that are succeeding in attracting and holding onto the talent they need see upskilling and reskilling as essential, and they are offering education benefits to their workers as part of their benefits package.

"The first thing that companies are saying is, 'This training is for both of us. It's not just for you and it's not just for us; it's for both of us. We have to give you skills that will make you competitive in a rapidly-changing economic environment, and you need them just in case things don't work out here and you need to go somewhere else. Even if you leave me, it's yours.'"

Taylors says this is important because America has a worker replenishment problem and it's everyone's problem.

"I often say this, America is browning and graying at once. We just don't have enough children out there ready to be the future workforce so we've got to get people to remain in the workforce longer and we've got to ensure that they have the skills to remain in the workplace longer. It doesn't matter that you want to be in the workforce, and that you need to be in the workforce, if you don't have the skills that we need. And that's the problem.

"We've got 165 million jobs. The struggle is a lot of those people are leav...

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Daniel Cervantes, SVP of National Expansion & Strategic Initiatives for Skills for America's Future, and Camille DeCicco, director of Social Impact for Discover Financial Services, join me to discuss the national expansion of an eleven-year-old Chicago-area nonprofit that works with local employers to put unemployed and underemployed residents to work in good jobs.

Skills for Chicagoland's Future launched in 2012 with what they call a "jobs-first workforce approach," working directly with employers to identify their hiring needs and then connecting candidates from Chicago's historically underinvested communities directly to hiring managers.

Of the roughly 12,000 people who they've placed in jobs in Chicago, 70% are from South and West sides of the city.

Daniel Cervantes was there at its start.

"Skills for Chicagoland's Future was launched on the heels of the financial recession and really at the heart of it is we started to see that in workforce development there was an opportunity to actually start and engage and go deep with employers in order to drive greater access to historically-untapped talent," he explains.

"What we saw over the course of time is if we can go work closely with an employer to really understand what their talent pain points were, we could work backwards and not only create greater access, but also work with community-based organizations and talent providers to support them in terms of giving their clients an opportunity," Cervantes tells me.

The giant financial firm Discover, based in the northern suburb of Riverwoods, is an example of an employer who works with Skills in Chicago. The decision to build a new call center in the Chatham neighborhood on the city's South Side came from CEO Roger Hochschild who had come to believe that corporate site selection is an extremely biased process.

DeCicco, says, "We had not opened a new call center in over 20 years and we had never done it in an underserved community, so (Skills was) really our guide throughout. Once we decided where, Skills became our consultant in many of the natural ways that any consultant is."

"From a finding talent perspective, it was using what they already knew within the community – both the organizations connections, but also the ways in which you reach and find trust with the community, how you listen, how you embed yourself, and then how you help them trust you that this is real," she adds.

Since its opening, the Discover call center has hired more than 1,000 residents on the South Side of Chicago.

This workforce model of understanding an employers hiring needs and long-term goals, then serving as a community connector and advocate has also proven effective in Rhode Island, where it's found jobs for seven thousand local residents. And earlier this spring, the organization expanded to Phoenix with Connect to Work AZ, a new partnership with the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation.

Now, Skills for America's Future has a bigger goal – 25 new cities over the next decade – using the model perfected in Chicago.

Cervantes is leading that expansion and he says there is a lot of opportunity to reimagine how workforce development typically has been approached.

"Where you live should not dictate your economic opportunities. Talent is everywhere, but access is often not. I'm optimistic that major employers will be able to talk to each other, they'll see the benefits of doing the types of things that an organization like Discover's doing, and realize that it truly does benefit the organization as a whole, retention, mobility, but ultimately it benefits the communities in which each of us have a stake in."

Episode 276: Daniel Cervantes, SVP National Expansion & Strategic Initiatives, Skills for America's Future & Camille DeCicco, Director Social Impact, Discover Financial ServicesHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief,

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I speak to Gerald Chertavian, founder and CEO of Year Up, a nonprofit helping young adults in underrepresented communities get started in livable wage careers on a pathway to economic mobility.

Year Up has three interconnected strategies – providing targeted skills training and connections to livable-wage employment for students and alumni; empowering others to serve and support young adults; and changing systems that perpetuate the opportunity gap.

Since its founding in 2000, Year Up has served more than 40,000 young people.

“We work with low-income 18-to-29-year-olds, and in one year or less, empower those young adults to go from either low-income or no-income to livable wage careers, often with the largest, best companies in this country,” explains Chertavian. “Year Up’s intensive training program utilizes a high expectations, high support model where students learn in-demand technical and professional skills and apply them during a corporate internship.”

The nonprofit works with about 60% of the Fortune 100 companies.

“What we’ve proven over the years is we can become a relevant, valuable source of talent. What do you need to do? You need to teach someone hard skills and soft skills. You need to provide wraparound support, and then you need to coach them into a job that you’re working with the manager as well as the individual to make sure that that’s a successful transition into work,” he adds.

Chertavian says these young adults come to Year Up directly – through a referral from a guidance counselor or someone else – but often the companies that have worked with the nonprofit previously come back to them again and again, seeking talent.

“When I started Year Up, I would walk over broken glass on my knees for a mile to get one internship. Now we’ve validated this, so we’ll place 500 people a year into Bank of America, hundreds a year into JPMorgan Chase. We’ve really built the infrastructure to do this at scale.

“Bank of America came to us and said, ‘We want to work with you to build a program for 400 software engineers per year. How do we do that?’ So, three years down the road, these young adults – despite not having finished a four-year degree – are indistinguishable from folks who may have come from a different path.

“This works well when the partner’s engaged, when they see our young adults as talent and they’re willing to change some of their practices to be more inclusive and equitable, for those who haven’t had all the opportunities that some others may have had through privilege of birth and circumstance,” Chertavian tells me.

He says this has been the success behind the program and he believes if more employers change their hearts and their minds, we would have more equitable hiring throughout the workforce, leading to more economic mobility.

“If one thing could change, it is people who have power to make decisions see our young people as talent – those who may not have had access to a four-year degree; those who may have come from a background that may have been underrepresented or underserved – and recognize that God did not distribute intelligence by ZIP Code and bank balance and that talent does reside everywhere, even though opportunity doesn’t.

“As a person who has power you can change the way your company operates. You can adopt skills-first hiring. You can see the community as relevant and valuable talent. Give me belief change, and a lot of good things are going to flow from that in terms of how companies behave and ultimately the impact they have on creating a much more economic mobility for the communities within which they live and serve.”

You can listen to my full interview with Gerald Chertavian here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 275: Gerald Chertavian, founder & CEO, Year Up
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, a deeper dive into a new report on how the pandemic changed what lower-wage earners expect from a job, what they are doing to improve their economic mobility, and the impact it is having on the workforce today.

One of the tasks of the U.S. Federal Reserve System is to take the pulse of economic conditions to better understand the economic health of the country. Capturing the full picture of today’s labor market means looking beyond the data and understanding the actual experiences of workers and job seekers.

A new report from the Fed – Worker Voices – does just that, providing insight into how job seekers and workers in lower-wage roles navigated the labor market throughout the COVID 19 pandemic – and what they now expect from a job today.

Two of the authors join me in today’s podcast.

Ashley Putnam is director of the Economic Growth & Mobility Project at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and Sarah Miller is principal adviser for community and economic development within the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity.

Miller says the work on the report started with a conversation she, Putnam, and several other colleagues had two years, during the COVID pandemic. “As you recall, at this time, the labor market was incredibly tight. There were two job openings to every one job seeker. There was quite a bit of discussion in the media around unemployment benefits, stimulus, and just general incentives for workers to work or to not work. And that was a question that we just wanted to ask, especially of a population that doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree, that traditionally has been more vulnerable in the economy.”

Putnam says they decided to ask lower-wage earners about their experience in the labor market since they are historically hit the first and the hardest in times of economic crisis. “We knew that low-wage workers, workers of color, and workers without a four-year college degree tend to occupy the roles that experienced some of the brunt of the initial pandemic layoffs.”

She continues, “And so we were really focused on what we could do to try to talk to those workers directly. We often speak to intermediaries. We look at quantitative data, we understand sort of things from several levels back and we thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to ask the workers themselves, what’s motivating them? Why are they changing jobs at a high rate? Why are they maybe hesitant to go back to some industries?”

Miller, Putnam, and their colleagues at the other Federal Reserve Banks interviewed more than 175 workers in 33 states in a variety of industries – hospitality, food service, customer service, food production, manufacturing, health care and early childcare. Many were in what we called “frontline” or “essential” jobs, jobs that would have brought the economy to a full stop, if not for these workers filling them.

Worker Voices: Key ConclusionsThere were a number of key takeaways from those personal conversations:

• Low-wage earners had difficult balance of health and financial concerns.
• A tight labor market hasn’t benefited all workers equally.
• Workers expressed enhanced expectations of job quality.
• Many workers are reinventing themselves through skills development.

We go into great details in the podcast on all of these conclusions, but I do want to highlight some of our conversation around the first one.

While much has been written and spoken about the role of the essential worker, we shouldn’t forget and the difficult dilemma many of these employees found themselves in during the height of the pandemic – risking their physical health or risking their financial health.

“What we found is that they were weighing incredibly complex choices,” says Miller. “They’ve described their experiences as traumatic and scary and shared quite a lot around some really profound questions that they were faced with every single day around whether they worked or whether they didn’t work.”

“All of the barriers that existed prior to the pandemic remained and were exacerbated. Access to child care was widely reported. The reduction in transportation left job accessibility completely out of reach for many workers, depending on where they lived. And a lot of people had to balance some very significant health risks to themselves and to their families.

Putnam adds, “When we talk about why workers did or did not work during the pandemic or were resistant or hesitant to going back to certain industries, we have to consider that it’s not just about, did we get unemployment benefits or stimulus checks? People were weighing really complicated choices, and they knew they needed to put food on the table, but they also didn’t want to put their families at risk.

“Many people made very difficult decisions and spoke about really the mental health impacts, which are not lost on us when we think about what happened to a lot of workers in these frontline jobs throughout the course of the pandemic,” Putnam adds.

The Impact of Federal Stimulus During the PandemicAnd that brings us to the question they asked the workers in the focus group, what was the impact of the federal stimulus payments and extended unemployment benefits on their choice of whether or not to return to the workforce. On the podcast, Miller addresses the question. Putnam concurs with the report’s findings.

“Many workers talked about how they were a welcome support – I would say overwhelmingly so – the ones that did receive it. (But) many did not receive it because of policy issues, timing issues, processing issues,” says Miller.

“Those workers that did receive it did talk about how it offered a smoothing effect for them in a time of great financial instability. What was most important though, and if you recall the national conversation around this, was that we found absolutely that these were not disincentives to work.

“These were not long-term financial resolutions to a problem that created a space that they could think differently about employment. Many of these workers talked about how it was a means to catch up or just to even be able to take a breath. In many cases, for the first time in their working lives to do that.

“So for those that did receive it, it was very welcome. But in no way, shape or form did any of the conversations that we have really reinforce what we heard at a national level, that these were a disincentive to work. They were there to help them basically stay afloat and allow them the space to find better employment in some cases, but absolutely not a disincentive to participate in the labor market.”

Again, we go into much more details on all the conclusions in the podcast, and we talk about what the workforce can do next to address some of the concerns that came out of this volatile period in our economy.”

You can listen here on the website, or you can download it wherever you get your podcasts.

NOTE: The views Sarah Miller and Ashley Putnam express are their own and don’t necessarily reflect those of anyone else on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) or within the Federal Reserve System.

Episode 274: Sarah Miller, principal adviser, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity; Ashley Putnam, director, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Economic Growth and Mobility Project
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Jean C. Accius, PhD, the president and CEO of CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, to discuss the link between employment and mental and physical health.

For nearly 70 years, CHC has been on the front lines of working with businesses, nonprofits, government, and communities to address the barriers to health and longevity. Earlier this year, Accius joined the organization after more than 15 years at AARP, where he led his team in creating a business case for diversity in the workforce and conducting seminal research on the contributions of the aging population to the global economy.

While there are many factors to consider in building a healthy community, Accius says “work is a social determinant of health, a social driver of health.”

Here is some of what he shares in our conversation.

“As we continue to come out of this pandemic, we are having to examine and prioritize what matters, and that is actually your total health, meaning your mental, your physical, your emotional well-being. Think about the opportunities that come with working. It gives you an opportunity to connect with people across generations. It reduces social isolation. It provides, in many cases, people not just with economic means, but also an opportunity to live out their purpose, to contribute and give back.”

CHC is engaging with the American Psychological Association to address how unemployment and lack of economic opportunity are impacting people, particularly people in marginalized communities.

“{We’re) really thinking about what that actually means for the person’s mental health and overall well-being. The CHC is thinking about not just how can we start to address mental health, but also how do we start to foster greater awareness, particularly with our partners in business, in nonprofits, as to how this actually shows up in the workplace or in the community, and how this actually impacts all of us. We are doing work in the mental health space because it has huge health and also economic implications.”

Accius says you cannot disentangle economics from the work of creating healthier communities.

“A healthy community means healthier businesses, which means more robust economy. There’s a clear connection here. Companies and countries that are going to be most competitive are going to be those that have healthier populations, which means that they’re going to be those that have healthier communities. And how do we start to look at the total health of a community is critically important.”

Accius says his new role at CHC is a natural extension of the work that he’s been doing as a gerontologist for over 25-plus years.

“There are so many benefits, particularly health benefits, with working. And we see this from study after study after study. When we’re talking about issues that impact older adults, it’s important to always think about the lifespan – life course perspective.

“So much of what impacts one’s longevity is shaped by the opportunities, or the lack thereof, that you get as you age, and it only compounds. It’s important to think about a community across all life stages. That’s the exciting aspect of this work.”

Accius and I also go into depth, discussing key initiatives and issues CHC is addressing, including maternal health and its impact on communities across the country.

It’s an insightful conversation. I invite you to listen here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts. It’s worth a listen.

Episode 273: Jean C. Accius, PhD, President & CEO, CHC: Creating Healthier Communities
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, we’re talking artificial intelligence and education with Rohit Sharma of ETS and John Fillmore of Chegg.

For the past few months, we’ve been hearing that artificial intelligence and machine learning could transform nearly every job on the planet. With the introduction and popularity of ChatGPT, it feels like that transformation might be coming very quickly – some think it might be too quickly.

Last month in San Diego, I attended the annual ASU+GSV Summit, a gathering of leaders sharing ideas on transforming society and business around learning and work.

There I spoke with several leaders in education and learning solutions, including Rohit Sharma, senior vice president of Global Education and Workforce Solutions at ETS, and John Fillmore, president of Skills Learning at Chegg.

I wanted to know how the introduction of AI into learning at all levels will transform education and the way people prepare for careers.

Chegg is an education tech company that is increasingly offering online training to help build skills needed and wanted in today’s job market. Fillmore says ChatGPT, AI, and machine learning are moving fast, but he sees that as a good development. “I’m a massive optimist on how technology is going to impact the future of work. The reality is every technology change we’ve had over the past 200 years has ended up creating dispersion, but ultimately creating more need for talent, more need for great jobs.”

For example, he believes companies are going to need hundreds of thousands more data analysts who can not just plug questions into the computer looking for answers, but who can look at those answers and determine the right strategy for a business. “So, can I tell the story of why this answer should lead us to make a different decision than we are making today? Those people who are getting displaced are going to want to go into this, this is actually why we work with Walmart, Target, and Macy’s and lots of these companies that want to train their frontline workers for the jobs of tomorrow.”

Fillmore adds, “Traditionally, higher education has not moved fast enough to customize all of those types of training needs that an employer is going to have, because as you mentioned earlier, those are going to change dramatically and faster than I think we’ve ever seen in human history.”

ETS is the world’s largest nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization.

Sharma says, given the acceleration of artificial intelligence, ETS is looking at how they can leverage it to better determine a student’s skills and where they need more training, in school or on the job. “There are so many micro skills. We’ll be able to tell you how good you are perhaps in certain aspects of a communication. Are you better in written communications versus oral communication? Or are you better in analytical reasoning that can be applied in certain jobs and contexts that may be more suited to your strengths?

“That’s going to be important because there’s so many things that are new, we can’t just put people in a training program and expect a miracle to happen, and it needs to be complimented with on-the-job training,” adds Sharma.

To get more details of how Sharma and Fillmore expect skills-based training and education to evolve even further – and faster – listen to the podcast here. Or you download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 272: Rohit Sharma, Senior Vice President of Global Education and Workforce Solutions at ETS, and John Fillmore, President of Skills Learning at Chegg
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music:** Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I’m joined by Zoe Peterson-Ward, the chief customer officer of Workhuman, and Beverly Jones, host of Jazzed About Work podcast and author of Find Your Happy at Work.

How do people thrive in the workplace? Of course, a good-paying job and job security are import. Experts say employees also need meaningful work, a sense of purpose, and a sense of being valued and recognized by their employer and coworkers. And they need room for career and personal growth.

The more that an employer can foster that kind of environment and the more a person can make their job more meaningful, the better for the worker and the company.

In San Diego, at the 2023 Workhuman Conference, I spoke to Zoe Peterson-Ward about that connection.

“We had, for many years, focused so hard on efficiency and grinding out the cost of doing business that we forgot that what actually makes people tick and makes people thrive is just as important in getting those business results,” argues Peterson-Ward.

She says even before the pandemic, the mindset had started to shift and the impact of a worker’s sense of dignity and purpose on themselves and the company began to come to light.

“We’ve discovered that we can actually create a much more fruitful environment, if we could just be kind, if we could just be grateful for the work and the commitment that people are giving in their day-to-day world, and the purpose that they are fulfilling, not just for their business but for their entire sustainable being.”

Says Peterson-Ward, “When you make those connections between purpose and work, it creates a much more productive environment. It enriches the community, it enriches the individual, and I think just creates a generally more beneficial outcome for all the parties involved.”

In addition to the employer providing an environment in which workers can thrive, workers themselves have ways to contribute to their own sense of fulfillment. That’s the thesis behind the book, Find Your Happy at Work. The author is career coach Beverly Jones, who also hosts the Jazzed About Work podcast.

She says that your own relationship to your job and career can be just as important as how your employer treats you.

“You have your own relationship with your career, which is something that’s bigger than your job. (For me), it includes classes I take. It includes things I read, and the discipline I try to have about getting up in the morning and doing things. It also includes how I take care of my fitness, because it takes a lot of energy to keep working for a long time, which I intend to do,” explains Jones.

Like Peterson-Ward, Jones believes everybody does better on the job if they have an idea of their mission and goals in the context of work.

“Work is more enjoyable – it’s more successful – if it’s tied to your goals and also your values. If you know you’re serving the public good – if every day you’re making difference in somebody’s life – it can be that kind of mission.

“But there are also people who are maybe doing a second job because they’re putting their kids through college or they’re working on their own grad school plan. Work that isn’t what you want to do forever, and doesn’t have a big mission for you, can be meaningful if it is enabling you to do something else.”

Jones has suggestions on ways in which your can to find your happy at work. Listen to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts, to learn more.

Episode 271: Zoe Peterson-Ward, Workhuman, and Beverly Jones, podcast host, author, and career coach
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Moroni Benally of Aspire Ability and Amber Garrison Duncan of C-BEN join me to discuss the just-announced workforce initiative, the Navajo Nation Talent Marketplace, which will be the first-ever repository of all jobs available on the Navajo reservation and the skills needed to fill them.

The Navajo Nation covers a lot of territory – nearly 27,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. There are 253,124 enrolled tribal members with 168,000 individuals (66%) living there on the land.

Nearly 36% of Navajo households live below the federal poverty line, and “unemployment and poverty fuel an ongoing pattern of migration and brain drain that undermines the viability of the Navajo Nation,” according to the news release announcing the new online Talent Marketplace.

The two-year initiative is designed to address longstanding structural barriers to employment and economic growth on the reservation.

“Having an online, publicly available resource linking jobs and education programs will match people to the full range of opportunities across the reservation,” says Moroni Benally, a member of the Navajo Nation and head of public policy and partnerships at Aspire Ability. “It’s a critical step in our nation’s long-term efforts to offer all Navajo – from our 3,500 yearly high school graduates to those who moved away – access to credentials that tie to well paid jobs within the nation.”

Benally says, “A necessary first step for the whole Talent Marketplace is understanding what jobs are out there in the Navajo Nation already. We hear a lot of entrenched tropes about Indian country because no one has put forth the effort to actually identify the jobs.”

“So, up to about a year ago, we were operating under the assumption that the Navajo Nation was only creating about a 100 to 200 jobs a year. But we found 2,100 available vacant jobs in the private sector in the Navajo Nation. There’s another 2,000 that are in the public sector, government jobs,” Benally explains.

Duncan adds, “The focus of the project is to make sure people know that there are jobs at home, to know that there is quality education available on the reservation. A lot of times what we are hearing is that people thought they had to leave the reservation to find education and work.”

This is an important starting point, she says. Knowing what jobs are available on the reservation clarifies for nearby competency-based learning institutions how they might realign their curriculum to serve the community. “The first thing we’re doing is working with the colleges to bring the job board to them, to bring those discreet knowledge, skills, abilities, things that people will have to know and be able to do to perform those jobs.”

Benally says right now there are jobs in health care, construction, and education, but the type of jobs will grow exponentially as broadband is further implemented throughout the Navajo Nation.

Duncan agrees, saying that people will be able to learn the skills needed for remote jobs in cybersecurity and IT. “There are also opportunities to think about Salesforce and Google and AWS, all of those components of ‘now I can live at home and perform those jobs.’ It also opens the door for online learning.”

“We want to be able to provide a space to bring our people back home to really build a Nation and to fulfill that mandate that our elders gave us…of coming home and bringing the goodness that you have,” Benally explains.

You learn more about how Aspire Ability and C-BEN plan to roll out the plan in the podcast. Listen here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 270: Moroni Benally, Aspire Ability, and Amber Garrison Duncan, C-BEN
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Vilas Dhar, the president of The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, $1.5 billion philanthropy advancing AI and data solutions to create a thriving, equitable, and sustainable future for all.

Advances in artificial intelligence are moving faster than our ability to comprehend their implications. Will these technologies enable inclusion and access to opportunity for workers and communities, or will they increase inequity?

Dhar sat down with me to discuss these questions earlier this month at the Changemaker Forum, part of the Global Inclusive Growth Summit in Washington, DC.

Before we got deep into the conversation about how artificial intelligence, machine learning, and ChatGPT will ultimately change how we work and live, Dhar felt it was important to shift our perspective a bit. While AI does have the power to disrupt, there is a more fundamental issue we should be looking at, he says.

“Before we think about what AI is, we have to center ourselves in the fact that we need to build a future where every person has dignity in their work. AI might come in and take some of the skills that are necessary to succeed in today’s world and make them obsolete.

“It may come in and create new pathways for humans to be productive, to be creative. If we don’t start from a question of what’s the dignified outcome we’re solving for, it’s too easy to get lost in the details.”

To get there, he says, we need to examine what it means to be a productive worker, someone who “finds a job where they both contribute and feel fulfilled, and then find something that so fundamentally transforms that.”

Says Dhar, “Now we face a moment where that abstraction is becoming real. AI could potentially transform every job on the planet.”

Listen here to find out how Dhar believes we should address that transformation in the workforce and preparing workers. You can also download the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 269: Vilas Dhar, president, The Patrick J. McGovern Foundation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
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In this episode of Work in Progress, Ida Rademacher, vice president at the Aspen Institute, joins me from the Global Inclusive Growth Summit in Washington, DC, hosted by the Aspen Institute and The MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth.

Leaders from business, government, philanthropy, and nonprofits gathered at the Summit to discuss an important issue: How do we ensure that everyone has equal access to the opportunities created by economic growth, and how do we make sure that that growth is done responsibly?

To quote the organizers: “It has never been more important to understand how constantly shifting demographics, circumstances, and technologies affect the growth, security, and prosperity of communities all over the world.”

Rademacher and I touch on many of the same topics discussed at the summit: education, access to capital, jobs creation, and economic mobility and their roles in creating a more equitable society, one that becomes more inclusive in the face of massive growth. Here is some of what she tells me.

The Definition of Inclusive Growth“When I think about inclusive growth, I think about more deeply shared prosperity. What does it look like when people are included? They have voice, they have agency, they have dignity, they have freedom. The places where I get really specific there are around how does a level of financial security enable that choice and dignity and freedom. That really becomes the bedrock for mobility.”

Education“(Education) is one of the fundamental building blocks. It’s the equivalent of a public utility. When you think about what it takes to be a full participant in society and democracy, that is the fundamental role of education. What’s the level of shared knowledge to navigate the systems in your life? The basics of education, the principles of education stay the same.”

Career Pathways“Our career pathways work is very substantive. The work we do is very much around thinking about how do you create the right incentives and peer groups within institutions so that you can accelerate learning and so that everybody can be focusing on the outcomes in terms of how are you equipping students today, no matter if they’re K through 12 or in higher education, with the, both the hard skills and the soft skills to navigate a changing labor market.”

Good Jobs“The quality of job isn’t just the wage and a very thoughtfully informed bundle of benefits, it’s people’s schedules. Somebody’s limitations for being able to pursue night school or the changing demographic of who is a college student, it’s just, it’s radically different. But they might not be able to take classes because they work shift work or they’re trying to juggle two jobs or they can’t figure out the different ways to do that.”

Financial Security“People are dealing with huge amounts of financial shocks in their lives, lots of income volatility. I often say it’s really hard for somebody to swing a baseball bat when they’re standing in a canoe. The ability to even have a more forward-looking time horizon about the choices you’re making comes from having some part of your day-to-day life feel manageable, feel understandable.”

What Inclusive Growth Looks Like“When more people can be producers, not just consumers in the economy, economy grows faster, it grows more sustainably, and it’s in service of the broader ideals of a society. When you think about shared prosperity, if it doesn’t show up on a household balance sheet at the end of the day, if the changes we’re trying to make, if the ways that we’re trying to make the economy work for more people doesn’t show up in actual improvements in household net worth and the ability to manage your everyday life, then we’re not there yet.”

This is just some of what Rademacher tells me in the podcast, which you can listen to here or wherever you get your podcasts.

If you missed the Summit, you can watch it online here: Global Inclusive Growth Summit

Episode 268: Ida Rademacher, VP, Aspen Institute; Co-Chair, The Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this Work in Progress episode, we bring you our final WorkingNation panel from the SXSW EDU 2023 conference last month in Austin.

Companies increasingly understand the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, in the workplace. Now, the principle of DEI has expanded to DEIA, including accessibilityfor people with disabilities. That’s important because people with physical or neurological disabilities suffer unemployment and underemployment at higher rates than the overall working population.

For the past few years, WorkingNation has spent a lot of time discussing expanding access to education and careers for people with disabilities. That was the subject of a discussion lead by our president Jane Oates.

Jane was joined by an amazing group of panelists – Kathy Martinez of Expedia Group, Claudia Gordon of T-Mobile, and Hiren Shukla of EY. They discussed strategies for hiring and retaining and promoting people with disabilities. Here’s that conversation.

This is that conversation. You can listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 267: Kathy Martinez, Expedia Group; Hiren Shukla, EY; Claudia Gordon, T-Mobile; and Jane Oates, WorkingNation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
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In this Work in Progress podcast, we take a look at obstacles workers 55 and older face in today’s labor market.

The reality is that older adults do face discrimination in society and the workforce. Older workers – particularly older women of color – have been shut out of job opportunities and, as a result, live with increased economic uncertainty.

We need to start changing the narrative around how we look at these workers. We need to examine how we are accelerating opportunity for older workers to be trained and upskilled for the jobs of today and tomorrow.

It is imperative we act now.

For the CWI Labs and WorkingNation digital magazine – Overlooked and Sidelined: Workers at the Intersection of Age, Race, and Gender – I sat down with Angela Beddoe, CWI Labs board chair and publisher & editor-in-chief of HERLIFE Magazine, and WorkingNation president Jane Oates to discuss how we meet this important moment in our society.

Here is that conversation.

And for more on challenges facing older workers in the labor market, please check out our new digital magazine. here.

Episode 266: Angela Beddoe, CWI Labs board chair and publisher & editor-in-chief of HERLIFE Magazine, and Jane Oates, WorkingNation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, we return to Austin to bring you another panel from the SXSW EDU conference earlier this month.

Today, 65% of jobs require some education beyond high school. In the U.S., 62% of working-age adults do not have a degree. Together, these numbers illustrate why we have a skills gap; we need to help more Americans upskill to find sustainable employment.

This demands coordination among education providers, employers and policy makers. Unfortunately, current policy proposals undermine potential solutions such as online learning which could help quickly expand education access to millions of learners.

WorkingNation president Jane Oates moderated a panel on the subject: Online Backlash: Bad Policy Holds Students Back.

She was joined on stage by Scott Pulsipher of Western Governors University, Michael Hansen of Cengage Group, and David Barnes of IBM. They also talked about the gap between what some educational institutions promise and what they actually deliver.

You can listen to our conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 265: Michael Hansen, Cengage Group; Scott Pulsipher, Western Governors University; David Barnes, IBM; and Jane Oates, WorkingNation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast from SXSW EDU in Austin, I am joined by Patti Constantakis of Walmart.org, Bridgette Gray of Opportunity@Work, and Kenny Nguyen of ThreeSixtyEight in a discussion about how to create better access to good jobs for people without a bachelor’s degree.

A four-year college degree can be a ticket to a good job and a great career, but it’s not for everyone. In fact, it’s not for most workers.

More than half of U.S. workers do not have a four-year bachelor’s degree. They’re what’s called STARs –Skilled Through Alternative Routes, and they get their start through community college, work experience, military service and credentialing.

But too many employers still use a bachelor’s degree as a barrier to entry, depriving many STARs from higher-paying jobs and career growth and depriving the companies of top talent.

Last week I attended the SXSW EDU conference where I moderated a panel on The Invisible Barrier to Economic Mobility. The conversation focused on how STARs can Tear the Paper Ceiling created by employers who value a degree over skills when it comes to hiring and promotion.

Joining me on stage in Austin were Patti Constantakis from Walmart.org, Bridgette Gray from Opportunity @Work, and Kenny Nguyen of ThreeSixtyEight.

You can listen to our conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 264: Patti Constantakis from Walmart.org, Bridgette Gray from Opportunity @Work, and Kenny Nguyen of ThreeSixtyEight
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
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Last month, I attended the annual Consumer Electronic Show, CES in Las Vegas, and there I met innovators with tech solutions for workforce challenges, including Stephen Bailey. He’s the co-founder and CEO of ExecOnline and my guest on this week’s Work in Progress podcast.

ExecOnline is a leadership development platform that uses technology to democratize how companies build their talent and grow careers. Forbes magazine named the company as “a tech company to watch.”

Bailey starts by explaining how clients use their technology to broaden the talent pool when it comes to recruiting talent for leadership roles.

“We work with large organizations that have typically thought about leadership development as something that is metered resource. It’s a limited number of folks. It has to be done in person. And, therefore we have to figure out who are the privileged few that get access to this really valuable resource.”

Bailey says the ExecOnline platform allows the companies to connect with candidates that might not normally have access to the leadership development tract. Once chosen, those candidates get tailored coaching from many of the world’s top coaches for the needs that they have in the organization.

Here is some of what he tells me.

“Our mission is to connect all leaders to their future potential. When we started the company, what we were really focused on is providing much more inclusive and representative leadership in organizations, those mobility pathways. ExecOnline has democratized that access and says you can provide that to everyone and if you provide it to everyone, it’s not only the right thing to do in terms of providing much more equitable leadership, to your point around mobility, but it’s also good for business because it significantly increases the pool of talent that organizations are tapping into.”

“The way I like to frame it to other CEOs is to say, ‘Look, it used to be okay to only tap into 30% of the leadership potential in an organization. But, now that we’re in a world where organizations are starting to recognize the value of diversity, those organizations are tapping into 100% – women, underrepresented minorities represent 70% of the population. If you’re not doing that, you can’t compete in this new economy.'”

“I think it’s partly culture. It’s also partly where you invest and the access you provide. Organizations are now saying we need much more diversity in our leadership and in our organizations more broadly. They’re also saying we need to think about virtual work in different ways and be able to engage employees globally in ways that maybe didn’t exist before COVID. The convergence of those two things is really why ExecOnline is helping organizations fundamentally rethink how they provide development to their leaders.”

Bailey and I also delve into how technology is helping the classroom intersect even further with workforce development.

You can listen to the podcast here, or look for it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 263: Stephen Bailey, co-founder & CEO, ExecOnline
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
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In this episode of Work in Progress, Guild Education‘s Terrence Cummings joins me to discuss his new role as the company’s chief opportunity officer.

A lot of this work has been underway at Guild for some time with Cummings leading the way for the last few years, he explains. It’s now being more formalized and elevated with the new leadership role.

Cummings will be working to ensure tangible and meaningful outcomes such as pay raises and promotions for both Guild’s “learner community” – at employers such as Walmart, Target, Chipotle – and its own employees.

If you’re not familiar with Guild, it works with Fortune 1000 companies to help build out their education benefits, then helps them run the benefits programs.

Cummings says it puts Guild in a unique opportunity to help create a pipeline of talent internally for the company while helping individuals support their own career goals.

“What’s really special about this is that we get to understand what are the talent strategies of these companies? What are they looking to do with their frontline workforce, their workforce overall in general? And how do we align learning, skilling, educational programs to be able to maximize their efforts around talent?”

Cummings continues, “We’ve loved seeing how companies have embraced what their talent needs are and have seen that symbiotic relationship that exists between the benefits for employees and the benefits for the company as a whole when it comes to development.”

He tells me that from day one, Guild has been involved in driving opportunity and outcomes at a granular level with companies and with employees, but now they are doubling down on those efforts.

“What we’re tangibly doing is saying, how do we take the learning of what we’ve experienced as to the needs of the talent and the needs of the employers and put those things together? And what that means is, how do we try and understand their aspirations better even than we do today? How do we understand what their potential accelerators are? How do we understand what their obstacles are?”

He gives me some examples.

“A blocker might be access to technology in some cases. It might be access to a support network. It might be time management and being able to understand, how do I manage my schedule or work with my employer to get a different schedule? When do I do my homework? Those obstacles are things that we tangibly are going to continue to invest in on the member side and learner side.”

“On the employer side, what we’re doing is also doubling down on understanding the very granular talent needs that they have. So that might be a specific role or set of roles they’re looking to fill, not just today, but also in the future. And then, additionally, understanding how does someone navigate this employer. It’s getting to understand what that looks like inside the company, tying that to some of the tangible needs that I mentioned of the workforce and saying, how do we help to connect those threads?”

We also discuss what success in his role looks like to him.

“Something that we have been measuring is around salary and role changes for our members and learners. We’ve seen success there in the past. To give you a couple tangible examples of that, from an internal mobility standpoint, you are 2.2 times more likely to have internal mobility with inside your company if you are a Guild learner versus someone that is not engaged in Guild. We’ve seen a 2.4 times likelihood of wage increase for learners in Guild versus those that are not.”

“We’ll continue to make sure that we’re not only seeing the same success we’ve seen in the past, but with anything you double down on, continue to see greater success there.”

Cummings and I also discuss how his role is not just to grow the eternal opportunities for the “member learners” at the companies they work with, but to do the same internally for Guild Education employees.

“Everyone at Guild will have a successful foundation to build their career at or beyond Guild. Everyone at Guild will be able to feel belonging. That’s one of our core values every day. And every member and learner will have a clear path to the middle class.”

Why is this work so important to Cummings? What in his own background is driving his committment to connecting talent to opportunity?

Find out in the podcast!

You can listen to the entire conversation with Terrence Cummings here, or you can download the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 262: Terrence Cummings, chief opportunity officer, Guild Education
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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My guest on this week’s Work in Progress podcast is Bárbara Gómez, Ph.D., the associate director of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI). Dr. Gómez joins me to discuss the eighth annual State of Latino Entrepreneurship (SOLE) report released this morning.

Gómez is one of the principal investigators of the new SLEI report which shows that Latino-owned businesses (LOBs) continue to outpace the growth rates of white-owned businesses (WOBs) – and U.S. businesses in general – in terms of number of businesses and revenue.

“We continue to see this pattern. There is a continuous growth that Latino businesses have had in the past decades. We know that Latino business owners continue to strengthen the American economy, not only by increasing the total number of businesses that they start, but also by creating businesses that employ Americans,” she explains.

Gómez continues, “One of the biggest findings was that the number of Latino-owned businesses in America increased by 34% between 2007 and 2019, whereas the number of white-owned businesses in the same period of time decreased by 7 percentage points.”

There are now nearly 5 million Latino-owned businesses across the country, generating more than $800 billion in revenue.

It’s interesting to note that during the three years of the pandemic (2019-2022), “the median growth rate in revenue for LOBs was 25% and 9% for WOBs, and the median three-year compound annual growth rate for LOBs was 7% and 3% for WOBs,” according to the SLEI research.

Gómez says that while Latino entrepreneurs continue to grow, even thrive during unprecedented times such as COVID, they continue to face “systemic disparities that impact not only the growth of their businesses, but also the American economy. Among those challenges include unequal access to financing, as well as access to government and corporate contracts.”

Here is what the SLEI research finds.

Latino-owned businesses seeking loans from national banks have stronger business metrics than white-owned businesses, yet have lower approval rates for loans over $50,000. Also, LOBs receive substantially smaller contracts that take longer to secure from corporations and governments than WOBs, as much as 12 months.

“A year of loss, a year of uncertainty, a year of waiting that can impact not only the contract that you get, but your entire businesses as well,” she explains.

Dr. Gómez and I discuss more of the findings and some of the “whys” behind them. You can listen to the full podcast here or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 261: Bárbara Gómez, Ph.D., associate director, Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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My guest this week on the Work in Progress podcast is Mike May, who holds the title of chief evangelist at GoodMaps, a tech company helping the visually impaired navigate large venues such as convention centers, universities, hotels, and rail stations.

“We take the outdoor navigation that everybody’s used to and turn it into turn-by-turn navigation with GPS indoors. We do outdoors, but for most people, you lose your route and your directions once you go inside,” explain May.

May and I met at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January. He has firsthand experience with the challenges of navigating a big space such as the Las Vegas Convention Center, which is a whopping 4.6 million square feet. May was blinded in an accident when he was a young child.

May says there is a 70% unemployment rate among blind people — he is among the 30% with a “good, viable job” as he describes it.

“Technology’s a big part of getting a job, and getting to a job, and maintaining that job and performing, but there’s also about attitudes. And that’s something that’s going to be an ongoing process for everybody to understand that we’re all individuals, not all blind people operate the same way,” he explains.

He says technology such at GoodMaps can help increase the potential for hiring and advancement for people like him once they enter the workforce.

Mike May, chief evangelist, GoodMaps at CES (Photo: WorkingNation)Here is some of what May told me at CES.

“In terms of blind people, the better you get around, the better you engage in life and in a career. And so if you go to a company these days and they have hoteling, or open desks, how do you find your desk when it may not be in the same place every day?

“What if you go to see a client and you want to get to somebody’s office without having to have sighted assistance? So we’re providing independence and really the opportunity for career advancement and keeping a very precious job and doing it well by having the navigation component part of that equation.

“I’ve talked about how getting to and from a job and navigating within that job is important, but there’s a huge component about the tools that are available in a job. And there’s so many pieces of software these days that are marginally accessible.

“I could be sitting at my desk and only get 10% of the information that’s on the screen. And a lot of these big companies have software that’s not fully accessible. And so I may get through the hurdle of getting hired for a job, but then I can’t manage the payroll software, or the sales software, or something like Salesforce, which takes a lot of training.

“Even though these companies are making efforts to make this stuff accessible, that tends to be the most significant barrier once somebody does get hired.”

You can listen to the full interview here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 260: Mike May, chief evangelist, GoodMaps
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Lumina Foundation has long advocated for the goal of 60% of Americans earning college degrees or other high-quality credentials beyond high school by 2025. In this episode of Work in Progress, Courtney Brown, vice president of strategic impact and planning for Lumina Foundation, joins me with an update on the nation’s progress toward that goal.

“We advocate for learning beyond high school. We talk about high-quality learning and that includes any degree – associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, or higher – as well as a certificate or a workforce certification,” says Brown.

When Lumina first started tracking the country’s progress through its online data tool, A Stronger Nation, just 37.9% of adults between the ages of 25 and 64 had gotten a post-high school degree, credential, or industry certification.

“We are absolutely making progress. Over the 15 years, we have increased by 16 percentage points, which is pretty amazing. We’re almost at 54% (53.7%) as a nation now for attainment. That includes the short-term credentials, industry certification, as well as degrees,” explains Brown.

“For the first time ever, for degree attainment – associate degrees and higher – every single state increased in attainment, which, again, is really good news,” she adds.

The latest data, which comes from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, shows recent, significant increases in post-high school attainment by Hispanics and Black Americans.

“We saw a really large increase by the Hispanic and Latino population from 2019 to 2021. Their attainment increased by two-and-a-half percentage points. We saw similar for Black Americans; it increased about two percentage points. This is great news.”

While the overall gains are up, these populations still lag behind in degree attainment. Brown breaks down the numbers.

“(Whereas) the national attainment rate for degrees is about 46%, Black attainment is only at 34% and Hispanic attainment is almost 28%, and American Indian, Alaska Native attainment is just over 25%. White attainment (is) at 50%. Asian attainment (is) over almost 66%.

“You can see there’s a huge gap there between where these three populations sit and the national average. While the news is encouraging, there’s still a long way to go before we actually have an equitable attainment here,” she concludes

The Importance of Industry CredentialsLumina Foundation argues that there is an obvious need for changes in the way we look at education in this country.

“We need a new system for education beyond high school, one built on the expectation that every adult will earn a credential. More learning must be recognized – however it is obtained – and the system must be designed specifically to meet students’ needs,” according to the A Stronger Nation online site, which Brown oversees.

In the podcast, we discuss the importance of short-term industry credentials, in particular, and what they mean to the workforce of today and tomorrow.

Here is some of what she tells me.

“We want these credentials. One of the things when we think about a high-quality credential is they should lead to further learning. They should continue an opportunity for all Americans to have access to the next credential, so they can continue to skill and upskill and reskill as necessary.

“These short-term credentials are really essential for people to have so they can get a job. When I think about the Infrastructure Bill, the CHIPS Bill, and all the jobs that are going to be created, those individuals that are going to be hired need to have those skills.

“They need to have credentialed skills. A certificate in IT, a certification in plumbing, to help to demonstrate to an employer that they have the skills and knowledge that are necessary to get that job, to actually be successful in that job.

“We want to make sure that those individuals recognize that getting some type of learning beyond high school, getting on that pathway is really essential for them to get a good job and a good life and move forward.”

Brown and I had a lot more to talk about. You can listen to our full conversation here, or you can find the Work in Progress podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 259: Courtney Brown, VP strategic impact and planning, Lumina Foundation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Jennifer Goldsack, CEO of the Digital Medicine Society, joins me from CES 2023 earlier this month to discuss how technology is changing the skills needed in one of the most in-demand industries: health care.

From nurses accessing digital medical records to checkups via Zoom to interpreting flows and streams of data, nearly everyone who’s recently received health care has been touched by digital health care, even if that technology is out of view.

CEO Jennifer Goldsack tells me that the nonprofit Digital Medicine Society, or DiMe, is on a mission to advance ethical, equitable, and safe use of this digital technology to redefine health care and improve lives.

She explains the digitization of health care is transforming the way the industry cares for patients and the way the medical profession literally works. In other words, all health care work is digital.

“When was the last time you saw a job opening for a digital marketing consultant? It just doesn’t exist anymore. When was the last time we talked about digital in business? It doesn’t exist. Digital is the tool, the resources, the platforms that now power different industries. All digital medicine is, is high-quality, trustworthy digital tools that we deploy in the service of better caring for people,” Goldsack tells me.

Doctors, nurses, medical technicians – all rely on technology to treat patients. But Goldsack says it’s important to note that innovations in the field have broadened the opportunities in the industry. The demand for tech-savvy workers is bottomless.

“I feel really strongly that digital health is the most interdisciplinary field there is. From citizen scientists and cybersecurity experts to physicists and engineers who are making these chips to data scientists, product experts, clinical scientists, clinical care providers, health care executives, payers, regulators, funders, investors – they all have a part to play in shaping this industry and reimagining what it means to care for people in the digital era,” she says.

“Every single one of us working in the field has to take seriously our responsibility to build tools that actually help, that address high areas of unmet need for different populations.”

Software developers and engineers are helping build these news tools and Goldsack says attracting this tech talent to health care is a key initiative.

“There is an increased demand for those individuals across all industries. What is going to cause the really talented software engineer who builds high caliber algorithms to come into an industry where they can care for people as opposed to go and sell clicks somewhere else for a different paycheck?

“It’s interesting because we see those big tech companies with that in-house talent coming into the health care environment. I think if we can continue to hold as our North Star our shared responsibility to care for people, all people, it’s only going to be a good thing.”

There are shortages of health care workers with the right skills all across the industry and the country. Listen to the podcast to discover the three-pronged approach Digital Medicine Society is employing to help employers develop the pipeline of talent they need to help meet their goals – both for patient care and for their businesses.

Episode 258:Jennifer Goldsack, CEO, Digital Medicine Society
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
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For this episode of Work in Progress, I headed to Las Vegas for CES 2023, the huge Consumer Electronics Show.

As usual, there were thousands of cool new consumer products on display, including a wireless OLED TV at the LG booth, all kinds of at-home health care products, and a robot that was roaming the showroom floor apparently on its own.

That was all very interesting, of course, but I was mostly there to talk to business and workforce development leaders about how all this tech innovation is playing out in the workforce. In other words, someone has to make these new products, so what kind of skills do you need to have to be a part of this dominating tech industry.

A lot of leaders wanted to talk about this and I’ve a lot of great interviews in the coming weeks.

I’m kicking it off with some of my conversations at leaders from some well-known brands: Ford Motor Company, John Deere, and Siemens. The first two sell direct-to-consumer and the latter is B2B but has a role in so much of what we, as consumers, use in our everyday life.

I spoke with Laura Demarse, workforce development leader at Ford; Barbara Humpton, CEO of Siemens; and Felecia Pryor, chief people officer for Deere.

Our conversations centered around how each of those companies is really a tech company requiring tech workers. In each discussion, we talked about the type of skills they are hiring for and how they are working to upskill or reskill current employees.

Listen here, or download the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Oh, and here is that cool robot we spotted on the CES floor.

https://youtu.be/5xgvphmtJ64Episode 257:Barbara Humpton, Siemens; Laura Demarse, Ford Motor Company; Felecia Pryor, John Deere Company
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I’m joined by Maureen Conway, Aspen Institute VP and Executive Director of the Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program to discuss what makes a job a good job.

The Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program is focused on policies, strategies, and ideas that help people across the county build better livelihoods and better lives. One of the primary areas it focuses on is how do people do that in the context of the labor market and getting good jobs.

So, what makes a job a good job? Conway says there are three pillars to the framework.

“A good job should provide basic wages and benefits, giving you a stable standard of living. They should also provide opportunity to grow – so opportunity to learn new skills, opportunity to advance, opportunity to build wealth – this idea of opportunity for more, should you choose to pursue it,” says explains.

The third pillar is a sense of equity, dignity, and respect.

This means building a “workplace in which your access to the job, or your access to advancement, is not contingent on your race, your gender, your orientation, your ability status, your religion, any of those kinds of things. And that you know are respected in your workplace and that means that your ideas and are listened to taken into account,” Conway continues.

She says that these three pillars have been been at the heart of what workers have described as a good job for decades, and they also have been echoed by businesses themselves.

But, how close are we to achieving that ideal of a workforce made up of good jobs?

“The reality is a little bit far from the aspiration. Gallup did a survey of working people and found that only 44% of people said that they had a good job based on the things that were important to them. We know that too many jobs really don’t provide that basic wages and benefits that do provide that stable livelihood,” Conway says.

She cites Brookings Institution research that found that 53 million working adults were in jobs with low hourly wages. “This is a not insignificant number of people. It was about a third of the workforce in these jobs.”

So what are the contributing factors for this state of the workforce?

“We know that the economy has changed, technology has changed, the mix between production and service has changed. We have fewer unions. The ways that labor market is regulated has changed. There’s lots of things that have been pushing and you can pick whichever one you want.

“And in some ways I feel like it does matter in terms of understanding where we’ve been to help us understand where we need to go. But it also is not that productive to try to just pick a villain, because I think really we need everybody kind of figuring out what’s their role to getting towards this shared aspiration of people being able to be productively employed in good jobs,” she concludes.

So how do we get there?

Listen to Conway’s thoughts on that question in the podcast. You can listen here or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 256:Maureen Conway, Aspen Institute VP and Executive Director of the Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Gary Shapiro, president & CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), joins me to talk about the world’s biggest tech event – the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023 – underway this week in Las Vegas.

More than 100-thousand people are expected at CES to get a look at what’s ahead for us in 2023 and beyond from more than 1,000 exhibitors.

“What we’re going to see is the growth of so many categories such as digital health and EV (electric vehicles) and all the different transportation alternatives. It’s one of the largest car shows in the world, along with the whole ecosystem and new technologies that are coming, which the car companies are relying on,” says Shapiro.

He says there will be a lot of focus on artificial intelligence, virtual reality, cybersecurity, food security, agriculture, sustainability, and entertainment.

“They’ll be really cool. You will be inspired and you will come back with 50 story ideas,” Shapiro tells me.

Jobs in the Tech IndustryShapiro agrees that all companies are tech companies, inasmuch as technology plays a role in all industries now – from hospitality to retail to finance to manufacturing.

Over the past few months, there have been layoffs in the tech industry, but Shapiro remains very bullish on the industry and the American workforce.

“There are definitely tech layoffs going on. But even in the tech industry now, there’s more jobs open by a two-to-one ratio than there are jobs being lost. It’s just a matter of some companies rebalancing. Some companies will do well, some companies will go under, and that’s part of the creative destruction. That’s an important part of our innovation system,” he says.

“There are jobs out there that are in great demand right now. If you’re into data analytics, if you’re into cybersecurity, you could get a job immediately.

“One of the great things about our country is we are the global leader in innovation in so many areas and there’s so many reasons for that. It’s our culture. It’s the fact that we are an immigrant culture. Most of us came from people who wanted a better life. We’re the largest diverse culture in the world of any country. Diversity promotes innovation.

“You could start a small business, and potential employers view that as something that’s very positive. So we learn new skills. We’re willing to change. We’re willing to change what we’re doing and we’re willing even to do it later in life. I think that’s an important thing.

“The tech industry is wonderful because it’s been growing for many years now. The growth forever is impossible for any industry. So there’s cycles and maturity gives you the opportunity to view that historically and realize we’ll get out of this cycle, we’ll move forward.

“We have a very strong country, it’s still very innovative. We’re doing great things. I mean, we always see our own blemishes, but the reality is our people are really bright. Americans, they’re talented, they’re innovative, they solve problems and they come from everywhere.”

Virtual Reality and AIAs its name Consumer Electronic Show suggests, the tech innovations on display are geared toward the consumer, but there is no doubt it will also change the way we work. New technology often means transformed – even new – jobs. How we train for the skills needed for the jobs is also changing.

Virtual reality has been around for several decades now. More and more, it is being used to train workers for both new and old jobs. Shapiro says, “There are things that you would expect and things you wouldn’t expect, and you’ll see a lot of those at CES.”

“We all know where we’re going, getting there maybe bumpy and different and not totally as we expected, but the result will be there with VR. The best example that we’ve been doing for a while already is the airplane cockpit. It obviously costs a lot of money to fly someone on an airplane. It’s expensive, it’s dangerous, especially with a beginner. So, now the training has shifted over, so much of it is VR.

“But it doesn’t have to be just that. It could be for surgery. It could be for driving. It could be for many different areas of human endeavor where you are basically learning in a very sophisticated way through machines, if you will, that are very smart and they give you the education and experience, figure out what you’re doing wrong, give you the immediate feedback, correct you as opposed to how we’ve done things for thousands of years.

“There are so many entrepreneurs out there. There are so many people trying to do something. At CES, we have OVR, a company which is advancing virtual technology (through) smell, using different senses.”

Shapiro says VR can be used to educate both adults and children and “there’s also other things we’re doing to try to encourage people to learn.”

“There’s been a vision and technology that as artificial intelligence develops, it’ll allow people to have personalized education. Some people are oral learners. Some people are visual. Some people like rewards. Some people like games. Some people like recognition. We all learn differently and we have to figure out how it does work.”

ApprenticeshipsBecause of the gap between the skills many people have today and the skills that are changing in the workforce, CTA is putting a lot of emphasis on learn-and-earn experiences.

“One of the areas we have focused on as an organization is white collar apprenticeships. There’s a whole range of apprenticeship programs where you actually get paid for perhaps a year and you get a guaranteed job when you’re done and you’re skilled and trained in so many different areas.

“IBM has pioneered this, but other companies like Bosch and so many others have stepped up and said, ‘We want to do this as well.’

“I think that’s one of the models for the future. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

A Focus on Fundamental Human Securities and RightsShapiro says there’s an important new partnership this year with the United Nations, and a partner of theirs, the World Academy of Science and Technology “to focus on fundamental human securities or rights as we know them.”

“These are rights that every human being should have and technology makes them come alive – the right to health care, the right to clean air and clean water, the right to food, the right to community and involvement, the right to political choice and involvement. These are things which are fundamental to who we are as humans,” he tells me.

You can listen to the podcast here, or find it on whichever platform you get your podcast from.

Look for our reports on CES this week on social and weeks to come here on www.workingnation.com.

Episode 255:Gary Shapiro, president & CEO, Consumer Technology Association
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work of Progress, Dr. Jill Buban, general manager and VP of EdAssist by Bright Horizons, joins me to discuss the impact of employer-offered education benefits on closing the labor shortages in health care and other industries.

Industry experts have been sounding the alarm about the staffing shortages in health care for decades, and that shortage has evolved into a crisis following COVID, particularly in nursing and allied health care. New research from EdAssist by Bright Horizon and The Josh Bersin Company says the demand for nurses is going to grow 13% year-over-year between now and 2025.

Dr. Jill Buban says education benefits are the most powerful tool employers have to fill these growing needs.

“About 40% of our client base is from the health care industry, whether it be large hospital systems, health care systems, or medical centers around the country. We’ve been working with them for years, really looking at how their education benefit is becoming a strategic differentiator for them to attract talent and retain talented human beings that fit into their culture and maybe shift them to another job through a reskilling opportunity,” explains Buban.

She says that 38% of their health care client offers a no-cost education benefit and gives this example.

“We recently worked with OhioHealth to create a program that includes this no-cost option, meaning there’s the opportunity for people to go back to school with no out-of-pocket costs. We selected a group of institutions thoughtfully with them. We worked to be inclusive of many community colleges, as well as many local institutions within Ohio.”

EdAssist’s role is to assess the client’s “pain point” and skilling needs for their open jobs and then help establish pathways for the employees to attain those new skills.

“One way in which we’ve done that, we’ve created a suite of career pathways. We’re approaching 10 in the health care industry specifically, and those are in the highest-need, highest-demand areas. And we’ve gone through and vetted national institutions as well as national non-credit based learning. So people in the health care industry or thinking about the health care industry can easily think about what their trajectory could be, what that path could be.”

Buban says, in addition to upskilling current employees for open jobs at a local hospital system, the program raises awareness in the community, thus attracting new potential workers.

“While it could have been primarily to provide education internally to OhioHealth, it’s also like a buzz in these local communities that OhioHealth is here. They have these various openings.”

Buban says more than a third of EdAssist’s 250 clients – in industries such as health care, aerospace, defense, and financial services – added this type of no-cost education benefit this year.

“I think that so many of the careers continue to be recession-proof. I do think that we’re going to continue to see growth and participation of these programs, growth in the use of them as a differentiator to attract, definitely for health care and some of the other sectors, there’s just still such a large hiring need.”

You can learn more about the education benefits and their ability to help close the labor shortage in key industries in today’s podcast. Listen here, or download wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 254:Dr. Jill Buban, General Manager and VP, EdAssist by Bright Horizons
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute, joins me to discuss the how changing skills are disrupting the way we work, and what every job seeker and employer should do next.

In a report released December 1, How Skills are Disrupting Work, the Burning Glass Institute looks at how fast-emerging skills are disrupting the labor market. “These four skills – AI / machine learning, cloud computing, product management, and social media – are now required in 1 in 8 job postings representing 5 million job openings just over the last year,” according the the research.

“What we were interested in looking at is the skills that are doing the most to disrupt work,” Sigelman tells me. “These skills – by virtue of the fact that they’re spreading so fast – are coming to be foundational.”

These skills are growing the fastest and spreading the widest, says Sigelman, and that has the potential to be disruptive.

“Those sets of skills are where we see surging demand, where we predict continued surge in demand, and where we’re seeing them spread across sectors, across geographies. Those are the sets of skills where we probably already don’t have enough supply of talent and it’s going to get worse.

“That’s where you wind up upending the apple cart. These sets of skills are coming to define a set of jobs. Those jobs are hard to fill and they’re gonna get harder to fill.”

What does this mean for employers and workers?

“These are skills that are spreading from Silicon Valley to Main Street. If you’re an employer, this says you better be building that pipeline of talent, particularly if you’re an employer in a industry where maybe you actually don’t need this talent yet. They’re moving from the tech industry to every industry. Coming soon to theater near you, right? You need to be developing that pipeline today.”

“F or workers, this is an opportunity to put yourself in the cat bird seat in your career to be able to say, okay, where is the market going? What are the sets of skills that offer me not only the greatest value, the greatest pay premiums, and so forth, but what are the skills that are most likely to move me up.”

Sigelman and I dive deeper into the skills that are becoming fundamental and foundational, discussing how each applies in today’s job market.

You can listen to the entire podcast here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 253:Matt Sigelman, President, Burning Glass Institute
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn’t always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success.

In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we’ll examine those headwinds and solutions. We’ll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.

This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Earlier this month, I spent part of Global Entrepreneurship Week in Kansas City, Missouri. I went there because I had heard that K.C.-MO was a great example of a city and its people doing what they can to support entrepreneurs trying to start a business or trying to take that next growth step forward.

I truly was blown away by what I found.

Kansas City has a homey, small town vibe – easy to get around and welcoming – with a global, diverse population and attitude. Leaders from local government, the business community, nonprofits, and foundations are mentoring, funding, and breaking down barriers to capital for entrepreneurs who want to make KC their home base.

In 2016, Convene Magazine ranked Kansas City in the top 20 cities to start a business in the U.S. It also ranks high in other categories – top five for good pay and affordable housing, second best city for jobs, and the fourth most cultured city in the nation.

The engine of the K.C.-MO economy is small business startups and the city is doing everything it can to encourage them. It is a group effort. Mayor Quinton Lucas calls it the city’s “secret sauce.”

“(A) very few dollars into entrepreneurship actually goes a very long way. Compare that to a billion-dollar real estate property tax incentive where really you’re only getting those 4,000 jobs and they usually don’t bloom or grow any more,” Lucas tells me.

He says the goal is to give entrepreneurs with ambition and vision a little help, because when they succeed, the city prospers.

“Development isn’t just (saying) we’ll find a way to expand the giant department store. It’s instead saying, how come to be as diversified as possible both in businesses and the people who are represented within them, and more than anything, how do we help them grow and survive?”

There are many organizations out there helping the city create a welcoming environment for business owners. In this episode, we talk with leaders from KCSourcelink, The Porter House KC, and the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce about what they’re doing.

You’ll also meet a diverse group of entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, age, and experiences. They’ll explain why they chose to start their businesses in Kansas City and how they are getting help from the community – and each other – to ensure that they succeed.

And you’ll learn about a little corner of the city that has cultivated and grown businesses started by transplants from many other countries, something one resident described as like taking a “trip around the world’ without leaving home.

There is so much to share about how Kansas City residents work together to provide economic mobility and lift up the who community.

So, listen to the podcast here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Guests in this episode:

• Quinton Lucas, mayor, Kansas City
• Michael Carmona, senior director, KCSourcelink
• Bobbi Baker, president, Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce
• Dan Smith, co-founder, The Porter House Kansas City
• Jackie Nguyen, founder, Café Cà Phê
• Jahna Riley, founder, Aya Coffee and Books
• Risa Stein, founder, SeeInMe
• Cynthia Fails, founder, LaunchCrate Publishing
• Cameron Martin, founder, Love is Key

Episode 252:Entrepreneurship is Kansas City, Missouri’s ‘secret sauce’
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success.

In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we’ll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.  

This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

According to research by the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, the odds of Latino-owned businesses getting loans from national banks are 60% lower than all other businesses. In 2020 Latino-owned businesses received less than 2% of the available venture capital funding in the U.S. That’s despite Latino-owned businesses pumping $470 billion into the economy. 

Nevertheless, the number of Latino-owned employer firms has grown 35% over the last decade, compared with 4.5% among white-owned businesses, with job growth outpacing even that. 

McKinsey and Company has new research showing that if Latino businesses’ access to capital was improved – and their representation in growing sectors such as tech increased – they would contribute an additional $2.3 trillion in revenue to the economy and create 750,000 new employer firms, resulting in more than six million jobs.

Martha Montoya is a Latina who comes from an entrepreneurial family, but she didn't set out to be her own boss. She started her own tech company five years ago – Agtools – after leaving a very successful 25-year career in logistics in the global agriculture industry.

David Favela is a Latino who started his Border X Brewing company after his nephews received a home-brewing kit as a Christmas present. He kept his day job even as he and his family moved his small business from his home to three brick-and-mortar locations.

Montoya and Favela took two very different entrepreneurial paths to create a successful company of their own. They share their journeys with us in this episode, talking about financing and the can-do spirit.

Episode 251: Charting the Latino Founder's JourneyHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success.

In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we’ll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.  

This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

According to research by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in 2021 one out of ten new entrepreneurs in the U.S. were Black. Around one in 14 were Asian American. One quarter were Hispanic. And more than half were white. 

The percentage of entrepreneurs from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds is growing,  but they still have significant barriers to accessing the financial capital they need to start and grow their businesses. 

In this episode, we'll speak with business owners of color who faced those barriers and overcame them to create and build their companies. We'll also hear from the leaders of programs that are helping fund and mentor these businesses, putting them on a path to success.

Guests in this episode:

Kelly Holmes, founder & editor-in-Chief, Native Max New Media

Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, co-founder, Known Holdings

Lisa Gevelber, founder, Grow with Google

Oscar Pedroso, founder & CEO, Thimble IO

Bill Bynum, founder & CEO, HOPE

Tinia Pina, founder & CEO, Re-Nuble

Episode 250: Breaking Down the Barriers to Equitable Access to Financial CapitalHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success.

In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we’ll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.  

This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

When people join the military, they find clear duties and unwavering chains of command – essentially their career is mapped out for them. But when a service member leaves the military, they can struggle with deciding “what’s next?”

Many have learned valuable skills in the service, but it can be difficult convincing an employer that those skills will translate to a civilian job. Instead of looking for full-time employment, some veterans choose to strike out on their own, as entrepreneurs.

It’s a path that can also work for military spouses who face their own challenges finding work… because of gaps in their resumes caused by repeated redeployments with their loved ones. 

In this episode, you'll hear from entrepreneurs, nonprofit, education, and business leaders – all veterans and military spouses themselves – on mapping your own path to career success after your time in the military is over.

Guests in this episode:

Krystyne Wilson, founder, Sweet Peas Play Café

Barb Carson, managing director of programs and services, D'Aniello Institute of Veterans and Military Families

Joshua Wilson, corporate relationship manager, America's Warrior Partnership

Jason Murff, founder & CEO, Grill Your Ass Off

Vivian Greentree, SVP and head of global corporate citizenship, Fiserve

Camila Reyes Camacho, head of operations, Native Chats

Ikram Mansori, COO, VetsinTech

Mark Montefiori, founder, Mountain Flower Concessionaires

Episode 249: Veterans and Military Spouses: Mapping Their Own Career PathsHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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It's National Disability Employment Awareness Month and this October we've been highlighting organizations that are on a mission to help people with disabilities join the workforce.

First, let me acknowledge that technical difficulties and a bit of a bug got the best of me this week. The audio quality on my part of the latest podcast is not the best – and I'm a bit under the weather, so no chance to redo the interview – but, we really want to share what Anthony Shriver, founder, chairman, & CEO of Best Buddies, and his organization are doing to help people with developmental and intellectual disabilities find jobs and economic independence.

"An estimated 81% of adults (18+) with developmental disabilities do not have a paid job in the community. The Best Buddies Jobs program has participants employed full time who each have the potential to earn a total income upwards of $1 million over 30 years and contribute $250 thousand in taxes back into the economy," according to the organization.

Best Buddies has placed workers with hundreds of employers, assisting with the hiring process and providing ongoing support to the employee and employer.

Integrating people with intellectual and developmental disabilities into the workforce is one of the four mission pillars of the nonprofit Anthony Shriver founded in 1989 and he says this one is very close to his heart.

Here is some of what he shares with me in the interview.

Contributing in a Meaningful Way

"We're trying to tackle all the different challenges that most people have in their life – developing a great social network, building confidence, and having social skills is critical for any job, for any person that has success in their life.

"Having good training is super important to building confidence and opportunities. Having a good place to rest your head every night is critical for everybody. And I think having the place where you can go every day and feel like you're part of a team – that you're contributing, that you have purpose, that you know you're valuable, that you mean something, that you count, that you matter – is critical.

"Those are the main sort of tenets in our life. If you can chip away at all those and cover those bases for another human being, you're contributing in a meaningful way to their life."

Why Jobs are a Pillar of the Best Buddies Mission

"I started with the concept of the value of social connection, friendship, mentoring, and that we all need a great support system to be able to achieve our goals. One of my great loves and passions and satisfaction (is what) I get is from being on a team and getting compensated for what I'm doing and being able to take care of myself financially.

"I wanted people with special abilities to have that same opportunity, to feel that same energy that I felt., to feel the same challenge that you get from working in a business and having a job and the opportunity to determine how you're going to spend your money, and the opportunities that come with independence.

"It's been something important to me from my childhood – when I had little businesses – and I wanted that to become part of the Best Buddies mission."

Helping Participants Find Jobs That They are Interested in Doing

"We have people working in law firms – a lot of them doing data entry, a lot of them working in mail rooms. We have people working at technology companies in Silicon Valley. We have some working in schools – teachers assistants, after-school teachers, after-school care activities, and counseling activities. We've been really effective in the retail sector...working in the stock room, working on the aisles, working behind the cash registers, working at information desks.

"The jobs are all over the place. It really comes down to having our staff doing a lot of early intervention when they're in high school and training and intervening when they're young, trying to get them job ready.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm joined by Todd Greene, executive director of WorkRise, a research-to-action network on jobs, workers, and economic mobility. Greene is also an institute fellow with the Urban Institute which hosts the WorkRise initiative. We discuss rethinking and reframing how we value workers.

Greene explains the research-to-action mission. "WorkRise is really about...taking the research that already exists and building out additional research and putting that into a framework that can help to create more action and solutions that can address real economic mobility."

What are the barriers to economic mobility? Greene says it depends on who you ask.

"If I was to ask an employer, an employer might say a big barrier in the labor market is I don't have people to show up and who can come to work or who present with the set of skills that meet my expectations for what I need to accomplish my business needs."

On the other hand, he continues, if you ask the worker about what's really important or what isn't working, there is an entirely different point of view.

"These workers' wages are not keeping up with where they need to go economically to be successful, but there are other issues that are also very important, issues around how they're being treated and dignity and respect. But more generally, there are opportunities about how they're accessing training, what types of training, what information they're presented with that's really going to create the outcomes that they want to see to advance their own mobility," Greene explains.

WorkRise brings together the stakeholders to find solutions to these barriers to mobility.

Greene tells me that one step forward would be for employers to address workers' concerns more directly, which would solve employers' labor shortfall and put workers on the path to better economic outcomes.

"We are at a point where we should be thinking differently about the value of workers. In the past, employers have thought about workers as a cog in the wheel, but perhaps if we reframe that thinking and if we view workers more as an investment in our process, or an investment in terms of reaching our goals, then I think that also helps to shift our thinking about how we view workers.

"In addition to the wage issue, we've talked about benefits. We've also talked about opportunities for advancement within the company. How are individuals presented with opportunities around hiring, not just hiring, but also promotion? What are they going to encounter? How can employers invest in providing workers with better skills? How are jobs designed? Are they designed in a way that workers can feel like they are contributing and have some autonomy?"

Greene and I also discussed how employers are finding and nurturing talent.

"We've got to think more inclusively about who works and who's a part of our workforce. A lot of companies have adopted many diversity, equity, and inclusion frameworks. While this is not anything new, the reality of it is is that employers are going to have to think differently about how they're accessing minority workers, immigrant workers.

"Those are going to be individuals who perhaps aren't necessarily the primary targets of some employers, but we've got to think differently about how we want to engage and bring them into the workforce in a way that can add value to the company.

"That might mean earlier investments in early childhood education and in high schools and in technical programs to help to support those workers, so that when they are ready for the workforce that they are on a more equal playing field so that they can be competitive in our work.

"We need these people in our workforce, and so it's up to all of us to figure out and to redouble our efforts in looking for opportunities to engage that broader segment."

There is so much more to this discussion on how to rethink how we value workers and creating a path to gr...

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In this episode of Work in Progress, David Socolow, executive director of the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority and Tracy Palandjian, CEO and co-founder of Social Finance join me to discuss a new, first-of-its-kind state workforce development project which is financing training for family-sustaining careers.

The New Jersey Pay It Forward Program is a partnership between the state and the nonprofit to fund education for well-paying jobs in in-demand industries such as health care, cybersecurity, IT, skilled trades, and clean energy.

The unique financing structure offers zero-interest, no-fee loans to students who might not otherwise have the income, savings, or credit history to take out a loan to pay for the training.

The Pay It Forward fund that the state has established through Social Finance will be paying all the tuition and other fees for individuals who go through select credential, certificate, and degree programs..

The inaugural training programs and providers are registered nursing at Hudson County Community College, cybersecurity at New Jersey Institute of Technology, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) and welding at Camden County College. 

"This program is very much thinking about how we align the workforce development agenda with the (state's) economic development agenda. Students enroll at no upfront cost. I love the phrase that (Governor Murphy) uses – 'The living stipend and the wraparound support services are all on the house,' meaning that it's grant funded, it's not going to be repaid," explains Palandjian.

Socolow calls it a "terrific opportunity for us to get additional workforce training financed in a unique way. We are filling in funding gaps with this unique public-private partnership." Socolow points out the program has co-investment from the eight companies in the New Jersey CEO Council.

"Those are some of the largest companies in New Jersey that have bought into this program and want to fund this opportunity for workers to get training for in-demand skills. And we have some state funding from the state budget," he adds.

There are some other student-friendly economic terms. Borrowers don't have to start paying back the loan until they get a job with a specific income level. After five years, the loan balance will be forgiven for borrowers in good standing. Additionally, all loan payments will be recycled back into the fund to ‘pay it forward’ for future students tapping into the training program.

"We are confident that the outcomes are going to be good and that this will in fact recycle. The money will come back to the fund, because the worker is going to get a great job and they're going to repay an affordable percentage of their income back into the fund to train future workers, to 'pay it forward,'" says Socolow.

Palandjian says, "We are able to design these generous terms because of the generosity of the state, frankly. But if you compare it to the status quo, I think David would be first to agree, that from the state's financial perspective, any recyclability, even if it's 50 cents on the dollar, 30 cents on the dollar, it's still financially better than a straight out grant."

You can listen to the full podcast here, or download and listen to it wherever you get your podcasts.

Read more about the New Jersey Pay It Forward Program here.

Episode 246: Tracy Palandjian, Social Finance CEO & co-founder and David Socolow, HESAA NJ Executive DirectorHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Opportunity@Work CEO and co-founder Byron Auguste joins me to discuss the new Tear the Paper Ceiling ad campaign launched last week by Opportunity@Work, the Ad Council, and nearly 50 partner organizations, including WorkingNation.

Approximately 70 million U.S. workers have in-demand skills and experience, but they are being overlooked for higher-wage jobs because they don't have a bachelor's degree. Employers requiring job seekers and workers to have that four-year degree before being hired or promoted have created a "paper ceiling," an invisible barrier to upward economic mobility.

The new campaign calls for employers to tear down that paper ceiling and let STARs – workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes – shine.

"STARs don't have bachelor's degrees. They typically have high school diplomas and they're working," says Auguste. As the name explains, they've gotten their skills and experience other ways, through some college credits, the military, or certificate programs. "Most of all, STARs have gained those skills by working. It's intuitive. If you think about it, most of the skills we deploy in our own jobs – whether we are STARs or not – are skills that we have learned by working," he adds.

Auguste tells me that while school is important, generally what you learn on the job is the most relevant and important. He says Opportunity@Work data shows that of those 70 million STARs, 30 million have the skills needed for those higher-wage jobs, if only they were given the chance to use them.

A college degree can be a bridge to opportunity, he adds, but "it shouldn't be a draw bridge that pulls up and if you can't cross it there is no other path to opportunity. You don't have to be against college to be for so many different routes for people to succeed."

Auguste says he doesn't like to say that a job "requires" a bachelor's degree. "Take an executive assistant, for example. That is a job that requires a lot of organization. It is a very skilled job and an incredibly important gateway job. Admin assistants become project managers and more. To this day, two-thirds of these assistants do not have bachelor's degrees.

"So, how can something be 'required' when two-thirds of the people doing that job don't have one. It is more than of a 'screen' that is arbitrarily reducing the number of folks who can come into a field." he argues.

Tear the Paper Ceiling

Opportunity@Work and Auguste have long championed the advancement of STARs in the workforce. That's the mission behind the Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign – getting employers to remove the bachelor's degree screen in jobs that don't really need them.

"Companies should value skills, however someone got them. I think the smartest companies get this and more and more you're seeing companies actually say 'we want ways to find skills, whether you graduated from college or not.'

"We understand that a company can't interview everyone who applies, so you need to have some way to create a short list. We are working to create 'screen-in' signals. What are all the ways – the diverse ways – you can tell that someone has a skill set that's relevant for a job. That's what we need to do both for companies for entire industries and for the economy of this country. Because if half your skilled workforce is shut out or – barriers are put in their way before they can even get started – that's a pretty terrible way to run an economy. And we need to move past that."

You can listen to the full podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Read more about the Tear the Paper Ceiling campaign.

Episode 245: Byron Auguste, CEO & Co-Founder, Opportunity@WorkHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I speak with Charlotte Gossett Navarro, chief director of the Hispanic Federation Puerto Rico about efforts to rebuild and revitalize the island territory five years after the worst storm in its recent history.

Almost five years to the day, Hurricane Fiona slammed into Puerto Rico this weekend, causing massive flooding and knocking out power to the entire island. It could be days or weeks before power is fully restored. While Fiona is directly responsible for the outage, the unreliable power grid is to blame.

Just weeks before this latest storm, I spoke with Charlotte Gossett Navarro, chief director of the Hispanic Federation Puerto Rico about the lasting impact of another devastating hurricane. On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria struck the island, killing more than 3,000 people, damaging more than 45,000 businesses, and leaving 40,000 people out of work.

Navarro and I talked about the rebuilding effort being led by the Hispanic Federation. One of the key topics of conversation was the ongoing issues with the Puerto Rican energy grid, an issue that continues to plague the island.

'A timely conversation'

Navarro had a lot to say to me about the energy situation on the island. Our conversation was on September 9th. Here is what she told me.

"It's a very timely conversation to have because here have been ongoing protests here in Puerto Rico about the outages that we continue to have constantly, and that in the last year have actually gotten worse and have been more frequent. And so unfortunately, I cannot say that our energy grid is in a much stronger place than it was after Hurricane Maria.

"We did have the longest blackout in U.S. history, in Puerto Rico's history after Maria, in some locations lasting up to a year. And so we have energy again. However, the consistency, the reliability of that energy, the resilience of the system, is not there. And to that end, the goal of trying to bring more renewable energy to Puerto Rico and really help Puerto Rico transition to 100% renewable energy is our goal in the Hispanic Federation."

Navarro says the goal is to install decentralized rooftop solar energy systems.

"The energy infrastructure is a very centralized infrastructure that's located in the south and then has transmission lines that cross the whole island. Sometimes simple things that cause a problem in one location can cause blackouts for half of Puerto Rico. We continue to see that problem.

"Most recently, we saw the issue affect our health system again. It affected our health system after Maria, and then just a few weeks ago, our largest hospital system lost power for 24 hours. The main energy from the electric grid failed and, then unfortunately, the damage that these blackouts and these outages have to our appliances, our different systems, caused their generator to fail as well. So we had, again, the largest hospital system with no energy. And then a week later, the pediatric wing of another one of our hospitals had no energy.

"For us, we talk about energy as more than just infrastructure, more than just the technology and the equipment that's needed, but really it is about the humans that are affected behind it," Navarro tells me.

Renewable Energy Needs a Skilled Workforce

Navarro says in 2019, Puerto Rico passed a law mandating the island is 100% reliant on renewable energy sources by the year 2050. The primary source of energy is going to be solar energy because that's what makes sense for Puerto Rico,. she adds.

"In order to do that, we need a workforce that can meet that sort of demand to really be able to install the amount of solar energy systems that we're talking about. And that is a training that does require some specialized skills, and we don't currently have enough of the workforce development programs there to do that.

"There needs to be a special curriculum created. The curriculum that's actually used within the U...

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In this episode of Work in Progress, WorkingNation founder & CEO Art Bilger and WorkingNation president Jane Oates join me to discuss how the labor market and workforce priorities continue to evolve after two-and-a-half years of global disruptions.

September marks the sixth anniversary of the launch of WorkingNation, the nonprofit media organization founded by Art Bilger focused on the evolution taking place in the labor market and how to prepare workers for those changes.

A lot has changed in those six years, but the mission remains the same.

"The original mission – still the mission today – was to identify where the jobs of the future will be, and I don't mean 20 years from now. I'm talking about today, but also three years from now, five years, seven years from now and then identifying and then telling the stories about the solutions," explains Bilger.

As we've discussed many times in articles, podcasts, and videos, COVID altered the way we work, for all of us.

The most recent U.S. employment report showed 20 straight months of sustained job growth and we’ve more than recovered the 20 million jobs lost at the start of the pandemic two-and-a-half years ago.

But, there are still very real labor issues that we, as a society, must continue to address – underemployment, inequitable access to economic opportunity, and labor shortages in key industries due to a lack of workers with certain in-demand skills, to name a few.

Oates cites the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020 as a wakeup call that there was gross inequity in every part of our society, including in access to economic opportunity. "That's become really a mission for everyone, including us.

"I would say the word 'mobility' has become much more important. It is no longer just getting you in the door for your first job. It's making sure that every single person has the opportunity to move up the pay scale, the job title scale, and advance themselves," she adds.

Bilger agrees. "I do believe there is a lot more discussion (about access to economic opportunities) than when we first began six years ago. That's great, but there's a lot of learning that still has to happen. I would very much like the subject that we're talking about and the solutions to be elevated much more quickly in this society," he says.

"I feel as strong, if not stronger than ever, about the whole idea of the link between employment and purpose in life," Bilger adds. "Yes, dollars and cents are critical, but I do believe there's much more to employment."

"It's hard for me not to think that most people are still worried about salary, because with right now at 8.5% inflation rate, everybody's dollar is worth less than it was before. But I think that Art's right when he says it's more than money. It's flexibility. It's, 'Are you investing in me?,'" Oates adds.

"More employers than ever are looking at the importance of, A, providing a quality job, B, getting workers', both incumbent workers' and prospective workers', input on what quality means," according to Oates.

In the podcast, Bilger weighs in on another issue he is concerned about – the increase in remote working and its impact on team work and innovation. Oates also shares her thoughts on the way we talk about higher education as a pathway to a good career – let's not send the wrong message to job seekers and workers.

There is a lot more to talk about here. You can listen to the podcast here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

And to all my WorkingNation colleagues, happy anniversary.

Episode 243: Art Bilger, WorkingNation founder & CEO and Jane Oates, WorkingNation presidentHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at thi...

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Alison Ascher Webber, director of strategic initiatives, U.S., with EdTech Center @ World Education, joins me to discuss adult digital literacy.

Digital literacy is an essential skill for today's workforce, yet 30 millions of adults are still struggling to learn basic technology and one in five Americans still don't have internet access. The digital divide remains a serious barrier to work and education opportunities.

Webber was one of the lead researchers on a new report from the Digital Resilience in the American Workforce (DRAW), a joint initiative from World Education, Jobs for the Future (JFF), and Safal Partners, with support from the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE).

The report examines the digital landscape to better understand the extent of the divide and what's causing it. The next steps include devising strategies and providing the resources educators need to close that divide.

"Formal instruction is critical and very important," says Webber. "At the same time, if you're talking about closing some of these shocking divides in who has access to the internet devices and digital skills development opportunities, we need to get a lot more human-centered in our program, design, and delivery. And our funding streams need to figure out how to pay for that."

One way to create a more human-centered approach, according to the findings, is to establish digital navigation supports "in locations and services that people are already trusting and using. For example, when someone goes to a health clinic, when someone goes to an adult education program, when someone goes to their children's school, those are all touch points that need to be leveraged to support individuals," explains Webber.

She adds, "No one should come to an adult education program or a workforce program and...not have had their digital inclusions needs met at the very first intake point. We need to figure out, 'Do you have internet? Do you have access to device? Do you need help with your foundational digital skills?'"

She adds that establishing a personal connection and trust with learners who are still developing foundational digital literacy is key to closing the divide. Educators should tap into what adult learners already know. "The move should be away from a deficit-based model of instruction to a strengths-based one that recognizes what a learner can already do with technology and build from there."

"Digital literacy is a critical literacy that you need now to operate in this world, to get the information you need, to access opportunities. And if we don't address that first, we're doing a disservice to individuals in our communities."

Our conversation just scratched the surface of the report, which you can read for yourself here.

You can listen to the full podcast here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 242: Alison Ascher Webber, EdTech Center @ World Education, director of strategic initiatives, U.S.Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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During the height of the Industrial Revolution, the labor movement fought for decent wages and days off. As a result, economic conditions for working men and women have been dramatically improved over the last hundred plus years.

President Grover Cleveland signed a national act in 1894 making the first Monday in September Labor Day, a federal holiday.

Watch our animated video to learn more about the history of Labor Day.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm talking about dual mission institutions with Carrie Besnette Hauser, Ph.D., president and CEO of Colorado Mountain College in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and Marion Fedrick, president of Albany State University in Albany, Georgia.

Here’s a phrase you’ll hear us say a lot at WorkingNation: "the best solutions to education and workforce issues are local." The nation's 400-plus dual mission colleges and universities are doing just that.

What's interesting about these schools is that they offer a blend of two- and four-year degrees under one roof, along with certificate programs in various industries with local employers helping drive the curriculum. And they're very affordable.

Sometimes they're the only game in town, so to speak. "We are most often in rural communities or in places where there aren't a collection of other institutions.," explains Hauser. "In our case, we operate almost like a system. We have 11 campuses. We are accredited as one institution, but we serve essentially the mountain ski resorts of Colorado. We were founded on this premise."

Albany State University is an HBCU located in rural southwestern Georgia. "I still get chills after running this institution for over five years, because it means so much in the communities where we live," says Fedrick. "(The) work that we've been doing over the last five years is to make it seamless for all students to actually go from those certificates to two-year degrees into our four-year degrees. We have master's degrees at Albany State, as well."

Local Career Focus

So, what type of education and training do dual mission schools offer? The answer: is it depends on what your community needs.

"We prepare a lot of our students to go right to work. And it's because businesses have told us what they want and what they need," says Fedrick.

"We have a Marine Corps logistics base – it's the fourth largest logistics base in the nation – and they are right here in Albany. We've partnered with them on different degrees that they want (including) supply chain management," she tells me.

Fedrick adds that about 45% of the student body is studying for health care professions. "Nurses, physical therapists, dental hygiene, (medical) coding – we have all of those degrees. Some are certificate degrees, others are associate degrees. We have a bachelor's degrees in nursing as well."

Hauser explains that

"We don't offer a lot of programs because they don't have relevance in these communities," says Hauser. "We train nurses. We train law enforcement officers. We train teachers. We train people that are part of the backbone of these communities."

Some of the programs are unique to only Glenwood Springs and the surrounding area. "We have one of the few avalanche science programs in the country, which would make sense for us. The reason that we offer a blend of degree programs, and types of degree programs, is because they're not offered in other places."

The Value of a Dual Mission Institution

Colorado Mountain College was recently named a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and Albany State University is the largest Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in Georgia.

A dual mission college or university is more affordable, thereby expanding access to education and good jobs in the community at different paces for different people.

Hauser explains it this way. "We're open access and we do have such interest in these diverse, welcoming environments for anybody. That's innate to the work that we do, and why we think this dual mission model is so very relevant, critical, and important right now, particularly post-pandemic. We've had people come back, they're retraining," says Hauser.

"The quicker, the better for a lot of these programs. And so it doesn't necessarily mean that a four- or five- or six-year bachelor's degree is the right choice. It might be a quicker step.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Stan Ball, vice president and chief litigation counsel for Eaton Corporation, and I discuss tearing down barriers to employment for people with a criminal record.

There are more than 80 million people in the U.S. – one in three Americans – has some type of criminal record. Even when it includes only a misdemeanor arrest or conviction, that record poses a significant barrier to employment.

Research from Harvard shows that more than 80% of employers require job applicants to undergo a background check, and a criminal record can reduce the chances of a second interview by 50%. 

The typical unemployment rate for justice-involved individuals is between 24% and 27% and formerly-incarcerated people who are Black have a five-times higher jobless rate compared to the general population.

The Second Chance Business Coalition

The Second Chance Business Coalition (SCBC) is an organization of 42 large companies that are committed to expanding second chance hiring and advancement within in their companies to justice-involved individuals.

The group was co-founded in April of 2021 by JPMorgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon and Eaton chairman and CEO Craig Arnold. SCBC was inspired by the Business Roundtable decision to form a committee on racial equity and justice to eliminate racial disparities in economic opportunities.

Both groups believe that second-chance policies have the potential to expand economic and life opportunities for individuals who have paid their debt to society.   

Ball is an Eaton executive who often speaks on behalf of SCBC.

"If we believe in our justice system with all of its faults – when someone is convicted and they are given a sentence – with the time served it should be done. It should be over with. That should be the end of it.

"But if our practices in terms of looking at potential employees is to say, 'Well, you've got this on your record. We really don't care whether or not you've paid your debt to society or not. We're still going to attach the stigma to you.' That's the equivalent of a life sentence when it comes to finding meaningful employment," says Ball.

And with the documented needs for workers, he adds, it is time to work to ensure that this pool of talent is not left out of the hiring.

"It's unfortunate that in America we have gotten into this culture of sidelining talent in massive numbers and this is a great time for us in our history to pivot, to pull people off the sidelines and get them back in the game," says Ball.

In our conversation, we talk about some of the steps SCBC members are incorporating to make this a reality. We also examine some of the progress being made.

You can listen to the podcast here, or download it whereever you get your podcasts.

Episode 240: Stan Ball: VP and Chief Litigation Counsel, Eaton CorporationHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Dr. Mardy Leathers, director of the Missouri Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development discusses an innovative new career training program available to all the state's high school juniors and seniors.

More on the new Launch Missouri's Workforce initiative a little later, but first an update on how the state's workforce has bounced back from the job loss caused by the COVID pandemic.

I first met Dr. Leathers in July of 2020 when I interviewed him about the state's plans to help the hundreds of thousands of people who lost their jobs at the start of the pandemic rejoin the workforce. We discussed the free training programs being offered to all Missourians who were jobless and collecting benefits.

Through its Return Strong Missouri program, the state partnered with online learning platform Coursera to give unemployed Missourians free access to 3,800 courses to help them “develop the knowledge and skills to become re-employed."

By all accounts, the program was a success.

"We've restaffed about 94% of all the jobs that we lost during the pandemic. We are at 40-year lows for unemployment. Our U-3 is at 2.8%, that equates about 82,000 Missourians who are currently receiving an unemployment benefit. That's from a peak of nearly 800,000 Missourians in the onslaught of the pandemic," Leathers tells me.

The program was such a success, explains Leathers, the state has extended its offer of free Coursera classes to all Missourians.

"Any Missourian who's over the age of 18 and eligible for work in the United States has access to a 12-month license for Coursera, including for incumbent workers who are working, but want to skill up. For instance, in Missouri, 94% of all of our job postings – of which there's about 218,000 – Microsoft Excel is in the job description. So, if you haven't taken an Excel class in a while, or you want to beef up, guess what, Coursera can help you do that. Maybe you'll need to learn how to manage a remote team. Guess what, Coursera can help you do that," he tells me.

This is part of the state's overall plan to get Missourians on a path to a good career, no matter their age.

According to Leathers, "What we've tried to do is democratize access to skill development by a number of ways, whether it's through our certifications through our partnership with our community colleges, our apprenticeship expansion."

"Certainly, Launch Missouri's Workforce is a big part of that. We see it as a way to continue to increase the different options available for Missouri citizens who want to skill up and grow in their careers."

Launch Missouri's Workforce: Virtual and Hands-on Career Training for High Schoolers

Launch Missouri's Workforce combines virtual career learning with in-person labs, arming high school students with the skills training they need to get industry-recognized credentials for today's in-demand jobs. Leathers explains that virtual program doesn't supplant hands-on learning, but instead allows anything that can be taught virtually to be taught first, then in-person labs and workshops will supplement that training.

Launch Missouri's Workforce is offering career pathways in eleven industries vital to the state's economy.

"Missouri's a pretty diverse state. We're a midwestern state. We're right in the middle of the country, so transportation logistics is a big deal. Aerospace. We're a big defense contractor. Most of the Boeing defense planes are created right here in St. Louis. But we also look at health care. We look at technology jobs, both on the IT side, but also across all sectors – whether it's cybersecurity or networking or a managed services help desk. Those cross all sectors," he tells me.

"What we want to be able to do is say these are the industry sectors that are prevalent in Missouri. If you are going to live and work in Missouri, we want to make sure you have the tools and opportunity to be successful.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, my guest is Maria Heidkamp, director of program development and a senior research the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

Long-term unemployment continues to be a long-term problem for the nation's oldest job seekers. In June, more than a quarter of job seekers over the age of 55 were out of work for more than 27 weeks, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job seekers aged 16 to 54 make up just only 19.1% of the long-term unemployed.

"One thing we know about long-term unemployment is that it can just wreak havoc on older workers' motivation, their confidence, their self-esteem. Stress due to long-term unemployment can really interfere with people's motivation and also their executive functioning. Those are the very kinds of skills people need to undertake a successful job search," explains Heidkamp.

Heidkamp led the Center’s effort to design and implement the New Start Career Network, which has served over 6,000 long-term unemployed older job seekers since opening in 2015. The free program helped midcareer workers navigate the changing job market through online tools, job fairs, community partnerships, and career coaches.

"I would consider our most innovative component (the) access to personalized coaching provided by trained volunteers. The coaches were not just talking about how to fix a resume or how to have a better LinkedIn presence. Those were important, but the coaches really were there to help with accountability and motivation and rebuilding their confidence. The empathy and compassion that the coaches shared with the job seekers was huge," she says.

Many of the coaches themselves either knew people who had been long-term unemployed or themselves had gone through a stretch of long-term unemployment. The coaches helped the job seekers process their stress through a number of ways, improving their overall emotional wellbeing.

"That could be as simple as taking a walk in nature or finding a project to work on where you maybe achieve some level of success. It may not be as a new job, but there might be something you've done that you can feel good about.

"Some of the coaches specialized in helping provide structure and accountability, which some job seekers wanted, and maybe others were good with how to think about making some kind of career transition, so we also had coaches that provided different kinds and levels of support depending on what some of the job seekers needed."

Now after seven years, the program is shutting down. "We hope that the lessons we learned can help others supporting this population across the public workforce system," says Heidkamp.

"It is critical to provide emotional support to all job seekers, but in particular, to long-term unemployed job seekers. I think it was great for us to learn how wonderful volunteers can be. We had people we recruited through Rutgers' alumni associations, through the Governor's Office of Volunteerism, through United Way, or AARP, and others.

"Some of them were professional coaches who just liked the idea of donating some time to help others were aspiring coaches who were working toward getting their coaching certification and wanted to use this as a way to foster their skills. But others had no coaching background whatsoever.

"It was just a wonderful thing. We've got to find ways to build that into public workforce system programs, as well as the programs of community-based organizations."

You can read the final report on the program from the Heldrich Center here.

Early in the program, WorkingNation profiled one of the midcareer job seekers helped by the New Start Career Network, Joe Konopka. Heidkamp tells us she recently ran into him and he continues to thrive in the job he got after the personalized counseling.

https://youtu.be/7qeRYJ6oUKk

Episode 238: Maria Heidkamp, director of program development, Heldrich Center,

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In this episode of Work in Progress, my guest Josh Christianson and I discuss continuing efforts to increase inclusion and accessibility in the workforce for people with disabilities, both physical and cognitive.

Christianson is the inclusion and accessibility lead at Wheelhouse Group and also serves as the project director for the Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeship (PIA). In both roles, he works to increase the employment of underserved communities, including people with disabilities.

Additionally, we are proud to announce, Christianson recently joined the WorkingNation Advisory Board.

More than 61 million adults in the U.S. – around one-in-four – identify as having a disability, whether it is around vision, hearing, or motor disabilities related to limbs, or cognitive disabilities such as autism, ADHD, or related to mental health. Some genetic diseases are also considered a disability.

Christianson adds, "It's also important to consider that it can come at different times in your life. It's one of the largest – quote unquote – 'minority groups in the world,' but it may not be one you're born into. It may have developed later in life. You may have an accident. With aging, many of us naturally acquire disabilities."

Despite being about a quarter of the U.S. population, the labor force participation rate for people with disabilities sits at 32.8%, compared to 77.1% for those without disabilities.

Both through his work at Wheelhouse Group and PIA, Christianson works with companies to promote workplace diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). "Lots of companies are paying more and more attention to it. It's both the right thing to do, and it can help you be a differentiator."

Christianson says he believes that when you look at the at the workplace through the lens of disability it enables you to do a better job of inclusion of all the traditionally marginalized and excluded groups.

"When you think about inclusion of DEIA broadly, intersectionality is a real thing. If anyone is trying to recruit and retain veterans, women, Black Americans, people who are formally incarcerated, all of those, you're going to be better able to do if you come from an inclusion and accessibility perspective because that perspective is one of universal design. You're trying to do the broadest possible range to allow people to engage with success."

Christianson expresses hope that we are moving toward a business culture in which diversity and inclusion become second nature, not an afterthought. "The way we can move in the world – whether it's technology or kind of a broader company culture – is to think about a universal human-centered design, a people approach to work and workplaces. Then we will just be better at recruiting, retaining, supporting, engaging our workforce, and it won't need to be separated and segregated...It'll just be designed into things."

This is a very rich and engaging conversation in which we cover so much more. I encourage you to listen to the full conversation with Josh Christianson here, or download the Work in Progress episode wherever you get your podcasts.

Follow our coverage from Disability:IN

All this week, WorkingNation is reporting from the Disability:IN conference in Dallas. The nonprofit’s mission is to ensure that people with disabilities are actively included in the workforce, fully and in a meaningful way.

We’ll be talking to employers, workers, and job seekers about the challenges people with disabilities face in entering the labor market and efforts to make it more inclusive.

We're sharing their observations in our WorkingNation Overheard interview series on social media this week. Look for them on our Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, or search those platforms for the hashtags #WorkingNationOverheard and #DisabilityInclusion.

Episode 237: Josh Christianson, Wheelhouse Group and Partnership on Inclusive ApprenticeshipHost & Executive Prod...

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Code.org founder and CEO Hadi Partovi and I discuss a call to action aimed at the nation's governors, asking them to make computer science part of the basic K-12 curriculum in every U.S. school.

Right now, the United States has over 700-thousand open computing jobs, but only 80-thousand computer science majors graduating from college each year.

In high school, only 5% of students study computer science – a small percentage due to the fact that most K-12 schools in the country don't even offer CS classes.

In an effort to change that, more than 500 business leaders, educators, and nonprofits released a letter today (July 12) calling on state governors and education leaders to make computer science a standard part of the K-12 curriculum in every school in every state.

The initiative brings together a broad spectrum of groups and individuals, including the CEOs and founders of such companies as Microsoft, Amazon, American Express, Walgreens, and Cognizant, and education organizations including the American Federation of Teachers.

Leading this call to action – timed to coincide with the final day of the National Governors Association Summer Meeting in Portland, Maine – is the nonprofit Code.org.

'There is no company today that doesn't have significant technology needs.'

"We're so excited to know that Bill Gates, or Jeff Bezos, or Mark Zuckerberg, or Satya Nadella, or Tim Cook are getting behind a call for computer science in schools, but nobody is shocked that they would do that," says Hadi Partovi, founder and CEO of Code.org. "When the largest players in banking, in air travel, in coffee, in footwear – when you have Nike and Hasbro and UPS – these are the companies you don't expect."

But, as Partovi points out, there is no company that doesn't have significant technology needs today.

"If they don't need coders, they need data scientists. If they don't need data scientists, they need cyber security. You can't find a large employer that doesn't need either a computer programmer for their website or somebody, a data scientist, just to look at their customer data or a cybersecurity expert to prevent their emails from getting hacked.

"For a long time, everybody has known technology as the future. After the pandemic, people realize technology is the now. This is not some future need. All of these companies are feeling imminent pain that our education system isn't providing enough people for them to get these opportunities."

In February, Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson – the current chairman of the NGA – said that he was going to make a drive for governors to make a joint commitment for computer science. Partovi says he knew that Hutchinson was aiming for an announcement during the the NGA Summer Meeting. "I figured let's make a parallel drive to get CEOs and business leaders to say this is important. And to then use the voice of those business leaders to encourage governors to get behind this."

'Computer science provides an essential foundation – not only for careers in technology, but for every career in today’s world.'

The letter reads, in part:

To the Governors and Education Leaders of the United States of America:

The undersigned leaders have joined forces to deliver a bipartisan message about opportunity and the American Dream. We call on you to update the K-12 curriculum in each state, for every student in every school to have the opportunity to learn computer science.

This has broad support among parents, students, teachers, and employers. Why? Because computer science provides an essential foundation – not only for careers in technology, but for every career in today’s world. Studies now show that students who learn computer science outperform in school, university, and beyond.

At a time when every industry is impacted by digital technology, our schools should teach every student how technology works, to learn to be creators,

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In this episode of Work in Progress, SHRM president & CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., joins me to discuss the movement toward skills-based hiring, how hiring managers and employers are navigating this shift, and what job seekers can do to increase their chances of getting hired.

In my conversation with Taylor, we discuss how employers and hiring managers can better signal the skills they are looking for in a particular job and how job seekers can better tell the story of the skills that they have that match the employer's needs.

"There's a paradigm shift, to your point, from the resume and the degree being a proxy for smart and capable and having the skills. We're in the middle of a level of transition that we've never seen in such a short period of time, in the workforce. Hiring managers are trying to keep up with it," says Taylor.

"We are relying very heavily on feedback from the customer, and the customer would be people who are actually interviewing for a job. I want to know who's showing up. What's the language? How are they describing themselves and their skills and qualities and characteristics?" he adds.

Taylor says many of the questions during the job interview are now about what the job seeker is technically capable of doing.

"I'm looking for someone to tell me what they've done, when they've done it, what were the results. You've got to leave that interview making me know that, when I hire you to be a technical writer, that you can actually write. I don't care about what school you attended. I don't care about your degrees, at all. Can you do what I'm hiring you to do?

"The most important thing you've got to do is to become a storyteller, even if you're not great at it. Storytelling is going to get you the job," Taylor tells me.

The conversation also touched on many other subjects, including the importance of credentials, older workers, and diversity and inclusion.

You can listen to the full conversation here or download Work in Progress wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 235: Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM president & CEOHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, as the Horizons 2022 conference kicks off in New Orleans, I speak to Jobs for the Future (JFF) president and CEO Maria Flynn.

There's a shift in thinking about the path to career success. There's a growing awareness that four-year degrees don't have to be the gold standard, that skills and credentials are just as important, maybe more so for starting or advancing careers. Flynn and I talked about this transformation and about how JFF is spreading the word about non-traditional career pathways.

"It's really all about how we change the mindset in this country around what is success and what is the path to get there," explains Flynn.

"At JFF, what we're really working on is how do we really broaden the discussion, change the narrative around the different high-quality pathways that exist for folks beyond high school. That could include registered apprenticeship, it can include community colleges, it includes industry-recognized credentials, and many options that can be stepping stone to a four-year degree or also stepping stones to great career opportunities and advancement," she continues.

Flynn says despite a growing emphasis on credentials and skills, more employers and learning institutions still need to appreciate the value of competency over degrees.

"On the employer side, by and large, employers see the four-year bachelor's degree as a proxy for career readiness. At JFF, us and a lot of our partner organizations, are doing work on the demand side to help them move more towards skills-based hiring and how to hire based on what someone can do, what they have the skills to do, versus just looking at the degree as the signal," says Flynn.

Here more about skills-based hiring in the podcast. And follow us at #WorkingNationOverheard and #JFFHorizons on social media for the latest from the Horizons 2022 conference.

Episode 232: Don't Leave Older Workers Out of the Jobs RecoveryHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, CompTIA president and CEO Todd Thibodeaux discusses the continuing unmet high demand for tech talent across all industries and what is stopping more people from taking the career plunge.

There are about 10 million people in the tech industry in the U.S.

Half work for full-on tech companies, but sometimes not even in a tech role – think customer service, administration, finance, sales, etc. The other half fill tech roles – IT, data analysis, cybersecurity, etc. – at companies in which technology is not their core business.

Despite the recent wave of "big tech" layoffs, many employers are still desperate for tech talent, according to Thibodeaux.

“We see all over the world, there are just big gaps in talent pools where companies need more people. It's not just the big-name companies. That's the misnomer about tech employment. A lot of times, the media will focus on Silicon Valley and use that as a proxy for the tech industry and employment,” Thibodeaux tells me.

“You see some layoffs – which are happening in some companies now – and you're starting to see some people slowing their hiring. That's not the case in the rest of the tech employment space. You have lots of medium- and small-sized companies who are dying for talent, and they're not slowing down their hiring at all,” he adds.

The Confidence Gap

Thibodeaux says the demand for tech workers is strong, but there is still not enough workers to fill those open jobs.

"The tech industry has the largest confidence gap of probably any industry. People are looking at it and saying, 'I can't do that job. I don't have the skills. I don't have all the things that people are telling me I need to have.'"

He says that the opposite is true. It's probably one of the more accessible careers, he argues.

"When you get into the right kind of training, when you get into the right kind of learning environment, the skills can be acquired relatively quickly. In less than nine months, you can be prepared to start in a lot of these entry-level tech jobs and even some of the medium ones as well," says Thibodeaux.

The interview talks more on how to get the skills for the most in-demand tech jobs.

You can listen to the conversation here or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 233: Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO, CompTIAHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, we take a look at the challenges the midcareer workforce faces in a labor market reshaped by a health pandemic.

The majority of the long-term unemployed are over the age of 45. A majority of hiring managers admit hesitating when it comes to hiring an older worker, fearing they don't have the necessary skills for today's jobs and are not tech-adaptable. Conversely, they say the older workers already on the job are valued employees.

So, where does that leave midcareer workers trying to find a new job in the post-pandemic workforce?

In March, WorkingNation partnered with SXSW EDU to bring together a panel to address this issue and examine what's being done to correct it.

It was honored to moderate our Don't Leave Older Workers Out of the Jobs Recovery panel, which featured Jean Accius, SVP Global Thought Leadership, AARP; Wendi Safstrom, President, SHRM Foundation; and Maria Heidkamp, Director, Program Development and Senior Researcher, Heldrich Center at Rutgers University.

You can listen to the conversation here.

Episode 232: Don't Leave Older Workers Out of the Jobs RecoveryHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, we examine the critical issue of closing the digital divide in the Hispanic community. Hispanic workers are 14% of overall workers, but represent 35% of workers with no digital skills and 20% of those with limited digital skills.

Digital skills are crucial to obtaining gainful employment and resources to support their families. In March, WorkingNation partnered with SXSW EDU to bring together a panel of outstanding leaders in the Hispanic community to examine solutions to this important issue.

Our Closing the Hispanic Digital Skills Gap panel featured Hector Mujica, Economic Opportunity lead Americas, Google.org; Frankie Miranda, president & CEO, Hispanic Federation; and Domenika Lynch, executive director, Aspen Institute Latino and Society Program. The panel was moderated by John-Carlos Estrada, anchor, CBS Austin.

There is a lot of information in the discussion about solutions, with some excellent ideas floated by this very thoughtful group. In the conversation, Lynch cites the Pathways to Digital Skills Development for Latino Workers report, a collaboration between the Latino and Society Program and Upskill America.

These findings are from a national survey and in-depth interviews with employers of Latino frontline workers and workforce development organizations, and include a call-to-action to help get this workforce the skills they need to succeed in today's labor market. It was released after the discussion in Austin in March. There's a lot more information and suggestions in the report, and I encourage you to read it for yourself to get more details.

You can listen to the conversation here.

Episode 231: Closing the Hispanic Digital Skills GapHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, my guest is Ai-jen Poo, president of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). We got the chance to sit down together at the Milken Institute Global Conference last week in Beverly Hills to discuss the status of domestic workers in today's workforce.

The NDWA supports policies and programs designed to give the nearly 2.5 million nannies, housecleaners, and home care workers who care for our loved ones and our homes the respect, recognition, and rights they deserve.

Two years into COVID, most caregivers and care workers are back at work, but most family caregivers are coming back at a much slower rate, says Poo. She tells me these are "mostly women – disproportionately women of color – because they lack really good care options that are affordable and accessible" themselves.

NDWA is part of a group of 90 labor leaders urging the Senate to pass through budget reconciliation the Child Care for Working Families Act which would help working parents get back to work by lowering child care costs, getting families more child care options, and boosting wages for child care workers.

"We have shortages of workers in child care and in direct care for older adults and people with disabilities and that is because the wages for the workforce have not increased," says Poo. Seventy percent of domestic workers earn less than $15 an hour, according to a recent survey by NDWA.

"You can understand why there's a really difficult choice there between working and staying home and caring for your own family members," she adds. "This is a huge issue and a little bit of a vicious cycle where until we secure the care workforce, it's gonna be harder for family caregivers across sectors to go back to work."

The NDWA is also pushing the U.S. Congress to pass the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act. "The bill addresses the historic exclusions from the 1930s and would bring the workforce into the 21st century, creating protections from discrimination and harassment and addressing things like the need for paid sick days, the need for training, and the need for a voice at work," explains Poo.

The House bill repeals the exemption of domestic live-in employees from certain minimum wage and maximum hour requirements. It requires employers to provide domestic workers with a written agreement covering wages, sick leave, benefits, and other matters. Employers must provide written notice of termination and provide at least 30 days of lodging and two weeks of severance pay to terminated live-in employees.

Poo argues that there is an urgency to getting this piece of legislation passed.

"It is a full-time living for more than 2.5 million people every day and it's high time that we recognized it as a profession. There is a culture that when we don't recognize something as legitimate as a career, as a profession, having real value in our economy, it creates a kind of shadowy dynamic where anything goes," explains Poo.

"You might find a family who actually does see your work as a true profession and treats you with respect and pays you a living wage, maybe even offers you benefits.

And then you have the whole other end of the spectrum, where you have cases of human trafficking. You have rape and sexual assault. You have people who are treated as less than human, and everything in between, because there's no standards.

"There's no guidelines. Even if you want to do the right thing, sometimes it's hard to know what that is in this environment that's not really recognized."

You can listen to the full podcast with Ai-jen Poo, or you can find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 230: Ai-jen Poo, National Domestic Workers Alliance presidentHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

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Alabama, like many states, saw its nursing shortage only grow worse during the pandemic. Nurses are one of the top 25 highest-demand positions in Alabama, with more than 4,500 annual openings for RNs and LPNs.

Several reasons are being cited for the current nationwide shortage including burnout, nurses leaving jobs for better pay as travel nurses and retirements. It’s forcing states like Alabama to rely on hiring out-of-state travel nurses to fill the void at hospitals and healthcare facilities.

“Anecdotally, some hospitals report as much as 40% vacancy rate in their clinical nursing staff,” says Honor Ingels, Administrative Director of the Alabama Board of Nursing Center for Nursing Excellence. He adds, “It’s particularly a problem in rural parts of the state."

Meredith Smith, statewide project manager, Alabama Office of Apprenticeship

To address its shortage, Alabama has developed its first nursing apprenticeship program for licensed practical nurses and registered nurses. “The healthcare industry is hurting. They are looking for workforce solutions to help them both recruit and retain highly skilled employees, both LPNs and RNs,” says Meredith Smith, Statewide Project Manager of the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship. 

And this solution, says Smith, is the result of extensive efforts among both private and public partners that also required changes to state legislation to allow for the nurse apprentice permit. 

“I like to say it’s a win, win, win, win, win. It’s an opportunity for apprentices to earn money while they are learning how to become nurses. They’re acquiring no student debt,” says Smith. “It’s an advantage to the employers in the fact that they can recruit these apprentices. They are getting to train them as their own.”

While the program is still months from launching, Smith sees it as a positive sign that she’s seeing interest from hospitals, nursing homes, community colleges and students inquiring about how they can participate. And, she says, a few states have reached out, expressing interest in the structure of Alabama’s program which will soon be put to the test. 

Community Colleges Partner in Nursing Apprenticeship Programs

Among the first schools to roll out the nursing apprenticeship program is Coastal Alabama Community College which is partnering with Infirmary Health, Alabama’s largest nonprofit health care provider. The first apprentice programs will be for licensed practical nurses.

Jean Graham, dean, Coastal Alabama Community College

Jean Graham, D.N.P., Dean of Nursing and Allied Health at Coastal Alabama Community College says more hospital partners are being added and apprenticeships for the registered nursing program will begin in the fall. She believes the paid apprenticeships could be especially helpful for the community college’s students. “They are not your typical students who have just graduated from high school. They are more of your nontraditional students in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s,” says Graham. She adds “They are trying to finish up their nursing school while working.” 

Graham says students must first be accepted into the college’s nursing program and then they can apply for apprenticeships. Employers will decide who to hire, she explains, and tuition is covered for students in the apprenticeship program either through federal sources or by participating health care facilities.

The program is designed so that students will become employees of the hospital and work one-on-one with a nurse journey worker – a mentor – and students get paid for their clinical hours. 

Tiffany Scarborough, department manager, Coastal Alabama Community College (Photo: Emily Lauren's Gallery)

Minimum pay starts at $13 an hour and wages will increase as students meet certain benchmarks, according to Tiffany Scarborough, D.N.P., Departmental Director of Nursing and Allied Health at Coastal Alabama Community College.

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As companies pledge to make their workforces more diverse, there still remains much more to be done, especially in the field of STEM – science, technology, engineering, and math – which is projected to grow faster than other occupations and the need for workers is already critical.

A Pew Research report finds uneven progress in diversifying STEM fields. It reports that while Hispanics make up 17% of employed adults, they represent only 8% of STEM workers. Blacks, according to the report, make up 9% of STEM workers, but make up 11% of employed adults. That uneven playing field in STEM fields is driving one Latina entrepreneur to work to close that diversity gap by securing opportunities in higher education.

Last year, María Fernanda Trochimezuk launched IOScholarships, a platform connecting underrepresented students to STEM scholarships for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate education. “I want to level the playing field so all diverse students can go to college and pursue these careers that are the highest paying careers in the market.” says Trochimezuk. “The scholarships are the gateway for students to be part of the STEM pipeline,” she adds. 

Trochimezuk says the platform has access to over $48 million dollars in funding for Hispanic American, African American, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian Pacific Islander students. Most of that funding comes from private sources such as corporations and nonprofit organizations. 

$100M in Untapped Scholarship Money

Trochimezuk’s passion to help underrepresented students stems from her own experience. A native of Argentina, Trochimezuk says her family could not afford to send her to private schools. She was able to pay for her postgraduate education thanks to a scholarship at the University of California Santa Barbara and she was selected from a pool of national candidates to be part of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative in 2018.

She says when she learned that an estimated $100 million in scholarships go unawarded each year, she saw an opportunity to help students. “I believe education shouldn’t be a privilege. Education should be available for all. I always say the only way that an economy can be sustainable and successful is breaking the cycle of poverty. And the only way you can do that is access to education,” adds Trochimezuk.

One big reason why so much scholarship money goes untapped, says Trochimezuk, is because of a lack of awareness, something she’s trying to fix with IOScholarships. Students can sign up on the platform at no cost, fill out a profile, and begin searching for scholarship money that matches their profile. Students apply directly to scholarships from various organizations and corporations. 

To date, more than 11,000 students have used the platform which partners with the National Scholarship Providers Association. Trochimezuk encourages students to approach scholarship money as a part-time job. “I always tell students if you invest 10 hours in a $10,000 dollar scholarship, and you win it, that’s $1,000 per hour. That’s a very good investment. That’s a very good hourly rate.”

Avoiding More Student Loan Debt

21-year-old Alyssa Garbarino says she is discovering new resources she never knew existed as she begins to apply for postgraduate money using IOScholarships. She is a biology major at California State University Channel Island, president of the CI Neuroscience Society, and has volunteered hundreds of hours at hospitals with the goal of attending medical school in the future. However, she is wary of taking on more student loans.

As the first generation in her family to attend a university, Garbarino says her parents did not know how to navigate the tuition. “I got to the point where I was a freshman in college and I didn’t know how or where to find scholarships and I ended up incurring a lot of loan debt,” she explains. “It’s kind of intimidating to look into the future and try to plan your finances.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, we take a closer look at cities that are creating tech innovation centers outside of the traditional hubs of Silicon Valley and Boston.

In March, WorkingNation partnered with SXSW EDU to bring together a fantastic panel looking at the subject: Building Innovation Hubs Outside of Silicon Valley.

PBS Newshour anchor and senior correspondent Hari Sreenivasan moderated the panel for us. Our panelists were Patrick McKenna, founder of One America Works; Nicholas Lalla, co-founder and managing director of Tulsa Innovation Labs; and Erick Gavin, director of Venture Miami.

You can listen to the conversation here.

Episode 229: Building Innovation Hubs Outside of Silicon ValleyHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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WorkingNation continues to search each week for workforce opportunities. Our latest findings include pathways in the following five locales.

Take a look at what we’ve found.

From Alabama: WSFA reports federal monies will fund the expansion of the Auburn Center for Developing Industries which provides startups with incubator space and houses the Advanced Manufacturing Training Center.

From Illinois: The Southland Journal reports a $3 million investment in HIRE360’s new center in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood. The Center focuses on training in the construction, manufacturing, and hospitality sectors.

From Pennsylvania: Business Facilities reports a new feedstock manufacturing facility in Point Township will create 300 new jobs.

From Puerto Rico: News Is My Business reports Amazon Web Services has openings in its San Juan office in sales, public sector, marketing, engineering, and technical consulting to support the expansion of cloud computing services.

From Utah: Utah Business reports Thermo Fisher Scientific has opened a new medical manufacturing site in Ogden – with more than 300 employees already hired and the potential to employ up to 450 people across safety, quality, manufacturing, HR, engineering, and warehousing.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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“I had a pretty comfortable, middle-class job. I was a janitor at a school. I took care of maintenance and everything. And I got in trouble. I got a DUI and I did a little time. I was a man in despair,” says Steven Uribe. "I had lost my job because of the DUI. I didn't know what was going to happen with court. I didn't know what was going to happen with my life. My wife and family were very upset at me, so I was kind of losing that. I didn't know where go.”

As part of his probation, Uribe was required to attend a mandatory meeting to introduce him to a variety of resources to help him get his life back on track. “One of them was Shasta College. They told me that they would be willing to put me through college for free if I kept my grades up. There were some conditions, but as a part of my probation, I would get to do this program.”

Rehabilitative Efforts through Education

Robert Bowman is program director of STEP-UP at Shasta College. “We are a restorative justice program. We do restorative justice for education. Our goal is to involve the community in assisting rehabilitative efforts.”

Robert Bowman, program director of STEP-UP, Shasta College

“We're a job training program. So, we look at getting students engaged in areas where they can work,” says Bowman.

He continues, “We are one of the few programs that have on-campus learning. We're one of the few that's alternative custody, which means that students are assigned to work release or released on electronic monitoring specifically for the purposes of being involved in our program.”

Pathways to Good Jobs

“A lot of effort went into researching what the local workforce was, what our economy was, what kind of drives us. We invested a lot of time and effort working with local labor market research to look at not only where the jobs are in our community, but which fields are going to be open to folks given a particular record,” notes Bowman.

“Our most popular program is our heavy equipment operations and logging program. Forest management. Right behind that is welding. We have a really robust welding and industrial technology machinery program. Then probably third on the list is auto and diesel technology.”

The program pays for many of the students’ expenses. Bowman says, “We're going to cover the cost of their hard hat, their work boots, their pants, their safety vest, the drug tests that they're going to need to be in the program. If they're going to do truck driving, we're going to cover the cost of their DMV tests for their permit and their physical.”

“Every student gets a laptop if they need it, not just our business students. Everyone takes some sort of computer class because that's the way that we are going.”

Bowman says students also have support to help guide them post-completion. “We have a counselor on campus that specifically does career planning. We have an apprenticeship coordinator.”

Life Back on Track

For Uribe, going back to school was a little daunting. “I thought I've got to do something to make money. I signed up for the welding class. I hadn't been to college in years, believe me. So I had to retest because I didn't know where I was academically. I was scared to go back to school. It had been so long, but the college made it so easy for me. They put me in a class that taught me how to go back to school.”

Uribe says, “To get a [welding] certification is six months, but I started doing so well in school that my teacher asked me if I would be willing to work for him. And then he talked me into, ‘Why don't you get a degree in welding and metal fabrication? You're almost there. There's a few more classes you have to take.’ So instead of just going for six months, I ended up going for two years. I got a degree in welding and metal fabrication.”

Steven Uribe, STEP-UP graduate

These days, Uribe is head fabricator at Enoven, a custom body builder and full service truck equipment company.

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Funders of a new initiative in Chicago have a “large and audacious” goal to expand the path of economic success beyond the public school system, offering full postsecondary scholarships to thousands of high school graduates and their parents. The goal: breaking down barriers to economic mobility for generations to come.

Launched just a couple months ago and appropriately named Hope Chicago, the new program already has awarded full scholarships to 4,000 high school students in five Chicago public high schools to college and other postsecondary programs.

Dr. Janice Jackson, CEO, Hope Chicago (Photo: Hope Chicago)

“Chicago Public Schools (CPS) graduated more students from high school in the last ten years, but are slower to produce the kind of outcomes with regards to college completion we’ve desired,” says Dr. Janice Jackson, CEO of Hope Chicago.

“We know finances is the number one factor in people’s decision-making – whether or not to attend school. Now, there’s one less barrier to college.” Jackson knows the needs of CPS students quite well, having most recently been the CEO there before moving to Hope Chicago.

The program is modeled after one in Toledo, Ohio, founded by entrepreneur Pete Kadens. He and Chicago-area entrepreneur Theodore Koenig founded Hope Chicago.

“When we launched Hope Chicago, we were aiming to do something no other scholarship program in Illinois has ever done, and that's to offer debt-free scholarships to CPS students and their parents, a unique multi-generational approach that will create new opportunities not only for students but entire families to build economic success and stability. Hope Scholars won't just be multi-generational, they'll make an impact that will last for multiple generations to come,” Koenig says.

He and Kadens contributed $10 million and $11 million themselves, respectively. Fundraising since September 2021, the organization raised $40 million from corporate partners, financial institutions, and foundations. The goal is to ultimately raise $1 billion to support students and their families over the next decade.

Chicago Hope co-founders, Peter Kadens (l) and Theodore Koenig (r) (Photos: Hope Chicago)

'No fear of financial hurdles'

Noble-Johnson College Prep School student Shanyia Daughrity-Good, 18, is one of the recent recipients of the Hope Chicago scholarship. She had been prepared to take out as many loans as needed to study nursing and psychology in college. “Hope Chicago has drastically changed my life. This scholarship has provided me with the unique opportunity to accomplish my postsecondary goals with no fear of financial hurdles,” says Daughrity-Good.

The scholarships cover full rides – tuition, books, fees, room and board – towards earning a college degree from 20 partner schools in Illinois including City colleges of Chicago, Loyola, and IIT. More partner schools may soon be eligible. Full scholarships also cover the costs of obtaining post-secondary credentials such as those for skilled trades. Students attending a school outside of a partner school will receive stipends.

Noble High School students celebrate their Hope Chicago scholarships (Photo: Hope Chicago)

In determining the recipient schools and students, Jackson says they analyzed data for each neighborhood. Hope Chicago looked for schools that didn’t already have college partnerships, evaluated principal leadership, and reviewed college matriculation completion data to determine where the need was the greatest. There are no GPA requirements.

“If we’re going to achieve ambitious goals, we’ve got to have programs that work for everybody. If a student graduates from high school and wants to go to City College, why should they receive less support than a student who goes to an elite school across the country?” asks Jackson. “Our model and value system is very different. It’s more about college access than merit; giving every student access to the middle class starts with ...

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In this episode of Work in Progress, columnist and author Kerry Hannon discusses her new book, In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work, which examines how changes in the workforce – accelerated by COVID – are impacting older, midcareer workers.

This is a space Kerry Hannon knows a lot about. She's a renowned expert in the employment and workplace space, writing and speaking about career transitions, retirement, and the future of work.

The first words of her new book paint a very clear image of just how far and fast COVID cut through the older workforce.

"Crush. Covid-19 ripped through the workplace starting in 2020. It spawned job losses and shattered businesses. It triggered many older workers who lost jobs, or were offered early retirement severance packages to leave the workforce — often earlier than planned. It happened fast. It was breathtakingly brutal. And no one was prepared. Older workers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic did so at a higher rate than their younger counterparts."

But this is more than a rehash of the fallout of the pandemic — it is a guide to navigating today's altered career and job pathways for midcareer workers.

Her message is always a positive one: you don't have to take a backseat in today's job market.

Hannon dives deep into what was making it difficult for older workers to find work even before the 2020 health crisis and then looks at the five enduring changes in the way we work today. Most importantly, she offers very practical advice for midcareer workers who are weighing retirement versus a career reset in this new era.

Kerry and I have been having this discussion for more than a year now. And I am so happy we can finally let you listen in.

Episode 228: Kerry Hannon, author, In Control at 50+Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, columnist and author Kerry Hannon discusses her new book, In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work, which examines how changes in the workforce – accelerated by COVID – are impacting older, midcareer workers.

This is a space Kerry Hannon knows a lot about. She’s a renowned expert in the employment and workplace space, writing and speaking about career transitions, retirement, and the future of work.

The first words of her new book paint a very clear image of just how far and fast COVID cut through the older workforce.

“Crush. Covid-19 ripped through the workplace starting in 2020. It spawned job losses and shattered businesses. It triggered many older workers who lost jobs, or were offered early retirement severance packages to leave the workforce — often earlier than planned. It happened fast. It was breathtakingly brutal. And no one was prepared. Older workers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic did so at a higher rate than their younger counterparts.”

But this is more than a rehash of the fallout of the pandemic — it is a guide to navigating today’s altered career and job pathways for midcareer workers.

Her message is always a positive one: you don’t have to take a backseat in today’s job market.

Hannon dives deep into what was making it difficult for older workers to find work even before the 2020 health crisis and then looks at the five enduring changes in the way we work today. Most importantly, she offers very practical advice for midcareer workers who are weighing retirement versus a career reset in this new era.

Kerry and I have been having this discussion for more than a year now. And I am so happy we can finally let you listen in.

Episode 228: Kerry Hannon, author, In Control at 50+Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post 5 enduring changes to the workplace that midcareer workers should know about appeared first on WorkingNation.

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WorkingNation continues to search each week for workforce opportunities. Our latest findings include pathways in the following five states.

Give a look.

From Montana: KULR reports a new facility in Billings will provide services to help people get out of homelessness including vocational training and job skills counseling.

From New Jersey: New Jersey Business Magazine reports the utility – PSE&G – has launched an initiative to provide low- to moderate-income residents with the skills needed for careers in the energy efficiency sector.

From Rhode Island: Seapower reports efforts are underway to ramp up training and career exploration efforts to engage the next generation of the submarine shipbuilding workforce.

From South Dakota: Argus Leader reports Avera Health is funding a $40,000-per-student sponsorship program for a dozen medical laboratory science (MLS) students at South Dakota State University.

From Vermont: Waterbury Roundabout reports a brewery in Waitsfield is giving funds donated by its patrons to an organization that has been providing free adult education and literacy services for 55 years.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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It’s been 52 years since a group of fewer than 100 people, spread out across the country, organized the first national Earth Day. That small group created massive awareness of environmental issues brought on by pollution and other man-made dangers to the planet.

In 1970, more than 20 million Americans – about 10% of the U.S. population – joined the call to action which led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and passage of numerous federal and state laws designed to repair and forestall further damage to the environment.

“The whole purpose was to inspire people about the environment – it's bigger than you are, it's bigger than ourselves,” explains Paula DiPerna, a consultant to WorkingNation on the green economy and a special advisor to the CDP.

Paula DiPerna, WorkingNation adviser (Photo: CDP)

In the decades since the first Earth Day, she says, the green movement has grown in fits and starts. “Climate change has been talked about for decades. We were on the path, but there were significant interruptions, such as 9/11. Suddenly, the war on terror took everybody’s attention.” DiPerna adds, “We get outside of ourselves – spiritually, philosophically – and therefore it’s easier to put it aside as a ‘nice to have’ if there's another more pressing concern.”

DiPerna says the conversation moved forward again with the Paris Agreement, a global call to action on climate change which has gained the support of 125 countries since Earth Day 2016, and then COVID derailed the conversation again.

But, she argues, the green movement has picked up steam again, now that things are becoming more economically entwined with the environment, particularly when it comes to job creation. “The acceleration of extreme weather events – and the obvious lack of preparedness for them – makes it harder to put it aside,” adds DiPerna. “A lot of jobs are going to come out of this.”

The Green Economy is Growing

DiPerna says the green economy is already around more than $680 billion dollars – 25% bigger than Walmart and two-and-a-half times bigger than Apple – and growing.

Since the beginning of the year, WorkingNation has been taking a deep drive into the expanding job opportunities in the green economy around the country and in individual states in our special series Green Jobs Now. WorkingNation brought in two research partners on our reporting, MISI, a Washington, D.C.-based economic, energy, and environmental research firm, and labor market analysis firm Emsi Burning Glass.

Roger Bezdek, president of MISI, defines the green economy as all of the activities in the economy that produce green products or services. So, green jobs – direct and indirect – are those created by that activity.

Some are more readily identifiable, such as wind turbine technician or solar panel installer. Some are created by businesses that want to make certain they are doing their part not to further damage the environment.

“Most jobs generated by the green economy are going to be jobs not even classified as green. These are standard jobs for carpenters, electricians, tool and die makers, mechanical engineers, and so forth,” Bezdek explains.

According to the MISI analysis conducted for WorkingNation, the number of green jobs has grown to 9 million over the past 50 years, or about 6% of the total workforce. That’s just the beginning. Our Green Jobs Now report from MISI forecasts exponential growth over the next decade with the number of jobs deemed green to more than double to 24 million, about 14% of the workforce.

Our other research partner, Emsi Burning Glass, estimates that the number of green jobs will grow by more than 5.3% nationwide over the next five years, with some states seeing double that growth.

Making the Investment in Green Workers

With that growth comes the inevitable question: who will fill those new jobs growing out of the green movement? As MISI reports,

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Friday, April 22nd, 2022, marks the 52nd anniversary of the beginning of the modern environmental movement, more commonly known as Earth Day. However, unlike most holidays, birthdays, and other annual celebrations, the meaning surrounding this global event has evolved over the past five decades as the understanding of our environmental impact has grown.

To dive a bit deeper into the semantics, Jay hosts a dialogue with environmental consultant and special advisor to the CDP Paula DiPerna about how the intentions behind Earth Day have shifted throughout her storied career, and how they could still stand to become more impactful. Beyond Earth Day itself, Paula and Jay discuss other words and phrases commonly associated with – and used in conjunction with – the green economy, whose meanings have been watered down or misappropriated over the years. Terms like “sustainability,” “carbon pollution,” and “net zero” are all ripe for picking as their ubiquity has stripped them of any tangible outcomes or environmental benefit.

Jay and Paula conclude with suggestions for how we can use language to our advantage in driving home how significant our planet is, especially in today’s day and age when the domestic and global economies are so indelibly linked to the availability of natural resources. Because at the end of the day, more clearly-defined environmental protections begets a more robust economy, and with a more robust economy comes many millions of life-sustaining jobs.

CREDITS: Featuring: Jay Tipton, Paula DiPerna Produced by: Alicia Clark Executive Produced by: Melissa Panzer, Joan Lynch, Art Bilger Written by: Jay Tipton, Alicia Clark, Mike Zunic Talent Producer: Emily Lallouz Edited and Sound Mixed by: Lynz Floren Assistant Editor: Mengfang Yang Music by: Avocado Junkie Made possible by: the Walton Family Foundation

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By 2030, 97% of net workforce growth in the U.S. will be immigrants and their children. That, from a recent white paper – Situation Analysis: Immigration and the Future of the Workforce – from EnGen.

Katie Brown, Ph.D., the organization’s founder and chief education officer, explains the B Corp’s “mission is to remove English as a barrier for immigrants, refugees, and speakers of other languages so that they can get access to jobs and the potential for economic mobility."

Brown notes the entire approach to language instruction needs a reset, “As a country, we still don't think about language the right way. It's why middle school students across the United States are sitting in Spanish classes and they are learning to conjugate boot verbs. They are not learning how to do anything useful which means we have a culture of thinking about language as an insurmountable obstacle.”

Traditional paths to English-language learning are not having a far enough reach. The report states, “ELL programs for immigrants – largely run through local nonprofits, community colleges, and school districts – are serving less than 4% of the need.” That comes from a 2018 Migration Policy Institute report.

The Return on Investment

Brown emphasizes that English language skills will allow people to get into career training programs that will lead to family-sustaining wages. And employers can be part of that solution. Brown says, “The onus is on the employers. If these people could get access to instruction through the workplace, they could get the language skills they need to get ahead and advocate for their families.”

“We need to make employers understand that thinking about English doesn't need to be hard for them. All they need to do is put resources behind implementing a program and it will pay for itself. It's showing them the ROI of investing in talent development,” says Brown.

She adds, “Some of them are already doing it, but not all of them. It’s the small and middle-sized employers that are the ones that really need to think about recruiting, retaining, developing their talent in a new way.”

‘Connect these dots…’

Brown says the contributions to the economy by immigrants, refugees, and speakers of other languages should not be overlooked. According to the white paper, immigrants and refugees boosted U.S. economic growth by 15% between 1990 and 2014 – and added $2 trillion to the U.S. GDP in 2016.

She says, “If we start rethinking the requirements for the jobs that we have and, instead, focus on people's skills and move to a skills-based, competency-based structure, and we can get it together to have educational institutions talking to employers, I really do think we can connect these dots in a coherent way that lifts everybody up.”

Brown emphasizes stakeholders can advance language learning opportunities. “The federal government isn’t going to do this. So, we need to do it ourselves. This is how and this is the way we can do it. This is what we see when we invest in workers and learners.”

For more on EnGen's work to increase economic mobility of immigrants through language skills, here's some of our WorkingNation Overheard interview with EnGen CEO Gregg Levin at ASU+GSV Summit.

https://youtu.be/jgZtlFMmVNY

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Friday is Earth Day. So, in this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, we want to look at how protecting and repairing the environment is not just good news for our planet, it is also good news for the American worker.

The demand for workers with green skills rose dramatically last year in all industries – from tech to health care to the skilled trades – and is projected to grow even more this year with the passage of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act.

This episode is from our live Green Jobs Now panel discussion at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego in early April.

Using our own proprietary state-by-state research, this WorkingNation panel examines where the opportunities exist today and tomorrow for green jobs and identifies educational pathways that lead to the skills job seekers need to get these in-demand jobs.

I was honored to moderate the panel. Joining me in this discussion was former Colorado governor Bill Ritter, director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University; Daniel Ferguson, senior director of workforce development at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI); Matt Sigelman, chairman of Emsi Burning Glass; Frank Niepold, senior climate education program manager and coordinator at NOAA’s Climate Program Office; and Joan Lynch, chief content and programming officer at WorkingNation.

Take a listen!

Episode 227: Green Jobs Now, Our Panel at ASU+GSV SummitHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post Protecting the planet is good news for the American worker appeared first on WorkingNation.

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Friday is Earth Day. So, in this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, we want to look at how protecting and repairing the environment is not just good news for our planet, it is also good news for the American worker.

The demand for workers with green skills rose dramatically last year in all industries – from tech to health care to the skilled trades – and is projected to grow even more this year with the passage of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act.

This episode is from our live Green Jobs Now panel discussion at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego in early April.

Using our own proprietary state-by-state research, this WorkingNation panel examines where the opportunities exist today and tomorrow for green jobs and identifies educational pathways that lead to the skills job seekers need to get these in-demand jobs.

I was honored to moderate the panel. Joining me in this discussion was former Colorado governor Bill Ritter, director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University; Daniel Ferguson, senior director of workforce development at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI); Matt Sigelman, chairman of Emsi Burning Glass; Frank Niepold, senior climate education program manager and coordinator at NOAA's Climate Program Office; and Joan Lynch, chief content and programming officer at WorkingNation. 

Take a listen!

Episode 227: Green Jobs Now, Our Panel at ASU+GSV SummitHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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With unemployment in the U.S. currently at 3.6%, WorkingNation continues to look each week for opportunities in the workforce. Our latest findings include pathways in the following five states.

Take a look.

From Georgia: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports a new Goodwill facility is opening in Atlanta, creating 50 full-time jobs, as well as providing job training that lead to certifications. Among the pathways – IT, supply chain management, and transportation logistics.

From Kentucky: Area Development reports a bourbon distillery in Nelson County is expanding its facilities creating 29 new jobs.

From Michigan: WWMT reports two companies are expanding operations – one an aviation manufacturer in Battle Creek and the other, a tool and die company in Benton Harbor Township.  Between the two employers, it’s expected there will be more than 80 new jobs.

From Minnesota: Mille Lacs Messenger reports among recipients of state funds is an organization in Hibbing that will provide training opportunities and paid internships in carpentry and handiwork to people with disabilities.

From New York: PIX11 reports a culinary arts training program that helps people who have experienced barriers to employment is helping fill labor shortages in the food industry.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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With aspirations of landing a better job in the future, almost half of all full-time students and the majority of part-time students are already working. While pursuing those future careers, balancing current jobs to help pay educational costs can add to the stress and challenges of trying to earn a degree. Allowing students to earn and learn in their chosen field can alleviate some of that burden.

Aon, a global professional services firm, began its corporate apprenticeship program in Chicago five years ago, allowing high school graduates to earn while they learned while gaining experience in areas such as account management, client support, financial analysis, human resources, and information technology.

The two-year program partnered with City Colleges of Chicago, and enabled apprentices to earn an associate’s degree from Harold Washington College or Harper College. Other employers including Accenture and Zurich joined Aon and nonprofits to launch the Chicago Apprentice Network.

The very successful program has started expanding nationwide, pledging to invest $30 million over five years and form new networks in six U.S. cities.

Apprenticeships Lower Barriers to Corporate Careers

Jillian Radke, North America head of early careers recruitment, Aon (Photo: Aon)

The apprenticeship program is certified by the U.S. Department of Labor. In addition to a salary and full benefits, it also includes tuition, books, and fees. Upon completion, apprentices receive a Department of Labor certificate and their degree – both of which are transferrable – and an offer for a full-time role.

“This network of organizations works to promote the value of apprenticeships in lowering barriers to entry for corporate careers and as well as promoting the benefits to employers," says Jillian Radke, Aon North American head of early careers recruitment. "It is an innovative way for employers to attract and retain diverse talent, prepare future leaders and contribute to building a more future-focused, resilient workforce.”

Diversity is broad for those hired as apprentices, in race, ethnicity, and experience level, according to Radke. Some are high school graduates or have earned their GED. Others want a career change. Some are parents. More than half are women.

Balancing Education, Work, and Family

Susana Hernandez Torres was in Aon’s first apprenticeship cohort in 2017, which included 26 others. She was working the overnight shift at McDonald’s, attending college during the day, and supporting her newborn when she learned about the Aon apprenticeship. Hernandez Torres was one semester away from earning her associate’s degree in accounting.

Susana Hernandez Torres, senior accountant, Aon (Photo: Aon)

“The key was getting the training to pursue a career while earning a living. In my personal life, the apprenticeship program allowed me to cut down on working and school hours. I attended to my child while also going to school and supporting us with a salary,” Hernandez Torres says.

“I was amazed that I was getting paid even to attend school. If I had to do an internship or job shadow, I knew I wouldn’t earn a living or learn as much as I would during an apprenticeship. Plus, it would have been extra time outside of school working a regular job, keeping me from my family.”

In addition to getting a foot in the door of the accounting world and starting her career while learning, mentors at Aon introduced Hernandez Torres to different opportunities within the function area. She was able to job shadow and assist on projects. She is now a senior accountant in Aon’s corporate consolidations group.

Additional Support is Key to Success

Mentoring is a key component to the apprenticeship, Radke says. Each apprentice is assigned a “career navigator” provided by an external partner organization to ensure apprentices have the support to balance work, school, and life, while developing professionally and personally.

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We did so many great interviews about how Tulsa is shifting its economy to become a more tech-centric innovation hub, we couldn’t get them all into our 5-part Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland series in February and March. So, we decided to share some of them in a special bonus episode today.

What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL) has been driving this transition. In this episode, we speak with an entrepreneur in that one of the five areas that TIL targeted for the city’s technology renaissance. Staci Taruscio is the founder and CEO of Rebellion Energy, an environmentally-conscious oil and gas company, which might sound like a contradiction. But Taruscio explains how the company minimizes the environmental effects of oil and gas extraction. It’s all about doing business in a different way.

We also have more on Oklahoma State University’s cutting edge work in advanced aerial mobility, or drones. Benjamin Loh is an assistant research professor at OSU. Loh walks us through one of the projects he’s working on, thanks to a $90,000 proof-of-concept grant from the state of Oklahoma for an urban air mobility solution, or what some people call a “flying taxi.” He’s working with the Choctaw Nation on this drone, which would be much larger than drones in use today. And it could be a vital tool in search-and-rescue missions all around the country.

Listen to the original five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland

Episode 226: Destination Tulsa – Flying taxis and moreHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Music for Destination Tulsa series: From Bensound.com

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post Destination Tulsa: Flying taxis and more appeared first on WorkingNation.

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We did so many great interviews about how Tulsa is shifting its economy to become a more tech-centric innovation hub, we couldn't get them all into our 5-part Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland series in February and March. So, we decided to share some of them in a special bonus episode today.

What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce?  Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL) has been driving this transition. In this episode, we speak with an entrepreneur in that one of the five areas that TIL targeted for the city’s technology renaissance. Staci Taruscio is the founder and CEO of Rebellion Energy, an environmentally-conscious oil and gas company, which might sound like a contradiction. But Taruscio explains how the company minimizes the environmental effects of oil and gas extraction. It's all about doing business in a different way.

We also have more on Oklahoma State University's cutting edge work in advanced aerial mobility, or drones. Benjamin Loh is an assistant research professor at OSU. Loh walks us through one of the projects he’s working on, thanks to a $90,000 proof-of-concept grant from the state of Oklahoma for an urban air mobility solution, or what some people call a “flying taxi.” He’s working with the Choctaw Nation on this drone, which would be much larger than drones in use today. And it could be a vital tool in search-and-rescue missions all around the country.

Listen to the original five-part Work in Progress podcast series - Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland

Episode 226: Destination Tulsa - Flying taxis and moreHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Music for Destination Tulsa series: From Bensound.comDownload the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Weekly jobless claims fell to 166,000 for the week ending on April 2, according to the Department of Labor. The figure is 5,000 less than the number of claims from the previous week.

WorkingNation is always looking around the country for workforce opportunities. Take a look at this week’s findings.

From California: The Fresno Bee reports in addition to academic credit, on-the-job experience, training and networking opportunities, Fresno-area college students could earn $10,000 for volunteering in their communities.

From Iowa: We Are Iowa reports a community college program is aiming to introduce young people to the skilled trades at an early age.

From New Hampshire: NH Business Review reports White Mountains Community College is offering a licensed practical nursing program to help meet health care demands.

From Oregon: KOIN reports newly signed state legislation provides funding to support recruitment and training for jobs in construction, health care and manufacturing.

From Texas: KXAN reports Workforce Solutions Capital Area is partnering with Tesla to find hires for its new Texas factory. The Del Valle Independent School District and Austin Community College are also partners to help teach skills for people who want to join the workforce.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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With the signing of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act into law, Illinois has become the first coal-producing state – and the first midwestern state – to commit to a carbon-free future, and the bill was proposed in part by the state’s labor unions.

To get a sense of the scale of the goals CEJA lays out, Jay speaks with environmental expert Paula DiPerna, who ran the Joyce Foundation out of Chicago and founded the Chicago Climate Exchange. Paula explains that what sets Illinois apart from other states is that their union leaders have stopped trying to hang on to legacy jobs and have instead embraced the burgeoning green economy. Jay digs in a little deeper by chatting with Pat Devaney, the secretary treasurer for the AFL-CIO, who explains how the unions saw the shortcomings of previous legislation and decided to put together a proposal of their own that guaranteed prevailing wage and labor standards on renewable energy projects.

Next, Jay hears from Naomi Davis, founder of Blacks In Green, to hear how workforce development programs are providing not only pipelines to green jobs, but also pathways to business ownership for black and brown residents who have historically been shut out of the clean energy movement. And while on the subject of workforce development, Jay pops into Heartland Community college to hear from administrators, teachers, and students about how auto workers are preparing to meet CEJA’s most ambitious targets: getting one million electric vehicles on the road by 2030.

And as the state works to electrify both its consumer and public transit, renewable energy developers will be erecting large-scale wind and solar projects. Jay rounds out his trip through Through the Prairie State by talking to Jon Carson, founder of Trajectory Energy Partners, about how well-suited Illinois’ rural farmlands are to provide the groundwork needed to meet the state’s growing energy demands.

CREDITS:Featuring: Jay Tipton, Paula DiPerna, Pat Devaney, Naomi Davis, Keith Cornille, Mike Deavers, Kyle Klein, Jon CarsonProduced by: Alicia ClarkExecutive Produced by: Melissa Panzer, Joan Lynch, Art BilgerWritten by: Jay Tipton, Alicia Clark, Mike ZunicAssociate Producer: Eve BilgerTalent Producer: Emily LallouzEdited and Sound Mixed by: Lynz FlorenAssistant Editor: Mengfang YangMusic by: Avocado JunkieMade possible by: the Walton Family Foundation

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WorkingNation’s Green Jobs Now series is looking at green jobs opportunities and the skills neededto get those jobs across the country with a series of state-by-state reports. Next: Illinois.

"We can't outrun or hide from climate change. There is no time to lose. Illinois is taking action in the fight to stop and even reverse the damage that's been done to our climate." With those words, Gov. JB Pritzker signed the state's ambitious Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) last fall.

CEJA aims to get the state to 100% clean energy by 2050. Not only does it address climate change, it also includes significant workforce development components, including an emphasis on building a more diverse workforce with equitable access to the skills needed to get green jobs.

“Illinois is a force for good, for an environmental future we can be proud of. With economic growth and jobs woven into its fabric, this new law is the most significant step Illinois has taken in a generation toward a reliable, renewable, affordable, and clean energy future in a generation," the governor added.

“It used to be called the Rust Belt. [Illinois] is moving on an industrial scale from the past to the future by way of a green transition," says Paula DiPerna, a consultant to WorkingNation on the green economy and a special advisor to CDP, a nonprofit that works with its members to manage their environmental impacts.

"The science of climate change has now become almost universally disseminated," notes DiPerna who says green jobs are more noticeable. “Once you start thinking about it, you suddenly see it everywhere."

Green Jobs Growth in the Prairie State

“Green jobs have shown stability in Illinois in recent years,” according to our new Green Jobs Now: Illinois report, a WorkingNation and Emsi Burning Glass analysis of the green labor market in the state.

“The strong uptick in green job demand in 2021 in Illinois is an indication that the green economy in the state is strengthening. Coupled with projected demand above the national average for the next five years, there is a promising outlook for green jobs in the state.”

The report projects, in that timeframe, employment for green jobs in the state will increase by 6.5% and it finds there was demand last year for more than 9,000 new green workers in the state with the current green workforce estimated at more than 30,700.

Industries like utilities and manufacturing may be familiar sectors with green jobs, but according to the report, “We see surprising industries such as professional, scientific, and technical services coming up as having the highest demand for green workers in Illinois.” Software developers and business management analysts are among the types of occupations in this industry.

The report notes, “While we see demand across Illinois for green workers, the greatest concentration is in the Chicago metro area with 71.5% of all green job postings in 2021.”

What’s a Green Job?

It’s not always easy to recognize a green job. Some are obvious – think wind turbine technician – and some are defined by their proximity to businesses in pursuit of a cleaner, greener economy.

In our Green Jobs Now reports, we look at four different categories when we break down the opportunities in the green jobs ecosystem.

Core jobs are those “with a primary responsibility associated with the green economy.” The data indicates the top core green job in Illinois is a solar sales representative.

Enabled jobs have “primary responsibilities separate or tangential to the green economy" with a building and general maintenance technician identified as the primary job.

Not to be confused with enabled jobs, enabling jobs “aren’t associated with green tech per se, but they support the green economy.”

The report says, “Green enabling jobs run the gamut… In all, over 96 different specialized occupations were represented in the jobs identified as green enabling in Illi...

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A recently announced program is allowing students to earn Google Career Certificates in IT and data analytics. “It's really an opportunity to gain some of the resources we need to serve more young adults, to scale our program more,”, according to Gerald Chertavian, founder and CEO, Year Up.

Year Up provides no-cost training to underserved young adults that leads to internships and jobs. Chertavian continues, “We look at anything creative that ultimately can be linked to sustainable, scalable growth that will always serve our students.”

WorkingNation sat down with Chertavian at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Year Up is also a key player in OneTen which is working to advance a million Black talent into good jobs over 10 years.

“We would describe a good job as a job that you can sustain yourself and your family on. The average family income in this country is $53,000 so we would look for jobs that are paying more than that. Where you can start to raise a family, take care of a family, and not have to trade off on basic necessities – gasoline, medicine, or the occasional night out to see a movie. Those shouldn’t be tradeoffs.”

Learn more about Year Up.

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It’s important for young students to be exposed to the world of work early in their academic journey, according to Sabari Raja, founder and CEO, Nepris.

Nepris facilitates that classroom-to-industry experience through virtual connections.

WorkingNation sat down with Raja at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

To date, Nepris has reached two million students across the country including Texas and California, among other states.

Raja says her motivation for starting Nepris was inspired by her own experience. “I grew up on a small coconut farm in south India to parents without college degrees. I had one uncle who was very different from the rest of my family. Most of my family was into farming. He was a tech entrepreneur.”

When visiting him as a child, Raja says her uncle pointed to a large facility – Biocon Limited – and told her it was founded by a woman. Raja says, “It opened all kinds of possibilities for me.”

“It was the first spark. For me, at that point, success was defined as becoming a successful entrepreneur. It always goes back to that moment.”

Learn more about Nepris.

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It’s not enough to craft strategies that benefit the environment and the economy, according to Bill Ritter, Jr., director at the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University. The former governor of Colorado says there has to be an equity component, as well.

WorkingNation sat down with Ritter at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Ritter – who founded CNEE in 2011 – says it’s key that all stakeholders are engaged. “It's really important in the United States, not just to work with policy leaders, but to also think just on a day-to-day basis, how people who are the citizens of the United States can be involved in this and why they should be involved.”

“We've been able to manage that conversation by not talking about climate with people who don't believe there's climate change but talking about their own ability to enter that workforce and be part of it. It can create jobs. It can create wealth in communities. It's going to be a whole different workforce in 2035 than it is today.”

Learn more about the Center for the New Energy Economy.

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In order to lift up people, there has to be systemwide change, according to Patti Constantakis, director of economic opportunity, Walmart.org.

WorkingNation sat down with Constantakis at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

She says, “We want to shift the whole system. We happen to believe that a skills-based system is actually going to do that. We have funded all across the system. There are employers in that system. There are learning providers in that system. There are the workers in that system. Then there's this whole technical infrastructure, as well. We fund in all of those areas.”

Constantakis adds, “For us, it's really about the pathways that have existed before have not been very equitable. How can we build a skills-based system that is a learning and employment system that will allow for advancement?”

Learn more about Walmart.org.

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Reaching students early is a key component to N Ventures’ pathway to the world of design. Giselle Morell, head of marketing activations and customer engagement, explains, “Our focus is expanding access to Parsons School of Design’s world class education and pedagogy – and democratizing so that we can provide access to underserved underrepresented areas.”

WorkingNation sat down with Morrell at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

N Ventures is collaborating with the recently opened Newark School of Fashion and Design, a high school with 120 students in the freshman class.

“It's a three-pronged approach, so creating curriculum based on the Parsons’ pedagogy. The second part is really integrating the students into the Parsons’ community. And then the third part is professional development for the high school faculty,” say Morell.

She says experiential learning may include attending a fashion show during Fashion Week, hearing a chat with a lead designer with a clothing company.

Morell says that N Ventures is working on creating industry partnerships that will afford students access to internships, as well as connections to additional school districts.

Learn more about N Ventures.Learn more about the Parsons School of Design.

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As the green economy moves forward, it’s necessary that traditionally underrepresented communities be part of the sector, according to Daniel Ferguson, senior director of workforce development, Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI).

WorkingNation sat down with Ferguson at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Ferguson says there is great opportunity in the green economy. “We are bolstering the talent pipeline by providing what I call debt-free postsecondary education in green jobs – be it IT support, project management, EV maintenance technicians. We're providing the opportunity for folks to get into this green economy through accelerated training, partnering with community colleges and other training practitioners to provide training will lead to good-paying green jobs.”

He continues, “We're training individuals for the opportunities for our LACI startups – comprising of those technologies that specialize in zero emissions transportation, smart and sustainable cities, and clean energy.”

“Through our pilot's work, we're able to deploy the technology in the communities for those individuals getting trained to upkeep the technology and also ultimately be able to afford, to utilize, and to be able to gain access to the technology.”

Learn more about Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator.

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Partnerships among entrepreneurs, companies, and investors can disrupt traditional systems to foster equitable economic mobility, according to Kristina Francis, executive director, JFFLabs.

WorkingNation sat down with Francis at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

She says disruption leads to positive change. “Oftentimes in crises or in times of necessity, we have our best thinking, our best innovation. We are trying to come up with solutions. We want to disrupt that which is not serving us or working well for the outcomes that we want to see.”

“We are infusing technology, new models and new systems, and partnerships into the workforce education field,” says Francis. “We looked at what traditional systems were doing. We looked at some of the new emerging ecosystem players and we wanted to really convene those individuals together.”

“Look at what is working. Test, experiment, and scale new opportunities so that we can create on-ramps – so individuals have the opportunity to find, finance, and flourish in what they're doing.”

Learn more about JFFLabs.

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The educational ecosystem needs to respect the dignity of all learners, according to Ryan Stowers, executive director, CKF. He explains, “There are barriers in the way that are preventing people from reaching their potential. Our philanthropy is focused on understanding and removing those barriers.”

WorkingNation sat down with Stowers at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Stowers says, “We fund research that helps us better understand the issues that these individuals are facing. We also fund entrepreneurs that are coming up with bottom-up solutions to help remove some of these barriers,” says Stowers.

He continues, “In the space of education, how can we remove the barriers that the existing system has placed in the way of learners? That's a whole host of different challenges and opportunities for entrepreneurs to get engaged in. We're really trying to catalyze that entrepreneurial activity and help those solution providers come up with a better way.”

Learn more about CKF.

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Education is crucial to tackling the climate crisis, says Margot Brown, vice president of environmental justice and equity initiatives, Environmental Defense Fund. She notes that is going to involve preparing students and workers for the green jobs of the future.

WorkingNation sat down with Brown at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Brown says young students need to understand how the green sector connects to their own places in the environment.

As part of her work with the EDF, Brown says undergraduate and graduate students are connected to frontline and fenceline communities -  via the  Community and College Partners Program (C2P2) –  to provide pro bono assistance to address environmental justice issues.

“We're growing this whole new cohort of students that are really able to work with communities in a way that they understand the context, the complexities, systemic racism, and all the things that come along in that space. It makes them become better listeners and think through how to address the climate crisis with a justice and equity lens.”

Brown says as a 16-year-old, she was member of her high school environmental club. These days, she is optimistic about the progress made around environmental issues.

“The growth that we've seen is amazing. It's not just the growth of the individual, it's the growth of organizations. In the past, the Environmental Defense Fund thought of justice and equity as sort of a piece of its work, but not being integrated into the fabric of the organization. What they've come to realize is in order for them to be a viable entity in 20 or 30 years, it's imperative – that part of our purpose is to integrate justice and equity into our work.

Learn more about the Environmental Defense Fund.

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Creating short-term pathways to tech jobs is important, according to Connor Diemand-Yauman, co-founder and co-CEO, Merit America. He explains, “Merit America prepares low-wage, working adults for skilled careers at scale.”

WorkingNation sat down with Diemand-Yauman at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Diemand-Yauman says a new initiative that supports students working toward Google Career Certificates in IT and data analytics is transformational.

“It allows providers like Merit America to invest in learners now, despite the fact that the revenue that we might get from those learners is delayed – meaning that the fund is structured in a way where we get paid if learners get a job making above $40,000 per year. It allows us to take that deferred revenue and invest now in our growth.”

Diemand-Yauman says recognized certificates are addressing barriers often faced by people without college degrees.

He was inspired to co-found Merit America after volunteer teaching in a jail facility. Diemand-Yauman says he realized through a conversation with an inmate that opportunities for him were limited because he was justice-involved with no postsecondary degree.

Learn more about Merit America.

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Making learning materials available digitally to college students is an equity issue, according to Raj Kaji, CEO, Akademos – which works with higher ed institutions to lower textbook costs.

WorkingNation sat down with Kaji at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Kaji says accessing learning materials is an equity issue. “Even before the pandemic, 65% of students indicated they weren't buying all their textbooks because of socioeconomic reasons. Even before the pandemic, 43% of students indicated they had to make a choice between buying a book and putting food on the table. And 90% of students indicate that not having the materials disadvantaged their learning.”

“We have anecdotal data that suggests that if a student has materials the first day of class, they'll actually pass the class at a 3% to 5% higher rate, which really suggests that this actually is a meaningful lever point relative to success, not just for the student, but for the institution,” says Kaji.

He says even textbook publishers acknowledge that affordability is an important issue to address, noting, they realize the need to “create a better mousetrap because the number and volume of low-cost or free materials is expanding rapidly.”

Learn more about Akademos.

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People need to align skills in order to make connections to employers, according to Christine Cruzvergara, chief education strategy officer at Handshake.

Handshake is helping millions of students jumpstart and launch their careers by connecting them with companies. “We've now grown to partner with over 1,400 universities and colleges. Over 600,000 employers,” says Cruzvergara.

WorkingNation sat down with Cruzvergara at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

In the coming months, she says Handshake is looking to expand. “We are expanding into non-traditional education partners, so not only our four-year and our two-year partners, but we want to make sure that we're thinking about these non-traditional providers like boot camps, for example, that are really helping to skill and upskill so many learners and so many workers. How do we help ensure that those individuals are also able to find opportunity?”

Cruzvergara also notes that Handshake is working to expand its network of connections, internationally.

Learn more about Handshake.

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Moving young people forward requires a number of strategies, according to David Shapiro, CEO, MENTOR. He explains the significance of strong mentoring relationships in a person’s life.

“If there's not someone else in your life who you've either seen do something before, or been exposed to it, or who can tell you the steps to get there and navigate you through what might not always be a straight path, it's really hard to find your way to different job paths and eventual career pathways,” says Shapiro.

WorkingNation sat down with Shapiro at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Gaining social capital and having access to work-based learning are also components that contribute to success, notes Shapiro.

He says because of the pandemic, there has to be a mindfulness component surrounding connection. “We learned in the virtual world how much, even further, you have to be intentional about relationship and connection. People don't make the water cooler connections. Unless you intentionally structure in human connection and relationship, getting to know each other and getting to have a stake in one another is not happening as much.”

Learn more about MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership.

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A job should lead to a degree versus the other way around, according to Mallory Dwinal-Palisch, chancellor at Reach University – where half of the earned credit is a person's job experience at their place of work and the other half comes from online classes.

WorkingNation sat down with Dwinal-Palisch at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

She says combining four components – efficiency, flexibility, affordability, and professional capital – ensures that the job a person has today becomes the foundation for them getting a degree.

Using the pathway to becoming a teacher in an educational institution as an example, Dwinal-Palisch says, “Schools of ed are closing because they can't get enough people to even sign up. We have a wait list, thousands-of-students-long right now. They're choosing between Reach University and not going to college because they can't afford tuition, four years out of the workforce, hoping to find a job on the other side. Arranging childcare. Missing work. They can't afford any of that.”

“When we see teacher shortages, what we're realizing is what we have here is not a lack of people who want to become teachers, it's a lack of viable pathways to fill those spots.”

Learn more about Reach University.

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The effort continues to help American workers gain entry into good careers, according to Ryan Kelsey, executive director of partnership development, Markle Foundation.

WorkingNation sat down with Kelsey at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Kelsey explains the foundation’s commitment to creating that pathway. “Our primary initiative is we're supporting a coalition of organizations called the Rework America Alliance, which is supporting civil rights organizations, nonprofits, trainers, educators, employers, and other philanthropies, all to try to help more people who don't have a bachelor’s degree find an upwardly mobile career. Particularly with a focus on Black, Latino and women populations who are often marginalized from opportunities for better careers.”

He says career coaching and navigation, translating skills on a resume, and getting employers to consider those without four-year degrees are keys to getting people into good jobs.

Kelsey is not dismissive of college degrees, but adds, “Where we might need to see some more open mindedness is which careers are the ones for which that's really relevant. What can we do to bring skills and experiences forward for those for whom a bachelor degree is not something that's on the path for them, at least not in the short-term?”

Learn more about Markle Foundation.

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The number of people who are looking to switch their career paths is on the rise, according to Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO, Coursera – which is partnered with universities and companies to give learners access to those skills.

WorkingNation sat down with Maggioncalda at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

“We're starting to see a huge trend towards further embrace of online learning by government agencies and not just in the U.S., but around the world. In the U.S., and also in Europe, the number of individuals who are deciding ‘I want a new career’ and realizing that there are good-paying jobs, if only they can get new skills is going up. The Great Resignation is certainly a phenomenon that we've been observing.”

Maggioncalda continues, “I like to call it the Great Upgrade – ‘I want to upgrade my skills. I want to upgrade my career. I want to upgrade my life.’  People are definitely looking for more job flexibility. A lot of what that means is remote work and they're looking for better pay.”

Higher education needs to be better aligned with employers to make sure people have the skills needed for available jobs, says Maggioncalda. But he notes that community colleges, state universities, and labor departments at the state level are moving to improve the learning pipeline.

Learn more about Coursera.

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The nation is experiencing high demand for health care workers. One organization – Futuro Health – hopes to graduate 10,000 licensed and/or credentialed workers by 2024. CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan says it’s crucial that the pathway be diverse and inclusive.

She says, “We're so proud that we have gone from zero students two years ago to now having served over 5,000 adults, very diverse adults. As a matter of fact, 80% diversity, average age of 30, and 52% bilingual.”

WorkingNation sat down with Ton-Quinlivan at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

She notes that Futuro is focused on the allied health care professions that include, among others, paramedics, x-ray techs, and medical assistants.

Ton-Quinlivan says there are pathways for advancement through allied health, “There's a whole set of patient-facing careers. For example, the medical assistant can become a licensed vocational or licensed practical nurse and then can go on to do other jobs. There are also sterile processing technicians who can become surgical technicians.”

Learn more about Futuro Health.

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Artificial intelligence can be a tool for accessibility and equity, according to Eric Wang, senior director of Turnitin AI, Turnitin. The platform “ensures original work from students.”

Wang says the company uses AI to weed out bias and inequity.

WorkingNation sat down with Wang at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Wang notes another effort to level the playing field is the use of Gradescope. “We use handwriting recognition – AI that allows offline assignments written with pen and paper, scanned on a cell phone to then be digitized, and interact with online assignments or work that was completed in an online fashion.”

“What that allows us to do is significantly lower the barrier of entry of students in terms of using the advanced technologies that we built. In the past, you had to do all your work online which meant you had to have access to high-speed internet. You had to have access to a high-powered laptop. One of the places where AI can start to really level the playing field is that's not true anymore. You can do work on pen and paper and with a cell phone which is much more ubiquitous.”

Learn more about Turnitin.

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Young people – those in middle and high school – need to be able to understand the opportunities that might be available to them as they consider their education-to-career pathways, according to Jean Eddy, CEO and president, American Students Assistance (ASA).

She says that navigation needs a re-haul.

WorkingNation sat down with Eddy at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Being ‘digital natives’ – as Eddy calls young people – ASA has created content that allows exploration.

“We developed a product called Futurescape that allows a young person to go into this platform. They can do games and play. It assesses abilities and talents through gameplay. Why I think Futurescape is so cool, it opens up a world to these students,” says Eddy.

“I see this as an opportunity for kids to do a lot of exploring, hone what it is that they are trying to lean into, and then use the services of a career counselor in school as a way to refine that search.”

Learn more about American Students Assistance (ASA). Learn more about Futurescape.

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A bionic organization understand the significance of harnessing the power of both machines and people, says Ƶhdan Shikarov, senior manager of learning innovation and technology, BCG U, part of Boston Consulting Group.

WorkingNation sat down with Shikarov at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Shikarov says the often heard ‘robots are going to take your jobs’ is a common fear. “We are in an unheard-of new era which we haven't seen before. It's the disruption of white-collar jobs. Before it was mostly industrial processes and so on.”

“Now it's automation of thinking with all these new AI and machine learning tools and data science evolution and so on.”

“What’s happening is that some of the jobs becoming obsolete were mechanical jobs, but mostly and new jobs are emerging. It's not exactly decreasing number of jobs. It's more like changing the nature of that.” Shikarov references an example of someone doing simple data analysis upskilling to become a junior data scientist.

He continues, “But an interesting piece around that is what our societies, organizations and governments can do about this.”

“For organizations to succeed in the next decade or so, they will basically have to compete on the rate at which they can learn. That essentially means you need to enable your workforce to upskill. We are not talking about upskilling programs so you provide everybody with some sort of path. No, it's more like creating a culture. So lifelong learning becomes normal.”

Learn more about Boston Consulting Group.Learn more about BCG U.

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People need to know there is a good job waiting for them on the other side of their educations, according to Stephen Moret, president and CEO, Strada Education Network.

“We work to help millions of Americans to secure better jobs and greater economic mobility. We do that through a variety of mechanisms from philanthropy to nonprofits, grant making, research, advocacy, engagement with higher education institutions. It’s a variety of activities,” explains Moret.

WorkingNation sat down with Moret at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

A current Strada initiative is a $10 million grant challenge to improve student outcomes after completing college. “This is an effort to encourage innovation and scaling of initiatives in higher education institutions that will help many thousands of individuals,” says Moret.

He notes one interesting grant applicant. “In Texas, they're actually focused on how to enable individuals, particularly people of color, that have been in some programs that have tended to have poor outcomes to get additional credentials along with their degree. That will help them get better jobs right out of school.”

“We think that's a really interesting opportunity because obviously there are great lifelong learning advantages from the liberal arts and some of those other programs that don't necessarily have as high of an initial earnings outcome, but trying to help folks get to good jobs to begin with.”

Moret also previews that Strada will be launching an initiative with a focus on community colleges that is greater than the organization’s past focus has been on those institutions.

Learn more about Strada Education Network.

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It’s important to get kids interested in climate and career paths at an early age, according to Frank Niepold, senior climate education program manager and coordinator, NOAA.

But, he says, that mission comes with obstacles.

WorkingNation sat down with Niepold at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Niepold says a report from the Surgeon General notes climate is a very concerning issue for young people. “As professionals, educators, it's our job to work with that anxiety and transform it into skill, capability, excitement, because we're going to need all of that energy to help us with the long-decade process of dealing with climate change in communities, across the world, across the nation, and across the states.”

He continues, “We need that talent to be activated and empowered as opposed to demoralized, depressed, and missing. That's our challenge before us.”

Learn more about NOAA’s Climate Program Office.

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Tech companies with more diverse teams including Black, Latina, and Native women are more creative and more profitable, according to Dwana Franklin-Davis, CEO, Reboot Representation.

The organization aims to double – by 2025 – the number of women of color receiving computing degrees.

WorkingNation sat down with Franklin-Davis at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

“We are excited to be able to fund programs and initiatives that are in alignment, that have a community of support, that have other levers that are important, including scholarships.”

She says it’s important that young girls have exposure to tech career pathways during K-12. “We want to make sure that girls are able to be able to see themselves in the spaces they aspire to be or spaces they don't even know that they can be. Often women and girls, especially in higher education. may be one of few in their computer science programs.”

“We're creating a community where we can give information to professors, guidance counselors, and community leaders to help create awareness around what's available and what opportunities are out there,” says Franklin-Davis.

Learn more about Reboot Representation.

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Public-private partnerships are key to financing and investing in talent, according to Jason Tyszko, vice president of Center for Education and Workforce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

WorkingNation sat down with Tyszko at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

He explains a Chamber initiative. “In Talent Finance, we're really looking at a new social contract, one where workers and learners have skin in the game as well as employers, government, and other parties.”

Tyszko says, “We all have skin in the game already. Um, but some are disproportionately taking on the risk more than others. For example, we expect a lot of learners and workers in terms of taking on additional debt in order to access these opportunities. We believe there's a better way. And we think employers in the private sector could be a big part of the solution.”

Learn more about the Center for Education and Workforce, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.Learn more about Talent Finance.

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Employers can boost their own workforce by providing development opportunities, says Brian Napack, president and CEO, Wiley.

Wiley has a years-long history as a book publisher, but Napack notes that these days the company is involved in career-connected education and scientific research.

WorkingNation sat down with Napack at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

“The skills that people develop today will be obsolete in 12 to 18 months. It's that fast,” says Napack. “The institutions of education are having trouble keeping up delivering people into the labor market with the right skills. People are having trouble keeping up in their careers and that's what people want. People want career advancement.”

“What we're seeing is that in the last year, in the U.S alone, 47 million people changed jobs during that period of time because they were looking for career opportunity.”

He says the pandemic sped up trends in online learning, including career-connected education, outcome-oriented education, and faster, less expensive education.

Learn more about Wiley.

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Apprenticeships are challenging the workforce status quo, according to Sophie Ruddock, VP and GM North America, Multiverse.

She says Multiverse is building an alternative to college and corporate training. “We do that by finding very high-potential individuals without a four-year college degree, assess for grit, not grades and match them to roles at some of the best companies in the world,” says Ruddock.

WorkingNation sat down with Ruddock at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

“Multiverse is focused on tackling the digital and tech skills gap because it's the area where we have built the expertise, where we have seen we can add demonstrable value,” says Ruddock. Apprenticeships are for in-demand roles including those in software engineering, data analytics, and digital businesses.

“We know that talent is everywhere and opportunity is not,” says Ruddock – noting that some of Multiverse’s apprentices come to the organization via social media.

Learn more about Multiverse.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Kathleen deLaski, Education Design Lab founder and CEO discusses the Lab’s new report: Skills Visibility: Why and How a Skills-Based Economy can be More Equitable.

We had a great conversation on the profound shift to a skilled-based economy and how it it is changing the relationship between (l)earners -(a combination of learners and earners), employers, and learning institutions.

There is a lot to unpack in the report and podcast. I invite you to dig in!

Episode 225: Kathleen deLaski, Education Design Lab founder and CEO

Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post Skills Visibility: The changing relationship between learners, employers, and education appeared first on WorkingNation.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Kathleen deLaski, Education Design Lab founder and CEO discusses the Lab's new report: Skills Visibility: Why and How a Skills-Based Economy can be More Equitable.

We had a great conversation on the profound shift to a skilled-based economy and how it it is changing the relationship between (l)earners -(a combination of learners and earners), employers, and learning institutions.

There is a lot to unpack in the report and podcast. I invite you to dig in!

Episode 225: Kathleen deLaski, Education Design Lab founder and CEOHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Offering certificates and badges to help people access good careers is important, according to Michael Hansen, CEO, Cengage Group. Traditionally, over its 100-year history, Cengage has provided students with learning materials.

“We have pivoted successfully to offer students alternatives and other choices, particularly around certificates, badges, and give them an ability for a much lower cost to actually learn a skill that they can take readily to the labor market and make either a better wage or actually get a job.”

WorkingNation sat down with Hansen at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

As people search for their career pathways, Hansen notes it’s important that stigma be removed from the skilled trades.

“I hope that the stigma around skilled trades is changing. It used to be for people that couldn't get to college. Somehow didn't have the money. Didn't have the education to make them successful in a traditional college career. That should not be the case. It is a credible alternative or an augmentation to a college degree.”

Learn more about Cengage Group.

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The impact of early-stage investment is significant, says George Hornig, chairman of The Seed Lab. “We're investing in things like using new tech technologies for improving training and skill development,” says Hornig.

WorkingNation sat down with Hornig at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

He says the companies that are receiving funding from The Seed Lab are experiencing the much-discussed skills gap.

Hornig says he’s not seeing young companies investing all that much in the training of their talent.

If the issue is not addressed, Hornig says, “The economy will continue to see wage inflation because the people who do have the skills are just going to be able to bid up the prices of their work.

“On a broader scale, it's the social side of our society. People who have the skills are in the ‘haves’ and those who don't are really left out. If we don't engage them, we end up with this dual society.”

Learn more about The Seed Lab.

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It takes the efforts of many stakeholders to get people back into the workforce, according to Beth Davis, vice president of training and analytics at SkillUp Coalition. The coalition is made up of “training and education providers, tech firms, employers, and philanthropies” with a goal of moving workers into high-growth jobs.

“What we try to do is expose those workers to opportunities where they can quickly upskill and find themselves in in-demand careers and growing industries,” says Davis.

WorkingNation sat down with Davis at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

She says after the completion of training, there are two ways to access a job. “SkillUp identifies high-quality training programs. They have very customized placement services. We're lucky enough to have found many training providers that have completion rates that are higher than 80% and placement rates where most of the workers who complete are placed in their field within six months or less.”

“We also work with employer partners who are looking for the types of workers who SkillUp is serving. It's really a good idea to find employers who are willing to commit to hiring workers even if they don't have that four-year degree.”

Learn more about SkillUp Coalition.

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Enabling people with English language skills is key to integration, according to Gregg Levin, CEO, EnGen – an online platform that provides non-English speaking adults with workforce readiness skills.

“They are trying to make a life for themselves in the U.S. Not having a mastery of English in either a specific area of desire or want, or in general is a major inhibitor to their ability to earn academic credentials, gain employment, be promoted within an employer,” says Levin.

“It really is a foundationally critical skill for folks to realize their full potential in the United States.”

WorkingNation sat down with Levin at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

He notes the platform added languages – Dari and Pashto – in response to the recent influx of refugees from Afghanistan. He expects EnGen will also be addressing language skills for arrivals from Ukraine.

Levin says employers are increasingly providing language learning to their workers. “Employers are leaning into English as a benefit because there's such stress in the system to find and retain quality workers at a frontline worker-level. When this is made available to workers, they often retain at a much higher rate than the general population.”

Learn more about EnGen.

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A new $100 million Google initiative is expanding training to low-income, underserved people, according to Jake Edwards, vice president of social investments, Social Finance.

Social Finance is a national impact finance and advisory nonprofit that’s managing the investment program.

WorkingNation sat down with Edwards at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Edward says Year Up and Merit America are the first two training programs that are involved. “Through our partnerships with high-quality training programs, we're able to help them go deeper in their communities. Oftentimes, they're constrained in terms of who they can serve and how many individuals they can serve based on what resources are available.”

Learn more about Social Finance.

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“We are looking for entrepreneurs who through their market solutions are closing gaps,” says Dr. Angela Jackson, chief ecosystem investment officer, Kapor Enterprises.

WorkingNation sat down with Jackson at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego

“When we think about gaps, we're thinking about gaps for people of color, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people. People living in rural communities. We really see tech as a lever to close those gaps,” says Jackson.

She continues, “We're looking at accelerated learning programs. We're looking at wraparound supports and innovations in transportation and childcare.”

Entrepreneurs operating in the green sector are import to Kapor, according to Jackson, noting climate justice is a priority for the organization.

Learn more about Kapor Enterprises.

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A student-first perspective is what led CEO Tess Michaels to start Stride Funding.

Stride Funding’s income share agreements (ISAs) and deferred tuition agreements (DTAs) allows graduates to pay a portion of their post-education income.

WorkingNation sat down with Michaels at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

Michaels says she learned firsthand about the ‘sticker shock’ cost of education when she was a graduate student.

She says alternative ways to finance an education are making the pathway more accessible and more equitable. “What's amazing about the student financing industry is the whole point of education is to do better than your parents. Go off and pursue an amazing career. Yet 92% of private loans require co-signers and less than a fourth of students actually have access to a credit worthy co-signer.”

“Inherently, there are just massive parts of the student segment that are left out of credit markets. They can't even afford to go to school.”

Learn more about Stride Funding.

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Data can identify the most predictable pathways to take from education to quality employment, according to Kaj Pedersen, chief technology officer, AstrumU.

WorkingNation sat down with Pedersen at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego.

“We work with students. We also work with working professionals. The idea is that we see a learner in a very sort of tangible sense of ‘Here's an individual. They're on a lifelong learning journey.’”

“As a result, they're always going to constantly be looking at ‘Where are my skills today and what do I need to do to evolve for that next opportunity?’ Our goal is to translate those verifiable experiences into educational opportunities and also work opportunities.”

Pedersen explains how that collected information also helps inform the talent pipeline about adjacent pathways that people may not have considered.

“We want to level the playing field by mapping the most comprehensive source of learning and working skills in the world, primarily because we think if you give people an opportunity to see how they can advance themselves, they will find the right training or they may even find the right opportunity they can pursue based on the skills they have or newly acquired skills that they gain from that training.”

Learn more about AstrumU.

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New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the jobless rate in the U.S. dropped to 3.6% last month – translating to about 6 million unemployed people. In addition, the economy added 431,000 jobs.

Job openings in the U.S. dropped to 11.3 million in February, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

WorkingNation is always hunting for jobs and training programs around the country. This week, we focused on Alabama, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

From Alabama: The Gasden Times reports Snead State Community College received grant funding to provide scholarships for career skills training for up to 15 women in the Marshall County area.

From Missouri:  KY3 reports the Missouri Job Center in Springfield is starting an apprenticeship program to fill city and county job openings.

From North Carolina: WECT reports the North Carolina Chamber Foundation is asking stakeholders to collaborate and share best practices that will connect learning institutions with employers to address workforce needs.

From Oklahoma: The Norman Transcript reports a German-based data company is opening its North American headquarters in Pryor creating 300 new jobs.

From Tennessee: WDEF reports a Chattanooga nonprofit is providing a nine-week, IT training program to local residents.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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The already critical shortage of teachers continues two years into the COVID pandemic and no relief is in sight. “It’s a hard profession and has become harder,” says Gema Zamarro, professor of education reform and economics at the University of Arkansas. “The working conditions for teachers were already hard with high demands before the pandemic. Working conditions with the pandemic have become worse.”

Zamarro is the co-author of a Brookings report – How the Pandemic has Changed Teachers' Commitment to Remaining in the Classroom – which blames teacher burnout more than other factors.

Gema Zamarro, professor, University of Arkansas

In March 2020, 74% of teachers surveyed said they planned to work as a teacher until retirement. A year later, that figure dropped to 69%. She says the way the profession has evolved over decades requires teachers to take on more than just educating.

“They feel they have other responsibilities. Their job isn’t just to teach, but they have to cover the basic needs of students. To some extent, they feel like they have lost their independence on how to teach,” she says.

“We find teachers are the happiest when they spend time directly teaching students. But with the pandemic and having to teach remotely and changing instruction modes, they’ve lost time. It goes into planning and little time into directly interacting with students.”

Zamarro also notes, “At the same time, before the pandemic, we see that parents who want their kids to become teachers have gone down.”

Heightened Job Stress

Elizabeth Steiner, policy researcher, RAND Corporation

Challenging working conditions are noted by RAND Corporation policy researcher Elizabeth Steiner, who researched the links between teachers’ intentions to leave and their mental health and well-being. “We weren’t all that surprised to find that many teachers were experiencing frequent job-related stress and symptoms of depression and were considering leaving their jobs.”

“It was surprising to see how many more teachers than members of the general working population of adults experienced job-related stress, symptoms of depression, and were considering leaving their jobs. Specifically, 78% of teachers reported frequent job-related stress, compared with 40% of the general population of working adults,” Steiner says.

Feelings of Failure

After a decade of teaching every K-5 grade as a full-time classroom teacher and a long-term substitute teacher, Morgan Hill left her Los Angeles school in September. While her previous school benefited from federal funding that provided academic coaches and new services, how she taught, what she taught, and how students’ progress was evaluated changed drastically.

Hill says she was forced to only teach “to the tests” her third graders would be taking without being able to teach foundations, like reading and counting to 20. While she administered tests to some students, the rest were forced to do lessons on their computers.

“I also had four severe behavior problems who had files going back to kindergarten documenting their behavior. They made it almost impossible to teach. Yelling, screaming, sexually inappropriate drawings being circulated, fights. Again, this is in third grade. I asked for help but was just told it would get better. It did not,” Hill says.

The implemented protocols once schools reopened – reminding students to wear masks, distributing hand sanitizer when they came into the classroom – were worrisome and disruptive. This left Hill feeling anxious, frustrated, and a “failure.”

More Support for Teachers

As the country emerges from the pandemic and transitions into a new normal, Zamarro suggests this is a time for school districts to increase teacher pay, protect teachers’ time directly interacting with their students, and provide support for health measures. Hill adds the teaching profession needs respect from its administration, the government, parents, and society.

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We're on the road again – this time San Diego-bound!

We're just a couple of days away from ASU+GSV Summit 13.0. The theme this year is education on the edge and is focused on transforming society and business around learning and work. As always, the Summit welcomes diverse perspectives from around the world to imagine a new era in which ALL people have equal access to the future. We're talking about changing the world for good!

WorkingNation is proud to be part of that conversation as a Collaborating Partner with ASU+GSV.

We've got some great content planned around access, opportunity, and jobs. If you're at the conference, WorkingNation will be fielding a panel on Green Jobs Now on Tuesday at 10:10 a.m.

Protecting and repairing the environment is not just good news for our planet, it is also good news for the American worker. The demand for workers with green skills rose dramatically last year in all industries – from tech to health care to the skilled trades – and is projected to grow even more this year with the passage of the Infrastructure and Jobs Act.

Using our own proprietary state-by-state research, this WorkingNation panel examines where the opportunities exist today and tomorrow for green jobs and identifies educational pathways that lead to the skills job seekers need to get these in-demand jobs.

I am honored to moderate the panel. Joining me in this discussion is former Colorado governor Bill Ritter, director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University; Daniel Ferguson, senior director of workforce development at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI); Matt Sigelman, chairman of Emsi Burning Glass; Frank Niepold, senior climate education program manager and coordinator at NOAA's Climate Program Office; and Joan Lynch, chief content and programming officer at WorkingNation. 

When and where: Tuesday, April 5, 10:10-10:50 a.m. PT, Harbor E, Level 2, Manchester Grand Hyatt, San Diego.

Our founder and CEO Art Bilger and president Jane Oates are also on the ground in San Diego. We'll be sharing some of the conversations we're having at the conference with you via our social media interview series, WorkingNation Overheard. This is our way of letting you know about some of the important discussions going on at ASU+GSV, in case you can't be there yourself. We've been at it since 2019. If you want to catch up, you can watch those videos on our website at WorkingNation Overheard ASU+GSV.

And there's yet one more way to be a part of the Summit this year!

ASU+GSV Virtual will be broadcast LIVE from the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego April 4-6, 2022. Register for FREE and enjoy a special 3-day curated experience. Watch keynotes, select panels, compelling interviews and join in the many opportunities to engage real-time with the summit community.

You can sign up here: ASU+GSV Virtual.

See you in San Diego or on the internet! Follow all the happenings at #asugsvsummit and #WorkingNationOverheard.

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After two years virtual, SXSW EDU 2022 was back in person in Austin earlier this month!

It was an amazing four days of amazing conversations. By far, one of the most inspiring ones for me was the one I had on the Cognizant Foundation podcast stage with three women whose career paths have been changed by tech training programs that opened the doors for them in an industry that hasn't always been the most welcoming to women.

Simply put: These women are amazing. These programs are amazing.

In this episode – which we recorded live in front of an enthusiastic audience – you'll meet:

Kate Nichols – a 32-year-old former teacher who packed up her bags in Austin and moved to Seattle to learn software programming at Ada Developers Academy. She got a paid internship at Zulily as part of the training. She loves education still and has been able to combine that love with her new career at Hello World.Sage Lee – a 26-year-old former retail food worker who went from stocking shelves to an intensive seven-month intensive software programming class in Denver's Turing School. Today, after a paid apprenticeship at Handshake, she's an associate junior programmer at the company. By the way, she went from barely making $40,000 to making more than $90,000 a year – that's a big jump from her salary at the grocery store.Maria Contreras – an Austin high school senior who started learning to code at 15 in a free Code2College afterschool program that landed her a paid internship at Indeed. We learned on stage that the now-18-year-old is headed to Rice University with a full scholarship to major in computer programming.

What these young women have in common is their desire to move into an in-demand career, and that they were able to find free, or almost free, training programs geared toward young people who don't have the financial resources to do it on their own.

We talk about how they did it, and how you can do it too!

You can listen here – and I encourage you to listen all the way to the end – or you can download and listen from wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks to Kristen Titus, Hannah Lee, and Kyle Gunnels and all the Cognizant Foundation team for inviting us to record the podcast on their stage!

WorkingNation was a media partner with SXSW EDU for the fourth year in a row. Check out our interviews for our WorkingNation Overheard series for a flavor of the other conversations we had in Austin this year.

Episode 224: Expanding Opportunities in Tech at SXSW EDUHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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After two years virtual, SXSW EDU 2022 was back in person in Austin earlier this month!

It was an amazing four days of amazing conversations. By far, one of the most inspiring ones for me was the one I had on the Cognizant Foundation podcast stage with three women whose career paths have been changed by tech training programs that opened the doors for them in an industry that hasn’t always been the most welcoming to women.

Simply put: These women are amazing. These programs are amazing.

In this episode – which we recorded live in front of an enthusiastic audience – you’ll meet:

• Kate Nichols – a 32-year-old former teacher who packed up her bags in Austin and moved to Seattle to learn software programming at Ada Developers Academy. She got a paid internship at Zulily as part of the training. She loves education still and has been able to combine that love with her new career at Hello World.
• Sage Lee – a 26-year-old former retail food worker who went from stocking shelves to an intensive seven-month intensive software programming class in Denver’s Turing School. Today, after a paid apprenticeship at Handshake, she’s an associate junior programmer at the company. By the way, she went from barely making $40,000 to making more than $90,000 a year – that’s a big jump from her salary at the grocery store.
• Maria Contreras – an Austin high school senior who started learning to code at 15 in a free Code2College afterschool program that landed her a paid internship at Indeed. We learned on stage that the now-18-year-old is headed to Rice University with a full scholarship to major in computer programming.

What these young women have in common is their desire to move into an in-demand career, and that they were able to find free, or almost free, training programs geared toward young people who don’t have the financial resources to do it on their own.

We talk about how they did it, and how you can do it too!

You can listen here – and I encourage you to listen all the way to the end – or you can download and listen from wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks to Kristen Titus, Hannah Lee, and Kyle Gunnels and all the Cognizant Foundation team for inviting us to record the podcast on their stage!

WorkingNation was a media partner with SXSW EDU for the fourth year in a row. Check out our interviews for our WorkingNation Overheard series for a flavor of the other conversations we had in Austin this year.

Episode 224: Expanding Opportunities in Tech at SXSW EDU

Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post WorkingNation @ SXSW EDU: Expanding Opportunities in Tech appeared first on WorkingNation.

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WorkingNation is always looking for job and training opportunities around the country. This week, we focused on Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, and Massachusetts. Take a look.

From Hawaii: Honolulu Civil Beat reports the city and the state combined have more than 5,000 job openings. Officials are looking at a revamping of hiring practices to fill the spots.

From Idaho: East Idaho Business Journal reports a new training center at Idaho State University’s College of Business will help meet demands for salespeople.

From Louisiana: Biz New Orleans reports the launch of an apprenticeship program for on-the-job training on the business side of New Orleans’ music industry.

From Maryland: Technical.ly reports an award federal funding of $2.45 million will go towards workforce development in the state’s life sciences industry.

From Massachusetts: Yahoo Finance reports small businesses adversely affected by the pandemic can apply for training to learn new marketing skills. Those that are eligible can get reimbursed for the training cost.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Especially during the time of the great resignation and workforce shortages, homegrown talent has become more coveted than ever. A grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is helping to develop future water scientists to work with and within Indigenous communities to address water challenges.

The $500,000 grant was awarded to the University of Arizona and Diné College – the oldest tribal college in the country - and is just the latest development in an ongoing STEM education collaboration between the two schools.

Hands-On Training to Solve a Local Issue and Create Jobs

Through the Tribal College Research Grant Program, Navajo students are gaining technical and hands-on training in microbiology, molecular biology, and chemical and microbial water analysis. Arizona is in the midst of a drought, making access to clean water even more difficult.

“Water access is a huge challenge for the Navajo Nation, not only because it’s on a semi-desert region but also because nearly 30% of Navajo people do not have access to running water in their home,” says Karletta Chief, Ph.D., associate professor and extension specialist for the University of Arizona’s Department of Environmental Science.

“If you’re living in a city, the condition and approach to water is totally different because it’s at your doorstep,” adds Shazia Tabassum Hakim, Ph.D., a professor of Diné College. “But when you think about the reservation, the main issue is the availability of resources.”

Water Reclamation and Reuse

Reclaimed water is the source at the center of the project, and not just from a strictly chemical or biological approach. The grant is exploring the technical and social impediments to alternative uses for that water. Students who participate in this project are involved in collecting data, water sampling, analyzing the quality of the water (looking for contaminants, determining the quality and alternate uses if treated) and then field research, outreach and education on water reuse.

The idea of recycling may seem simple, but there is special sensitivity to water, as it has significance to the Native American culture. And wastewater is considered taboo.

“Water is sacred,” says Chief, who is also a member of the Navajo nation. “Native Americans are very diverse and there’s more than 570 federally recognized tribes. But one unifying aspect to our perspective is that water is life. There’s a deep connection to water through religion, culture, identity, familial practices and ceremonies. So, when you talk about water, it’s a living entity that is respected and sacred.”

Students Trained Through Community Work

That’s why the grant project includes an outreach and education component, that Chief and Hakim hope will help demonstrate the understanding of water’s importance while presenting these experiments as possible solutions. With that in mind, who better to lead and execute the work than students from the community itself? Sophomore Tori Fulton is one such student.

“I’ve always held a strong sense of connection to my community when it came down to environment issues we have been dealing with. So, when Shazia brought this internship up to me, I was very interested because I see how we deal with water problems within the Navajo Nation as we only have so little drinkable water resources. The way I see it, sometimes the Navajo Nation is like a third world country and seeing how we lack water resources it can be scary and frustrating to see,” Fulton says.

Fulton was part of a group who conducted water analysis and collected water samples in the Tuba City area. Her group included eight students; some of traditional college age. Some are older with their own families. Tribal students participating in programs who are the result of the University of Arizona and Diné College partnership typically earn their associates degree;Chief says the path to higher education for Native Americans isn’t always obvious or easy...

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With more than 11 million open jobs in the U.S. and employers struggling to fill them, Google is working to narrow that gap while also opening doors to upward mobility for underrepresented Americans. “There is a really urgent need in this country for solutions that are going to equip people with the skills that they need to enter these in-demand high growth, high-paying jobs, regardless of their zip code or their educational background,” says Lisa Gevelber, founder of Grow with Google.

To do that, the tech giant has launched a $100 million fund to help more than 20,000 people go through its training programs for these n-demand skills, providing them with technical training, wraparound services, and career placement support. Ultimately, Google hopes its efforts will deliver $1 billion in wage gains as it works to eliminate barriers for people who don’t have a four-year college degree. Currently, two-thirds of adults in the United States fall into that category. 

Google Career Certificates and Supports

Lisa Gevelber, founder, Grow with Google (Photo: Google)

Grow with Google is an initiative launched in 2017, providing resources for digital skills training with a commitment to create economic opportunity for all. Gevelber says the programs are based on the premise that  “talent is everywhere, but opportunity has not yet been equally distributed.” She adds, “We think it’s a fixable problem and we are setting out to try to fix it.” More than 70,000 people have trained through the certificate program in the last five years.

The Google Career Certificates Fund is a new way to finance the cost of learning new skills for people who might not otherwise be able to afford it. There is no upfront cost to those who qualify and they won't have to pay back their tuition until they hit an annual salary of $40,000.

Would-be trainees can apply through nonprofit partners Year Up and Merit America to receive training toward a Google Career Certificate in IT support, project management, data analytics, or user experience design. Along with technical skills, the fund covers career placement support and wraparound services, including childcare and transportation costs to people who need it. 

Gevelber describes the $100 million fund as “the single biggest philanthropic type investment that Google has ever made” and says what makes it unique is the fact it’s built on a model linked to success rates. 

Investment Model is Tied to Success Rates

Tracy Palandjian, CEO and co-founder, Social Finance (Photo: Social Finance)

“The money is going to follow the results,” explains Tracy Palandjian, CEO and co-founder of Social Finance, a national impact finance and advisory nonprofit, which is managing Google’s $100 million investment program. Palandjian says Google’s nonprofit partners, Year Up and Merit America, will only receive a portion of the program costs upfront. 

“(The partners) will get additional payments if people graduate from their program and land and keep good jobs,” says Palandjian. “So their incentive is also to make sure they deliver results for the workers,” stresses Palandjian. “We really want to focus on getting the best outcomes for the workers,” adding that other nonprofit training partners are expected to be added this year. 

The goal is for graduates to land jobs earning at least an annual income of at least $40,000 upon completing the program. If they don’t meet that threshold, she explains, they don’t pay anything. If graduates do land a job earning at least $40,000, Palandjian says, they would pay roughly $100 a month with no interest for five years maximum. 

Those repayments, she explains, would go back into the Google fund to help pay for training for other students. She describes it as student-friendly financing and emphasizes that students pay no upfront costs when they enter the program. 

“All we ask of you is to show up, put in the hard work,

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A just-released report shows women of color only make up 5% of the tech workforce. And Candice Dixon, coalition development director, Command Shift, wants to see that number double to 10% over the next 10 years.

Candice Dixon, coalition development director, Command Shift (Photo: NPower)

Command Shift is an initiative of NPower, a nonprofit that provides greater access to the tech sector through credentials training, support services, and career counseling. Dixon explains, “Command Shift is a glass ceiling-breaking coalition of corporate, nonprofit, and community leaders committed to accelerating more women of color in technology.”

“What we are focused on doing is ensuring that we are pipelining more women of color into the tech industry and in particular, women of color who are pursuing tech through nontraditional pathways and are from under-resourced communities.”

Achieving Equity Today

The report The Equation for Equality from Emsi Burning Glass finds that a skills-based approached can create opportunity for women who have non-tech jobs that use knowledge and skills which are also utilized in tech. “The talent pool becomes larger and more diverse when job matches focus on the skills required for the job,” says the report.

(Graphic: Emsi Burning Glass)

“When we talk about the 250,000 women who are missing from tech, we're talking about the number of women that it would take to get us to equity – today. If we want the current tech sector to match the skills-similar workforce, which right now has 10% women of color who are available to transition into tech roles, we would need to put about 250,000 more women of color into the tech workforce today,” says Dixon.

“There are as many as 2.5 million women of color who are in non-tech roles, but have skills similar to tech,” notes Dixon.

The report says, “All that is needed to facilitate transitions into technology jobs from skills-similar occupations is additional training in the bridge skills and last-mile skills that define the role they would be entering.”

One example in the report indicates a call center manager can transition to a technical support supervisor.

(Graphic: Emsi Burning Glass)

With some additional training, that call center manager might see a salary boost of $21,500 when she starts working as a technical support supervisor.

(Graphic: Emsi Burning Glass)

Growing and Advancing the Talent Pool

Dixon says training program expansion and company recruitment and hiring practices must be revamped to grow the number of women of color working in tech. “What we're here to tell them through this report is that pedigree needs to be put to the side and we need to be focused on potential. And the potential is in the skills.”

(Photo: NPower)

Getting that first job is just one part of the process. Dixon says, “It's going to require that companies double down on committing to not only helping women of color enter tech, but putting them into positions of influence and power.”

“We won't see the changes that need to take place within the tech industry, unless we see more women and especially women of color as the decision makers, who can help set the tone around company culture, who can help shift different policies that are taking place within the company, so that women of color want to stay.”

Rooted in Community

Dixon points out that NPower has programming in California, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. Trainees participate in 23 weeks of tech training and are then connected to seven-week paid internships with corporate partners.

NPower serves about 1,300 people each year as part of the organization’s fundamentals program – with an additional 250-300 others seeking specialized certifications in areas like cybersecurity and cloud computing.

Dixon adds, “We realize for our trainees to be successful we can't just offer the training. We need to make sure there are wraparound supports avail...

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What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? In this five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland – we look at how Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

In the final episode of our Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland, we examine how Tulsa is attracting tech startups to the city, how it’s encouraging homegrown talent to build their businesses in their community, and how it’s retaining that talent to create a thriving and equitable economic base.

On a recent visit to Tulsa, I stopped by 36 Degrees North, one of three downtown co-working spaces where entrepreneurs, innovators, and remote workers can come in and grab a table or a conference room, or network. One of those 36 Degrees North spaces – called the Business Incubator – is located in City Hall. You might consider it Ground Zero for Tulsa’s tech reinvention. There I met two young tech startup founders, one from Norway and one a Tulsa native. I also talked with an entrepreneur who took Tulsa Remote up on its offer of cash to move there.

In this episode, you’ll hear from:

• Martin Lien, founder and CEO of VOLT, who explains how he ended up in Tulsa from Norway and why he chose to stay
• Ambrose Midget, founder and CEO of Fresh Fabrics, on the support she’s gotten from the tech community as she grows her new tech business
• Kian Kamas, executive director of Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity, on how growing strategically requires investing in public resources
• Tyrance Billingsly, founder and executive director of Black Tech Street, on inspiring Black youth and showing them they have a future in tech in their hometown
• Dustin Baker, founder and CEO of Baker Lewis, on why he took up the Tulsa Remote offer to relocate to the city and how it changed his business
• Justin Harlan, managing director of Tulsa Remote, on how the pay-to-relocate initiative is changing the future of Tulsa

You can listen to the full conversation here, or look for the Work in Progress podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland is made possible by the support of Tulsa Innovation Labs.

Episode 223: Destination Tulsa – Attracting and Retaining Tech StartupsHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0

Music for Destination Tulsa series: From Bensound.com

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post Reinvention calls for influx of new tech startups and support for homegrown entrepreneurs appeared first on WorkingNation.

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What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? In this five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland – we look at how Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

In the final episode of our Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland, we examine how Tulsa is attracting tech startups to the city, how it's encouraging homegrown talent to build their businesses in their community, and how it's retaining that talent to create a thriving and equitable economic base.

On a recent visit to Tulsa, I stopped by 36 Degrees North, one of three downtown co-working spaces where entrepreneurs, innovators, and remote workers can come in and grab a table or a conference room, or network. One of those 36 Degrees North spaces – called the Business Incubator – is located in City Hall. You might consider it Ground Zero for Tulsa’s tech reinvention. There I met two young tech startup founders, one from Norway and one a Tulsa native. I also talked with an entrepreneur who took Tulsa Remote up on its offer of cash to move there. 

In this episode, you'll hear from:

Martin Lien, founder and CEO of VOLT, who explains how he ended up in Tulsa from Norway and why he chose to stayAmbrose Midget, founder and CEO of Fresh Fabrics, on the support she's gotten from the tech community as she grows her new tech businessKian Kamas, executive director of Tulsa Authority for Economic Opportunity, on how growing strategically requires investing in public resourcesTyrance Billingsly, founder and executive director of Black Tech Street, on inspiring Black youth and showing them they have a future in tech in their hometownDustin Baker, founder and CEO of Baker Lewis, on why he took up the Tulsa Remote offer to relocate to the city and how it changed his businessJustin Harlan, managing director of Tulsa Remote, on how the pay-to-relocate initiative is changing the future of Tulsa

You can listen to the full conversation here, or look for the Work in Progress podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland is made possible by the support of Tulsa Innovation Labs.

Episode 223: Destination Tulsa - Attracting and Retaining Tech StartupsHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Music for Destination Tulsa series: From Bensound.comDownload the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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WorkingNation is always on the hunt for job and training opportunities around the country. Take a look at the offerings we found this week.

From Arizona: Tucson.com reports SkyWest Airlines is building a new maintenance hangar at Tucson International Airport that creating 50 new jobs.

From Colorado: More than $1 million in new funds for employment services will connect people in Weld County to upskilling and training opportunities.

From Connecticut: The CT Mirror reports efforts are underway to boost the talent pipeline for people with disabilities.

From Kansas: High Plains Journal reports a 4-H program is introducing youth to careers in agriculture.

From North Dakota: INFORUM reports North Dakota State College of Science is offering registered apprenticeship programming. Among the occupations – certified medication aides, auto techs, and construction equipment mechanics.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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WorkingNation’s Green Jobs Now series is looking at green jobs opportunities and the skills neededto get those jobs across the country with a series of state-by-state reports. Next: Arkansas.

Chris Isbell of Isbell Farms is a prime example of a lifelong learner. “If I had to farm like everybody else, I wouldn't want to be a farmer because I like to experiment. I like to look at new things. I like to test the envelope on just about everything. That's just my personality. And I was allowed to do that here,” says Isbell who co-owns the 3,000-acre farm with his wife Judy in England, Arkansas.

Isbell is from a lineage of at least five generations of farmers, with his father being the first to grow rice. Rice, not cotton. It may surprise you to learn that more than 47% of all the rice grown in the U.S. is from Arkansas, which had a record harvest last year.

More than 30 years ago, Isbell began attending the gatherings of the Rice Technical Working Group. “Academics from all of the rice-growing states meet every two years. They share their experiments and the papers they've written. It’s basically peer review.”

Over time, Isbell developed close relationships with a number of the conference attendees. “Through the years, we kept those friendships up and it's helped out many times in our decisions about where to go and what to do next on the farm.”

Farming Sustainably

As a result, Isbell pursued an interest in sustainable farming practices. “Our main interest was saving water. It was expensive for us to pump underground water whenever there was surface water available. So, we began to level our fields – what we call zero grade. No grade. No slope. The fields are all flat, like a tabletop.”

“It works really well. People all over are doing it now. Researchers have figured that the savings on water is 30%, instead of having the terraced levees that go through the fields that we're used to seeing.”

Green Jobs Growth in The Natural State

As Isbell Farms is demonstrating, sustainability practices are taking root in the agriculture sector - leading to more jobs that can be categorized as green.

“The strong uptick in green job demand in 2021 in Arkansas is an indication that the green economy in the state is taking hold,” according to our new Green Jobs Now: Arkansas report, a WorkingNation and Emsi Burning Glass analysis of the green labor market in the state.

The report indicates there was demand last year for 1,374 new green workers in the state with the current green workforce estimated at more than 6,558.

Green jobs are found across many different industries, according to the report, including manufacturing and construction. But the report adds, “We see surprising industries such as professional, scientific, and technical services coming up as having demand for green workers.”

The report says, “We see surprising industries such as professional, scientific, and technical services coming up as having demand for green workers. The workers in this industry include software developers, business management analysts, and others. This is yet further evidence of the breadth of today’s green economy.”

The report points out, “While we see demand across Arkansas for green workers, the greatest concentrations can be found in the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway metropolitan area.”

It is projected that in the next five years, employment demand for green jobs in Arkansas will increase by 9%, outpacing the national average of 5.7%.

What’s a Green Job?

As our Green Jobs Now reports have noted, the definition of a green job is not an easy one. Core jobs are those “with a primary responsibility associated with the green economy.” The data indicates the top core green job in Arkansas is a solar sales representative.

Enabled jobs have “primary responsibilities separate or tangential to the green economy” – with a production worker identified as the primary job.

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As home to several major food corporations, nearly every food in the grocery aisle ties back to Arkansas in some way, shape, or form. One common denominator: rice. As both a staple food and a key ingredient in a multitude of processed foods, the state’s cash crop is grown not on major industrial farming operations, but on 2,300 individually-owned family farms that have been passed down from generation to generation. However, as clean as a bowl of rice may sound, it packs a dirty little secret: methane emissions.

In order to assess just how green rice farming truly is, Jay speaks with fourth-generation rice farmer Jennifer James, who discusses the farming technologies helping her to conserve water and soil in hopes of preserving the land for her son. To get a better sense as to whether Jennifer’s green efforts are representative of the industry as a whole, Jay chats with Riceland’s VP of Sales, Mark Holt, about how the farmer-owned co-op works to process, sell, and distribute the farmers’ yields, all while disseminating environmentally-friendly practices that trickle down from food manufacturers. One of rice’s biggest purchasers happens to be Anheuser-Busch, so Jay calls upon Agronomy Manager Bill Jones to explain how a brewery is helping green initiatives get to scale via model farms and strategic sourcing programs.

Looking forward, Jay learns from Dr. Alton B. Johnson, director of the Rice and Research Extension Center at the University of Arkansas, about the methods going into developing new strains of rice that will require less water and, in turn, emit less methane. He’s also shocked to hear about the innovative ways in which Riceland is putting its rice waste to use in hopes of offsetting some of the crop’s less desirable greenhouse effects. Finally, Jay speaks to Jennifer’s son Dylan about how college is helping Arkansas’ future farmers be on the cutting edge of rice innovation.

CREDITS:Featuring: Jay Tipton, Jennifer James, Paula DiPerna, Mark Holt, Bill Jones, Dr. Alton B. Johnson, Dylan JamesProduced by: Alicia ClarkExecutive Produced by: Melissa Panzer, Joan Lynch, Art BilgerWritten by: Jay Tipton, Alicia Clark, Mike ZunicAssociate Producer: Eve BilgerTalent Producer: Emily LallouzEdited and Sound Mixed by: Lynz FlorenAssistant Editor: Mengfang YangMusic by: Avocado JunkieMade possible by: the Walton Family Foundation

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Revolution is a plastics manufacturing company that also collects and recycles their products in order to create a continuous cycle of sustainability.

“Yes, there’s a place for plastics, but plastics couldn’t continue as it was,” says Cherish Changala-Miller, V.P. of Sustainability & Public Affairs at Revolution. “We needed to begin to recycle it and use it in ways that could help not just this generation but future generations.”

Changala-Miller works as a corporate executive for Revolution. Executives such as Changala-Miller plan strategies and policies to ensure that an organization meets its goals. They often have irregular schedules, which may include working evenings and weekends. Travel is common, particularly for chief executives, and executives typically need at least a bachelor’s degree and considerable work experience to enter the occupation.

Benny Wyles serves as the plant manager for Revolution in Little Rock, Arkansas. “Plastics is what I’ve done my whole life, and I’ve always been involved in conservation,” says Wyles, “I came here as a consultant—it was an eye-opener for me. I had to be a part of it.” Plant managers like Wyles play a critical role in ensuring that the products that come off the line meet the company’s standards.

Billy Knighton works as an assistant plant manager at Little Rock’s plant in Wrightsville, Arkansas. “I interact with the nightshift,” says Knighton, “If they had a bad day I would investigate what happened, and then troubleshoot the issues so we could get the plant back into business.” Aside from ensuring that production processes are running smoothly, assistant plant managers like Knighton also tend to other managerial responsibilities, such as training new hires.

Technical production managers like Wyles and Knighton oversee the daily operations of manufacturing plants. Most technical production managers work full time and some work more than 40 hours per week, and they typically need a bachelor’s degree and several years of related work experience.

Amber Zajac works as a senior quality manager at Revolution. “I oversee three of our plants—I talk with the quality managers as well as the plant managers,” says Zajac. “I also talk with our sales team to make sure that the voice of the customer is heard all the way to the floor.” Senior quality managers like Zajac are vital to establishing customer confidence in all of the products that Revolution sells and then recycles.

A quality assurance manager directs, creates and controls an organization's policies and procedures to ensure that its daily operations and products conform to their quality standards. 

In 2020, the median annual wage for production managers was $108,790. Employment of industrial production managers is projected to grow 5 percent from 2020 to 2030, according to the BLS. Despite limited employment growth, about 13,900 openings for industrial production managers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Most of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

The median annual wage for corporate executives was $185,950 in May 2020. According to the BLS, overall employment of top executives is projected to grow 8 percent from 2020 to 2030, about as fast as the average for all occupations. About 247,100 openings for top executives are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire. 

Watch all I Want That Job! videos here.

Credits:Featuring: Cherish Changala-Miller, Billy Knighton, Amber Zajac, Benny WylesProducers: Melissa PanzerExecutive Producers: Melissa Panzer, Joan Lynch, Art BilgerField Producers:  LeeAnn Dance and  Matt JordanDirector’s of Photography: Chris Sciannella and Paul HuenefeldProduction Sound Mixer:...

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Employer-driven programs work. Apprenticeships work. Employers work with community colleges to set a curriculum that will teach skills needed in local businesses through a combination of classroom and on-the-job learning. And, the students are paid for the work they do while gaining valuable skills. Using this model, communities across the country can develop a much-needed, skilled workforce, leading to jobs that employers need to fill.

On Tuesday, March 8, 2022, WorkingNation president Jane Oates led an insightful discussion on the subject at the SXSW EDU 2022 conference in Austin. Joining her in the conversation were Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation; Lydia Logan, global VP of education and workforce development for IBM, and Kennon Harrison, VP of workforce development at Revature.

You can see the full conversation below

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There is a massive and growing need for skilled workers in the customer service field in Michigan. In fact, it’s estimated that over the next six years, it will be the sixth largest occupation in the state, with more than 12,000 job openings and not enough people to fill them.

So, if you’re an employer looking to fill one of those jobs, how do you find that talent? And, if you’re a job seeker applying for one of those jobs, how do you prove you have the needed skills?

One answer is a new program that is certifying workers in this in-demand field. Last fall, Henry Ford College launched its Customer Service Professional Certificate Achievement program. The idea came out of a customer service collaborative talent development project made up of Detroit-area businesses, including Ford Motor Co., Henry Ford Health System, and DTE Energy, which hosts the effort. The business leaders are part of an even bigger, national project – being run by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation – called Talent Finance.

Deborah Majeski, manager of workforce development, DTE Energy (Photo: DTE Energy)

Deborah Majeski is DTE’s manager of workforce development. "Customer service jobs significantly impact the success of a company and the customers it serves," says explains. During the pandemic, industry and community leaders in the collaborative signaled there wouldn't be enough workers to fill thousands of these key frontline jobs over the coming years.

And, depending on the company, that job could have any number of titles "...from customer resolution specialists, contract center advocates, clinic service representatives, customer service representatives, sales, product support, and account receivables," Majeski adds.

What these jobs all have in common is a certain skill set – an active listener, a problem solver, and a great communicator who likes working with the public. While customer service is an important, albeit entry-level job at most companies, the employers in the collaborative are also looking for long-term employees. "The focus of the project is to build a workforce of qualified talent who value their role, provide outstanding customer service, and remain with the company," Majeski tells WorkingNation.

That's where the training program comes in.

Certificate Program Designed to Fill In-Demand Jobs

The Customer Service Professional certificate was developed in consultation with the businesses in the collaborative and may be used as a building block towards earning an Associate in Business degree, explains the Henry Ford college.

The 16-week certificate program requires students to take six core courses that emphasize oral and written skills, workplace skills, along with basic computer skills. Upon completion, students would be able to write effective business communications, demonstrate non-verbal and verbal skills in a business environment, show organizational skills, and practice proper business etiquette.

Students who successfully finish the program would qualify to test for the National Retail Federation (NRF) Foundation’s Professional Certification in Customer Service, a nationally recognized skill standards and certification exam.

Rethinking the Public-Private Approach to Financing Workforce Talent

Business and community leaders identified the workforce need. Working with a local college, they were able to build a talent pipeline. They next key step is eliminating financial barriers to the education, training and upskilling in order to make certain everyone has access to opportunities in the changing workforce.

"Currently, the identified funding resources are financial aid, Michigan Works, and Detroit Promise tuition support for eligible students," explains Majeski.

In a white paper released in September of 2020, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and its partners called for a rethinking of the public-private approach to financing workforce talent.

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What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? In this five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland – we look at how Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

Startups are thriving in Tulsa, thanks to a concerted effort to incubate promising entrepreneurial ideas. In this fourth episode of Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland, we look at two key areas of economic growth in the town – health care and data analytics. The Tulsa tech community likes to say big things require a shared vision and collective action. It’s evident in how industry leaders and venture funders are coming together to create initiatives that are supporting groundbreaking technology creating better health outcomes, not just in Tulsa but around the country. That same financial support is building new data analytics firms, one of which is on a mission to change the way that data is used when it comes to privacy issues.

In this episode, you’ll hear from:

• William Booker, chief technology officer, Babel Analytics on how the Tulsa tech infrastructure helped support their nascent health care tech company, which is now helping detect rare eye diseases in children
• Shawna Khouri, virtual health manager, Tulsa Innovation Labs on the Canopy consortium that is closing the gap between academic research and business opportunities
• William Paiva, managing partner, Oklahoma Life Sciences Fund on the surge of venture funding for health care entrepreneurs
• Chase Curtiss, founder and CEO, Sway Medical on the intersection of health care and data analytics
• Aaron Bean, managing partner, Asemio on a Tulsa-based social app designed to provide data to government and nonprofits without violating the privacy of the user

You can listen to the full conversation here, or look for the Work in Progress podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland is made possible by the support of Tulsa Innovation Labs.

Episode 222: Destination Tulsa – Health Care and Data AnalyticsHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post Tulsa’s tech community is connecting health care and data analytics entrepreneurs to capital appeared first on WorkingNation.

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What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? In this five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland – we look at how Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

Startups are thriving in Tulsa, thanks to a concerted effort to incubate promising entrepreneurial ideas. In this fourth episode of Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland, we look at two key areas of economic growth in the town – health care and data analytics. The Tulsa tech community likes to say big things require a shared vision and collective action. It's evident in how industry leaders and venture funders are coming together to create initiatives that are supporting groundbreaking technology creating better health outcomes, not just in Tulsa but around the country. That same financial support is building new data analytics firms, one of which is on a mission to change the way that data is used when it comes to privacy issues.

In this episode, you'll hear from:

William Booker, chief technology officer, Babel Analytics on how the Tulsa tech infrastructure helped support their nascent health care tech company, which is now helping detect rare eye diseases in childrenShawna Khouri, virtual health manager, Tulsa Innovation Labs on the Canopy consortium that is closing the gap between academic research and business opportunitiesWilliam Paiva, managing partner, Oklahoma Life Sciences Fund on the surge of venture funding for health care entrepreneursChase Curtiss, founder and CEO, Sway Medical on the intersection of health care and data analyticsAaron Bean, managing partner, Asemio on a Tulsa-based social app designed to provide data to government and nonprofits without violating the privacy of the user

You can listen to the full conversation here, or look for the Work in Progress podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland is made possible by the support of Tulsa Innovation Labs.

Episode 222: Destination Tulsa - Health Care and Data AnalyticsHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Music for Destination Tulsa series: From Bensound.comDownload the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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WorkingNation is always on the hunt for job and training opportunities around the country. You might find that there’s something for you in Alabama, California, Indiana, South Dakota, or Washington, D.C.

Check it out.

From Alabama: Montgomery Advertiser reports a Los Angeles-based apparel company is taking over a closed Wetumpka plant to use as a fabric cutting facility – creating at least 557 jobs.

From California: The Pajaronian reports the Climate Corps Leadership Institute in Watsonville has received initiative funding to increase youth access to the outdoors and provide career and technical training.

From Indiana: Inside Indiana Business reports an Indianapolis nonprofit has kicked off its summer hiring initiative that features more than 1,200 available jobs.

From South Dakota: Argus Leader reports a hospital system is partnering with some local high schools to spark students’ interest in health care jobs.

From Washington, D.C.: NBC4 reports an infrastructure training program is holding a job fair March 16 and 17 – with 500 available jobs around the D.C. area.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Consuelo Chaneco has worked tirelessly for decades, running her own business, supporting her family. Chaneco has worked as a licensed building contractor and now, at age 76, she's a project manager.

When the pandemic struck, Chaneco’s business slowed down and she needed assistance.

Bet Tzedek is a nonprofit law firm that provides free services to low-income individuals by referring them to local law firms which take on the cases pro bono.

Yousuf Dhamee of Paul Hastings LLP says his law firm was asked to work with Chaneco and helped her obtain two rounds of PPP funding. Without the aid of Bet Tzedek and Paul Hastings, Chaneco says she would not have been able to save her business.

Bet Tzedek recently awarded the Rose L. Schiff Commitment to Justice Award to Paul Hastings for its efforts and contributions. This award was established in 1999 by Dahlia and Art Bilger, founder and CEO of WorkingNation, in honor of his late grandmother.

Learn more in this video produced by WorkingNation's Melissa Panzer.

https://youtu.be/ZSBsO-o4cUI

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The learn-and-earn model is, not only a strong pathway, it's crucial, according to Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO, Lumina Foundation – which strives to make lifelong learning accessible to everyone.

WorkingNation sat down with Merisotis at SXSW EDU in Austin.

He says, “American employers today are spending $500 billion on employee education and training. Employers are recognizing that investing in their own employee education is not only good in terms of an employee benefit, but it helps the company. It helps improve employee retention, productivity, and reduces recruitment costs.”

Merisotis adds, “When we think about these learn-and-earn models, we’ve got to do a better job of acknowledging what we learned in real time with the pandemic – which is that workers of color, women of color have been disproportionately impacted. And make sure that the learn-and-earn models are right-sized for the life experiences of these learners and workers of color.”

Merisotis also notes community colleges have a significant role in helping people find their way to good jobs and careers. “Community colleges are part of the untold story of American higher education today. They are critical as a pathway to further learning, but they're also critical because they prepare people for the workforce, for jobs, for opportunities in the current environment. That’s really important.”

Learn more about Lumina Foundation.

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“We focus on using a skills-first hiring approach as opposed to talking about what people don't have, namely a bachelor's degree. We talk about what people do have – which are skills that they gain through many different ways,” says Yscaira Jimenez, chief innovation officer, Opportunity@Work.

WorkingNation sat down with Jimenez at SXSW EDU in Austin.

STARs are the people that Jimenez is talking about. People who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes.

As chief innovation officer, Jimenez says her job entails coming up with ways to rewire the labor market. The goal is to determine how all STARs down the road have pathways to good jobs.

She offers the example of an innovation project that would afford STARs apprenticeships with companies. Regarding the employer, Jimenez asks, “How do they manage up and across and build excitement? How do they make sure they secure the resources, namely the headcount?”

“How do they then build it in a way that's set up to succeed from an equity perspective, from a conversion perspective, right? If you've hired someone you've hired them equitably, you've given them an opportunity. A good goal is to make sure they convert into full-time role.”

Learn more about Opportunity@Work.

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Latino and Black communities lack the medium digital skills required for millions of open jobs, according to Hector Mujica, economic opportunity lead at Google.org.

WorkingNation sat down with Mujica at SXSW EDU in Austin.

He says these communities need, not only access to learning digital skills, but the wraparound supports necessary to manage their lives.

Mujica notes there are about 71 million people in the country who are non-traditionally educated. “These are individuals that don't have a four-year college degree that should have and could have an opportunity if they were given the right set of options, the right set of supports.”

He continues, “That's why we at Google.org have been investing so heavily at ensuring that we can support these historically underserved communities.”

Learn more about Google.org.

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Age discrimination affects more than the older worker, according to Jean Accius, senior vice president for AARP Global Thought Leadership.

WorkingNation sat down with Accius at SXSW EDU in Austin.

He notes there is a real cost associated with discriminating against midcareer workers. And that cost impacts everyone, according to Accius. “Age discrimination stifles economic growth to the tune of about $850 billion in 2018 which impacts all of our us. “All generations are impacted by age discrimination.”

Accius says employers need to think more holistically about their workforce. “Employers have to understand that the future of work is here and that people are living nonlinear lives and they're living much longer. As a result, we have to design lifelong learning opportunities that are continuous and that are embedded in our culture as an organization.”

People can check out the organization’s Skills Builder for Work as a means of keeping up with in-demand skills.

Learn more about AARP.Learn more about AARP Skills Builder for Work.

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The CEO of a social impact consulting firm says there is movement from thinking of education as having an endpoint, but rather as a continuum. 

WorkingNation sat down with George Vinton of Common Group at SXSW EDU in Austin.

Vinton asks, “How can we mobilize resources to support the outcomes that we hope for? Rather than some of the earlier indicators which might show that someone's on a path to success, but often folks can get derailed from that path.”

He explains, “We work primarily with foundations, nonprofits, and mission-driven companies. The work we do with them ranges from building a new strategy that might guide investment to actually running grant programs, helping foundations find innovative programs and support those programs into being and then, hopefully, to scale.”

Vinton notes that the Catalyze Challenge is a grant competition that supports innovative learning models. It’s described as “a grant program that funds, learns from, and shares bold ideas that rethink the connections among K-12, higher education, and career for students in grades 6-14.”

Learn more about Common Group.Learn more about the Catalyze Challenge.

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“I think now more than ever, we need to be rethinking the pathways between education and work,” says Maria Flynn, president and CEO of Jobs for the Future – JFF.

WorkingNation sat down with Flynn at SXSW EDU in Austin.

She notes, “One thing that we are missing in this country is a truly equitable and universal career navigation system.”

“We still have a bit of a scattershot approach. Ideally, take someone who is interested in changing careers and really look to see where we can use artificial intelligence to help really create personalized solutions and really personalized pathways for folks,” adds Flynn.

Flynn says JFF will be releasing research about employers and hiring. “The new research looks at employer sentiment around different approaches for hiring that go beyond using the four-year degree as a signal. We're seeing a lot of willingness on the part of employers to rethink their hiring requirements.”

Learn more about JFF.

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Western Governors University – a competency-based university – was constantly updating its libraries of competency, according to Marni Baker Stein, provost and chief academic officer.

Baker Stein says the effort was “to make sure that the skills were still relevant to employer needs. And that the skills and the competencies that students were mastering were still valuable in the marketplace."

"This was incredibly hard manual work. We decided, ‘You know, this is crazy.’”

Open Skills Network was created in March 2020. Baker Stein explains, “Is there an easier way to do this? Is there a consistent way to write skills so that we're all writing them in the same way and they're machine readable, and everybody got excited about the idea.” “Open Skills Network was born with the mission to truly figure this out and do everything that we can to promote skills-based hiring and education.”

WorkingNation sat down with Baker Stein at SXSW EDU in Austin.

She says the worldwide network includes educational institutions, as well as companies – with a goal to promote skills-based education and hiring practices.

Learn more about Western Governors University.Learn more about Open Skills Network.

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Thuan Nguyen, incoming CEO of AVID Center, says public education and dedicated teachers changed his life, as well as those of his family. Nguyen immigrated – at the age of eight – to the U.S. from Vietnam.

WorkingNation sat down with Nguyen at SXSW EDU in Austin.

AVID Center (Advancement Via Individual Determination) trains educators nationwide to “shift from delivering content to facility learning.”

Nguyen says teachers are trained to work in a student-centric way – recognizing that students learn in different ways.

AVID Center provides professional development training to educators over the summer break each year. This summer, trainings will be taking place in nine locations, including Dallas, Tampa, and San Francisco – with 40,000 teachers expected to participate.

Nguyen notes, “For us, it is about making sure that we are addressing students’ individual learning styles, individual needs, and individual possibilities in terms of where they could potentially go and what their futures look like. So that the experiences and the information that we provide for our kids are meaningful and something that will stay with them, not just through high school or through their K-12 experience, but really for life.”

Learn more about Avid Center.

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Ensuring equity and access in education must involve many stakeholders, according to Assistant Secretary Roberto Rodríguez, Planning and Policy, U.S. Department of Education.

The office advises the Secretary of Education on matters relating to policy development, implementation, and review.

WorkingNation sat down with Rodríguez at SXSW EDU in Austin.

It’s not an unfamiliar message that the pandemic has intensified the calls for action. Rodríguez says the lessons learned over the last two years are going to inform innovations in education.

He says, “I'm optimistic about our future, about the opportunity to transform our education system on the other side of this pandemic, to really be more focused on students, and to make sure that they have every opportunity that they need to be successful.”

“We've never seen a disruption in American education like this pandemic has provided, but we have to make sure that we're using that as an opportunity to build something new, to re-envision, to think about how we're bringing the different components of our system together.”

Learn more about the U.S. Department of Education.Learn more about the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development.

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The issue of the digital divide is an issue that has a bright spotlight – particularly since the start of the pandemic. Among those who cannot be left behind are essential workers and Latino entrepreneurs, according to Domenika Lynch, executive director, Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program.

WorkingNation sat down with Lynch at SXSW EDU in Austin.

She says it’s crucial that digital upskilling opportunities are made available to the population that has been historically underrepresented.

Lynch notes that there are half a million cybersecurity jobs currently available, but only 4% of Latinos have the skills required for those jobs.

An Aspen Institute initiative – City Learning and Action Lab – is focusing on six Latino-majority cities and communities to push economic growth. The initial cohort includes San Bernardino in California, the southwest side of Chicago, and El Paso and San Antonio in Texas, Phoenix, and Miami.

Lynch says, “I'm optimistic that this moment in time is a paradigm shift. Latinos are innovating. When you're an immigrant, you arrive in a new country, you have to figure things out. It's learning a new language.”

“So, developing digital literacy is the goal. To be digitally fluent and successful.”

Learn more about Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program.Learn more about Aspen Institute.Learn more about City Learning and Action Lab.

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The digital divide has been exacerbated by the pandemic – as students struggled with remote learning due to limited or no broadband access.

Sharon Contreras, Ph.D. is superintendent of Guilford County Schools in Greensboro, North Carolina and part of the Chiefs for Change – a bipartisan network of K-12 education leaders whose districts serve more than 7 million students across the U.S.

WorkingNation sat down with Contreras at SXSW EDU in Austin.

She saw firsthand the challenges faced by the students in her district noting, “About 20% of our students did not have access to broadband connectivity or high-speed connectivity. They could not even participate in school as a result. Many of our parents didn't even have devices other than cell phones, and some did not even have cell phones.”

Contreras says the Chiefs for Change shares monthly the innovation that is occurring in districts across America.

“There’s just so much to learn from how other school districts and other states handle problems. Every state is different with respect to their state laws and what's allowable. Sometimes we hear about practices that requires some advocacy in our home states. We go back and we advocate.”

Learn more about Chiefs for Change.Learn more about Guilford County Schools.

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One Texas higher ed institution’s state funding is tied to its student outcomes. That from Michael Bettersworth, chief innovation officer at Texas State Technical College (TSTC).

He says this drives the school to look at what the job market demands and then prepares its students to fill those positions. Sixty percent of TSTC’s budget is state funds.

WorkingNation sat down with Bettersworth at SXSW EDU in Austin.

“In 2022, our program mix is focused a lot on heavy industry. Manufacturing continues to be a major area. So, these are some of your stable areas – welding, machining, and then some specialty areas like instrumentation, process control robotics,” says Bettersworth.

“There are 50 different program areas that we grow around the state. Of course, your computer science, IT, programming, and health care-related programs. But all of our programs are focused on job demand.”

Bettersworth notes that TSTC is turning some focus on shorter-term for people who have been displaced during the pandemic. He says the college is also exploring short-term Pell Grants and income share agreements to make learning more accessible to people.

Learn more about Texas State Technical College.

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The Hispanic Federation is a capacity-builder working through its network of Latino-serving organizations, according to Frankie Miranda, president & CEO, Hispanic Federation.

Miranda says whether the organizations are serving rural or urban areas, they know the needs of their communities.

WorkingNation sat down with Miranda at SXSW EDU in Austin.

Miranda says innovative work is being done to help the Latino community access opportunity to learning digital skills. He notes that funding from Google.org led to the creation of a digital accelerator.

This is supporting “organizations in workforce development that are working across the country and needed help creating or expanding their curriculums to provide better services with the focus of digital scaling in the community.”

Learn more about Hispanic Federation.

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As someone with a history working in high schools who witnessed students take on staggering student loan debt, Reuben Ogbonna, co-founder and executive director, created the Brooklyn-based Marcy Lab School.

WorkingNation sat down with Ogbonna at SXSW EDU in Austin.

Ogbonna explains that the Marcy Lab School is a one-year alternative to college. “We have a career focus in computer science and software engineering. We target students who would otherwise be attending four-year or two-year institutions that are less likely to lead them to the career of their dreams.”

He continues, “We partner with forward thinking companies to help our graduates land full-time job in the tech sector. Even though they don't have four-year bachelor's degrees, we're proud to say that our graduates are earning an average of $106,000 a year to write software.”

Ogbonna also points out the program has a holistic approach in that it takes into consideration students’ life experiences, in addition to teaching tech skills.

Learn more about Marcy Lab School.

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Older job seekers have a tougher time landing in the workforce than their younger counterparts, according to Maria Heidkamp, director, program development and senior researcher, Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

WorkingNation sat down with Heidkamp at SXSW EDU in Austin.

“When older workers are out of the labor force, they have a much harder time than younger and midcareer workers trying to get reemployed. They're more likely to fall into the trap of being out of work six months or more,” says Heidkamp.

“When that happens, they've got this gap on their resume. That makes it really hard for employers to consider them. They also face age discrimination.”

Heidkamp says there is confusion in workforce development around the older worker. It’s not a given that leaving a job means intended retirement, according to Heidkamp.

“I think it's a good time for employers to be rethinking how they hire. Whether that's changing the algorithms that dictate who gets passed an automated hiring tool,” says Heidkamp.

“Age discrimination is rampant. We need, as a culture, to figure out how to get past that. They have to be considering older job applicants the same way they would consider other job applicants based on their skills and knowledge.”

Learn more about Heldrich Center for Workforce Development.

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As the future of work continues to change, employees need to learn new skills, according to Jill Buban, vice president and general manager, EdAssist Solutions, a division of Bright Horizons.

EdAssist Solutions provides workforce education solutions to large companies including Bank of America and T-Mobile. Buban says 42% of EdAssist’s clients are in health care, but other sectors include aerospace, finance, and communication.

WorkingNation sat down with Buban at SXSW EDU in Austin.

“We work really one-on-one collaboratively with each one of our clients to understand their workforce needs, but also to understand what the goals of those employees might be so that we can match them to that educational opportunity that's right for both them and for the company,” says Buban.

She adds that employers are indicating a greater sense of social responsibility and “the care and feeding of their employees.”

“They are recognizing that they can upskill their talent, get them into new roles, or the roles of the future of their workforce much more easily than trying to attract new talent.”

Learn more about EdAssist Solutions.

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When Sage Lee decided to attend the Turing School in Denver, she had no previous coding experience. The mission of the online coding school is ensuring student success.

She had been working at a job where she thought there was no room for growth, so decided to take a leap and enroll at Turing.

WorkingNation sat down with Lee at SXSW EDU in Austin.

Lee says Turing gave her the skills she needs for an in-demand job and was able to turn a paid apprenticeship at Handshake – arranged through the program – into a full-time job as an associate software engineer at the company.

Lee says it was important to her that Turing’s curriculum is project-based. “I knew that a lot of people when looking for somebody to hire expect five years of experience right off the bat, even if it's entry-level. It was really important that I was doing the work while I was learning. That way I could finish the program and say that I had actual experience and the skills and technical knowledge to show for it.”

Handshake is an early career network that helps students jumpstart and launch their careers.

Looking ahead, Lee hopes she can inspire other women of color to establish tech careers. She says that, as a woman of color, she felt fully supported by Turing through her mentor and introduction to other Black students and alumni.

Learn more about Turing School.Learn more about Handshake.

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Code2College is working to increase diversity among those working in STEM careers, according to CEO Matt Stephenson. “Code2College is solving the national crisis that we're facing with the dearth of, not only tech talent, but diverse technical talent,” says Stephenson.

WorkingNation sat down with Stephenson at SXSW EDU in Austin.

With a particular focus on students at the high school level, Stephenson says it’s important for young people to know the access to opportunity is there.

The afterschool program, which started in Austin, is currently available in 19 cities – in what Stephenson calls, “middle cities” – including Denver, Atlanta, and Minneapolis.

Among Code2College’s offerings – afterschool coding sessions, professional development workshops, and paid summer internships.

Stephenson says the organization is “agnostic” regarding the postsecondary goals of its students. “The overwhelming majority of students who graduate from high school and have taken our program do go on to college, but others take a gap year.”

He continues, “We have other students who choose to go straight into the workforce and we support all of them in their aspirations.”

Learn more about Code2College.

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The tech hub is no longer the domain of northern California, according to Patrick McKenna, founder of One America Works, which connects high-growth employers to talent.

WorkingNation sat down with McKenna at SXSW EDU in Austin.

He explains, “One America Works is focused on addressing the economic divide, but from a geographic perspective. Our insight is that there's a tremendous amount of talent all across the country, but that talent isn't well distributed.”

He explains the pandemic led to a significant migration from large cities to smaller, less costly communities. And it’s not just companies. Talent is moving, too.

McKenna says as tech hubs grow around the country, it’s important that cities and the new arrivals be mindful about the availability of housing, investing in the community, and not excluding the people who were there before they arrived in town.

Learn more about One America Works.

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Introducing young students to computer science is part of her purpose, says Kate Nichols, curriculum manager, Hello World. She wishes she had been given that experience when she was in K-12.

Hello World offers a “curriculum is aligned to numerous learning standards and frameworks, setting students up for success in computer science and across core content areas.”

WorkingNation sat down with Nichols at SXSW EDU in Austin.

Nichols, herself, is an alum of the Ada Developers Academy. And notes the lifechanging opportunity – which included a paid apprenticeship – helped her find her purpose in the workforce.

She explains that Ada is a yearlong program for women and gender-diverse individuals with no previous technical background – six months of full-time instruction and a six-month paid internship with a tech company.

Nichols says her experience with Ada changed the trajectory of her life and career. “The paid internship allowed me to really take time to absorb and fully soak in being on a software development team, full-time – without the added pressure of, ‘Do I need to work a side job or take out additional loans?’ That freed up a lot of stress and pressure. It just gave me such a strong insight into the field.”

Learn more about Hello World.Learn more about Ada Developers Academy.

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Exposing young students to leadership through the lens of Washington, D.C. is the basis of a program called Leadership and the American Presidency, explains Janet Tran, policy director at the Reagan Institute.

WorkingNation sat down with Tran at SXSW EDU in Austin.

As the director of The Center for Civics, Education, and Opportunity with the Institute, Tran says the hope is that this young generation will learn to collaborate with others despite their differences.

Says Tran, “We do strive for ideological diversity. We work with a lot of partners who are looking for instead of the Albert Einsteins or the Ivy leagues and just Chicago where most of the students come from – we're looking for the first student to leave their hometown in Indiana or a son of a factory worker or a restaurant worker in Oakland. So really students who might not see themselves in Washington, D.C.”

Tran continues, “I think that mixing opportunities and empowering students who go through our programs [allows them to] bring those skill sets back and ensure that they have the ability to go on into their next career and bring that element of citizen leadership.”

Learn more about the Reagan Institute.Learn more about The Center for Civics, Education, and Opportunity.Learn more about Leadership and the American Presidency.

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The talent is out there, but access to tech is not always available, according to Kennon Harrison, VP, workforce partnerships, Revature - a provider of entry-level tech talent utilizing the learn-and-earn model.

WorkingNation sat down with Harrison at SXSW EDU in Austin.

“We really are a workforce development and talent enablement solution for our clients – 80 companies or other organizations, mostly fortune 500 companies with large tech talent needs,” Harrison explains.

Harrison says skilling and empowering talent while being paid, allows access for people who, otherwise, would not seek out the tech pathway.

He points out this model helps eliminate a number of barriers to entry. “Bringing new talent to get into jobs where under normal circumstances you would need two years of experience, or you would need to know somebody in a company, or you would need to pay $17,000 or $18,000 for a bootcamp, or you would need a bachelor's degree in computer science – we bridge that gap without a lot of those prerequisites based purely on aptitude.”

Learn more about Revature.

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Maria Contreras has a paid software engineering internship under her belt. And she’s still a high school student in Austin.

Contreras is a graduate of Code2College – an afterschool program that’s working to create more diversity in the tech sector.

WorkingNation sat down with Contreras at SXSW EDU.

She participated in Code2College her sophomore and junior years of high school and then landed a paid internship with Indeed. Contreras says the internship was intimidating, at first. Other interns were from elite universities.

But she learned to ask questions and has decided to be a computer science major in college. Big news – Contreras was just accepted at Rice University!

She says Code2College has been an essential part of her journey. “Learning how to code through them and seeing people that looked like me – female and a woman of color – in the technology field really made me realize that working in the software developing industry was something that I could do.”

Learn more about Code2College.Learn more about Indeed.

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When CEO Matt Riley co-founded Blueprint Test Prep, he says the goal of the company was to make the pathway to and through professional schools – like law or medical – attainable.

Riley explains what the company provides, “Everything from entrance exam test prep through supporting people when they're in school to certifications.”

He notes that the area of primary focus is health care. “We're dedicated to giving people education and training that we think will make them more successful, more satisfied, improve their life. Once they get to these very high stakes, challenging careers, hopefully what that will do is decrease the burnout and help solve some of this crisis that we're seeing in the country.”

Riley says the company also recognizes the expense of these professional career pathways. He says services and support are provided via full or partial scholarships to students who demonstrate financial need.

WorkingNation sat down with Riley at SXSW EDU in Austin.

Learn more about Blueprint Test Prep.

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Addressing the digital divide is an issue that is familiar to John-Carlos Estrada, anchor at CBS Austin. As a journalist, Estrada saw that divide magnified since the start of the pandemic.

Estrada moderated WorkingNation’s SXSW EDU panel - Closing the Hispanic Digital Skills Gap – and discussed, not only the problems, but solutions.

He also sat down with WorkingNation Overheard to talk about what he is seeing locally in Austin.

In Austin, Estrada says access to broadband and even knowing how to get online – with the onset of the pandemic – was difficult for some in the Latino community. He says it often falls on the younger, more tech-savvy members of a household to help the older people in the family navigate the digital space.

With parents who are originally from Mexico, Estrada says that growing up the role of translating often fell to him or his sister.

Learn more about CBS Austin.

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What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? In this five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland – we look at how Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

There are hundreds of thousands of open cybersecurity jobs right now in the U.S. In this third episode of Destination Tulsa, we're talking about how the city of Tulsa continues to help fill those jobs. The University of Tulsa is part of the city's vast and experienced cybersecurity engine, producing quality graduates that are highly-trained and educated in the field. Even the nation's intelligence and defense departments come calling for their students. Not only are there opportunities in the federal government, there is a growing demand for experts in the private sector.

We're also talking about advanced aerial mobility technology, commonly called drones. Over the past decade and a half, Oklahoma State University has grown into a leader in drone technology and an important piece of a new aerospace market. At OSU, they're building up an unparalleled capability to design, build, and flight-test aircraft these aircraft.

In this episode, you'll hear from:

John Hale, chairperson and professor, Tandy School of Computer Science at University of Tulsa, on how TU is an engine for producing high quality local graduates that are trained and educated in cybersecurityTyler Moore, chairperson and professor, School of Cyber Studies at University of Tulsa, on how the federal government is recruiting potential students, training them at TU and then hiring them for U.S. intelligence agenciesTimothy Crisp, cybersecurity teacher, Will Rogers College High School, on training high school students and putting them on the cybersecurity pathwayMichael Kelly, junior, Will Rogers College High School, on his experiences in the programJamey Jacob, director, Unmanned Systems Research Institute at Oklahoma State University, on a special program at OSU that is training students to program drones for scientific researchPujita Suhni, junior, University of Tulsa, on her computer science class experienceIssa Al Rubaye, junior, University of Tulsa, on why he chose computer science as his majorKaitlin Colvin, junior, University of Tulsa, on how technology is Tulsa's future

You can listen to the full conversation here, or look for the Work in Progress podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland is made possible by the support of Tulsa Innovation Labs.

Episode 221: Destination Tulsa - Tulsa's other pipelines: cybersecurity talent and drone engineeringHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Music for Destination Tulsa series: From Bensound.comDownload the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? In this five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland – we look at how Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

There are hundreds of thousands of open cybersecurity jobs right now in the U.S. In this third episode of Destination Tulsa, we’re talking about how the city of Tulsa continues to help fill those jobs. The University of Tulsa is part of the city’s vast and experienced cybersecurity engine, producing quality graduates that are highly-trained and educated in the field. Even the nation’s intelligence and defense departments come calling for their students. Not only are there opportunities in the federal government, there is a growing demand for experts in the private sector.

We’re also talking about advanced aerial mobility technology, commonly called drones. Over the past decade and a half, Oklahoma State University has grown into a leader in drone technology and an important piece of a new aerospace market. At OSU, they’re building up an unparalleled capability to design, build, and flight-test aircraft these aircraft.

In this episode, you’ll hear from:

• John Hale, chairperson and professor, Tandy School of Computer Science at University of Tulsa, on how TU is an engine for producing high quality local graduates that are trained and educated in cybersecurity
• Tyler Moore, chairperson and professor, School of Cyber Studies at University of Tulsa, on how the federal government is recruiting potential students, training them at TU and then hiring them for U.S. intelligence agencies
• Timothy Crisp, cybersecurity teacher, Will Rogers College High School, on training high school students and putting them on the cybersecurity pathway
• Michael Kelly, junior, Will Rogers College High School, on his experiences in the program
• Jamey Jacob, director, Unmanned Systems Research Institute at Oklahoma State University, on a special program at OSU that is training students to program drones for scientific research
• Pujita Suhni, junior, University of Tulsa, on her computer science class experience
• Issa Al Rubaye, junior, University of Tulsa, on why he chose computer science as his major
• Kaitlin Colvin, junior, University of Tulsa, on how technology is Tulsa’s future

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John Hale, University of Tulsa (Photo: TU)

Tyler Moore, University of Tulsa (Photo: TU)

Timothy Crisp, Will Rogers College High School (Photo: Tulsa Changmakers)

Jamey Jacob, Oklahoma State University (Photo: TIL)

Pujita Sahni, junior, University of Tulsa (Photo: WorkingNation)

Issa Al Rubaye, junior, University of Tulsa (Photo: WorkingNation)

Kaitlin Colvin, junior, University of Tulsa (Photo: WorkingNation)

You can listen to the full conversation here, or look for the Work in Progress podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland is made possible by the support of Tulsa Innovation Labs.

Episode 221: Destination Tulsa – Tulsa’s other pipelines: cybersecurity talent and drone engineeringHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post Tulsa’s other pipelines: cybersecurity talent and drone engineering appeared first on WorkingNation.

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The U.S. gained 678,00 jobs in January. The greatest growth was noted in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, health care, and construction.

Additionally, the jobless rate dropped to 3.8% in February, down from 4% in January – with a count of 6.3 million unemployed people.

Meanwhile, the number of new jobless claims for the week ending February 26 tallied at 215,000, according to the Department of Labor. That’s an 18,000 drop from the previous week’s numbers.

WorkingNation is always on the hunt for opportunities for people to find a place in the workforce. This week, we share some findings from Delaware, Nebraska, Nevada, Virginia, and Wyoming. One might be a good fit.

From Delaware: Delaware Business Times reports HBCU Delaware State University is launching a workforce development center and a business incubation hub.

From Nebraska: NTV reports a new program is offering career exploration to students at Grand Island Senior High and teaching life skills – like how to balance a checkbook.

From Nevada: Las Vegas Review-Journal reports new state funding awarded to four nonprofits, includes a grant to Goodwill of Southern Nevada to expand a workforce development program for certified nursing assistants and medical assistants.

From Virginia: Virginia Business reports Walgreens is establishing a micro-fulfillment center in Hanover County that will create 249 new jobs.

From Wyoming: Star Herald reports the University of Wyoming is starting a ranch management and agricultural leadership program.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Learning is a lifelong endeavor. Regardless of age, we all must keep our skills current as we venture into the future together. WorkingNation will be at SXSW EDU in Austin once again this year, examining the barriers and discussing opportunities in work and education, so we can all stay ahead of them at school, at work, and in life. The future has arrived, and we’ll be discussing ways individuals, schools, and employers can address the disruption that change inevitably brings. 

There's a Lot to Talk About

We love the way SXSW EDU describes itself. "We believe that education has the power to inspire, elevate, and change the future. We bring together the learner, the practitioner, the entrepreneur, and the visionary to share their groundbreaking stories, tackle complex issues, and build reimagined paths forward. It is this unfettered, inspired and passionate community that will collectively create a new tomorrow for learners everywhere and drive impact."

We couldn't have said it any better and we're honored to be a media partner for this great conference for a fourth year in a row. Our team has pulled together four great sessions, touching on a wide range of workforce and education issues.

If you're attending in person, we hope you stop by one or more of these discussions.

Don't Leave Older Workers Out of the Jobs Recovery

The majority of the long-term unemployed are over the age of 45. A majority of hiring managers admit hesitating when it comes to hiring an older worker, fearing they are not tech-adaptable or might not fit into the work culture. Conversely, they say the older workers already on the job are valued employees. So, where does that leave mid-career workers trying to find a new job in the post-pandemic workforce? Let's address this age bias directly and examine what's being done to correct it. 

WorkingNation editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim will be hosting this panel of insightful and passionate leaders in an examination of this important issue. Joining her on stage will be Jean Accius, senior vice president of global thought leadership at AARP; Wendi Safstrom, president of SHRM Foundation; Maria Heidkamp, director of program development and senior researcher, at the Heldrich Center at Rutgers University.

When and where: Monday, 3/7, 5 p.m. CT, Room 18AB, Austin Convention Center 

Learn-and-Earn: A Proven Workforce Model

Employer-driven programs work. Apprenticeships work. Employers work with community colleges to set a curriculum that will teach skills needed in local businesses through a combination of classroom and on-the-job learning. And, the students are paid for the work they do while gaining valuable skills. Using this model, communities across the country can develop a much-needed, skilled workforce, leading to jobs that employers need to fill.

The panel will be moderated by WorkingNation president Jane Oates. She'll be joined by Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation; Lydia Logan, global vice president of education and workforce development at IBM; and Kennon Harrison, vice president of workforce partnerships at Revature. 

When and where: Tuesday, 3/8, 11 a.m. CT, Salon H, Hilton Austin Downtown

Closing the Hispanic Digital Skills Gap

Latino workers are 14% of overall workers, but represent 35% of workers with no digital skills and 20% of those with limited digital skills. Digital skills are crucial to obtaining gainful employment and resources to support their families.

We talk to leaders from various organizations providing training and education to close this skills gap and help the community thrive, including Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of Hispanic Federation, Hector Mujica, economic opportunity lead for the Americas at Google.org; and Domenika Lynch, executive director of the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society Program. Our panel will be moderated by John-Carlos Estrada, anchor at CBS Austin.

Where and when: Wednesday,

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Six months after Amazon first announced it would cover full tuition costs for bachelor degrees for its roughly 750,000 hourly workers on the job for at least three months, the company today says it has added new education partners to its network which now tops more than 140 colleges and institutions.

Along with local colleges and universities, four national universities are now partnering with Amazon: Western Governors University, Southern New Hampshire University, Colorado State University-Global, and National University.

Tammy Thieman, Career Choice global lead, Amazon (Photo: Amazon)

“We’ve been very aggressive around selecting innovative partners who can help us deliver a top-tier program,” says Tammy Thieman, Global Lead of Amazon’s Career Choice Program, the company’s 10-year-old upskilling program.

The company has 110 classrooms for employees who want to study onsite at fulfillment centers, but Amazon associates also have the option to study at schools located in their communities or online. Thieman says a key part of the program is to offer choices to adult learners.

“You’ll see in our partners that some have a subscription model. Some work on a four-week rotating course cycle. Others are more traditional in that you have spring, summer, and fall semesters, and so really providing lots of different opportunities to ensure that we can get our folks in the right programs where they are going to be the most successful,” adds Thieman. 

She says Amazon carefully chooses education partners that are focused on adult learners and understand their unique work-life challenges. 

Western Governors University Partners With Amazon

One of its new partners is Western Governors University, an online university. Spencer Stewart, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Western Governors University describes WGU as being aligned with the working learner. 

Spencer Stewart, VP strategic partnerships, Western Governors University (Photo: WGU)

“For us, it’s all about linking education and opportunity and creating those pathways that will enable individuals to further their aptitude and realize their full potential,” says Stewart.

Stuart says Amazon associates are currently eligible for ten undergraduate programs with several generating heavy interest and demand. “One would include our undergraduate program in cybersecurity. Others would be within our undergraduate business management, human resources, and in network operations,” explains Stewart. He expects more courses to be offered to Amazon associates in the coming months that may include programs in teaching and in health professionals. 

He says the tuition for these programs for Amazon employees is approximately $5,250 regardless of the number of courses taken in a 12-month period. “We strongly feel higher education today needs to be as accessible as possible,” adds Stewart. 

Amazon’s $1.2B Commitment to Upskill

These latest additions to Amazon’s Career Choice program are part of Amazon’s $1.2 billion commitment to upskill 300,000 employees by the year 2025. 

And new partners are not just tied to college programs. For employees looking to complete high school or prepare for the GED, Amazon has partnered with GEDWorks and Smart Horizons. Voxy EnGen and goFluent are providing training for English language learners. Outlier, another partner, provides college prep courses

All of this comes as employers compete for workers, extending benefits to attract and retain talent. 

Last year, in a study with Gallup that Amazon commissioned, 65 percent of workers said that upskilling provided by employers was very important when considering a potential new job.

Thieman says the pandemic has also caused workers to look within. 

“Lots of folks, as a result of the pandemic, have kind of rethought, you know, my life changed, it got turned upside down and what’s my next step in light of all of this?” Of the fact that many people are willing to change jobs ...

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What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? In this five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland – we look at how Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

In the first episode of Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland, we explored how this city, once known mostly for oil, gas, and aerospace, now has big plans to be a major player in several technology fields. To do that, stakeholders from the Oklahoma governor, to Tulsa’s core universities, to its entrepreneurial ecosystem, are working together, with the help of the Tulsa Innovation Labs, to take a coordinated approach to tech growth

This time, we look at educational opportunities helping Tulsans – including some very young Tulsans – get a start in tech. What’s more, the leaders of schools and workshops are invested in making sure those tech careers are achievable for everyone.

In this episode, hear from:

Libby Ediger, executive director of Holberton School Tulsa, a global network of software engineering schools that are teaching software programming in less time than it takes to get an associate degreePete Selden, vice president for workforce development at Tulsa Community College, which is helping prepare students for the tech sector to entry- and mid-level jobs with associate degrees and short-term certificate programsLeigh Goodson, president and CEO of Tulsa Community College, on the effort to increase diversity and inclusion in the Tulsa tech community through strong, affordable career pathwaysSal Aurigemma, associate professor at The University of Tulsa, and instructor helping build interest in STEM jobs through a training program that is helping the Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma get a badge in cybersecurityMikeal Vaughn, founder and executive director of Urban Coders Guild, which offers a free course to middle schoolers from underrepresented communities in IOS app development and web design.You'll also hear from Urban Coders Guild instructor Will Smith (a Tulsa Community College professor), student Quentin Roebuck and Quentin's mom, Shardé RoebuckTaylor.

You can listen to the full conversation here, or look for the Work in Progress podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland is made possible by the support of Tulsa Innovation Labs.

Episode 220: Destination Tulsa: Educational Pathways to a Career in TechHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Music for Destination Tulsa series: From Bensound.comDownload the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? In this five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland – we look at how Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

In the first episode of Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland, we explored how this city, once known mostly for oil, gas, and aerospace, now has big plans to be a major player in several technology fields. To do that, stakeholders from the Oklahoma governor, to Tulsa’s core universities, to its entrepreneurial ecosystem, are working together, with the help of the Tulsa Innovation Labs, to take a coordinated approach to tech growth.

This time, we look at educational opportunities helping Tulsans – including some very young Tulsans – get a start in tech. What’s more, the leaders of schools and workshops are invested in making sure those tech careers are achievable for everyone.

In this episode, hear from:

• Libby Ediger, executive director of Holberton School Tulsa, a global network of software engineering schools that are teaching software programming in less time than it takes to get an associate degree
• Pete Selden, vice president for workforce development at Tulsa Community College, which is helping prepare students for the tech sector to entry- and mid-level jobs with associate degrees and short-term certificate programs
• Leigh Goodson, president and CEO of Tulsa Community College, on the effort to increase diversity and inclusion in the Tulsa tech community through strong, affordable career pathways
• Sal Aurigemma, associate professor at The University of Tulsa, and instructor helping build interest in STEM jobs through a training program that is helping the Girl Scouts of Eastern Oklahoma get a badge in cybersecurity
• Mikeal Vaughn, founder and executive director of Urban Coders Guild, which offers a free course to middle schoolers from underrepresented communities in IOS app development and web design.
• You’ll also hear from Urban Coders Guild instructor Will Smith (a Tulsa Community College professor), student Quentin Roebuck and Quentin’s mom, Shardé RoebuckTaylor.

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Libby Ediger, executive director, Holberton School of Tulsa (Photo: Holburton)

Sal Aurigemma, associate professor, The University of Tulsa (Photo: UT)

Pete Selden, VP workforce development, Tulsa Community Colleges (Photo: TCC)

Leigh Goodson, president & CEO, Tulsa Community Colleges (Photo: TCC)

Mikeal Vaughn, founder & executive director, Urban Coders Guild (Photo: UCG)

Will Smith, instructor, Urban Coders Guild (Photo: WorkingNation)

Urban Coders Guild coding class (Photo: WorkingNation)

Urban Coders Guild coding class (Photo: WorkingNation)

Quentin Roebuck, student, Urban Coders Guild (Photo: WorkingNation)

You can listen to the full conversation here, or look for the Work in Progress podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland is made possible by the support of Tulsa Innovation Labs.

Episode 220: Destination Tulsa: Educational Pathways to a Career in Tech

Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post How do you build a strong talent pipeline? Get them interested early! appeared first on WorkingNation.

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As a former fossil fuel state that has swung both red and blue, Colorado has become a national leader when it comes to green innovation. To better understand how the state could give rise to so many environmentally-friendly enterprises, Jay speaks with professor of entrepreneurship Jeff York who explains the three factors Colorado has working in its favor: renewable energy standards, an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, and a ubiquitous love of the outdoors. 

Next, Jay sets out to see how businesses of all shapes and sizes came to call Colorado home. In the case of Motili, VP of Sales Matt Sallee reveals how a national HVAC provider pivoted into an energy efficiency operation. On a smaller scale, Eric Adamson of Tortuga Agtech explains why he picked Denver over Silicon Valley as the location to build his crop-picking agricultural robots. And for those of us with homegrown operations, Jay speaks with Ashley Tindall, founder of Soul Bean Roasters, a coffee roasting company with the goal of zero waste, to see how Fort Collins provided the opportunity to wed her passions for coffee and sustainability together.

A trip to Colorado wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Rockies, and so Jay heads to Aspen to hear from world-renowned environmental activist Auden Schendler about how Colorado’s ski industries are adapting to shorter ski seasons, and to find out what green businesses they have invested in to provide proof of concept for scalable change. Finally, Jay talks to Mario Molina of Protect Our Winters to get a sense of the impact winter recreation has on the local economy.

CREDITS:Featuring: Jay Tipton, Jeff York, Matt Sallee, Paula DiPerna, Eric Adamson, Ashley Tindall, Auden Schendler, Mario MolinaProduced by: Alicia ClarkExecutive Produced by: Melissa Panzer, Joan Lynch, Art BilgerWritten by: Jay Tipton, Alicia Clark, Mike ZunicEdited and Sound Mixed by: Lynz FlorenMusic by: Avocado JunkieMade possible by: the Walton Family Foundation

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WorkingNation is always on the hunt for opportunities for people to find a place in the workforce. Take a look at these training programs or job openings. One might be a good fit.

From Arkansas: Equipment World reports an excavating contractor in Little Rock is helping younger workers find a career path.

From Hawaii: Hawaii News Now reports Hawaii Pacific Health is expanding its certification program to Oahu’s high school seniors.

From Maine: Spectrum News reports a Maine jobs program has received federal funds to help people affected by the opioid crisis.

From Virgin Islands: Pasquines reports a labor study – funded by federal monies – will assess workforce skills, identify training needs, and provide recommendations to better prepare current and future workers.

From Wisconsin: Green Bay Press Gazette reports a program in northeastern Wisconsin is training people for in-demand tech careers.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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WorkingNation’s Green Jobs Now series is looking at green jobs opportunities and the skills neededto get those jobs across the country with a series of state-by-state reports. Next: Colorado.

“Colorado's a very forward-looking state. We like to lean into trends to have the good jobs of tomorrow rather than the good jobs of yesterday.” 

Gov. Jared Polis, Colorado (Photo: State of Colorado)

Gov. Jared Polis sees that future in a green economy. “That aligns well with our forward-looking vision on air quality and climate to make sure that Colorado is a leader in the clean energy revolution as well as a leader in employment.”

Colorado has been leading the way in the green economy for more than a decade and it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down anytime soon.

The state already has the third-largest green workforce in the country and, according to research by Emsi Burning Glass for our Green Jobs Now: Colorado report released today, there are close to 30,000 people working in the green sector – those both directly and indirectly doing jobs that impact the environment.

Core green jobs have experienced a steady increase each year over the last four years, with little impact during the pandemic. Green enabled jobs are by far the most in-demand in Colorado. While 2020 saw a dip in demand for green enabled jobs, demand rebounded in 2021, and surpassed the levels seen since 2018.

While the number still represents a small percentage of the overall workforce, it continues to grow as the demand grows for workers with green skills in the state and across the rest of the country. Last year alone, there were more than 12,000 new green job openings in Colorado. By comparison, this is more than the number of job postings for nursing assistants and security officers.

Over half of the green job openings in 2021 were in the Denver area alone, according to the report. This concentration of 7,880 green openings is both impressive, and suggests that Denver, along with the rest of Colorado, is a state leaning into the green economy.

Having green skills has a paycheck payoff. For example, according to our report, workers with skills related to carbon reduction and energy efficiency make, on average, more than $4,000 a year more than someone without those skills.

Renewable Energy: Leading Job Growth Now and in the Future

At present, the most in-demand skills related to the green economy in Colorado are in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy conservation. The top in-demand occupations amongst core green jobs focus heavily on energy production by means of solar and wind. 

We see all phases of green energy research, manufacturing, sales, installation, and upkeep within those top core green occupations.

And that’s just the beginning, according to the WorkingNation report. The number of green jobs is expected to grow by 10.33% over the next five years, well above the national average of 5.7% projected growth. A lot of that growth is expected in green energy.  

“We'll be at 80% renewable energy in just eight years. And I ran on the goal of 100% renewable energy by 2040 for the grid, so that leaves us that second decade – 2030 to 2040 – to bridge that additional 20%,” Polis tells me. 

He says he’s confident that if any state can reach that goal, it will be Colorado. “(We) check the boxes for really the best place to locate a clean energy company, including leading the way on cutting edge developments of the workforce and adapting our apprenticeship and community college system to meet those needs,” he adds.

The state is getting support in building its green workforce from both the public and private sectors.

Filling the Demand for Green Workers in Construction and Other Fields

Renewable energy is not the only in-demand field in the state. Thanks to the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, says Polis, the state will be able to build what he describes as “a dynamic 21st century transportat...

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Software developers design computer applications or programs. Many software developers work in computer systems design and related services, in manufacturing, or for software publishers. They often work in offices and on teams with other software developers or quality assurance analysts and testers.

Software developers typically need a bachelor’s degree in computer and information technology or a related field. Some employers prefer to hire developers who have a Master’s degree.

Carter Schultz works as a software manager for AMP Robotics. AMP Robotics creates a scalable robotic system that reduces the cost of recycling and enables smart recycling facilities. “Robotics provides a really visceral way to interact with software,” says Schultz. “I’m extremely proud that we found a way to apply a cutting edge technology like neural networks to a problem like sorting recycling and make real-world positive impact.” Software managers like Schultz lead software design teams from translating an idea to plans to execution.

The median annual wage for software developers was $110,140 in 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Employment of software developers is projected to grow 22 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations. About 189,200 openings for software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, for instance, due to retirement.

Maria Van Dyke is the production team lead at AMP Robotics. “My job is to make sure that the team has what they need, making sure that the assemblies are running smoothly, that we aren’t out of product, and that the team is building the assembly safely and to the drawing specs,” says Van Dyke. “You do not need a college degree in order to have the position that I have; a lot of it is hands-on learning.” Production team leads like Van Dyke play a critical role in terms of maintaining the pace needed to fulfill demand of a manufactured product.

Production managers like Van Dyke oversee the daily operations of manufacturing and related plants. Most industrial production managers work full time and some work more than 40 hours per week, and they typically need a bachelor’s degree and several years of related work experience.

In 2020, the median annual wage for production managers was $108,790. Employment of industrial production managers is projected to grow 5 percent from 2020 to 2030, according to the BLS. Despite limited employment growth, about 13,900 openings for industrial production managers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Most of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

Watch all the I Want That Job! videos here.

Credits:

Featuring: Carling Spelhaug, Carter Schultz and Maria Van DykeProducers: Melissa PanzerExecutive Producers: Melissa Panzer, Joan Lynch, Art BilgerField Producer:  Katherine HartDirector of Photography: Adam TylerProduction Sound Mixer: Tim BrazzellEditor: George FreundSound Mixer: Larry BuhlColor Correction: Jerimiah MoreyAssociate Producer: Eve BilgerIllustrator and Graphic Designer: Daniele SimonelliMotion Designer: Matteo Goi

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The world's leading semiconductor makers are having a hard time keeping up the with the global demand for computer chips, a shortage that is forecast to last through at least the end of the year. The U.S. – which accounts for just 12% of global chip production right now  – relies heavily on foreign suppliers. That is about to change.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (l.) and Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger (Photo: Walden Kirsch/Intel Corporation)

Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, is striving to increase American chip production and is betting big on Ohio, investing $20 billion to build two new chip sites in Licking County, outside Columbus. These facilities are the company’s first new manufacturing sites in 40 years.

Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, in announcing the plan, called it the largest single private sector investment in Ohio’s history. Expansion may grow to eight factories on the complex as the semiconductor industry lobbies Congress for subsidies.

Construction is slated to start later this year. In its press release, Intel notes, “The new site will be designed and constructed with green building principles, and the new factories have a goal to be powered by 100% renewable electricity and to achieve net positive water use and zero total waste to landfill in support of Intel’s 2030 sustainability goals.”

Impactful Job Creation

It’s estimated there will be a need to fill 7,000 construction jobs to build the manufacturing facilities, and Intel plans 3,000 direct hires with some openings already posted.

“From internships to entry-level technician positions and opportunities for experienced engineers, supply chain professionals and more, Intel’s advanced semiconductor manufacturing facilities will create thousands of high-tech, high-wage jobs and opportunities in Ohio,” says Christy Pambianchi, Intel’s executive vice president and chief people officer, in a statement provided to WorkingNation. She adds, “We want Intel to be one of the best places to work in the region.”

The Intel facilities are also expected to support tens of thousands of additional local jobs across an ecosystem of suppliers and partners.

Creating a Talent Pipeline

The average salary for these Intel jobs will be $135,000, according to the company, and include a wide range of roles, requiring backgrounds from those with an associate degree to a Ph.D.

Finding talent may not be a simple task. The semiconductor industry, overall, is experiencing a labor shortage.

To address that challenge, Intel is investing $100 million for training and education to develop a talent pipeline and research programs, in partnerships with institutions.

Part of the reason for choosing Ohio, according to Intel, is the access to dozens of the state’s public and private colleges and universities, and community colleges.

The Ohio State University, for one, has already added a B.S. degree in engineering technology – with a manufacturing concentration – as it prepares students for the semiconductor industry. It will be working with the Ohio Department of Higher Education and other institutions to train faculty and develop curriculum.

The Role of Community Colleges

Central Ohio Technical College (COTC) expects to be among the community colleges providing talent as it has campuses close to Intel’s planned complex. “We know we are going to need to be a major supplier and a major partner in this process,” says John Berry, Ph.D., COTC president. He says there will be collaboration with Intel and education partners to develop the curriculum for an associate degree.

John Berry, Ph.D., president, Central Ohio Technical College (Photo: Mark Steele Photography)

“We will need to make sure that what Intel wants and needs here in central Ohio is what we are capable of producing at a scale that we probably haven’t produced before,” adds Berry.

Berry says COTC will be looking for guidance from programs at community colleges i...

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What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? In this five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland – we look at how Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

Known as the "Oil Capital of the World" for much of the last century, Tulsa, Oklahoma, is on a mission to redefine itself as a tech hub in the heartland of America. And it is well on its way.

First a little history. Tulsa became a boom town in 1905 with the discovery of a vast underground pool of oil, attracting entrepreneurs by the tens of thousands to capitalize on the energy opportunities. In later decades, after the initial well was exhausted, the city reinvented itself as a supplier of pumps, drilling rigs, and oil storage. It also created a thriving aerospace manufacturing industry.

Now, the economic focus is moving to tech. Over the past five years, tech employment in the city of 400,000 has grown 25%, adding more than 12,000 jobs to the economy. A coalition of public and private partners – led by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, academics, business leaders, and innovators are working together on a plan to have Tulsa join the likes of Silicon Valley, Austin, and Seattle as a nationally-recognized center for technology innovation and a leader in several tech fields.

The foundation is in place and expanding, built on a world-class education system, an entrepreneurial spirit, and established inroads into some of the most in-demand industries in today's economy.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland

In part one of our special five-part series, we talk to some of the key players in the tech hub movement to learn more about what it takes to make Tulsa the next economic growth hot spot.

Nicholas Lalla, Tulsa Innovation Labs co-founder & managing director (Photo: TIL)

Nicholas Lalla is the co-founder and managing director on the Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL),  the architect of the economic and workforce development plan that is designed to attract and keep tech business and talent in the city.

"We started with a scan of Tulsa's economy, looked at all the biggest industries in town – certainly oil and gas, aerospace, manufacturing, looked at the local and regional universities and the talent and patents that they were producing, looked at emerging tech trends, and figured out what's going to be the high growth opportunities in five, 10, 15 years," explains Lalla. 

"We spoke to 120 local community leaders to understand what the aspirations were of the city and get insight from local Tulsans about the jobs and employers and conditions in town and basically scanned the universe for opportunities that we thought Tulsa could win in," he adds.

That research showed that Tulsa already had the building blocks in place and – with a focused effort – the city could be a tech leader in five key areas identified by TIL – virtual health care, energy tech, advanced aerial mobility (drones), data analytics, and cybersecurity. The overall effort is getting support at the state level.

Elizabeth Hutt Pollard, Oklahoma Secretary of Science and Innovation (Photo: State of Oklahoma)

Elizabeth Hutt Pollard is Oklahoma's Secretary of Science and Innovation. She's fairly new to the state, coming from Silicon Valley where she helped grow a number of businesses. One of her first acts as a member of the Oklahoma cabinet was to help usher in the new Science and Innovation Strategic Plan, the goal of which is to tap into the existing talent and economic infrastructure and help it grow.

"There it begins to define how we can better work across the state government and all of our state resources and assets, whether that's our foundations, our tech hubs,

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What does it take to reinvent a community, revive a local economy, and reinvigorate a workforce? In this five-part Work in Progress podcast series – Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland – we look at how Tulsa, Oklahoma, is embracing in-demand tech industries to do just that. At the heart of the effort is a strong foundation of education, entrepreneurship, health care tech, energy tech, and cybersecurity.

Known as the “Oil Capital of the World” for much of the last century, Tulsa, Oklahoma, is on a mission to redefine itself as a tech hub in the heartland of America. And it is well on its way.

First a little history. Tulsa became a boom town in 1905 with the discovery of a vast underground pool of oil, attracting entrepreneurs by the tens of thousands to capitalize on the energy opportunities. In later decades, after the initial well was exhausted, the city reinvented itself as a supplier of pumps, drilling rigs, and oil storage. It also created a thriving aerospace manufacturing industry.

Now, the economic focus is moving to tech. Over the past five years, tech employment in the city of 400,000 has grown 25%, adding more than 12,000 jobs to the economy. A coalition of public and private partners – led by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, academics, business leaders, and innovators are working together on a plan to have Tulsa join the likes of Silicon Valley, Austin, and Seattle as a nationally-recognized center for technology innovation and a leader in several tech fields.

The foundation is in place and expanding, built on a world-class education system, an entrepreneurial spirit, and established inroads into some of the most in-demand industries in today’s economy.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland In part one of our special five-part series, we talk to some of the key players in the tech hub movement to learn more about what it takes to make Tulsa the next economic growth hot spot.

Nicholas Lalla, co-founder & managing director, Tulsa Innovation Labs (Photo: TIL) Nicholas Lalla is the co-founder and managing director on the Tulsa Innovation Labs (TIL), the architect of the economic and workforce development plan that is designed to attract and keep tech business and talent in the city.

“We started with a scan of Tulsa’s economy, looked at all the biggest industries in town – certainly oil and gas, aerospace, manufacturing, looked at the local and regional universities and the talent and patents that they were producing, looked at emerging tech trends, and figured out what’s going to be the high growth opportunities in five, 10, 15 years,” explains Lalla.

“We spoke to 120 local community leaders to understand what the aspirations were of the city and get insight from local Tulsans about the jobs and employers and conditions in town and basically scanned the universe for opportunities that we thought Tulsa could win in,” he adds.

That research showed that Tulsa already had the building blocks in place and – with a focused effort – the city could be a tech leader in five key areas identified by TIL – virtual health care, energy tech, advanced aerial mobility (drones), data analytics, and cybersecurity. The overall effort is getting support at the state level.

Elizabeth Hutt Pollard, Oklahoma Secretary of Science and Innovation (Photo: State of Oklahoma) Elizabeth Hutt Pollard is Oklahoma’s Secretary of Science and Innovation. She’s fairly new to the state, coming from Silicon Valley where she helped grow a number of businesses. One of her first acts as a member of the Oklahoma cabinet was to help usher in the new Science and Innovation Strategic Plan, the goal of which is to tap into the existing talent and economic infrastructure and help it grow.

“There it begins to define how we can better work across the state government and all of our state resources and assets, whether that’s our foundations, our tech hubs, our higher ed to create an ecosystem that can really compete, thrive, and impact economic development,” says Pollard.

You can’t have a strong economy without a strong pipeline of talent and ideas. Among those assets cited by Pollard is the vast postsecondary education system in the greater Tulsa area – The University of Oklahoma, The University of Tulsa, Oklahoma State University, and Tulsa Community College – a recognized leader in workforce talent development in cybersecurity and entrepreneurship and many other fields.

Tom Wavering, executive director, Tom Love Innovation Hubs (Photo: The University of Oklahoma) Tom Wavering is the executive director of the Tom Love Innovation Hub at The University of Oklahoma. He says the idea for the Hub was pretty straightforward – capitalize on the amazing talent, resources, and expertise at the school to improve the region and the state. Their mission is to keep the talent in Tulsa, increase tech innovation, launch more startups, and build the state’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“If you are an entrepreneur and you are trying to launch your business, you’re always going to encounter different types of roadblocks, whether it’s funding, whether it’s technology, whether it’s partners, whatever it might be,” Wavering tells us. “Here in Oklahoma though, historically when entrepreneurs hit those roadblocks, the default tends to be an assumption that ‘I’m hitting those roadblocks because I’m in Oklahoma,’ not necessarily just because they always happen.

He says that has lead entrepreneurs to leave and go to other places, such as Silicon Valley for help, “because they think grass is always greener over there. We really focus on what is this complete suite of programs and resources that takes someone all the way from that original idea, that original research, that original inspiration for their business, all the way through to successful funding, hiring, growing, profitable startup or social enterprise.”

Now Listen to the ‘How’ I’ve told you some of the ‘who’ and the ‘what’ behind the city-wide strategy to position Tulsa as a tech hub and a leader in the future of work. You can listen to the podcast here to learn how these public and private leaders are working to making this vision a reality. You can also find this and every episode of Work in Progress wherever you get your podcasts.

There’s four more parts to this story. Coming up in the next few weeks, we’ll explore how the city is encouraging tech talent – starting in grade school – and helping a more diverse population to train for these growing fields. We’ll also talk with several new residents who turned down opportunities in bigger cities to stake their fortunes in Tulsa. Plus, more on a growth area that has the Department of Defense calling.

Destination Tulsa: Tech Hub in the Heartland is made possible by the support of Tulsa Innovation Labs.

Episode 219: Destination Tulsa: Building a tech hub on a strong foundation of talent and ideas

Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post Building a tech hub on a strong foundation of talent and ideas appeared first on WorkingNation.

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If you live in one of these five states, there may be a training program or job opening that fits your career pathway. WorkingNation is always on the hunt for opportunities around the country for people to find their place in the workforce.

Take a look.

From Florida: WPBF reports applications will be accepted – starting March 1 – for a new program offering paid on-the job training in Martin County.

From Georgia: National Fisherman reports a new scholarship program is intended to recruit next generation for careers in commercial fishing across the Georgia coast.

From Ohio: News 5 Cleveland reports a new pilot project will teach people soft skills needed for employment – via programming on their cell phones.

From South Carolina: WPDE reports Horry Georgetown Technical College is offering training to become a certified crane operator – a first in the state of South Carolina.

From West Virginia: Yahoo!Finance reports an EV bus manufacturer is partnering with a local college and workforce agency to connect residents to hands-on training in its new facility.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Opportunity@Work senior vice president, Insights, Papia Debroy and I discuss Rise with the STARs, a new report from the nonprofit.

If you are not familiar with the term STARs, it is a word championed by Opportunity@Work to describe the more than 70 million workers who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes.

"There are a lot of different pathways by which our workers gain skills that are valuable for work," explains Debroy. "Those pathways include community college. They include military service. They include volunteering in your local community. The most common way that workers learn is frequently on the job, by showing up to your job every day, doing the tasks required of your specific profession, and getting better at those skills."

Debroy points out that STARs are often overlooked when a job requires a four-year college degree, which creates an opportunity gap. One of the major conclusions of the new Rise with the Stars report is that it takes a STAR 30 years of work experience to earn what someone with a college degree earns at the beginning of their career.

"This is the heart of one of the many challenges that this part of our workforce is experiencing in this generation. When a STAR entered the workforce in 1989 at the age of 25, they were earning less than the worker with the four-year college degree. That has traditionally been the case in our U..S labor market. What's stunning for this generation is that the STAR doesn't catch up. So 30 years of work experience is not allowing them to earn in wages what the bachelor's degree worker was earning on day one of their career," Debroy tells me.

It's not just the worker who is missing out. Employers are missing out on untapped talent by putting up what Opportunity@Work describes as a "pointless barrier." The report offers up a couple of tools to remove the barrier to opportunity, including the Star Mobility Index and 30 Jobs to Turn the Tide.

You can read about these and other observations and recommendations in the report, and here about them in this podcast.

Please check both out, as I leave you with these final thoughts from Debroy.

"It's important to recognize that more than half of our workforce are STARs. These are workers with the high school diploma without the four-year college degree, but who have incredibly valuable skills in the U.S. labor market. In fact, there are more than 30 million today in our U.S. labor market who we term to be rising STARs. These are folks who, based on skills with their current job, actually have the skills to do significantly higher-wage work in several other occupations. That's an incredibly important insight, because for us to now recognize those skills means that we have to think about how to open up access and opportunity to this population of STARs."

Episode 218: Papia Debroy, SVP, Insights, Opportunity@WorkHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Marlene Orozco, associate director of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI), discusses the think tank's just-released report, The State of Latino Entrepreneurship: 2022.

Latinos now make up 19% of the total U.S. population, having grown 23% over the past decade to more than 62 million people, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. Latinos also continue to play an important role in the country's economy, making up 14% of the workforce, and increasingly as job creators themselves.

The report from SLEI shows that over the past decade both Latino-owned non-employer businesses and employer businesses are growing at a faster rate in the U.S. than those started by non-Latinos, this despite the fact that Latino entrepreneurs have a harder time getting financing.

"We're seeing these trends across the board for all sizes and types of Latino-owned businesses. The number of all Latino-owned businesses has grown 44% compared to just 4% for non-Latinos. The number of Latino-owned employer businesses has grown 35%, compared to just 5% for all others. This is important because employer businesses are job creators," Orozco explains.

An employer business is a business that has at least one paid employee other than the business owner. "Employer businesses in the U.S. make up over 80% of all small business sales. They're a significant portion of the small business ecosystem," she adds.

The SLEI report shows that the types of businesses being created cover all industries. "Contrary to stereotypes about the industries in which Latino-owned businesses operate, we find that among employer businesses, Latinos are equally likely as their white counterparts to own tech companies," according to the report.

Orozco goes into further details in the podcast. "We find that 19% of new Latino-owned employer businesses are developing a technology or software product. This is compared to 14% among white-owned employer businesses that were surveyed."

She goes on to say that not only are Latinos growing businesses faster, they're also hiring employees at a dramatically faster rate than all others. "Since 2007, the number of employee growth has been 55% for Latino-owned businesses compared to just 8% for white-owned businesses. Latinos are very real job creators and contributors to the U.S. economy."

Orozco and I talk about the difficulty many Latino entrepreneurs have in getting capital to start their businesses – "In this year's report, we uncover the fact that Latino business owners are more often asked to provide collateral for their business, even when they look comparable on paper in terms of their business performance." Tune into the podcast for that part of the discussion and much more.

Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLAI) is a research and education collaboration between the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN).

Episode 217: Marlene Orozco, associate director, Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship InitiativeHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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The U.S. economy showed a 5.7% surge in growth last year and earlier this month, it was reported that in 2021, 6.4 million U.S. jobs were created. Meanwhile, first-time jobless claims tallied at 260,000 people for the week ending on January 22. That’s 30,000 fewer filings than the week before.

As people look for ways to access new jobs and careers, WorkingNation is always searching for opportunities around the country. This week, we share what we found in these five states.

From Michigan: CDL Life reports the expansion of  a trucking company facility in the city of Holland is expected to be completed by mid-March, creating 55 new jobs.

From Montana: KTVB reports the state of Montana is increasing its hourly base pay for seasonal firefighters to a minimum of $15.50 in an effort to hire and retain personnel.

From New Jersey: New Jersey Business Magazine reports 18 community colleges are rethinking how to prepare residents with skills required to keep up with local industry needs.

From Rhode Island: The Valley Breeze reports vocational training is already being offered in Woonsocket at an alternative location with construction of the Woonsocket Education Center expected to be completed in mid-to-late spring.

From Vermont: WCAX reports a high school in Essex Junction is reviving its skilled trades training including in HVAC, plumbing, and electrical programs.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Latino-owned businesses (LOBs) in the U.S. continue to be powerful job creators, according to the just-released report The State of Latino Entrepreneurship. Released annually by the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI), the report states, “ The number of jobs created by LOBs has grown from 1.9 million in 2007 to 2.9 million in 2019, representing a 53.6% growth rate.”

Marlene Orozco, associate director of SLEI, tells WorkingNation editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim in an upcoming Work in Progress podcast, “If we look at the last 10 years alone, the number of Latino-owned businesses has grown 44% compared to just 4% for non-Latinos.”

She emphasizes, “This is not just happening in those businesses that are non-employer businesses or solo-led businesses. This growth is also happening in employer businesses. And this is important because the number of Latino-owned employer businesses has grown 35% compared to just 5% for all others.”

Access to Capital

Despite the significant growth numbers, Latino owners still face hurdles when it comes to obtaining funds.

Orozco says, “Only 9% of all Latino-owned businesses are employer businesses [meaning those with at least one paid employee other than the owner]. This is a small slice of the pie. We’ve uncovered that one of the biggest thresholds for Latinos is going from a solopreneur, a self-employed person with nobody on payroll to becoming an employer business. That is a significant hurdle that is really exacerbated by a number of challenges as it relates to capital, for instance.”

“We're really trying to point out where some of these gaps are so that decision makers, capital providers can start to hone in and hopefully rectify some of these gaps.”

The report also notes that Latinos – when seeking capital – are more likely to be required to provide more collateral despite having credit characteristics similar to White-owned businesses (WOBs).

Optimistic, Despite the Pandemic

Both Latino and White business owners are generally optimistic about the prospects of recovering from the pandemic, according to the report – with 79% of LOBs reporting confidence, while 77% of WOBs feel the same.

Orozco says LOBs proactively made business pivots to address the challenges presented by COVID-19. “I'm really heartened by the strategies and the resilience of Latino owned businesses to navigate the pandemic through their resourcefulness.”

You can read the full research brief here.  

Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLAI) is a research and education collaboration between the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN).

Hear more of Marlene Orozco's conversation with editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim on Work in Progress, beginning February 1. Watch the video below for a short preview.

https://youtu.be/VqysIFX-QlE

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WorkingNation's Green Jobs Now series is looking at green jobs opportunities and the skills neededto get those jobs across the country with a series of state-by-state reports. Up first: Pennsylvania.

There is no question the green economy is already bigger than most people think, and it's growing. Job opportunities are out there, if you know where to look.

One person already working in Philadelphia's green economy is Pedro Soto. Seven years ago, Soto’s sister-in-law suggested he apply to PowerCorpsPHL, a green jobs training program. He says she told him, "'Why don't you try this? It's training. This is something to build off of.'"

“When I came into PowerCorps, I realized, ‘Wow, I can work outside. This is something I can do,’" Soto tells us. "I even had a mentor who is Hispanic. That just blew my mind because I didn't know that was a possibility like, ‘Wow, somebody who looks like me is actually working in this field and is making a decent-to-great living.’”

We’ll get back to Soto's journey a little later. But, he's not alone. Many people don't realize that the opportunities to join the green workforce are within reach.

Unlocking Green Jobs in the Keystone State

"The fabric of the economy is becoming greener by the day. There are emerging green technologies, larger investments in green infrastructure, and renewed efforts to mitigate climate change in the United States and beyond that are building momentum for a global green revolution. However, with new support for green initiatives and technologies comes a new need for workers with green skills," according to our new Green Jobs Now: Pennsylvania report, a WorkingNation and Emsi Burning Glass analysis of the green labor market in the state.

Our report estimates there are nearly 30,000 people in the current Pennsylvania green jobs workforce and, last year alone, there was a demand for more than 7,000 new workers in a broad range of jobs within nearly every sector of the state's economy.

The Keystone State is just getting started. We project that in the next five years, employment demand for green jobs will increase by 6.4%, ahead of the national average of 5.7%, according to the data analyzed by Emsi Burning Glass for our report.

"As the potential for positive environmental impact spreads across a wide range of industries, this will give rise to a new class of green workers who can design, install, and maintain a green infrastructure. These workers will be critical to enabling the shift to a greener economy," again, quoting the report.

Many of those new jobs will have familiar titles and require skills similar to the ones workers already have. But, some of the jobs will call for a bit of retraining. Green Jobs Now: Pennsylvania finds there are more than 1.5 million workers in the state who could learn new skills to give them access to the growing number of green jobs.

These workers come from a variety of different occupations and educational backgrounds. The report suggests that workers who can easily transition into the green talent pool include laborer/warehouse workers, tractor-trailer truck drivers, and sales representatives.

Patrick Clancy, president and CEO, Philadelphia Works (Photo: Philadelphia Works)

Pennsylvania is doing a great job working to build long-term economies, according to Patrick Clancy, president and CEO of Philadelphia Works, the city’s workforce development board. “This is a great opportunity for us and we can't miss this chance to get many more people back into the workforce, back into career pathways. An opportunity for individuals to build their skills, diversify their experience and really have long-term, well-paying jobs.”

Clancy says, “What we're seeing with both the green job movement and with infrastructure is two worlds colliding together. We know that the money will go to projects that are sorely needed. Individuals will be able to be upskilled or trained for the first time to really...

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Passion and purpose. That’s the idea behind a new nonprofit in Austin that harnesses the power of marketing to get mid-to-late teens thinking about their future careers.

“I think it’s important to enlighten young people while they are in high school. Not wait until they are out and don’t know what to do,” says Roy Spence, co-founder of GSD&M, an advertising agency, and the catalyst behind the nonprofit campaign Make It Movement.

“There’s a whole new world. I don’t call them ‘jobs’ anymore. A whole new world of ‘careers.’ You can make a great living in life doing what you like to do, not just what you’re supposed to do.”

Finding His Own Way

For half a century, Spence and college friends-turned-business partners grew the Texas agency and worked on massive ad campaigns. But Spence didn’t always know that would be his path.

Originally from Brownwood, Texas, Spence worked as a roofer, in a warehouse, and construction as a young man. In high school, a teacher recognized he had a talent for writing and his mother lit the spark.

“She told me, ‘I don’t want you to spend another second of your life trying to become average at what you’re bad at. I want you to spend the rest of your life becoming great at what you’re good at,’” Spence recalls.

Nonprofit Helps Young People Find Their Spark

His mom’s advice has now led Spence to found the Make It Movement. The nonprofit leverages marketing—something Spence is “great at”—as a way to help high schoolers or those who didn’t finish high school discover their passion and purpose.

“The data is clear. If we don’t give young kids hope and confidence while in high school, we’re not moving the needle on those who drop out or those who graduate and go to college and drop out. Why not reach when they’re young, beforehand?” Spence says.

The Make It Movement brings together other nonprofits, community colleges, and workforce development organizations to accomplish this mission. Among the initial partners are Austin Community College District and United Way.

A Digital Reach

The Make It Movement uses digital marketing to encourage young people in the Austin area to visit its website and take what Spence describes as “fun quizzes” about their interests and preferences. Their responses result in career suggestions and links to partners that can help with pathways.

For example:

Do you want to start planning your career? - with a link to a community college.Do you need a job right now? - with a link to Austin Workforce Solutions.Are you interested in (career) mentoring? - with a link to a resource.

“We’re using marketing to enlighten the options, not to make the decisions for them,” Spence says.

Options can provide students with information they may not have previously had to help find careers that pay $75,000 as an electrician or in manufacturing that can pay $90,000, as examples. And while these careers don’t require a four-year degree, Spence abhors calling these choices “alternatives” to college.

“My word is higher learning, not higher education. Whether that’s an apprenticeship, community college, four years of college, there’s one path: get inspired about what you want to do,” he says. “And you can choose but if you don’t know what’s out there, how can you choose?”

When the site launched in the fall of last year, Spence says 25,000 people visited. School counselors and teachers love it, he says. He adds, while students may be interested in their futures, they don’t know what questions to ask. The quizzes do the work for them.

“We’re job rich, and this is not like going into an economy where there are no jobs. This is a benefit of the Make It Movement,” Spence says. “Jobs are looking for people. You’ve got to work hard and continue a lifetime of learning. If you love what you do, you want to learn more. If you learn more, you earn more.”

The job and career industries students are exposed to are broad: electricians,

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Robert Blaine, senior executive and director for the Institute for Youth, Education, and Families with the National League of Cities (NLC).

The National League of Cities represents more than 19,000 cities, towns, and villages across the country. They work with mayors, city managers, and other local leaders to find solutions to pressing community issues.

Blaine explains the NLC mission this way: "Thinking about how we build opportunities into communities that have been historically underinvested and disinvested is really the footprint that our institute stands on. That's the space that we truly try to inhabit."

The organization sees a need and works with community leaders to try to fill it. One the NLC's newest efforts is the Youth Excel Initiative, which focuses on connecting BIPOC youth with STEM careers and a pathway to a secure economic future.

"One of the things that we've seen through the course of the pandemic is that there are students that have become disengaged. This (initiative) brings together some intentional opportunities and pathways for students to really build STEM opportunities, and for us to really think about how we can leverage those opportunities to create sustainable and durable pathways for how their futures are going to move, especially when we start to think about economic mobility and their pathway towards a sustainable living wage," Blaine explains.

The NLC says many BIPOC young people across the country have limited access to quality educational and career experiences that could lead them to equitable career pathways and quality jobs, particularly in the high-demand STEM industries.

Blaine points to issues such as lack of broadband in a community, which, for example, makes it difficult for a young person to connect with a school that had to go remote during the pandemic. The lack of broadband also makes job training and job hunting more difficult in the tech fields.

Blaine says the NLC will be working with the cities and towns to figure out how to tap into federal funding to address this need. "One of the things that I'm excited about is that as the administration has brought out new funding programs. Especially through the American Rescue Plan and the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, there has been an intentional focus on communities that have been historically disadvantaged."

The NLC has established what it calls the Youth Excel Framework to help guide city leaders toward creating programs that will "promote long-term community economic security." Here are the three touchpoints:

Developing partnerships and implementing strategies that improve access to quality postsecondary education and career pathway opportunities that lead to higher wage jobs.Focusing on job quality improvement strategies.Integrating the critical perspectives and voice of marginalized youth and young adults.

Data Leads to a Bigger Voice and Greater Access

To do this, Blaine says, the NLC uses data to identify specific needs in a specific community then sits with the municipality and shows them how they can match that need to federal and state funding to create solutions. It's an approach he says served him well in his former job as city manager of Jackson, Mississippi.

"One of the things that I observed most directly was that those who have the most voice in the conversation are those that have the most access. If we're really going to prioritize communities that have been underinvested and disinvested, we have to find new ways to make their voices heard. One prominent way of being able to do that is to use data as a way of being able to push back against what we used to call the vocal minority and really try and bring into the conversation the voices of the silent majority."

Blaine tells me the initiative is in its early stages and there is much work to be done in the 350 communities it's covering, but he's hopeful it will make a difference.

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Opportunities for work are changing at a fast pace with the green economy expected to see dramatic continued growth.

WorkingNation is always looking for pathways that afford people access to good jobs and careers. This week, we share some findings that lead to the green sector.

From California: California Ag Today reports the University of California at Merced has received funding to provide classes focused on climate-readiness — as well as experiential learning opportunities — to farmers, ranchers, agricultural service providers, and students.

From Georgia: The Atlanta Constitution-Journal reports the state is proposing spending $125 million for land and training costs to support electric vehicle maker Rivian which plans to bring 7,500 jobs to Morgan and Walton Counties.

From Kentucky: The Lane Report reports Novelis — an automotive aluminum finishing company — is expanding operations in Todd County for a new recycling center that will create 140 jobs.

From Minnesota: KROX reports the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is seeking students who want to learn more about possible DNR careers through upcoming, paid summer internships.

From New York: Spotlight News reports it’s a greenlight for an offshore wind development facility at Port Albany. Hudson Valley Community College will offer skills training to help build a worker pipeline.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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There's a lot of debate over the green economy, particularly around whether it will create jobs or eliminate them. The answer is both. That's our focus at WorkingNation – not the politics around the debate, the economic opportunity. And according to a new WorkingNation Green Jobs Now report, that opportunity is real, both now and in the future.

Green jobs in the U.S. are being seriously underestimated, according to MISI, a Washington, D.C.-based economic, energy, and environmental research firm conducting the research for WorkingNation.

"The U.S. green economy and the jobs generated by it are much larger and more important than is generally realized, are growing more rapidly than the overall U.S. economy or employment, and will continue to increase rapidly in both absolute and percent terms," according to the findings.

Here are some numbers from the report worth remembering. In 1970, green jobs represented just 1% of all jobs in the country. Currently, there are nearly 9 million jobs generated by the nation's green economy, making up about 6% of all U.S. jobs.

Given the emphasis on green initiatives, programs, and incentives, job creation is about to more than double, according to MISI's analysis. By 2030, jobs generated by the U.S. green economy are forecast to total nearly 24 million and comprise about 14% of total jobs, the report finds.

What is the Green Economy?

There is a lot of debate in another area. Our WorkingNation team has spent a lot of time looking at this question: What is the green economy? We've learned there is no one right answer.

We put the question to Roger Bezdek, an internationally-recognized energy analyst, president of MISI, and the analyst on this report. "We define the green economy as all of the activities in the economy that produce green products or services, and, accordingly, the jobs generated by the green economy are the ones we focus on in the report," explains Bezdek.

More specifically, he says, "If your company is a wind turbine factory, for example, all the jobs direct and indirect and induced, generated by that factory, we would consider as jobs generated by the green economy. It's not a hard and fast definition, and it's in some cases ambiguous, but again, it's jobs generated by the green economy."

But, Bezdek adds, the benefits of a green economy are bigger then you even imagine. "Most jobs generated by the green economy are going to be jobs not even classified as green. These are standard jobs for carpenters, electricians, tool and die makers, mechanical engineers, and so forth."

As we've pointed out, there is no one answer to the question. Another one of our partners in our ongoing Green Jobs Now series looks at the green economy and green jobs in a different way.

Emsi Burning Glass defines the green economy and green jobs as an ecosystem made up of four parts – Core Green Jobs, Green-Enabled Jobs, Green-Enabling Jobs, and Potential Green Jobs.

They describe the Core Green Jobs, similarly to the MISI description, as jobs primarily associated with the green economy, such as solar panel installers. An industrial engineer with green skills would fall into the Green-Enabled Job category – they can do a green job, but their job right now might not fall into that category.

Green-Enabling Jobs are those that might support green tech, such as a marketing manager at a solar manufacturing plant. And Potential Green Jobs are people in industries or sectors that will need green skills in the future.

Again, these different interpretations by MISI and Emsi Burning Glass are useful as we move forward and examine where the opportunities are in the green economy, particularly when we drill down and start looking at the skills you are going to need if you want to get one of these green jobs now or in the future.

What You Need to Know About Jobs in the Green Economy

Bezdek says the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will contribu...

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Students in grades 3-8 are being encouraged to take the plunge. Katie Ledecky, a 3-time Olympian and 7-time Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer wants kids to get excited about STEM. Ledecky, in partnership with Panasonic North America and Discovery Education, has launched the STEM Forward educational initiative.

“[STEM Forward is] going to provide students, educators, and families with dynamic digital resources that will help them explore how technology improves lives and makes the world a better place,” says Alejandra Ceja, vice president, office of social impact and inclusion with Panasonic North America and executive director of the Panasonic Foundation. “The initiative includes activities for families and students, and tools for teachers.”

Alejandra Ceja of Panasonic North America/ Panasonic Foundation (Photo: Panasonic)

Shortly, there will also be a virtual field trip available. “It is a behind-the-scenes of innovation centers. And it brings some of our engineers, some of our scientists from Panasonic talking about the different components that exist in a STEM career.”

The partnership with Discovery Education ensures that the content continues to expand and stay relevant, notes Ceja.

Ceja says Ledecky’s passion for STEM is inspiring. “Katie talks about how STEM influences her swimming. We've seen her in action with students breaking down how STEM influences her competition.”

Creating Access and Equity

Ceja says key to the company’s initiatives is advancing educational equity. “The work that we've been doing is making sure we can talk about access, making sure we can work with communities of color. What does it mean to have an equity agenda in a school district? We are looking to partner with nonprofit organizations that have the pulse in the community that help us reach students that need to have access to STEM education.”

Ceja continues, “I think the pandemic really proved that education goes beyond the classroom. We have to do more to better leverage technology, reach students, and connect them to the world and the workforce that they're going to shape and transform.”

“We want to make sure that students have access to information that's critical for them to make a decision on whether or not they want to pursue a certificate program, a two-year degree, or four-year college education. At the end of the day, as a company, we want to do our part and have great initiatives that will inspire students and help close that opportunity gap that we know exists.”

Filling the Talent Pipeline

“There's a current and future demand from the labor workforce when it comes to why we need to do more to promote STEM education, to promote the lifelong learning, to ensure that people keep up with STEM skills,” says Ceja.

“As a tech and innovation company, we know our future is directly connected to the ability to hire top talent in the STEM fields. We know the fastest growing jobs of the future are going to require strong literacy in STEM proficiency. It is important that we keep the lens on ‘how do we strengthen those pipelines?’”

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For women who want to turn their culinary passions into a career, finding a place in professional kitchens has not been easy. More than 70% of chefs and head cooks are men, while under 25% are women. Ethnically, most chefs are white.

To break down barriers in the food industry, a nonprofit in San Francisco works to provide opportunities for low-income women wanting to run their own food businesses. It’s called La Cocina and since 2005, the organization has worked with 125 businesses of which 77 are still active.

While the pandemic hit the restaurant business hard, according to the National Restaurant Association, La Cocina says some of its entrepreneurs closed locations, but none of its businesses shut down.

In April, it opened La Cocina Municipal Marketplace, described as the first women-led food hall in the country. The Marketplace features seven of La Cocina’s women entrepreneurs. “If you give people a chance, overwhelmingly what we see is that people succeed,” says Emiliana Puyana, program manager at La Cocina.

Emiliana Puyana, program manager, La Cocina (Photo: La Cocina)

Puyana taps into her personal experience as she works to help women develop their own small businesses. She says she entered the food world with an idyllic vision that started as a child learning to cook in Venezuela.

Becoming a line cook changed her view. “Being a woman in the kitchen is incredibly difficult. Being a woman of color in the kitchen is even more difficult. And then being a queer woman of color adds another layer of complexity,” says Puyana.

La Cocina Incubator Program

Without resources to open her own restaurant, Puyana turned to La Cocina’s incubator program, where she started a pickling business which she operated for a few years before deciding to close it. Now, she combines her passion for food with her passion for creating equity in the food industry.

To be eligible for the La Cocina incubator program, women must be low-income and have a business plan in either of two categories – prepared foods such as restaurants and catering or packaged foods. Business plans are reviewed and food is sampled. Puyana says between 12 and 17 applicants, with viable business plans, are accepted each year.

The first phase of the program lasts about six months where participants attend classes, explains Puyana. “It’s basically like a mini food-MBA, if you will. We teach concepts around marketing, product, operations, and finances,” says Puyana.

“We are connecting our program participants with any and all the resources they might need.” That can include pro-bono graphic designers working on brand identity, food photographers, web developers, and legal services for things like permits and liability insurance, according to Puyana.

The second phase of the incubator program, explains Puyana, moves into a commercial kitchen space which is rented to participants at a subsidized rate. Staff members work with entrepreneurs to set goals, consult, and provide access to market opportunities.

‘Sometimes, I have to pinch myself’

La Cocina graduate and San Francisco native Tiffany Carter entered the program in 2019. She now has five employees and two locations for her business Boug Cali, which specializes in Creole cuisine.  She is among the entrepreneurs with a location at the La Cocina Municipal Marketplace and also sells her food at the Chase Center, home to the Golden State Warriors. “Sometimes, I have to pinch myself. Sometimes, I want to cry because I’ve always known that I would be here. But to actually be here, living it, is surreal,” says Carter.

La Cocina Municipal Marketplace (Photo: Erin Ng)

Getting her business off the ground, Carter recalls, was “really, really rough.” After attending culinary school and obtaining a certificate in culinary arts, she ran into roadblocks. “The cost of entry in San Francisco is really high. It’s not really set up for people like me. There are a lot of barriers to entry,

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In this episode, Dr. Jean Accius, SVP Thought Leadership and International Affairs for AARP, joins me to discuss the midcareer workforce and the Great Resignation.

I recently read a startling statistic: there are 3.3 million more retirees in the U.S. as of October than in January 2020, just before the start of the pandemic. That’s a 7% increase. Call it what you will—the Great Retirement, the Great Resignation, the Great Reset—it’s important that we understand what is driving this trend of older workers leaving the workforce, particularly as the country is struggling with a labor shortage.

In this conversation with Dr. Accius, we discuss some of the factors that are behind older workers dropping out of the labor market. He cites concerns about their health during the pandemic and also their fears for others' health when they are caregivers. Another factor is many have gained a renewed sense of purpose and belonging.

"What I mean by that is the people have really taken this time to really assess exactly what do they want to do in their life? What's given them a sense of meaning? What's given them a sense of fulfillment and they're making those tradeoffs. People are looking in terms of exactly what are the opportunities to really live that fuller life as they have defined for themselves. Some are taking big jumps because, if not now, then when?," offers Dr. Accius.

Not Everyone is Staying Home

This is where the idea of reset comes in, he adds. "In some cases, people are taking on other opportunities in other sectors, either because it matched what they've always wanted to do with their life, or in some cases it might be better wages or better benefits or better working conditions."

Still, the fact remains there are fewer people in the workforce and that has employers thinking about what they can do to change that dynamic and recruit and retain more older workers. "Many companies are managing five different generations. What AARP's been doing with great organizations like yourself at WorkingNation is really elevate those solutions and to really assess what are the opportunities that cut across generations that really leverages the workplace and the workforce in a way that's going to be mutually beneficial?," Dr. Accius tells me.

We talk about one of the tools available through AARP that can help prepare midcareer and older workers for the opportunities ahead, AARP Skills Builder, which offers online training and certificates for in-demand skills.

"We are seeing increased automation and also increased digitalization in the marketplace. We know that there are some skills that are going to be in growing demand as companies start to move into this direction. So, it's a combination of an assessment of the marketplace, and what we're seeing in terms to what employers are looking for. This is a tool that's continuing to be updated with new courses, new resources, to really be able to be a value add for individuals. I think that all of us across all life stages and ages have an opportunity to provide value. I also think that this is a tool that can provide you with some guidance on how to go about doing that," he says.

There is so much more in the podcast, including an important conversation about health care and longevity and how you can start thinking about it, and planning for it, now.

I invite you to listen here, or find us and download the podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 215: Dr. Jean Accius, SVP Thought Leadership and International Affairs, AARPHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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New jobless claims in the U.S. rose the first week of the new year to 230,000, according to the Department of Labor. Economists had anticipated the tally for the week ending January 8 to be around 200,000. However, continuing claims dropped by more than 190,000 to just under 1.56 million.

WorkingNation is always interested in looking at what work opportunities are available around the country. This week, we share these findings.

From Alabama: FOX10 reports a new certification program will be offered through the Alabama Community College System to train 2,000 students for the state’s hospitality industry.

From Iowa: Iowa Public Radio reports the state is launching a new re-employment case management system to help Iowans more quickly find new jobs.

From New Hampshire: Seacoastonline reports a federal grant will help train a new generation of fishermen to fill the pipeline as others retire.

From New York: WBNG reports a new Broome-Tioga Workforce program will help Binghamton-area youth obtain employment.

From Oregon: Willamette Week reports the Oregon Brewers Guild is launching paid, 12-week internships for people who are historically underrepresented in the industry.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Since our launch in August of 2016, WorkingNation has had a very clear mission: tell stories about solutions to today's workforce issues and point people in the direction of opportunities that will prepare them for the skills they need to get good, life-sustaining jobs or careers.

For the last two years, we have collectively held our breath while waiting for things to "return to normal.” But as we embark on the year 2022, we face a new challenge—one that is less about getting things back to the way they were and more about embracing a future that is entirely different from what we once imagined.

Social isolation, an unpredictable job market, and financial uncertainty have taken a mental and physical toll on the American worker, who has grown weary and exhausted. At present, it feels like our nation’s recovery hinges on instilling hope for a brighter tomorrow.

So, where do we begin? Our answer is with jobs. 

We see job opportunities across the entire economy, but we believe one area that deserves a more in-depth look is the green economy. All too often, conversations about the environment focus solely on the threats to our planet. But protecting and repairing the environment is not just good news for our world, it is also good news for the American worker.

With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act at the end of 2021, we know that most of the new infrastructure is being designed or built with climate resilience in mind—and with that comes the potential for massive job creation.

The world of work is changing rapidly and so are the skills needed to successfully compete in today’s workforce. The public and private sectors are already hard at work on initiatives and programs to ensure that all Americans have access to opportunities that will ready them for the jobs of today and tomorrow. 

WorkingNation continues the work we started more than five years ago to tell stories that will point the American worker toward life-sustaining, purposeful jobs. With that in mind, we invite you to read, watch, and listen to our newest storytelling series, Green Jobs Now, in which we’ll showcase the enormous potential in the green economy, moving it to the foreground in the vital discussion about the future of work.

To help us better inform and shape our journalism, podcasts, and video content, we’ve partnered with two respected and established leaders in research, data collection, and data analysis—Emsi Burning Glass, a leading authority on job skills, workforce talent, and labor market dynamics, and MISI, an economic and energy research firm specializing in the environment.

From MISI, we learn that 9% of the American workforce is in a green job already and that number is expected to grow enormously over the next decade. From Emsi Burning Glass, we learn there were 259,230 job postings in the green economy in 2021, a 17% increase over the previous year.

So, what do you need to know to be a part of this growth? Green Jobs Now Using the original research and analysis, and our skills as journalists and storytellers, Green Jobs Now will answer the following questions:

What is a green job? Is the current definition too narrow? Where are the green jobs of today and who is hiring? What skills are employers looking for to fill these jobs? How can you acquire the skills that you need to make you employable in this space for years to come? 

It is vitally important to reconsider and expand upon the traditional definition of a green job in order for workers, employers, workforce groups, advocacy teams, and policymakers to see these jobs as an economic driver regionally and nationally in a way they may not have considered before. 

Federal authorization for new infrastructure will undoubtedly create jobs in construction, water purification, and solar or electric energy associated with these upgrades. But what about the architects and engineers doing these designs? What about workers  installing climate-friendly insulation...

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm joined by Vivek Sharma, CEO and co-founder of the workforce education company InStride and author of the new book C-Spark: CEO-led Workforce Education for the AGE of AND.

In the book, Sharma warns that "the American workforce is in Crisis with a capital C" and challenges the nation's CEOs to do something about it. He calls a company's employees the most important for future growth and says that among the top crises are upskilling, recruiting and retention, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Sharma argues that corporate education is the answer and it's good for the company and the worker. “Corporate education is an imperative strategy for companies to equip employees with new skills for a post-pandemic working world. The goal is to work back from the goals of the CEO, the strategic priorities, and build a workforce program that provides life-changing, career-boosting, quality education to their employees," Sharma tells me.

Helping CEOs create these corporate education programs is the mission of Sharma's public benefits company, InStride, founded in 2019 with partners Arizona State University and TPG Rise Fund. They now offer 300 degree programs from high school through doctorates, 100 certificates programs, and more than 1,300 skills-building courses across a variety of industries.

"We have helped tens of thousands of employees avoid $480 million of student debt," he says and adds that these programs have helped dozens of large employers harness and develop the talent potential of their workers.

"An initiative in a large organization has stickiness and legs if it achieves the business objective. As time progresses, we will see the companies investing in their employees’ education reap the rewards of a more engaged workforce, better progress on DE&I initiatives, and above-average recruitment and retention, all issues that keep CEOs awake at night," he adds.

Sharma says the InStride approach is not one-size-fits-all, that it needs to be tailored to the worker's need. He says the CEOs they work with agree. "The most frequent approach that our partners take is 'we are not here to judge what the learning aspiration of the learner is. She knows what she wants. She knows the pace at which she can do it. Let her have access to all the different universities, all the programs, make the decision.'

"Some employees have high school completion needs, some have an associate degree need, some want to complete a certificate or a certification, some want to do a four-year degree, some want to do a graduate degree. Our job in partnership with the employer is to meet the learner where she is, make it convenient and frictionless and financially supported for her to make a decision on what she wants to learn."

And that, stresses Sharma, is also very good for business.

Listen to the podcast here, or find and download wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 214: Vivek Sharma, CEO & co-founder, InStrideHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

EDITOR'S NOTE: The amount of the student debt was corrected from $410 million to $480 million after a conversation with InStride following the podcast interview. 01/11/2022

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The number of jobs added to the payrolls last month fell short of economists' forecasts. Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the U.S. economy added 199,000, significantly less than the expected 422,000.

However, the jobless rate in December dropped 3.9% from the previous month's 4.2%.

In addition, 4.5 million workers – or 3% – voluntarily quit their jobs in November, according to the BLS. The rate was highest in the hospitality industry at 6.1%.

Also, there were 10.6 million unfilled jobs around the country in November, a decrease from the approximate 11 million job openings in October.

WorkingNation is always looking at what’s going on in workforce development. See some recent findings.

From Idaho: Local News 8 reports the Idaho Potato Commission is looking for people to help spread the word about the starchy vegetable.

From Massachusetts: The Center Square reports a new program will provide training to formerly incarcerated individuals to help them gain employment in career-oriented jobs.

From Missouri: KMOV reports a new apprenticeship program in St. Louis will provide new skills and good jobs in the technology industry.

From Oklahoma: The Claremore Daily Progress reports an oilfield equipment manufacturer is hosting a job fair this week for 70 positions at its new Claremore facility.

From Tennessee: The Daily Herald reports a partnership between Columbia State Community College and Upright Education will bring coding boot camps to nine counties in Southern Middle Tennessee.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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If you’ve seen solar panels on a suburban roof, a wind farm in a rural field, an electric car, or a hydroelectric dam, you know the green economy is humming. And now that the federal government has passed its $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill packed with sustainability initiatives, it’s about to roar.

And it's not just infrastructure. From the manufacturing floor to the back office to the retail store, business leaders are talking about ways to make their workplaces greener. They're also taking action. Emerging green technologies and larger investments in the green economy has created a growing demand for workers with green skills to take these green jobs.

So, let’s talk green jobs – the kind that could power our careers as we rebuild America’s infrastructure and confront the impact of global climate change.

What exactly makes a job green? The answer is not always clear, even to people who may already be working for companies that support the green economy or who are on track to have a green job sooner than they realize.

Workers in core green jobs probably are fully aware that their work is green. Their job titles define their roles in promoting sustainability. But what about their co-workers at the same companies and the same industries with more traditional job titles, such as marketing manager, salesperson, or electrician? Are their jobs green too?

There are a lot of questions about green jobs and the green economy. Let’s start sharing answers so we can all benefit from the changes to the economy that are creating green jobs now.

Let's talk about...

what makes a job green.the green skills you need and how to get them.which employers are creating these green job opportunities.breaking down barriers to accessing the skills and job opportunities in a growing green economy.

There's a lot to talk about and we want you to be a part of the discussion. Tell your friends.

We invite you to join WorkingNation and a select group of partners interested in advancing the conversation around green jobs in a live #GreenJobsNow Twitter chat on Wednesday, January 12, at 10:00 am PT and 1:00 pm ET.

Also coming January 12, the first in the series of articles, videos, and podcasts exploring Green Jobs Now across the country.

Stay tuned!

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In this episode, Nicole Elam, president & CEO of National Bankers Association (NBA), joins me to discuss the important role minority owned and operated banks play in a community's economic health and in closing the wealth gap.

The U.S. banking system carries about $21 trillion in assets and minority owned banks make up just 3% of that total. The NBA was established in 1927 to support these banks which are predominately located in Black and brown communities that are typically underserved by traditional larger, mainstream institutions. "They punch well above their weight," says Elam. "For example, a Black bank is typically in a community that has an average population of about 73% Black. As a result, they tend to be significant providers of mortgages and small business loans in these communities."

Minority owned and operated banks are really at the center of wealth creation and closing the wealth gap in these communities, she says. "It's really hard to build wealth if you don't have access to financial services. It's access to financial services, home ownership, and entrepreneurship. Home ownership continues to play a vital role in building and preserving strong communities. And then small businesses, owning a profitable small business is also key to, to growing and creating wealth."

According to Elm and the NBA, non-white applicants with the same or better credit profiles as white applicants are still rejected at a rate of two times that of their white counterparts for small business loans and mortgages.

"Oftentimes when they get approved for loans, they have higher interest rate, they receive less loan amounts, and they're subjected to harsher loan requirements. And a lot of this is really due to systemic racism in our mainstream traditional financial institutions. So these are places that are lending when others won't. Without these institutions in these communities, you would not have these mortgages, the access to financial services, and the small business loans."

While most small businesses are sole proprietors, but with the right financial support they can turn into job creators. "It's a beauty salon. It's a barber shop. It's a person who's providing a service. But when those small businesses are able to grow, they become places that create jobs in the communities, that sustain jobs in the communities, and that eventually continue to bring capital into the community. And so small businesses are really at the center of economic development in these communities."

When it comes to closing the wealth gap, Elam says these community lenders are at its heart. "White families hold eight times the wealth of Black families and five times the wealth of Hispanic families. Why does that matter? It matters because if the wealth gap is that large, it's really hard to grow and succeed. Banks are providing access to financial services. Banks are the ones that are providing mortgages. Banks are the ones that are providing small business loans. So they are really at the center of wealth creation."

Despite their obvious importance, the number of minority owned banks today is about half of what it was two decades ago. Elam says that speaks to historic undercapitalization.

"It has only been within the last 12 to 24 months that there has been a focus on minority owned and operated banks. But because you've got decades of undercapitalization, decades of these banks doing the hardest work in banking, they've consolidated, some of them have closed their doors. And that's been true throughout the entire banking industry.

"Over the last 15 years, you've seen a 44% decline in banks, but there's been a 56% decline in minority owned and operated banks. And so those are the ones that have been the hardest hit and it speaks to undercapitalization. It's really hard to bank. It's really hard to lend, to run a banking business rather, and to lend, if you don't have the capital that you need.

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It's the first Monday of the new year and, for many, it's time to resume their search for new work or programs that can help them gain new skills. According to the most recent figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 6.9 million people are currently out of work and millions more are underemployed and looking for better-paying jobs.

WorkingNation is always checking out where the local opportunities might be in your state. Here's some of what we found this week.

From Arizona: Arizona Republic reports a modular home manufacturer has struck a deal with the Navajo Nation and is locating a new facility on the site of a former coal plant - bringing about 100 jobs to the area.

From Colorado: The Gazette reports a Denver restaurant is providing training for immigrants and refugees who want to work in the food industry.

From Hawaii: University of Hawai’i News reports federal funding will boost community college career and technical education programs for Native Hawaiian students.

From Louisiana: Mass Transit reports the transit authority in New Orleans is creating a job training program for people who have records for non-violent offenses.

From North Carolina: Textile World reports a children's wear manufacturer is expanding its production in Greensboro - creating 116 new jobs.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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As we move into the new year, the surge in the number of cases of COVID-19 threatens to disrupt the workforce once again. Medical research and anecdotal evidence suggest that the omicron variant causes milder symptoms that the first strains of the coronavirus, but the sheer number of people becoming ill is making employers and workers concerned about what is in store for them in the weeks and months ahead.

Heath concerns are not the only challenges our workforce faces in 2022. It has been well-documented that the coronavirus pandemic has sped up changes in the way we work and has shone a very bright light on inequities in the way we train, educate, screen, hire, and retain talent. It also has prompted us to think about ways in which we can address these issues and put forth new solutions that will benefit both the employee and employer.

The new year is a time of reflection. So, we asked members of our WorkingNation Advisory Board—leaders from business, academia, and nonprofits – to weigh in on two questions around the workforce of 2022:

What is the biggest challenge facing our labor force – workers and employers – in the new year and how do we move toward solving it?Given all the challenges and inequities surfaced in the workforce over the past two years, what still needs to be done to build a more inclusive workforce in the coming year?

Here, in their own words, is some of what they had to say.

John Hope BryantFounder & CEO, Operation Hope

"As the pandemic rages on with new variants of the coronavirus emerging, it is apparent that a modified work environment is here to stay. A primary challenge for employers is adapting to this new reality. Workers have had time to rethink and reimagine their role in the workplace and demand that they’re recognized as one of the organization’s most valuable assets.

"It all boils down to this: humans have a hard time changing. For months, companies big and small alike have rolled out 'return to work' plans that keep getting pushed back repeatedly. The funny thing is, they are still holding out hope that things will return to normal, and they simply won’t. COVID-19 continues to take lives, disrupt our economy, and push our health care system to its limit, especially in minority and underserved communities.

"While the challenge is complex and multifaceted, the starting solution is a simple three-prong process. First, we must continue to promote worker health and wellbeing by encouraging vaccinations as the best and most effective method of preventing severe illness and hospitalization and enforce COVID safety protocols, including mask-wearing and social distancing.

"Second, employers need to begin listening and taking workers’ concerns seriously. We are in the midst of the Great Resignation and suffering a labor shortage. Many corporations thought they would call their employees’ bluff, but they are learning the hard way that there’s been a paradigm shift. It is incumbent upon us to meet the moment and find new ways to engage employees and help create a hybrid, virtual and/or work-from-home environment that’s conducive to both company and employee success.

"Third, we need to retrain our workforce to have a winning mindset in the workplace. Time management, stress reduction, and financial wellness best practices are all topics that need to be built into a company’s culture. This kind of retraining and reeducation not only increases worker productivity but also signals to workers that they are valued.

"Beyond the challenges we face from the coronavirus pandemic, many organizations continue to grapple with issues of equity and inclusion. Admittedly, some progress has been made, but we must remain vigilant and intentional in creating opportunities for growth and advancement in our workplaces. Simply creating a role for DE&I and putting a Black or Brown face in the position will not do. We can combat the historic oversights and lack of diversity by creating...

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When the pandemic forced students and teachers online, it not only changed education as we know it, it accelerated the use of technology to enhance learning. Now a program at Arizona State University is using virtual reality to take its curriculum to a new level.

In January, ASU plans to launch a course using a virtual immersive experience that it describes as a first of its kind in the industry. ASU partnered with Dreamscape Immersive, the VR entertainment company, to form Dreamscape Learn. And the approach has potential to be applied to all kinds of classrooms as well as adult learners in the workforce.

I caught a preview of Dreamscape Learn at the ASU+GSV Summit in August in San Diego and had a chance to speak to Lisa Flesher and Phil Regier about the learning tool and its potential to transform education.

“The reason we did this is because we see how much people engage with entertainment. It happens with movies and with theme parks. And so we wanted to do that edutainment, how can we merge those two things together?,” explains Flesher, Chief of Realm 4, Project Acceleration at Arizona State University.

Flesher describes Dreamscape Learn as a combination of Hollywood storytelling with textbook curriculum.

When Hollywood Storytelling Meets Textbooks 

It will make its official debut in an introductory biology course at ASU. Flesher explains biology was chosen because it’s a course where students failed, prompting them to drop out of STEM. Dreamscape Learn is an attempt to improve those outcomes.

The first immersive coursework is based on Dreamscape’s VR experience Alien Zoo. Students will put on headsets in a full body tracking immersive experience as they enter a virtual biology lab.

“When you go into this environment, you are not a student learning something. You are a scientist trying to solve a problem around a particular ecosystem with a particular animal that is having a particular problem. And you're trying to figure out why that animal is suffering,” explains Regier, the University Dean for Educational Initiatives and CEO of EdPlus at Arizona State University.

Regier adds, “As you go through the modules, as you go through the different scenes, as you go through the different acts, you work to solve that problem in a real virtual, immersive, engaging 3D environment, you believe that you are in an alien zoo.”   

The lab is folded into coursework with faculty members. Flesher explains that the immersive experience engages a different part of the brain than traditional textbooks. “And when you're the scientist and when you're doing the discovery, it commits to memory in such a different way to engage with you in a way that you are going to remember that not just for the semester, but for long-term beyond your degree. And when you're into the field, actually working in your job.” says Flesher. 

https://youtu.be/qIKb4-5VKm8

Closing Learning Gaps

Testing of the program in pilot groups so far, says Flesher, is showing improvements in letter grades. “A student that would have otherwise failed biology is now getting a C, and somebody that was getting a C is now getting an A and somebody that was getting an A is mastering in their field,” adds Flesher.  

The goal, according to ASU, is to make learning more accessible, close gaps in learning and expand Dreamscape Learn to other subjects and to students of all ages. And virtual reality learning as a whole, is showing promise, according to a report from World Bank that looked at available information on the effects of VR when it comes to student learning and skill development. It found that VR instruction, on average, is “more effective than traditional training as a mechanism to develop students’ skills.” 

Using Virtual Reality for Job Training  

Dreamscape Learn also holds potential to be used for job skills training. Flesher indicates there is interest among employers and she stresses this kind of immersive learnin...

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This article was originally published on December 6, 2021, on the NextAvenue.org website and is republished with the organization’s permission.

If you're over 40, hunting for a job and not getting hired, you're far from alone. Adults in their 40s, 50s and 60s now make up half of the long-term unemployed (those out of work for more than six months) in the United States. Roughly 1.2 million older adults fall into this category.

Given that there are more than 10.4 million open jobs, you'd think it would be easier for them to find work, especially with years of experience. It is anything but, and much more complicated than you might think. Many skills-training programs are geared toward younger job seekers or people with more flexibility in their home/work balance. Here are five reasons why and the story of one 51-year-old woman who's learning new skills to get qualified for a job with flexibility and promise:

1. Lack of Skills

A lack of skills is a factor not just for some older job seekers, but younger ones, too. Rapid advances in technology have changed almost every industry—from construction to manufacturing to retail—making it necessary for workers to learn new skills to keep apace of those changes. Sometimes these skills can be taught on the job; sometimes they require enrolling in an outside program. Many skills-training programs, however, are geared toward younger job seekers or people with more flexibility in their home/work balance. So, acquiring the right skills for better-paying jobs can be a challenge if you have significant family and time obligations.

1. Being a Caregiver

Older women, in particular, have found it harder to return to the workforce in part because it often falls to them to fill the role of caregiver, whether for an ailing spouse, older parent, child or grandchild. If a job doesn't offer flexibility, the applicant who also has caregiving responsibilities might have to make the tough choice of remaining jobless as opposed to leaving a loved one alone.

1. Health Concerns

Older adults are more vulnerable to the physical effects of COVID-19. While the spread of the coronavirus has slowed, some people in their 60s and older are still concerned about returning to workplaces. The lack of a universal policy on masks and vaccines in the workplace may force an older job seeker to choose between their financial and health needs.

1. Overqualified for Entry-Level or Low-Paying Jobs

Many older workers who were laid off during the pandemic are struggling to find their way back into the workforce at the same level they left, both in seniority and pay. After 30+ years in the workforce, they frequently don't want to start at the bottom again. Entry-level jobs tend to pay at the low end of the pay scale, as do many other positions that employers are trying to fill.

1. Age Bias

Stereotypes by employers about older workers abound—they're not digital-savvy, they're hard to train, they're crabby. Age discrimination in the workplace is against the law, but there is plenty of evidence it happens. According to research published in the recent Meeting the Midcareer Moment report from the employment nonprofit Generation, employers are often overlooking the experience someone over 45 brings to the workplace because they believe younger job seekers are nimbler when it comes to adapting to change.

Nimble, Willing, and Able

Lafondia Crutchfield, software programming trainee (Photo: Lafondia Crutchfield) "Just applying for a regular job, it's no longer about what I know, it's about my age," says Lafondia Crutchfield, 51, who lives in New Orleans and works at an Amazon warehouse. She has had a variety of jobs over the years, including working at a pharmacy and in a passport office while raising her children. Crutchfield says her current job is the best-paying one she can get right now based on her resumé, but it's hard on her physically. "Amazon is actually a great company,

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With the new year just around the corner, a lot of folks around the country are looking for new job opportunities in 2022. WorkingNation wants to know what’s going on in workforce development and came up with these recent findings.

Take a look.

From Alabama: Business Facilities reports a storage tank manufacturer is building a plant in Opelika that is expected to create 261 jobs with the search to fill leadership positions underway.

From California: Paso Robles Daily News reports the city library now has tools from some online learning companies to aid users with job training, skills building, and test prep.

From Connecticut: Patch reports that participants in training at Gateway Community College in New Haven can earn hospitality certificates in two weeks.

From South Dakota: Watertown Public Opinion reports Lake Area Technical College recently hosted a drone camp for high school students with plans to make commercial drone piloting one of its offerings.

From Texas: Caller Times reports recent grant funding is allowing Del Mar College in Corpus Christi to offer short-term job training in various fields including medical billing and coding, supply chain management, and welding.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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AmeriCorps – the nation's only federal agency committed to volunteerism and national service – asks for volunteers to be of service where they can and how they can to help address some of the nation's most pressing challenges and helping strengthen opportunities to help Americans improve their lives.

While this mission is year-round, in 1994 Congress designated Martin Luther King Jr. Day – this year Monday, January 17 – a national day of service and charged AmeriCorps with leading the effort. The agency encourages volunteers to help their neighbors and their community by signing up to work with a local nonprofit on the MLK Day of Service.

The volunteer work can come in many forms, whether it’s providing food assistance to the unhoused or people who can't afford groceries, cleaning up a local park, checking smoke detectors for a neighbor, addressing systemic inequities in local education, or another cause that is helping address unmet needs.

Rhonda Taylor, director of partnerships and programs, AmeriCorps (Photo: AmeriCorps)

“Go out and do something for someone," says Rhonda Taylor, AmeriCorps’ director of partnerships and program engagement. "We’re trying to get people to think, ‘What am I doing for my community and others?’"

"We hope King Day kicks off a whole year of activities, service and volunteering. We hope that individuals will think not just about getting involved but how can I really make a difference? How can my actions make a difference?”

While many Americans will have the day off, many others will be working. AmeriCorps encourages employers to support their employees who want to spend the day in service of others. “Service and volunteering are not only good for the communities where you live and work but good for creating teamwork and unity,” adds Taylor.

What Can You Do to Help Your Community?

Whether immediate or long term needs, big efforts or small, geographically nearby or virtually, Taylor encourages volunteers to consider what’s needed and, in serving their community, help bring about unity to Americans of different backgrounds and experiences.

Here are some ideas.

Is there a hunger crisis exacerbated because of the pandemic? Perhaps volunteer at a food bank, school, or place of worship.

Is systemic change needed to address the quality of schools in some neighborhoods because of inherently discriminatory property taxes? Advocate for change. Organize a tutoring project.

Do senior neighbors on your block need some help to live safely in their homes? Clean off their steps so they don’t slip. Offer to pick up and deliver their groceries.

How Do You Connect to Opportunities to Help?

The theme of this year’s MLK Day of Service is the Fierce Urgency of Now. The name comes from Dr. King's speech during the March on Washington in August of 1963 in which he described a "fierce urgency of now" during the civil rights movement. The organization says that "more than 50 years later, his words have renewed meaning" as the global pandemic has "opened our eyes wider to the inequity in the world. They remind us that we are stronger when we march forward, together."

“It’s not just about getting out and getting involved, but the beginning of helping to realize Dr. King’s dream of a beloved community. And each year we recommit ourselves to that, and take action that builds to something bigger than the sum of its parts,” Taylor says.

While it’s impossible to track all of the opportunities to serve, Taylor calls out a new participant this year. The United Way of the Dutchess-Orange Region in New York state is creating an opportunity that allows people to participate from anywhere. It’s using the month of January to promote diversity, equity and inclusion daily projects.

AmeriCorps has a volunteer search portal that aggregates opportunities across a few platforms, pulling from sites like VolunteerMatch, Idealist, California Volunteers, Justserve and Volunteer.gov.

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HomeRise, a San Francisco nonprofit that has been around for more than 30 years, helps secure housing for the homeless population and offers job training and temporary work placements with a goal of permanent employment. The last count of unhoused people in San Francisco tallied about 8,000 people.

Since the onset of the pandemic, more than 3,700 people have been served by the City of San Francisco's Shelter-in-Place (SIP) hotels - launched in April of last year. When the SIP program ends, HomeRise will partner with the city to help remaining participants obtain permanent supportive housing.

CEO Rick Aubry says the ‘housing first’ model is critical. “It's something that has been studied numerous times that's proven to be the most effective intervention. It's something that is somewhat counter-intuitive for lots of folks, because there is sort of a moral imperative in the United States where you have to earn it, before you get in.”

The 1,500 HomeRise units are a combination of acquired single room occupancy buildings and new construction. The units are home to 1,920 people including 300 children who live with one or two parents.

Rick Aubry, CEO at HomeRise (Photo: HomeRise)

Aubry continues, “If you provide people with the safety and security of a place to live and you let them then start organizing their lives, it’s proven much more likely that their lives will prove to be successful.”

A Place in the Workforce

Supporting the transition into work is also crucial to the HomeRise model, according to Aubry. “Job training, per se, is not the solution. Jobs are the solution.”

“It’s critical for us to build a training program - DeskReady - that fundamentally guarantees somebody show up for a few weeks for very basic entry-level training [to work as a front desk clerk],” explains Aubry.

Upon completion of DeskReady, Aubry says, “We will hire you in our temporary agency, Solutions SF. You work with us for a period of months in a paid job, while you're getting ongoing training. They either working in our buildings, or we have numerous customers throughout the city who are providers of permanent housing models that also require folks to be desk clerks.”

(Photo: HomeRise)

“The motivation is not, ‘We're just training you.’ The motivation is creating employment and a career path.”

A Path to Permanent Employment

Training participants come from a number of areas in the Bay Area, according to Iesha Fraser, the director of employment opportunities at HomeRise. “Our program is based in the community,” says Fraser. The organization often receives referrals for DeskReady participants from city partners.

HomeRise residents make up a smaller percentage of job training cohorts. “I would say less than 6% of residents have come through the program, but those who have, are successful in their permanent placement jobs,” says Fraser.

Iesha Fraser, director of employment opportunities at HomeRise (Photo: HomeRise)

The organization is currently developing a workforce initiative to encourage the involvement of more of its residents. “One of the barriers to our residents being interested in our program is that SSI (supplemental security income) barrier. Of course, they don't want to lose the medical benefits or the payments. Understanding residents can work 16 hours and still keep all of those things is one of the big initiatives that we have for next year,” explains Fraser.

She notes that the living situations of participants who are not housed by HomeRise are another consideration for employment. “They may be in transitional housing. They could be in a shelter. What we try to do on the social enterprise side is understand that sometimes there's a curfew. We advocate on their behalf by speaking to a case manager. Once they're employed, they want to work. Where it becomes difficult is the risk of, ‘Am I going to lose a bed?’”

Ultimately, the goal is a permanent job, says Fraser.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, recorded at the Milken Institute Global Conference, I sit down with Aaron Seybert, Managing Director of the Social Investment Practice at the Kresge Foundation.

Kresge's overall mission is to boost the economic mobility of low-income Americans and has seven program teams dedicated to improving "the quality of life in America’s cities by addressing barriers to capital." Seybert's Social Investment Practice works across all the Kresge programs to identify opportunities to provide communities and their local organizations with access to that capital.

Those investments are varied and are tailored to the community and its specific needs. They could include venture capital investments, direct investments in technology companies, real estate investments, and social impact bonds used to scale up social enterprises or human service interventions.

"What we specialize in is highly, highly impactful investing that disproportionately benefits low-income people of color," he explains. Detroit is an example of a city where Kresge's investments have made a difference.

"Detroit went through the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country's history. We helped fund a lot of emergency needs, police, fire, sewer, sanitation, that kind of very basic public infrastructure at the time that the city was not able to provide those kind of services to residents. We've seen Detroit come out of the bankruptcy as a much stronger city and the resurgence of the public sector."

Seybert explains that Kresge also provided capital to revitalize and develop downtown public spaces to make the city accessible to its residents and says the organization is now pushing out into other neighborhoods. "We're all about building the capacity of residents-led organizations to (let them) determine their own destiny. We wrap capital tools around those organizations so that they can scale up their work."

In the podcast, Seybert and I talk about some of the projects and how they are helping improve residents' lives in Detroit and other cities they serve, including Memphis, New Orleans, and Fresno, California.

And the conversation also turns personal. I ask Seybert what lead him the Kresge Foundation after working at JPMorgan Chase for many years. He calls it a happy accident, one that gives him a sense of alignment between his values and the work he gets to do.

"While I admire the people in finance who move lots of money, I need that feeling of alignment. The world is not good enough for my kids right now, so, I've got to do something about that. And it's definitely not good enough for the people I'm trying to serve. So, it's a little bit of selfish reward that I get that feedback loop, but also I just can't fathom doing anything else. It's the best work in the world."

You can listen to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 212: Aaron Seybert, Managing Director, Social Investment Practice, Kresge FoundationHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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The latest figure on U.S. job openings, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is about 11 million. The October stat is an increase from September’s 10.6 million.

Meanwhile, the number of jobless claims from the week ending on December 11 came in at 206,000—more than the 195,000 Dow Jones estimate.

WorkingNation wants to share what’s going on in workforce development around the country. Take a look at some recent findings.

From Delaware: WDEL reports the Job Corps Center in Wilmington has re-opened and is providing free job training and educational programming in industries ranging from the culinary arts to nursing.

From Indiana: Daily Reporter reports the Eastern Hancock school district and a utility cooperative are partnering to create paid opportunities for high school seniors to learn about tech jobs.

From Kansas: Kansas City Star reports a company that designs the fiber infrastructure for broadband is moving its headquarters to Kansas City resulting in more than 100 technical and corporate jobs.

From Nebraska: KETV reports some local companies are reaching out to offer employment to recently-settled refugees from Afghanistan.

From Nevada: Las Vegas Sun reports the University of Nevada, Reno is offering online courses to obtain non-credit certificates in cannabis education.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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As a former school superintendent, Paymon Rouhanifard says, “We, as a country, are not very good at providing structured transitions to postsecondary options.”

Rouhanifard, now the co-founder and CEO of Propel America, explains the organization’s mission, “Propel America helps 18-to-24-year-olds get a good job that leads to career mobility. We do that through a model we call ‘jobs-first higher education.’ What that entails - in under six months and at the cost of a Pell Grant - is a student gets an industry-recognized credential aligned to labor market needs with college credits that articulate into umbrella associate and bachelor's degrees.”

Paymon Rouhanifard, co-founder and CEO, Propel America (Photo: Propel America)

The programming is currently offered in regions in five states, including New Jersey, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Rouhanifard says placed-based efforts are really critical.

“We hold a lot of recruitment events at high schools that are community-facing and not just for that school. Anchoring in local school systems is really important for us as we think about how to change systems in the longer run and to make sure that high schools help play a role to provide those structured transitions that we know students deserve.”

The Jobs-first Higher Education Program

Currently, Propel America is particularly focused on health care credentials, including, in some regions, certified medical assistant and sterile processing technician. Plans are underway to begin offering a pathway to a certified nursing assistant credential in Baton Rouge beginning next year. “First and most critically, we find employer partners who are hiring at scale who are in high-growth sectors. There's also a career ladder built in,” explains Rouhanifard.

“So often, with entry-level jobs, there's rung one and a chasm to rung two. Pharmacy technician is a great example of this. That's a pretty decent paying job, depending on the geography, with a 10-to-12-week training program. The second rung on the ladder is a pharmacist. It's no wonder that very few pharm techs make it to becoming a pharmacist because there's no real investment.”

He continues, “The second thing we do is recruit and vet students. We’ve developed a curriculum that allows students to do career exploration, to really connect that to their own interests, and leave with a career map in terms of what they want to do. We provide this free of charge to school districts, open source it, and then provide them some light technical assistance.”

“The last thing we do once students are enrolled in our partner-led training program, that also creates college credits for them, we're coaching. Weekly coaching sessions in cohorts of 12 to 15 fellows. There's also a one-on-one session weekly. It's a scripted curriculum that focuses on the mindsets and competencies they need to be successful in the job and into the future.”

Community-based Partnerships

Propel America is partnered with Chicago-based National Louis University (NLU) to offer the certified medical assistant credential. “It's been a very hand-in-glove partnership where we are doing on-the-ground employer partnerships, recruiting, and coaching, and they're delivering online content.”

Rouhanifard is excited about a new curriculum being developed with NLU to help meet a talent pipeline demand for BAYADA, a home health care company. “One of their biggest needs right now, which most people wouldn't even know exists within the home health care company, is registered behavioral technician (RBT),” explains Rouhanifard.

“These are jobs that sit at the intersection of health care and education. It's essentially a paraprofessional that works with students with autism spectrum disorder in a clinical setting, sometimes in a school setting. There's massive demand for it.”

However, similar to the pharmacy tech, there is a significant chasm to the typical next rung on the ladder - s...

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It’s a well-known—and quoted—notion that “children are our future.” A Boston-based nonprofit is leaning all the way into this belief with short unpaid apprenticeships that place middle schoolers in professional settings to spark an interest in, or passion for, potential careers.

Helen Russell, founder & executive director, Apprentice Learning (Photo: Apprentice Learning)

Apprentice Learning originally started in 1999 at Mission Hill School with the idea of giving middle school students real world work experience and having working adults integrated into the regular curriculum. Helen Russell ran the program for 10 years until—in her words—“it petered out.”

But original funders of the program never wavered in their support, and recruited Russell in 2012 to renew the program independently. Apprentice Learning now has five partner schools in the Boston public school system and all eighth graders are eligible for the program.

“Eighth grade is the sweet spot. They’re at a point in their lives where they crave independence, are curious about the adult world, and they’re just about to go to high school,” Russell says. She also says ninth grade has the highest rate of failures, absenteeism, and suspension. “If we can give them a sense of success, independence, and competence in the larger world beyond school it can inoculate them against that very difficult ninth grade transition."

How the Program Works

Seventy companies offer apprenticeships to Boston middle schoolers in multiple industries, including retail, law, beauty, nonprofit, arts, culinary, architecture, professional sports team, and biotech. Last year, 174 students participated in the program.

Students first get exposure to the program in seventh grade with a Workplace Exploration orientation. Once in eighth grade, the first six weeks are considered prep sessions: identifying their strengths, a review of professional courtesies (shaking hands, looking someone in the eye, being mindful of how you speak to an adult as opposed to your friends, arriving on early), their learning styles, workplace options, and more.

Next come the on-the-job apprenticeships, which are built into the school day. Once a week for six weeks, students leave school to go to work for two hours at their assigned workplace site. Their tasks can include stocking shelves and helping customers at a toy store; tending to the front desk of an office; confirming appointments for a salon; Students usually travel in groups of two or more. Through a co-op agreement with Northeastern University, college students tag along as a coach. Once they arrive at their workplace, students call a number to check-in with a contact at Apprentice Learning, and head home at the end of their day.

Each student’s parent or guardian must sign off on the placement because it usually requires travel on public transportation. Russell’s staff considers factors such as the mode of transportation and how far the location is from the student’s school and home when determining their apprenticeship placement. Students travel to other parts of Boston they usually don’t see or spend time in, in an effort to demystify the city skyline, understand what happens in those buildings, and build relationships.

“It creates meaning in other communities. We’re trying to de-silo communities so young people feel welcomed in all parts of the city, particularly youth of color. And for businesses to appreciate and see Boston public school students, many students of color, as assets and recognize talent and skills they bring as they enter into the employee pipeline,” Russell says. “We’re really targeting young people who may not have adult role models in professional jobs or families new to the country and may not be able to tap all resources available.”

After apprenticeship is completed, Apprentice Learning staff introduce the apprentices to the full network of program partners and they help them apply for enrichment programs,...

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ReThink Ready is a series of taped roundtable discussions about untapped pools of talented workers who might be overlooked in the hiring process, but have valuable skills and are ready to get to work if given the opportunity. Each discussion is a deep-dive into a single community of workers and job seekers, examining the unique skills they add to the workforce. We bring together leaders in nonprofits, business, education, and government to share initiatives and ideas that are making progress in bringing attention to these sometimes hidden or underestimated workers. We also examine training programs that can help those in these communities get any missing skills needed to make them even more ready for jobs now and in the future. ReThink Ready is produced by WorkingNation in collaboration with LinkedIn.

Over the past two years, there's been a raised awareness around inequity in the workplace and society as a whole. Questions continue to be raised as to how to improve diversity and inclusion in the hiring process to ensure that every person—regardless of race, color, gender, sexual preference, age, education level, or economic status—has an opportunity to share in a post-pandemic economic recovery. Additionally, the question remains, how do you ensure that the effort doesn’t stop at the entry level and that there is a clear path to retention and growth within a job and career for everyone?

WorkingNation and LinkedIn recently brought together nonprofit, business, and government leaders to discuss the importance of addressing this important issue head on. We examine longstanding barriers to entry and efforts and initiatives that are moving equal access for all forward.

Meet the Panelists and Our Moderator:

Lorraine Hariton, Catalyst, President & CEOGary A. Officer, Center for Workforce Inclusion, President & CEONeferteri Sickout, City of Philadelphia, Chief Diversity OfficerThomas Sexton, LinkedIn, Senior Director of Global Diversity and BelongingModerator: Ramona Schindelheim, WorkingNation, Editor-in-Chief

WATCH NOW: ReThink Ready: A Diverse and Inclusive Post-pandemic Workforce

Seizing an Opportunity

“There's a real opportunity coming out of this pandemic to really change things for the better. The pandemic has really laid bare the big inequities that we have in society,” says Lorraine Hariton, president and CEO of Catalyst.

She adds, “On the other hand, we're in a world where there's a war for talent going on now. There's a much better understanding of these inequities and companies are really trying to lean into that.”

Remote work has become widely accepted during the pandemic, but it doesn’t reach everyone in the workforce. “The debate in the workforce space is about technology, hybrid, virtual, you name it,” says Gary A. Officer, president and CEO at the Center for Workforce Inclusion (CWI).

“That doesn't apply to retail workers. It doesn't apply to restaurant workers. A monolithic band-aid approach to this issue may not be the solution. Adapting strategy to meet the needs of different segments of the workforce may just be the way to go. We've got to make sure that we advocate for a resource model that captures the needs of not just every community, every gender, every racial profile, but folks across the age spectrum.”

Regarding the older worker, Officer says, “By the year 2025, older Americans will represent the largest single segment of the U.S. workforce. Twenty-five percent of the U.S. workforce will be 50 and over. What are we doing to ensure that they will enjoy the opportunity to engage, survive, and thrive?”

Thomas Sexton, senior director of global diversity and belonging at LinkedIn says it’s important for companies to ask, “Why is diversity, inclusion, and belonging important for your organization, specifically? By tying the objective of diversity and inclusion to what you're trying to accomplish already as an organization gives that work much more staying power.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Rachel Carlson, CEO and co-founder of Guild Education, discusses how the company is working with employers to upskill and reskill America's workforce, to the benefit of both the employers and employees.

"We're focused on unlocking economic opportunity for America's workforce, especially the frontline," says Carlson. To do so, Guild Education creates partnerships between some of the nation's largest employers and top learning institutions to offer customized company-provided education benefits that allow employees to pursue new skills, meaningful certifications, and even college degrees.

"What we know to be true is that there are 88 to 100 million Americans—depending on how you track the data—who need upskilling and reskilling," explains Carlson. This upskilling is crucial in order for these workers "to have a really solid chance at staying relevant in the economy of the future, at having a family sustaining wage, at having a chance at the middle-class American Dream, and, fundamentally, ensuring that those people and their families have a chance to survive or ideally thrive in this economy of tomorrow that has already shown up here at our doorsteps."

Walmart and Target are among the companies offering the upskilling and reskilling benefits to their employees for free through Guild. The educational institutions include what Carlson describes as "classic higher-ed organizations, innovative providers of English as a second language and high school completion, and certificates in cybersecurity...and jobs of the future."

More than three million workers around the country have access to these benefits through the company's partners. And Carlson says while Guild's mission is first and foremost to help workers achieve their personal learning goals, there is a huge benefit to employers as well.

"We found a way to help employers see that when their employees are learning, when they're in an education up-scaling program, not only are they recruiting and retaining at higher rates very significantly, but they're also being promoted and diversifying the company's workforce and helping the company build their talent brand," she says. Upskilling Without the Massive Debt Carlson says an important part of the way their partner companies structure their benefits is that workers don't have to pay for their education and then get their tuition reimbursed by their employer. "Tuition reimbursement is exactly as it sounds. Even if your company's willing to pay and you get to avoid the crushing long-term student debt that Americans have accumulated, your company's still asking you to take out short-term debt with tuition reimbursement. You are being asked to pay upfront, to wait all year until your company reimburses you for the cost. So, what you see is that 95% of workers just don't use it."

Robert Guise, pricing analyst, Waste Management (Photo: Robert Guise)

Robert Guise has worked at Waste Management in Illinois as a lead dispatcher/router for almost three years. He tells me in the podcast that he had applied for different positions within the company over the years and was told that he didn't have all the necessary skills for those open roles. He says they were really upfront about what he needed to learn to move up in the company.

"I felt that that was given to me in a really honest way, but it had been a really big challenge to find a way to get those things myself," explains Guise. "The main thing that had been stopping me prior to that is just having the time and being able to potentially incur whatever costs these sort of programs have."

In April, Waste Management became one of the latest big companies offering education benefits to all its employees through Guild. Through that benefit, Guise was able to sign up for an online course, one that allowed him to learn on his own time, balancing his work life and family life.

"I recognized that there was a programming offer that filled something t...

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WorkingNation is always checking out what’s going on in workforce development around the country. Take a look at some recent findings in Arkansas, Maine, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

From Arkansas: Arkansas Business reports a tech firm and a nonprofit are collaborating to train talent to fill open cybersecurity jobs in the state.

From Maine: Bangor Daily News reports a new interactive learning space in Aroostook County is designed to give residents greater access to learning opportunities in programs including business, pharmacy studies, and leadership skills.

From Virginia: WTVR reports a new bakery in Richmond is offering job training to young adults with developmental disabilities.

From Wisconsin: Fire Engineering reports Pierce Manufacturing, a fire apparatus manufacturer is expanding its Appleton and Neenah facilities creating more than 200 new jobs.

From Wyoming: Rocket Miner reports Western Wyoming Community College will offer a new powerline technology program beginning in the fall of next year.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Trying to figure out how to break into the tech industry can be daunting. Traditional four-year institutions can be expensive places to learn computer science and lack of exposure to the skills needed in the industry as a whole can derail a career before it gets started. In this Expanding Opportunities in Tech Work in Progress podcast series produced in partnership with Cognizant Foundation, we examine alternative, free training programs, each offering a foot in the door to teens and young adults from historically underrepresented groups in the tech industry, including women, BIPOC, and people from low-income backgrounds.

"Today, technology is at the center of our every action and interaction, and yet, these very technologies are overwhelmingly developed by—and tech companies led by—white men," says Kristen Titus, Executive Director of Cognizant Foundation. "This leads to biases in AI, in tech, in platforms—but it also leads to inherently limited innovation. It’s critical that our tech workforce represent the diversity of all communities using those technologies."

Diversity continues to be an issue in the software development and programming fields. Sixty-seven percent of software engineers are men and just 25% are women. More than half those working in the industry are white (53.9%), while only 7.2% identify as Hispanic or Latino—statistics that do not represent the overall demographics of the country.

"When we talk about building an inclusive tech industry, we must first recognize that traditional pathways into the field are one of the most significant hurdles we must overcome—we simply cannot bring diverse talent into the fold by sticking with the same pathways that have historically excluded so many people," adds Titus.

Those barriers to entry into the field take many forms, from the cost of education to lack of exposure to role models in the industry to lack of industry network connections. There is room for vast improvement in the makeup of the industry and—here's the good news—there are programs that are successfully opening the doors for groups who have been historically underrepresented in the industry.

Paid apprenticeships are a great example. They offer work experience as well as a paycheck, which can be particularly helpful to those who can't afford to go to college to get a degree in computer sciences. "It's a great opportunity. Many people can't afford to stop and study for six months or a year. They need to work," explains Jane Oates, president of WorkingNation and a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Labor. "These learn-and-earn models are critical for people of all ages."

Another learn-and-earn pathway is a paid internship, which Oates calls "unbelievably wonderful. Even though they're not promised a job, we've seen lots of employers nationwide, large and small, look to those bank of paid interns who then become their pathway to employment. So they may be guaranteed an interview. They may be guaranteed some mentoring on how to get into the job, but they're paid for their time. They're really learning."

Over the past few weeks, our Expanding Opportunities in Tech podcast series has examined programs that are intentionally recruiting students from these still underrepresented groups. Then, after basic software coding training, placed them in paid apprenticeship and internship positions. The results have proven the effectiveness of these short pathways—some less than 12 months—to a good-paying career. Three of the four people we profiled ended up working for the company they apprenticed with. The fourth is still in high school and is intending to continue pursuing a career in tech after graduating.

"One thing we see and hear time and time again is the adage that ‘you can’t be what you can’t see,’ and that’s why it’s so important to tell stories like those in this series—stories that center the voices of people who have completed programs and successfully pioneered new pathways into ...

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Almost a third of American companies have a skilled labor shortage, according to a survey by the National Association of Business Economics. Manufacturers have looked to upskilling, reskilling, and partnerships as solutions to bridge the gaps. Some companies are creating their own programs to attract and grow talent—one example, Lozier of Omaha, Nebraska. The 65-year-old company makes fixtures, such as shelves, for major retailers.

“Prior to the [current] shortage, there’s been a mass shortage of skilled labor that’s existed for a lot longer. We’ve had job ads up, done a number of different things from a recruitment perspective over the past years to be competitive and attractive as an employer,” says Lozier spokeswoman Hannah Bolte. “Everyone is hiring, and we needed to stand out.”

Lozier has its own training program for welders. In the summer, it hosted a welding-specific career fair on-site. Jobseekers applied online or on location, met with recruiters, toured the plant, and those who qualified were given a conditional job offer. “We were looking for people who were either a certified welder or willing to learn how to weld. They wanted to learn but for some reasons weren’t certified. We were looking for people with the right attitude and right aptitude,” Bolte says.

Eleven people were hired at the event. Three were already certified welders. Eight entered into the training program. Local Training Programs are a Pipeline to Skilled Workers Tammy Green, director of workforce training, Metropolitan Community College (Photo: MCC)

Metropolitan Community College (MCC) works with local company partners to design short-term credit and non-credit training courses towards industry-recognized certifications. Together, Lozier and MCC created a training program and core curriculum specific to welding in an accelerated and condensed format.

“MCC plays a vital role in addressing the skills gaps in Nebraska. We have partnered with multiple companies to not only work to prepare individuals for the workforce through work readiness training but also to provide the technical training,” says Tammy Green, director of MCC Workforce Training.

Nick Hansen, one of Lozier’s new hires, went through the inaugural welding hiring event and training program. Previously, he stocked shelves at a warehouse.

“I’ve always enjoyed working with my hands. It’s more rewarding to me than sitting at a desk. I wanted to learn how to weld, but there were things standing in my way, before this program presented itself to me,” Hansen says.

“I thought the worst thing they could say is ‘no.’ I had never heard of a company that takes amateurs without experience, offers to train them, and pays them for it—and gives them a career path with a future. I’m so glad I went. I’m very fortunate to have landed here.”

For two weeks, trainees participated in classroom learning at MCC, as well as hands-on experience at Lozier.

“It was very straightforward. We spent four hours a day in the classroom and four hours in the weld lab—and later with on-the-job training in the plants. We learned different joints, set-ups, and got a feel for the technique. The weld lab portion was very helpful to be in a classroom environment with an instructor learning the basics. The on-the-job training was invaluable to do my job well,” Hansen says.

Nick Hansen (Photo: Lozier)

At the end of two weeks, trainees were tested and if they passed, they were released to begin working at Lozier. The starting salary ranges from $21 to $25 an hour, depending on the shift. Additional wage increases can be expected after six months, a bonus at 90 days, as well as other things to “sweeten the pot,” Bolte says. Looking Inward for Needed Talent Hannah Bolte, spokesperson, Lozier (Photo: Lozier)

While this is the first time Lozier embarked on a program like this, it’s not the first time they’ve created opportunities for their employees looking for a career path within the company.

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Last month, employers added 210,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics—significantly less than October’s job gain of 546,000. However, on a brighter note, the unemployment rate in November dropped to 4.2%—down from 4.6% the previous month.

WorkingNation is always looking at what’s going on in workforce around the nation. Among our latest findings—apprenticeships and training programs. Take a look at what we found in these five states.

From Florida: St. Petersburg College News reports a local utility company is partnering with the college to develop a pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship program for pathways to electrical lineman and ground technician.

From Georgia: Savannah Morning News reports a bicycle manufacturer is expanding its operations in Rincon and adding 60 new jobs by the middle of next year.

From Hawaii: Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports the state is actively recruiting to train people to work as conservation and resource enforcement officers.

From South Carolina: ABC 15 reports Miller Motte College in Conway is offering a four-week commercial driver’s license course to address the truck driver shortage.

From Washington, D.C.: Washington Business Journal reports as construction continues on the construction of Amazon’s second headquarters, more than 3,500 employees have been hired from the D.C and northern Virginia areas. Company executives say 2,500 corporate spots are now open.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Trying to figure out how to break into the tech industry can be daunting. Traditional four-year institutions can be expensive places to learn computer science and lack of exposure to the skills needed in the industry as a whole can derail a career before it gets started. In this Expanding Opportunities in Tech podcast series produced in partnership with Cognizant Foundation, we examine alternative, free training programs, each offering a foot in the door to teens and young adults from historically underrepresented groups in the tech industry, including women, BIPOC, and people from low-income backgrounds.

When she was 15, Maria Contreras and her family moved to Austin, Texas, from Venezuela. Tech had never part of the career conversation in her home before the move, but at her new high school she heard about an after school program that could teach her how to code and it piqued her interest. Contreras signed up for the program, run by Code2College, last year and started learning some basic programming languages.

Code2College says its mission is to dramatically increase the number of minority and low-income high school students who enter and excel in STEM undergraduate majors and careers. In doing so, it sees itself as an opportunity to develop a pipeline of diverse, technical talent for the nation.

In addition to teaching in-demand tech skills, it offers something unique for its teenaged students: a paid internship. This past summer, Contreras found herself putting her new skills to use at Indeed, the job recruitment platform. At age 17, she was a high schooler working side-by-side with college interns and getting paid.

At the orientation, recalls Contreras, despite already having some coding skills, she felt a bit out of place. "I kept hearing 'I'm from UC Berkeley.' 'I'm from Stanford.' 'I'm from UT Austin.' And then my turn came. I'm not even in college yet. I was just finishing off my junior year. I felt a lot of imposter syndrome. I was (thinking) 'Maybe I should not be here.'"

But, she says, the company was welcoming and supportive. She worked alongside experienced programmers and was assigned a mentor who she met with each week. Contreras also attended team meetings, just like a full-time programmer, an experience she says helped her grow professionally and personally.

"I definitely felt frustrated from time to time. It was challenging. I got stuck a lot of times and I was sometimes a little afraid to ask for help. I thought some of my questions would be dumb, and maybe these college kids won't have the same question as I do, and they probably already know this," she tells me in this Work in Progress podcast.

"I slowly got used to asking for help, getting better at figuring things out on my own. Being a coder is (facing) a problem, not being expected to know the solution right away, but figuring out a way to know the solution."

Contreras says the internship experience helped her decide to major in computer science in college. She says it also exposed her to another aspect of the tech industry. That is, though it's starting to change, it's still dominated by white males.

"It was a team of about 25 people, only four of those were women, and only one of them was Hispanic. But, the thing I love at Indeed is that they put a lot of emphasis on celebrating diversity. They had us attend a lot of events in which people of color or people belonging to the LGBTQ community told their experiences. I related to some of those stories. It made me feel like I belong (in the tech industry)."

Creating a Sense of Belonging While Growing a More Diverse Tech Talent Pool

Matt Stephenson is the co-founder and CEO of Code2College. He believes it's critical to capture the imagination of bright, motivated teenagers like Contreras early, not just to help them learn the technology, but to help them see themselves in the industry.

"It's incredibly important to reach students as young as possible,

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There are plenty of resources, tools, and organizations available to assist military service members with the transition from active duty to the civilian workforce. But, for some, sorting through that information can make that transition confusing and challenging, especially if they can't answer a simple question: "What kind of job are you qualified to do?"

A new free app from National Veterans Transition Services, Inc. (NVTSI) hopes to make the move to a civilian career a little more effortless, and ultimately meaningful.

Maurice Wilson, is president and executive director of NVTSI and a retired Navy Master Chief Petty Officer. He says one of the biggest issues is veterans are being told at job fairs and on job boards, "Why don't you just do the same thing you did while you were in the military?" Part of the problem, he says, is that 90% of veterans are ready to leave the job they were paid to do in the military behind when they leave the service. "They had to do that for the military because that was the agreement, but they don’t have to do that as a civilian.”

Wilson—who also sits on the WorkingNation Advisory Board—says what they actually need is assistance navigating and figuring out the kinds of skills they have and what kind of jobs they can do with those skills. That's where the Job-Set app comes in.

It operates like a dating app, enabling users to provide information to create a “career DNA map profile" and match veterans with potential employers. Users are asked questions about their background and hard skills, the answers are quantified, and then soft skills are revealed through a gamified-type process.

For example: if your background is in the medical field, additional questions will be asked to verify users can operate a stethoscope, thermometer, and other medical equipment. To assess soft skills, the app will ask questions about a user's personality and put them into virtual scenarios in which they will swipe “yes” or “no.” Wilson says it can take users about 30 minutes to complete their profile.

Maurice Wilson, president and executive director, NVTSI (Photo: NVTSI)

“It will ask about a person’s rank and all the things they did in the military that are nomenclature-based. The app finds correlating matching codes and plugs them in,” he says. The app also asks about the user's civilian experience and even the kinds of hobbies they enjoy. “So, the more the person can spend time adding that in, and the time to play the games for the assessments, the better."

In all, more than 600 pieces of criteria are gathered and used to create the in-depth profile. "Once it’s done, it’s done. From that point forward, all the individual does is pull out their phone, launch the app, and it automatically goes out and scans (for personalized job matches),"

Wilson says a match is almost instantaneous with jobs from the Department of Labor database, which has millions of jobs listed. Currently, matches are based on geographic locations, but an upcoming update will enable a nationwide search and company-based search.

If users find a match that interest them, they can click on a button to find out how they matched to the job. And just like a dating app, they can choose if they’d like to know more and apply.

The app was just released and so far 968 users are in the system. He’d like to see every veteran using the app, perhaps before their civilian life starts, so they have a job waiting for them once they leave active duty. But there are grander ideas to measure Job-Set app’s success, such as a study about retention--the number of users who stay in the jobs they were matched to a year, two years, and longer.

“If one person using the app is happy, then that’s a success there,” Wilson says. ”If millions are happy, that’s even better.”

Job-Set is free to download and use. Find it in your app store.

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ReThink Ready is a series of taped roundtable discussions about untapped pools of talented workers who might be overlooked in the hiring process, but have valuable skills and are ready to get to work if given the opportunity. Each discussion is a deep-dive into a single community of workers and job seekers, examining the unique skills they add to the workforce. We bring together leaders in nonprofits, business, education, and government to share initiatives and ideas that are making progress in bringing attention to these sometimes hidden or underestimated workers. We also examine training programs that can help those in these communities get any missing skills needed to make them even more ready for jobs now and in the future. ReThink Ready is produced by WorkingNation in collaboration with LinkedIn.

For some of the 200,000 women and men who transition from military service into the civilian workforce each year, finding a good-paying job right out of the military can be challenging. Sometimes civilian employers are unaware of the experience and skills a veteran learns during their time serving the country and might overlook them in the hiring process. These are not just soft skills such as team work and problem solving, but hard skills learned, say, as a data analyst or logistics specialist.This is a two-way street. Sometimes veterans are unaware of the opportunities that already exist for them to seamlessly slip into a new role right out of the military or to get the missing training they need to do so.Military spouses also face unique challenges, including inconsistent resumes that reflect how often military families move as a service man or woman's assignment shifts every two years or so. There's also the issue of a spouse qualifying for licenses or certifications—such as for teaching or nursing—when their loved one has to move from state to state.A few weeks ago, WorkingNation and LinkedIn brought together a small group of respected members of the military-connected community to discuss what is actively being done to help veterans and military spouses navigate this jobs and career pathway.

Meet the Panelists and Our Moderator:

Carol Eggert, Comcast NBCUniversal, SVP Military & Veterans AffairsIvan Denton, Department of Labor, Director Veterans ProgramsBennie Anderson, Duke Energy, Enterprise Lead, Military & VeteransSarah Roberts, LinkedIn, Head Military & Veterans ProgramsModerator: Hari Sreenivasan, PBS NewsHour, Anchor

WATCH NOW: ReThink Ready: Reconnecting the Military-Connected Community to the Workforce

The Military Can Help Ease the Transition

This was an impassioned and thoughtful conversation about the value of the military-connected community, hiring and training opportunities available now to veterans, and supporting military spouses in the civilian workforce. The panelists also discussed some of the hurdles facing the military-connected community and what is being done to overcome them.Ivan Denton, director of programs at the U.S. Department of Labor, says it’s important for military personnel preparing to complete their service to be aware of the resources available to help with transition to civilian life. “The Transition Assistance Program (TAP) came about when the recession hit in 2010 and [veteran] unemployment was around 10%. TAP became kind of a requirement for all those exiting the service in 2011.”Denton notes one earn-and-learn resource which gives a soon-to-be-separated service member an opportunity to explore work in the civilian community. “DOD SkillBridge is where an employer can basically let you try them out the last six months you're serving. They get paid by their service to work and [the employer] can get to know them, they can get to know [the employer]. DOD SkillBridge is changing how service members navigate TAP. It's changing how U.S. employers have access to a talented manpower pool.”Denton points out that the numbers of service members using the resource is growing...

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User 681678340 · Work In Progress Episode 209 Ada Developers Academy Trying to figure out how to break into the tech industry can be daunting. Traditional four-year institutions can be expensive places to learn computer science and lack of exposure to the skills needed in the industry as a whole can derail a career before it gets started. In this Expanding Opportunities in Tech podcast series produced in partnership with Cognizant Foundation, we examine alternative, free training programs, each offering a foot in the door to teens and young adults from historically underrepresented groups in the tech industry, including women, BIPOC, and people from low-income backgrounds.

Five years ago, Miriam Cortés, then 33, found herself juggling massive college debt and unable to pay her bills despite working full-time as a substitute teacher and holding several other part-time jobs. “I had one of those—when you’re in your 30s—’What am I even doing?’ panic attacks. I have no money right now. I can’t afford rent,” she recalls.

Out of high school, Cortés earned a B.A. and then a Master’s degree but says the timing was wrong and she was unable to find work in her chosen field—industrial engineering. That’s when she started piecing together a number of jobs to earn a living. Cortés was thinking of moving back to her hometown of Miami from Seattle when a friend told her about Ada Developers Academy, an 11-month free program with the goal of “preparing women and gender-expansive adults to be software developers.”

At first, she was skeptical about a free school that made such big promises in such a male-dominated field. “There’s no way that there’s a free program that helps you find a job, or an internship, and then if that doesn’t work out with the internship company, it helps you find a job further on and you don’t owe them anything. That’s not real.” she remembers thinking.

But it was real—and still is—and Cortés was soon on a pathway that has changed her life.

She started out learning software languages such as Ruby, Ruby on Rails, and JavaScript, but she says those weren’t the most important skills she learned. “It’s really hard at the beginning…but you’re getting into an industry where that’s going to be your reality for however long. I have since learned Python and Java, and some other stuff, but essentially your most used skill is the learning how to learn on your own, or learning how to figure out the right questions to ask.”

Part of the Ada program is a paid internship. Cortés did hers at Zillow, the online real estate hub, which hired her as a full-time software development engineer. Now 38, she’s gone from working multiple jobs and barely making ends meet to having a $118,000-a-year career that she loves.

Cortés says Zillow also is providing her with opportunities to move up at the company and gain new skills at her own pace. “I’ve really appreciated that at Zillow, There’s been micro ways of figuring out what I want that next step to be for me. I feel very lucky now.” She also has embraced the Ada mission and now sits on its Board of Directors.

Opening the Door for More Women in the Tech Industry Lauren Sato, CEO, Ada Developers Academy (Photo: Ada Developers Academy) Cortés is exactly the type of woman Ada Developers Academy can help—smart and motivated, but stuck in a job or career that, for whatever reason, isn’t right for them, says CEO Lauren Sato.

“We have over 500 alums now at Ada—and another 5.3 million women who left the workforce over the last year—who can attest to their career not being a good fit, whether it’s because they just ended up not liking it, or it wasn’t a good fit for their families and their family decisions,” Sato tells me. “We’ve had accountants come to Ada and they realize that they want more flexibility, they want better benefits, they want to be paid what they’re worth. They end up at Ada and build these incredible careers that really work with their lives.”

Ada doesn’t admit students with a traditional tech background. “We’re looking explicitly for folks who have grit, who are community-minded, collaborative learners, and who have a demonstrated ability to solve problems strategically. That problem-solving ability is really a critical skill as a software developer.”

Sato says that 90% of the women have job offers at the time of graduation. “In the last cohort, 40% or 50% of them had competing job offers. So, we’re seeing pretty high conversion rates with our corporate partners through internship. Our students are also leveraging those offers to get other offers elsewhere, which is really, really exciting. That’s probably our favorite part, is when we start to see our students have that economic power and ability to make those choices.”

She adds that the demand for software developers isn’t slowing down. “There’s just an insatiable need for talent in this market. Companies are constantly competing to hire folks, which means the benefits keep getting better. The opportunities for advancement keep getting better and that’s what makes me really hopeful that the students that we’re serving today are actually going to end up the leaders of the industry down the road.”

You can listen to the podcast here or find it wherever you find your podcasts. Read and listen to all the stories in the Expanding Opportunities in Tech series here.

Episode 209: Expanding Opportunities in Tech: Miriam Cortés, Ada Developers Academy graduate, and Lauren Soto, CEO of Ada Developers AcademyHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post Lessons from a Zillow Employee: How I landed a $118,000 job without a computer science degree. appeared first on WorkingNation.

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Trying to figure out how to break into the tech industry can be daunting. Traditional four-year institutions can be expensive places to learn computer science and lack of exposure to the skills needed in the industry as a whole can derail a career before it gets started. In this Expanding Opportunities in Tech podcast series produced in partnership with Cognizant Foundation, we examine alternative, free training programs, each offering a foot in the door to teens and young adults from historically underrepresented groups in the tech industry, including women, BIPOC, and people from low-income backgrounds.

Five years ago, Miriam Cortés, then 33, found herself juggling massive college debt and unable to pay her bills despite working full-time as a substitute teacher and holding several other part-time jobs. “I had one of those—when you’re in your 30s—’What am I even doing?’ panic attacks. I have no money right now. I can’t afford rent,” she recalls.

Out of high school, Cortés earned a B.A. and then a Master’s degree but says the timing was wrong and she was unable to find work in her chosen field—industrial engineering. That’s when she started piecing together a number of jobs to earn a living. Cortés was thinking of moving back to her hometown of Miami from Seattle when a friend told her about Ada Developers Academy, an 11-month free program with the goal of “preparing women and gender-expansive adults to be software developers.”

At first, she was skeptical about a free school that made such big promises in such a male-dominated field. “There’s no way that there’s a free program that helps you find a job, or an internship, and then if that doesn’t work out with the internship company, it helps you find a job further on and you don’t owe them anything. That’s not real.” she remembers thinking.

But it was real—and still is—and Cortés was soon on a pathway that has changed her life.

She started out learning software languages such as Ruby, Ruby on Rails, and JavaScript, but she says those weren’t the most important skills she learned. “It’s really hard at the beginning…but you’re getting into an industry where that’s going to be your reality for however long. I have since learned Python and Java, and some other stuff, but essentially your most used skill is the learning how to learn on your own, or learning how to figure out the right questions to ask.”

Part of the Ada program is a paid internship. Cortés did hers at Zillow, the online real estate hub, which hired her as a full-time software development engineer. Now 38, she’s gone from working multiple jobs and barely making ends meet to having a $118,000-a-year career that she loves.

Cortés says Zillow also is providing her with opportunities to move up at the company and gain new skills at her own pace. “I’ve really appreciated that at Zillow, There’s been micro ways of figuring out what I want that next step to be for me. I feel very lucky now.” She also has embraced the Ada mission and now sits on its Board of Directors.

Opening the Door for More Women in the Tech Industry Lauren Sato, CEO, Ada Developers Academy (Photo: Ada Developers Academy) Cortés is exactly the type of woman Ada Developers Academy can help—smart and motivated, but stuck in a job or career that, for whatever reason, isn’t right for them, says CEO Lauren Sato.

“We have over 500 alums now at Ada—and another 5.3 million women who left the workforce over the last year—who can attest to their career not being a good fit, whether it’s because they just ended up not liking it, or it wasn’t a good fit for their families and their family decisions,” Sato tells me. “We’ve had accountants come to Ada and they realize that they want more flexibility, they want better benefits, they want to be paid what they’re worth. They end up at Ada and build these incredible careers that really work with their lives.”

Ada doesn’t admit students with a traditional tech background. “We’re looking explicitly for folks who have grit, who are community-minded, collaborative learners, and who have a demonstrated ability to solve problems strategically. That problem-solving ability is really a critical skill as a software developer.”

Sato says that 90% of the women have job offers at the time of graduation. “In the last cohort, 40% or 50% of them had competing job offers. So, we’re seeing pretty high conversion rates with our corporate partners through internship. Our students are also leveraging those offers to get other offers elsewhere, which is really, really exciting. That’s probably our favorite part, is when we start to see our students have that economic power and ability to make those choices.”

She adds that the demand for software developers isn’t slowing down. “There’s just an insatiable need for talent in this market. Companies are constantly competing to hire folks, which means the benefits keep getting better. The opportunities for advancement keep getting better and that’s what makes me really hopeful that the students that we’re serving today are actually going to end up the leaders of the industry down the road.”

You can listen to the podcast here or find it wherever you find your podcasts. Read and listen to all the stories in the Expanding Opportunities in Tech series here.

Episode 209: Expanding Opportunities in Tech: Miriam Cortés, Ada Developers Academy graduate, and Lauren Soto, CEO of Ada Developers AcademyHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

The post Lessons from a Zillow Employee: How I landed a $118,000 job without a computer science degree. appeared first on WorkingNation.

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Trying to figure out how to break into the tech industry can be daunting. Traditional four-year institutions can be expensive places to learn computer science and lack of exposure to the skills needed in the industry as a whole can derail a career before it gets started. In this Expanding Opportunities in Tech podcast series produced in partnership with Cognizant Foundation, we examine alternative, free training programs, each offering a foot in the door to teens and young adults from historically underrepresented groups in the tech industry, including women, BIPOC, and people from low-income backgrounds.

Five years ago, Miriam Cortés, then 33, found herself juggling massive college debt and unable to pay her bills despite working full-time as a substitute teacher and holding several other part-time jobs. "I had one of those—when you're in your 30s—'What am I even doing?' panic attacks. I have no money right now. I can't afford rent," she recalls.

Out of high school, Cortés earned a B.A. and then a Master's degree but says the timing was wrong and she was unable to find work in her chosen field—industrial engineering. That's when she started piecing together a number of jobs to earn a living. Cortés was thinking of moving back to her hometown of Miami from Seattle when a friend told her about Ada Developers Academy, an 11-month free program with the goal of "preparing women and gender-expansive adults to be software developers."

At first, she was skeptical about a free school that made such big promises in such a male-dominated field. "There's no way that there's a free program that helps you find a job, or an internship, and then if that doesn't work out with the internship company, it helps you find a job further on and you don't owe them anything. That's not real." she remembers thinking.

But it was real—and still is—and Cortés was soon on a pathway that has changed her life.

She started out learning software languages such as Ruby, Ruby on Rails, and JavaScript, but she says those weren't the most important skills she learned. "It's really hard at the beginning...but you're getting into an industry where that's going to be your reality for however long. I have since learned Python and Java, and some other stuff, but essentially your most used skill is the learning how to learn on your own, or learning how to figure out the right questions to ask."

Part of the Ada program is a paid internship. Cortés did hers at Zillow, the online real estate hub, which hired her as a full-time software development engineer. Now 38, she's gone from working multiple jobs and barely making ends meet to having a $118,000-a-year career that she loves.

Cortés says Zillow also is providing her with opportunities to move up at the company and gain new skills at her own pace. "I've really appreciated that at Zillow, There's been micro ways of figuring out what I want that next step to be for me. I feel very lucky now." She also has embraced the Ada mission and now sits on its Board of Directors.

Opening the Door for More Women in the Tech Industry

Lauren Sato, CEO, Ada Developers Academy (Photo: Ada Developers Academy)

Cortés is exactly the type of woman Ada Developers Academy can help—smart and motivated, but stuck in a job or career that, for whatever reason, isn't right for them, says CEO Lauren Sato.

"We have over 500 alums now at Ada—and another 5.3 million women who left the workforce over the last year—who can attest to their career not being a good fit, whether it's because they just ended up not liking it, or it wasn't a good fit for their families and their family decisions," Sato tells me. "We've had accountants come to Ada and they realize that they want more flexibility, they want better benefits, they want to be paid what they're worth. They end up at Ada and build these incredible careers that really work with their lives."

Ada doesn't admit students with a traditional tech background.

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WorkingNation is always looking for new workforce opportunities around the country. Here is some of what’s happening in Alaska, New Mexico, Ohio, the Virgin Islands, and West Virginia.

Check it out.

From Alaska: Peninsula Clarion reports an Alaska school district is changings its requirements to make it easier to apply to work as a substitute teacher.

From New Mexico: KRQE reports a new program will help place people with developmental disabilities into state jobs by providing job training and help with the application process.

From Ohio: Akron Beacon Journal reports a carpenters union training center is helping apprentices learn a trade and fill open jobs.

From the Virgin Islands: The St. Thomas Source reports a $75,000 donation will help students at the University of the Virgin Islands learn about advanced virtual reality and intelligent learning tools.

From West Virginia: The Inter-Mountain reports a new hybrid online nursing program targeting residents in several rural areas is being launched by West Virginia Junior College and Davis Medical Center.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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There have been increased efforts to better prepare the estimated 200,000 people who annually separate from the military for the transition into the civilian workforce. Among those efforts, the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program which works with private companies and organizations to provide skills training programs for service members before they leave the military so they can plan for their next jobs.

However, not all veterans are able to participate in these kinds of programs while serving and find it challenging to land a stable paycheck once they exit the military.

The City of Los Angeles, in partnership with Microsoft, recently announced the launch of the Los Angeles Veterans Technology Training Academy (LAVTTA). The program makes Los Angeles the first city in the country to provide a free tech training program for its veterans. All veterans in Los Angeles County are eligible to apply.

Microsoft sees benefits from developing a talent pool of veterans. In a statement to WorkingNation, Chris Cortez, vice president of military affairs for Microsoft says, “The Los Angeles Veterans Technology Training Academy—based on the Microsoft Software and Systems Academy (MSSA)—also helps Microsoft and other IT leaders attract capable, driven, and diverse talent with solid, transferable skills.”

LAVTTA program announcement (Photo: JVS SoCal)

A Second Chance at a Tech Career 

“I’ve talked to several recruiters who say, ‘We can’t fill all of our tech jobs in the area.’ I thought it was very compelling that veterans could help in the tech space and occupy those positions,” says Larry Vasquez, director of military and veterans affairs in the Office of the Mayor.

Larry Vasquez, director of military and veterans affairs, Office of the Mayor, City of Los Angeles

Vasquez, a Navy veteran, worked with Microsoft and local stakeholders, including the Los Angeles County Workforce Development Board and JVS SoCal to launch the academy.

MSSA is offered on military installations, but not all active military personnel have access to the program, but now that doesn’t mean it’s too late to learn.

“If you didn’t get the opportunity while you were on the base, you think you kind of missed your chance because then you moved back home and moved here to Los Angeles,” says John Gutierrez, the deputy director for veterans services at JVS SoCal, a non-profit organization linking people to workforce opportunities.

John Gutierrez, JVS SoCal (Photo: Karina Pires)

But that’s not the case.

The first cohort of the 16-week program is made up of 19 veterans representing all branches of the military. Most of them, according to Gutierrez, are over 40 years old.  “When we talk about second chances, for a lot of the group, these programs weren’t available in the military. They didn’t have that option the first time.”

JVS SoCal helped veterans obtain the tech certificates that are required to be eligible for the program, according to Gutierrez.

Certification, Job Readiness, and Employment

Upon completion, graduates receive certifications in Microsoft Azure which, Gutierrez says, can lead to IT careers, specifically cloud administration. He says a conservative estimate for salaries is between $60,000 and $80,000 in industries from tech companies to defense to hospitals.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median salary for network and computer system administrators is $84,810 with a projected growth of 5% between 2020 and 2030.

Vasquez says the city is working with employer partners—including Boeing, TikTok, and Blizzard Entertainment—to provide mentoring, interviewing, and potential employment.

“For us, it’s all about employment,” says Vasquez, adding, “It really is connecting these veterans with mentors that leads to employment.”

“We want to figure out ways to be innovative and really find employment that is aligned with the future of work, where the workforce is going,

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As the nation marks the seventh annual National Apprenticeship Week (NAW), leaders of industry, labor, equity, workforce, education, and government are hosting events around the nation to promote the importance of the role registered apprenticeships play in rebuilding the economy.

Registered apprenticeships are structured training programs that allow businesses to effectively track and monitor the gaining of skills that workers need for businesses to remain competitive. As training programs registered with the U.S. Department of Labor, registered apprenticeships bring together industry in the development of national standards while ensuring both the safety and welfare of participating apprentices.

“Apprenticeships ensure our economy has a highly skilled workforce that is able to maintain its competitive edge in the global marketplace,” says a spokesperson for the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration. “They also increase opportunities for Americans to attain careers in a growing number of industries to earn good wages to support themselves and their families.”

Registered apprenticeships can help maintain workplace retention rates up to 94%, according to Maggie Berkey, CBET, a member of AAMI’s Technology Management Council. For companies that participate in the program, tax credit and U.S. Department of Labor support may also be available.

The pandemic caused a 12% decline in new registered apprentices in fiscal year 2020 compared to the year before. Even with this decline, the 2020 numbers were the third-highest numbers ever reported for the DOL’s Registered Apprenticeship system. More than 630,000 individuals participated last year. Many apprenticeship training providers pivoted to adopt virtual training delivery methods for apprentices, particularly related to technical training.

A Good Workforce Solution

Offering a registered apprenticeship program is a good workforce solution for ReNew Biomedical, a Tennessee-based medical device repair company. Two years ago, when it sought out qualified technicians for its ISO Certified team, the company realized many biomedical experts were aging out of the industry with not enough new talent in the pipeline. ReNew sought help from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) which works with the DOL to help set up, manage, and monitor registered apprenticeships.

Jill Taylor, co-owner and managing partner, ReNew Biomedical (Photo: ReNew Biomedical)

“We knew that there wouldn’t be enough time to adequately train professionals to handle the amount of complicated medical machinery in the marketplace,” says Jill Taylor, ReNew’s co-owner and managing partner. “AAMI agreed to partner with ReNew to create their first official, AAMI-recognized apprenticeship program for certifying health care technology managers in the U.S. It was then that we decided to put forth considerable effort in developing quality technicians for our industry.“

ReNew’s registered apprenticeship is a two-year program that combines online and classroom education with on-the-job learning. Participants can earn industry-recognized credentials: Certified Associate in Biomedical Technology (CABT), Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician (CBET), and CompTIA IT Fundamentals (ITF+) certification. Upon successful completion of the apprenticeship, employees also receive a journeyman certificate from AAMI and the DOL.

Opportunity for Existing Talent

Dustin Dinkins was already employed with ReNew when the apprenticeship opportunity came along. He has just completed the first phase of the registered apprenticeship program by earning his CABT certification.

Dustin Dinkins, CABT-certified, ReNew Biomedical (Photo: ReNew Biomedical)

“The classroom training coupled with the ability to get hands-on experience is really geared toward my learning style,” Dinkins says. “Being able to listen and learn from a CBET-certified biomed during class is great,

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Trying to figure out how to break into the tech industry can be daunting. Traditional four-year institutions can be expensive places to learn computer science and lack of exposure to the skills needed in the industry as a whole can derail a career before it gets started. In this Expanding Opportunities in Tech Work in Progress podcast series produced in partnership with Cognizant Foundation, we examine alternative, free training programs, each offering a foot in the door to teens and young adults from historically underrepresented groups in the tech industry, including women, BIPOC, and people from low-income backgrounds.

When he moved to the U.S with his family from the Dominican Republic at age 10, Enmanuel de la Nuez didn't speak English, but he learned quickly. By middle school in New York City, he was thinking he would like to become biomedical engineer. His first exposure to computer science was in high school, and it did nothing to change his mind.

"The first problem in the class was coming up with an algorithm to determine if a word is a palindrome—all the characters are the same in reverse as they are forward—and I remember having a lot of trouble with that," de la Nuez explains in the podcast. "So, the first exposure that I had to computer science made me think computer science is not for me."

But, as he was approaching graduation, he started to think about how he was going to afford the education he would need to get a good-paying career. "A big part of my decision to not go to college was about the money. I was one of the older siblings in an immigrant household. I was very aware of the financial burdens that my family was dealing with...and what me not being able to meet all my financial responsibilities of school would mean for my family."

That's when he discovered the Marcy Lab School, a one-year alternative to traditional college, offering a software engineering fellowship program that gives students not just the computer skills needed to build a career in tech but leadership training and networking.

Students pay nothing for the program, but there was something else about it that made him finally decide to apply. "The Marcy Lab School application kind of changed my mind about what it would be like to be working in tech. The questions in the application were more about how would you use technology to help your community? And that made me interested in giving it a second chance, knowing that it was something that I could apply directly to helping people, as opposed to something that's purely abstract in school."

During the one-year fellowship, de la Nuez and his classmates learned JavaScript, Python, and how to build applications. As part of the program, he landed a paid six-month apprenticeship at Asana, the office collaboration software company. That's where the networking comes in. "The apprenticeship is very much aimed at converting apprentices to full-time engineers and they try to make it as real as the actual full-time position is," he tells me. That's an introduction to the field that students in traditional colleges don't always have.

At the end of the six months, he was asked to stay at Asana as a full-time engineer. "Applications to be a software engineer, usually have a lot of requirements. Some of them being a college degree, which none of us had. I can definitely understand the feeling that it's hard to get started and find that first opportunity. I think Marcy Lab helped a lot with the first step, not only because they were able to connect us to recruiters directly and engineer's of those companies, but also because we learned a lot about how to navigate those requirements and the mindsets that the people looking for applicants have."

'We're trying to combat inequities that took decades, centuries even, to solidify'

Reuben Ogbanna, co-founder & executive director, Marcy Lab School (Photo: Marcy Lab School)

de la Nuez, now 21,

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Today marks the start of National Apprenticeship Week (NAW)—a nationwide showcase that allows stakeholders in business, workforce, education, and government to highlight the opportunities that apprenticeships provide.

“Registered apprenticeships provide a path to the middle class for workers, and this year’s National Apprenticeship Week event is an opportunity to bring together partners with a vested interest in expanding apprenticeship programs and creating a pipeline to success attainable for everyone,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh said in announcing this year’s NAW.

We looked at some of those pathways being offered around the country. Here’s what we found in these five states.

Check it out.

From Alabama: Yellow Hammer reports the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship has launched a searchable dashboard that allows users to learn about registered apprenticeship opportunities in the state.

From Illinois: WGLT reports Heartland Community College is crafting a program that will include apprenticeships with an area candy company that is expanding its operations.

From Maryland: Baltimore Fishbowl reports the state is investing more than $3 million in a program that encourages businesses to register new apprentices.

From Mississippi: WDAM reports Pearl River Community College in Poplarville has received a grant to engage local employers and develop an apprenticeship program.

From Washington: Go Anacortes reports Dakota Creek Industries has received approval for apprenticeship programs in four trades—machinery assembler, marine electrician, production welder, and shipfitter/fabricator.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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National CORE is a nonprofit that develops and operates affordable housing in California, Florida, and Texas, explains Gregory Bradbard, senior vice president of social impact for National CORE and president of the Hope Through Housing Foundation.

The company has 85 properties with 75 of those in southern California. An additional 787 units are currently in various phases of construction, primarily in California.

Gregory Bradbard, National CORE and Hope Through Housing Foundation (Photo: National CORE)

“Our model is to use affordable housing as a platform to elevate the health, the wellbeing, and the self-sufficiency of our residents. A piece of that is the Hope Through Housing Foundation bringing in on-site resident services to provide our residents the support and tools that they need to create upward mobility,” says Bradbard.

Bradbard explains that residents can voluntarily receive, what he calls, "pillars of support services." Youth development includes onsite afterschool programs and teen clubs. A second pillar helps residents connect with employment and money management. The third focuses on health and wellness, particularly for seniors. And the fourth provides case management and wraparound services to formerly chronic homeless individuals.

Bradbard notes the company consistently needs employees in both their office and maintenance tracks. “National CORE has about 400 employees across our footprint. That means that we, at any time, have 30-plus job openings, so there's a continual needed pipeline into the property management industry.”

He continues, “We have our own training program. A very structured orientation and onboarding process. Much of the training is not in the classroom. It's hands-on. It doesn't require a lot of prerequisites. Someone could have a high school degree, not more than that. Really just the basic individual skills and talent that's required. We'll provide those hard skills and the training to help equip them to do the job successfully.”

(Photo: National CORE) 

Expanding Career Opportunities

A recent allocation in California state funding will facilitate an expansion of the learning opportunity in property management.

Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga and National CORE are using $1 million award to develop the CORE Academy and a curriculum that will lead to a real estate property management certificate. The program will target low-income residents of the Inland Empire, including National CORE residents.

“[The certificate program] would actually be the platform to add additional classes which could give them the real estate property management associate degree,” says Bradbard.

Bradbard says the academy will expand opportunity beyond the company’s current internal training program. “We do recruit from our resident population, but we're excited about CORE Academy giving us the opportunity to do that more intentionally.”

The program development is in its early stages, but Bradbard explains some of the areas of focus, including introduction to property management, leasing, one-on-one marketing, the application process, the paperwork associated with property management, the move-in process, general maintenance budgets.

He adds, “[Understanding] fair housing is really important, and those pieces that are specific to affordable housing requirements that come with various funding sources.”

An internal National CORE assessment, conducted by REDF, of the 30-mile radius around Rancho Cucamonga, indicates growth in the industry, according to Bradbard. “Some of the things they came up with were between 2013 and 2018, the property management industry grew by 7.5%. Affordable housing units in the local market increased by 21%. Their projection was there would be 8% grow in property management jobs through 2024.”

‘National CORE has changed my life'

Jocelyn Vazquez was in junior high when her parents qualified and moved into a National CORE property in Montcla...

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A new partnership between nonprofit Bunker Labs and JPMorgan Chase Commercial Banking will provide support to 43 military-connected entrepreneurs, offering them guidance via education, networking, and mentorship over the next 12 months.

The inaugural cohort of business executives taking part in the CEOcircle program was selected after undergoing a thorough evaluation. The participants come from an array of industries including health care, data and IT, staffing and recruitment, and restaurants.

Bunker Labs and JPMorgan Chase looked at past and projected future growth, and business strategy. Varying in size, the 2021 projected revenues among the cohort members range from $1.5 to $150 million. The average projected earnings are $13.9 million.

Military Skills Lead to Successful Startups

Blake Hogan, CEO, Bunker Labs (Photo: Bunker Labs)

Blake Hogan is CEO at Bunker Labs and served in the U.S. Marines Corps. He tells WorkingNation editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim that the military-learned skills that veterans obtain during their service transfer well to entrepreneurship.

“Ultimately, entrepreneurship is very counterintuitive, right? You know you want to create the ugliest, cheapest, fastest thing. You can get it out in front of people. Have them tear it apart. Tell you what they don't like about it and what they like about it,” says Hogan.

“And then quickly iterate on that so that you can get something to market that somebody loves and will pay for. Military experience, whether in uniform or as a family member, prepares people for that in a way that is unlike many other things that you could do.”

Hogan says, “We want to close the ecosystem gap, meaning that as soon as you land in Dallas, or Columbus, Ohio, or San Diego, you can immediately connect to a local thriving network that's also nationally plugged in. What we realized is that the challenge here is not about aptitude. It is professional networks.”

Bunker Labs has established communities in a number of cities around the country to help boost that social capital.

Hogan says potential entrepreneurs should be prepared that not everyone will support that pathway. “Number one—believe in yourself and do it. Not a lot of people are going to encourage you to do it. You're used to getting a paycheck on the 1st and the 15th. The people around you are used to getting a paycheck on the 1st and the 15th.”

He continues, “Most folks are not entrepreneurs. They're going to tell you, you're crazy. And what we're going to say is keep your day job, build your dream job.”

InquireWithin: Veterans and Work

You can watch the full interview with Hogan, and read, watch, and listen to more stories about Veterans and Work in our digital magazine, Inquire Within.

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Trying to figure out how to break into the tech industry can be daunting. Traditional four-year institutions can be expensive places to learn computer science and lack of exposure to the skills needed in the industry as a whole can derail a career before it gets started. In this Expanding Opportunities in Tech Work in Progress podcast series produced in partnership with Cognizant Foundation, we examine alternative, free training programs, each offering a foot in the door to teens and young adults from historically underrepresented groups in the tech industry, including women, BIPOC, and people from low-income backgrounds.

Damon Crutchfield grew up in a middle class household in New Orleans. His dad is a firefighter and his mom worked at the U.S. passport office and as a pharmacy tech. They both wanted him to choose a reliable and stable career, one that didn't require a costly four-year degree, so he joined the local carpenters' union right out of high school.

But, he says, he was always fascinated by technology as a kid and it came from his love of video games. "Seeing those worlds in the video games made me want to learn more and more about technology, but I never really could put a name to the field that was responsible for all of that until I was 20." That's when he decided to take the first step into a tech career by attending a coding bootcamp run by the nonprofit Generation.

That first coding bootcamp made him see that a career in software development was not only something he wanted, but something within his reach, which lead him to Multiverse and a free 15-month software engineering apprenticeship.

Damon Crutchfield, junior software developer (Photo: D. Crutchfield)

"When you first come in, you learn the basics of JavaScript and web development," Crutchfield explains. "At the end of that five weeks, you and a couple of your peers build a project—they give you projects to add to your resume—and then you start on-the-job training."

What sets Multiverse apart from other programs is the opportunity to start working right away. For the past six months, Crutchfield has been putting his new skills to use as a junior software developer for Verizon, working side-by-side with experienced programmers, and he's getting paid.

"Right now, a girl from my cohort and I are working on the billing system at Verizon. I'm learning about best practices and more about JavaScript and other technologies that are big now," he tells me. "I see a lot of jobs in the future being automated and I feel like since I'm in this field, I can be the one to program those automated machines for systems."

Crutchfield has nine more months to go in the apprenticeship and the 24-year-old says he would eventually like to take the skills he's learning and start his own company. "My ultimate goal is to have my own artificial intelligence company, a company that can make an impact on the world. I want to create a world where we don't use concrete structures to build things; you use more natural things so that we're not damaging the Earth. And I think software is a good way to do that."

He says he wouldn't be on the path to a well-paying, in-demand career if it wasn't for the training he is getting through Multiverse and the access to on-the-job training at a big company. "It's amazing. I don't have to pay any money and it's my dream job. I just think about all the things I can do from here, all the things I can create with the skills that I'm learning. That's what really motivates me."

Diversity is One of the Most Pressing Issues in the Tech Industry

Sophie Ruddock is Multiverse's vice president and general manager for North America. She says, so often, education and work exist in silos, and for many young people considering their post-high school options, the cost of a four-year school can be "incredibly daunting, particularly if that's not going to actually deliver on a career at the end of it."

Sophie Ruddock, VP/GM,

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More than a half million jobs were added to the U.S. economy in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 531,000 new jobs are coupled with a drop in the unemployment rate to 4.6%.

Meanwhile, President Biden is expected to sign the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure investment and jobs act, passed early Saturday morning by the House. The legislation includes more than $550 billion for upgrading the nation's transportation infrastructure, utilities, and broadband service, as well as green-related programs.

Each week, we take a look training and job opportunities around the country. Check these out, including two related to infrastructure.

From Vermont: Eagle Times reports two Vermont colleges are developing new tech to monitor infrastructure, as well as provide job training to the workers who will use them.

From Pennsylvania: Solar Industry reports a new solar training lab is opening at Frankford High School in Philadelphia to help students prepare for careers in clean energy.

From Kentucky: WTVQ reports the Central Motor Wheel of America operations expansion in Bourbon County is creating 145 new jobs.

From Michigan: Michigan Farm News reports Request Foods is investing more than $200 million to increase operations at four sites in the western part of the state resulting in 198 job opportunities.

From Puerto Rico: The Weekly Journal reports a new professional certificate in emerging technologies is being offered to IT professionals, including cloud, IoT technology, blockchain, and artificial intelligence.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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You've probably heard it a thousand times—the tech industry has a diversity problem. Here's something you haven't heard enough about—there are programs and initiatives working to fix that problem by breaking down barriers that have kept people from historically underrepresented groups from pursuing a tech career.

Figuring out how to break into the tech industry can be daunting. Traditional four-year institutions can be expensive places to learn computer science and lack of information on alternative routes to gain those needed skills can derail a career before it even gets started. Other barriers, including the lack of visible role models, contribute to tech's diversity problem.

Software Engineering is an In-Demand Career

The tech industry encompasses a lot of careers and millions of jobs. And there are lots of unfilled jobs and unmet opportunities. For example, the demand for software engineers is already high and growing. Right now, there are about 687,000 people working in the field, earning an average salary of more than $86,000. Many junior engineers already make six figures. The need for software programmers and developers is expected to grow 35% over the next five years, according to Emsi Burning Glass, and they will be needed in all industries from manufacturing to retail to finance and more.

Like other parts of the industry, they have some pretty big diversity gaps. Sixty-seven percent of software engineers are men and 25% are women. The most common ethnicity is white at 53.9%, according to Zippia, with just 7.2% identifying as Hispanic or Latino.

Taking Advantage of an Opportunity Requires Access to Information

Before you can act on something, you need to know about it. Given that the tech industry is one of the highest paying occupations in the country and the demand for workers is exploding, it is astonishing that it isn't higher on the list of potential careers for high school students.

Lack of information is part of the problem. According to the Diversity in Tech 2021 U.S. Report released in August by academic publisher Wiley, 39% of 18-28 year olds were never given any information about tech careers at high school or in college. That number jumps to 44% among the women surveyed.

Of those who were actually encouraged in high school to think about a career in tech, between 45% and 50% who learned early about the opportunities decided to pursue the skills needed to land a job in the field. The interesting thing is those numbers were fairly evenly distributed by ethnicity—with whites slightly more likely to go after the career (50%) compared to Hispanic (48%) or Black (45%) students. Those numbers also support the idea that early exposure to the financial and career potential can help to diversify the tech industry.

You Don't Have to Go to College to be a Software Engineer

That same Wiley report indicates that nearly half (47%) of the young adults they talked to didn't think they had the right qualifications to work in tech and 31% didn't believe they had the right educational background. Many thought that they needed a four-year degree and for low-income students that was not an option without going into massive debt, not a great start to a young career.

So, if you can't afford to go to college, how do you get the skills and how do you get noticed by employers?

In our new Expanding Opportunities in Tech podcast series produced in partnership with Cognizant Foundation, we examine short, free software engineering training programs, each offering a foot in the door to teens and young adults from historically underrepresented groups in the tech industry, including women, BIPOC, and people from low-income backgrounds.

We share the stories of these four young women and men who broke down those barriers with the help of these innovative training programs. It is not just their stories that we share, but the knowledge that there ARE opportunities out there and some practical...

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Finding a place in the civilian workforce can present a challenge for some of the 200,000 women and men who separate from the military every year. In October, the unemployment rate among veterans was 4.2%, up from 3.9% the previous month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Julia Pollak, labor economist, ZipRecruiter (Photo: ZipRecruiter)

Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, tells WorkingNation editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim that skills learned during military service can absolutely transfer to civilian jobs. As a Navy reservist herself, Pollak says serving in the military equips people with skills that they may not have had before enlisting.

“Young people are not trained to be public speakers. Many of them really lack any kind of poise and professionalism. Boot camp transforms some of them very quickly. To be able to stand up straight, speak loudly and clearly while looking you in the eye, wake up early, make their beds. It is an incredibly transformative experience and important to see how just a little bit of investment in people, a little bit of training, can really allow people to realize their potential.”

“The RAND Corporation has wonderful tools for employers and for transitioning veterans, helping them translate their military courses and experience into civilian skills,” notes Pollak.

From WorkingNation's digital magazine Inquire Within: Veterans and Work

Determining Transferable Skills

Chaitra Hardison, PhD, senior behavioral scientist, RAND Corporation (Photo: Chaitra Hardison)

The military actively works to develop these non-technical skills, says Chaitra Hardison, Ph.D., a senior behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation.

She explains, “When I’m referring to non-technical skills, I’m referring to skills that are not directly tied to a specific occupation or profession. For example, leadership skills—those are relevant across different kinds of applications, teamwork, communication skills, handling work stress.”

Hardison points out, “This is something that many civilians may not have experienced.”

Hardison led a study on what veterans bring to the civilian workforce. Additionally, specific resources were created for veterans and employers to help both groups see the value of the veterans’ non-technical skillset.

Matching Military-Developed Skills to Civilian Jobs

Exiting service members sometimes have difficulty seeing how military experience translates into civilian life.

“The question becomes, ‘How do you use the skills that you’ve been developing and twist them, repackage them, and put them to use in some other type of occupation?’” asks Jeffrey Wenger, Ph.D., a senior researcher at the RAND Corporation.

Jeffrey Wenger, Ph.D. - senior researcher, RAND Corporation (Photo: RAND Corp.)

Wenger led a research project designed to better identify “military-civilian occupation crosswalks.”

Active service members of the Army were asked their levels of competency in tasks like eye-hand movement, oral communication, peripheral vision.

“We took the average scores for all the people who answered our survey. And we compared their average scores on each of these items to all the civilian jobs in the economy. When the difference between your score and the civilian score is small, that’s a good match,” explains Wenger.

Wenger says the occupation focus was on jobs that are available. “There’s no point in recommending a job where only six people are doing it. We try to find something that’s worth your while to pursue. And it pays a decent amount, and it doesn’t require getting a college degree.”

Currently, RAND is analyzing survey data from the Navy and Air Force. The survey is now being administered to members of the Marine Corps.

Checking Out Available Resources

Pollak says, in addition to understanding the value of their military service, social capital is available to returning military personnel.

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For the cannabis industry, one of its biggest challenges is also a sign of one of its greatest strengths: its growth. Sales of legal marijuana in the United States jumped 45% during the pandemic in 2020 to $17.6 billion. The momentum isn't expected to stop anytime soon. Sales are estimated to reach $41.2 billion by 2026. 

Recreational use of marijuana in small amounts is legal in 18 states, and medical use of marijuana is legal in 36 states. Increased consumption of legal marijuana translates into a need for more skilled, trained workers to keep up with demand.

An estimated 321,000 people work in the U.S. marijuana industry, with 77,000 jobs added last year, a jump of 32% from 2019, according to Leafly and Whitney Economics. The Leafly Jobs Report tracks the labor force in the cannabis industry since the U.S. Department of Labor is prohibited from doing so since marijuana is not legal on a federal level. 

The growth in the use of legal marijuana and the increased demand for workers is also pushing cannabis employers to create a certification system that will help standardize the skills needed to work in the industry.

‘Growing at a Breakneck Speed’

Max Simon, CEO, Green Flower (Photo: Green Flower)

“The cannabis industry is growing at a breakneck speed right now which is both very exciting and also creating a lot of big challenges,” says Max Simon, CEO of Green Flower, an education and training platform for the cannabis industry.

One of those big challenges, he explains, is a shortage of skilled, experienced workers. “The only people on planet Earth that have background in this came from an illegal market place—or a loosely regulated marketplace—which means it’s a very small population,” adds Simon.

Creating Standardized Credentials 

Those challenges prompted Green Flower to create the GF Institute and the first of its kind education training for standardized credentials for the cannabis industry.

More than 30 cannabis employers from Curaleaf to Wonderland Nursery have signed on to steering committees, providing input and oversight of the standardized credentials for the plant-to-touch sector, which includes companies that cultivate, process, distribute, or sell cannabis. The initiative has partnered with higher education institutions around the country to administer the credentials. 

The GF Institute’s first certificates focus on three different roles: manufacturing, dispensary, and cultivation. Each includes specific skills sets with online instruction between 16 and 20 hours. All of the certificates include roughly four hours in training on safety and compliance issues.

The certificates are available through employers. The plan is to make them available to individuals in the coming year. 

Creating Common Skill Sets in Cannabis 

Kevin Jodrey, cannabis cultivator (Photo: Green Flower)

Kevin Jodrey, a well-known cannabis cultivator for decades and the owner of several businesses including Wonderland Nursery, is advising the GF Institute on cultivation. He says the goal is to create a common language and skill set just like any other skilled trade and notes that one issue specific to this industry is that longtime cultivators were self-taught.

“That doesn’t mean they are not really good at what they do. It just means that they all have their unique operational edges and it makes it extremely difficult to bring a bunch of people together and work effectively as a team when each individual has their own process of how they go about it,’ says Jodrey.

Cultivation Jobs

The Cultivation Technician Certificate, he says, will help to address that challenge. Jodrey explains that this particular certificate training includes basic plant anatomy, and knowledge of operations systems both indoors and outdoors.

He says there is high turnover in the industry because people are entering it without really knowing what to expect. “There is no shortage of people who want to be in cannabis,...

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Each year, more than 200,000 men and women make the transition from military service to civilian life. Securing employment has always been a major priority—and sometimes challenge—for the recently separated and their spouses. Many veterans have found pathways to work using the skills and grit they acquired in the military.

Still others remain unemployed. To address the issue, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs this summer launched the Veterans Rapid Retraining Assistance Program to help veterans retrain for the skills needed to get a high-demand civilian job or career. VRRAP provides training towards an associate’s degree, non-college degree, or certificate for jobs listed here. It also provides up to 12 months of tuition and fees and a monthly housing allowance based on GI Bill rates for those who qualify for the program.

Over the past year, on the Work in Progress podcast, we've talked with thought leaders and program heads about the skills veterans bring to the job, and exploring initiatives that help those who need some retraining transition into the civilian workforce We've also looked at programs to help military spouses find work and start their own companies.

Today, as we kick off National Veterans and Military Families Month, we're sharing some of those podcasts and insights.

Leveraging Higher Education to Help Veterans and Military FamiliesMichael Haynie, founder and executive director of the Institute for Veterans and Military FamiliesU.S. Air Force VeteranREBOOT Camp: Reverse Engineering the Return to Civilian LifeMaurice Wilson, president and co-founder of REBOOT WorkshopU.S. Navy VeteranWalmart's Committment to Hiring Veterans and Military SpousesBrynt Parmeter, Senior Director Military and STEM Programs for WalmartU.S. Army VeteranServing the Country on the Frontlines, at Home and AbroadCol. Ralph Layman, U.S. Army surgeon and head of trauma at Henrico Doctors' HospitalU.S. Army Reservist

WorkingNation chief content officer Joan Lynch saw firsthand how her father was able to use the skills and knowledge he learned in the military to build a successful civilian career. But she also saw other veterans who never got the chance to thrive in a career because hiring managers didn’t understand the value of what they had learned in service to the country.

Joan and her father, U.S. Army veteran James Lynch, discuss the issue in this animated conversation from our digital magazine, Inquire Within: Veterans and Work. Watch it here and then head over to the magazine for more stories about our veteran workforce.

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Veteran unemployment in September moved up to 3.9% from the previous month’s figure of 3.8%, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Earlier this year, a white paper issued by the National Military Spouse Network puts that number for military spouses closer to 25%.

The DOL lists a number of resources available to military families, but WorkingNation is always looking for opportunities for jobs and training around the country. As Veterans Day approaches, we focus this week on what’s available in these five states to those who have served.

From California: indica News reports the NumlyEngage platform has developed a software to help veterans and their families to reskill and find a job in partnership with Veterans ASCEND.

From Georgia: Coastal Courier reports a new scholarship fund targeting military spouses has been set up at Georgia Southern University.

From New Jersey: Mass Transit reports New Jersey Transit is partnering with Edge4Vets to help military service personnel transition into civilian jobs.

From Ohio: Springfield News-Sun reports the state is making a push for military spouse employment with Lt. Gov. Jon Husted identifying government and military-related jobs as a growth sector.

From Texas: KXAN reports a recently passed state law has made it more efficient for qualified, out-of-state service members, veterans, and their spouses to obtain an occupational license as an educator.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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My guest on this episode of Work in Progress is Ryan Stowers, the executive director of the Charles Koch Foundation (CKF), a philanthropy whose mission is to remove barriers that prevent people from reaching their potential. One of their key focus areas is education and their role in preparing us for the workforce.

Stowers cites cost and inflexibility as two of the biggest barriers standing in the way of Americans getting the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in their careers. He says given the dynamic nature of the economy—and our potential to be lifelong learners and to quickly pivot to new career opportunities—postsecondary education needs to adjust.

Yet, he says, "Most of the conversation when it comes to innovation and trying to drive change focuses on 18-to-22 year olds, the current system, and the status quo. We think that that needs to fundamentally change," says Stowers. "It needs to innovate in a way where all learners have the opportunity to engage within a system in a highly individualized way, (one) that allows them to discover, develop, and deploy knowledge and skills based on who they are."

Stowers adds he thinks the learner's voice isn't taken into account enough and offers up a couple examples from a Charles Koch Foundation survey released in September. Seventy-two percent of the people surveyed express a preference for an option other than a four-year college or university. Sixty-two percent say they believe there will be heightened demand for online classes because they are cheaper and offer more flexibility.

CKF is hoping to drive the change in higher education by supporting social change entrepreneurs that are coming up with those solutions which will expand pathways that are "high-quality, individualized, and relevant to opportunities of the 21st century."

Stowers and I also spoke about the ultimate goal of the philanthropy: unlocking a person's potential which also allows them to find purpose in their lives. "We think that the best way to find purpose in work is what we call mutual benefit. If people can figure out a way to add value in people's lives—including their own—by creating products and services that make people's lives better, or doing work that makes someone else's life better, then that is mutual benefit. That relationship can give significant purpose and meaning to a person's life."

There is so much more on rethinking postsecondary education, programs CKF are funding, and finding purpose in work during our conversation. You can listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 206: Ryan Stowers, Executive Director, Charles Koch FoundationHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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The resignation of workers around the country has resulted in more than 10 million open jobs. People have postponed their returns to the workforce for a number of reasons, including lack of childcare and COVID-related health concerns.

For those on the hunt for job and training opportunities, WorkingNation found offerings in these five states.

Take a look.

From California: Your Central Valley reports the Central California Food Bank is helping people transitioning out of homelessness learn new job skills.

From Georgia: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports a new solar manufacturing and distribution operation in Americus is creating more than 500 jobs.

From Montana: KXLF reports Highlands College in Butte is helping students obtain their commercial driver’s licenses.

From New Jersey: Trenton Daily reports the state’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development is implementing a Return and Earn program that provides a $500 incentive for unemployed workers reentering the workforce and receiving job training from businesses 100 or less employees.

From North Dakota: Grand Forks Herald reports tech skills training grants are helping companies prepare workers for in-demand jobs.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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As more Americans feel it is safe to travel again, airlines that previously trimmed their workforces due to the pandemic are scrambling to adjust again. Last year, airlines encouraged buyouts or were forced to lay off employees when passenger numbers plummeted during the height of lockdowns. An aging workforce and early retirements share part of the blame. As a result, airlines rehiring or staffing-up are now facing a shortage of workers, including pilots.

The gap between demand for pilots and the supply is forecast to reach as high as 50,000 globally by 2025, according to one aviation industry study. The study estimates a deficiency of 12,000 pilots in 2023 in North America alone.

United Airlines is the only major U.S. airline to own a flight school—the United Aviate Academy. The pathway to the cockpit through the Aviate program takes about five years—aspiring pilots with no experience can become licensed within two months, can begin earning an income within a year, and become a full United pilot within five years.

In an effort to fill the need and, at the same time, diversify its ranks, United has set a new goal: half of all students to its pilot training academy are to be women and people of color. This equates to 5,000 new pilots by 2023 falling within those demographics. Currently, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 3.4% of aircraft pilots are Black, 2.2% are Asian and 5% are Hispanic; 5.6% are women.

A College Partnership to Create a Diverse Pipeline of Pilots

United is turning to higher education for a hand in solving the twin issues. This summer, the airline launched partnerships with three Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to recruit students into the career. Delaware State University, Elizabeth City State University, and Hampton University students will have the opportunity to join Aviate.

Kuldeep Rawat, School of Science, Aviation, Health, and Technology dean (Photo: ECSU)

“Such university-industry partnerships are mutually beneficial to both parties,” says Kuldeep S. Rawat, Ph.D., AvMp, the Thorpe Endowed Professor and Dean of the Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) School of Science, Aviation, Health, and Technology.

“The partnership affords United (industry) the ability to be more hands-on in our aviation degree planning and action and have the opportunity to evaluate a large pool of well-qualified candidates that have learned the skills that they are looking for," says Rawat.

"In turn, by partnering with industry leader such as United, ECSU’s Aviation degree program will have the ability to implement both technical and soft skills training needed at workplace into the curriculum and give our students access to a direct pathway to a major airline. This gives use as an educational institution higher relevance in the marketplace and creates a more substantial return on investment for our students,” he adds.

ECSU’s aviation program started as a minor in Airway Science back in 1989 and became a four-year degree program in 2002—the only one of its kind in North Carolina. It was one of the first to receive an FAA grant to start an aviation program as a way to increase diversity in federal government.

In three years, the program has grown 30% from 68 to 153 students, and through the program students currently operate a training fleet of 12 aircraft. Students earn their bachelor’s degree and private and commercial pilot’s license. Graduates have historically pursued pilot jobs in the military and commercial airlines.

During a FAA Women in Aviation Advisory Board meeting, ECSU’s chancellor shared details of the school’s program, which was attended by an Aviate representative, according to Rawat. A subsequent, more detailed presentation ensued, and United and ECSU signed an agreement three weeks later.

“We are pleased to partner with Elizabeth City State University to identify and train the next generation of United pilots,” said Capt.

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Working to help vulnerable families - particularly, low-wage workers - is a focus of the US Equity and Economic Opportunity Initiative at The Rockefeller Foundation. Otis Rolley, senior vice president, leads the effort.

He explains, “We know that they are vulnerable because there are systems in place that have created policies and practice that really cut them off from opportunity. What we try to do through our grantmaking - both on the policy side and on the practice side - is create opportunities for them to achieve economic security and to have a pathway towards economic mobility.”

WorkingNation sat down with Rolley at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

Rolley notes that the systems that have created disparity require comprehensive solutions. “We've recognized that a lack of access to capital and credit is what's helping to create the wealth and income gap that exists in our country. We collect data and amplify the analysis of that data around banking institutions and corporations and how they are playing, and whether they are playing fair or not.”

Working toward eliminating that lack of access to capital, the Rockefeller Opportunity Collective earlier this year increased its committment to support BIPOC-owned businesses from $12 million to $15 million. The funding will be allocated to a collective of partners, including government agencies and nonprofits, in 12 cities with a focus on helping Black and Latino business owners. Says Rolley, “Contextualized technical assistance that really gets to the heart of the issues (faced) by some of these small businesses and entrepreneurs can really help them to grow.”

“On the economic policy side, we support - at the state level and the federal level - policies such as earned income tax credit and child tax credit. We also fund work that helps to amplify local voices in participation to create a much, much more progressive tax code,” he adds.

Rolley emphasizes COVID-19 has exposed not just economic disparity, but also in physical, mental, spiritual health, as well. He says, “You can't have a country thrive and succeed if a large portion of members of that society are left at the very bottom. If you want full participation in our success, and you want us to actually be a strong and competitive nation, there can't be such a gap as what exists right now.”

Click here to learn more about the US Equity and Economic Opportunity Initiative.Click here to learn more about The Rockefeller Foundation.

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Workforce development is at the core of Siemens USA's identity, according to Barbara Humpton, the company's president and CEO. “Companies are more than dollars, buildings, and inventions. Companies are made up of people. I believe that companies need to actually invest in people and actually cultivate a workforce much in the same way they think about cultivating customer relationships. It's on us to find talent and help people develop their careers.”

WorkingNation sat down with Humpton at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

Siemens focuses on digitization, electrification, and automation for the process and manufacturing industries. Humpton says “what we're seeing right now in manufacturing is the convergence of the real and the virtual worlds. We're seeing more and more digital tools come into play."

Empowering workers by making learning available leads to retention and a growth mindset, according to Humpton. "Yes, we still have hands-on classic manufacturing jobs, but more and more we're even seeing multi-decade, grizzled veterans of manufacturing get excited about the digital tools being introduced into their workplace.”

“At any given time, we have some 2,000 job openings across the country. About a third of them actually are for skilled trades and others are for digital natives who can truly work from anywhere. The nature of the jobs themselves is changing over time. But what we're hoping is to be able to first retain the skilled employees who are currently with us, but then reach out into a more diverse talent pool to attract them to our work.”

To achieve greater diversity, equity, and inclusion, Humpton notes it’s important to expand the roster of talent pools. “We're beginning to recruit in places we never have before. We've always had deep relationships with historically Black colleges and universities, and we've been part of the Congressional Black Caucus, bringing interns into our environment.”

“More than that, the trick is understanding where there are pockets of people who have never been exposed to the great work we do, giving them a chance to be familiar with the kind of work, and find out if this is, in fact, their purpose as well.”

Increasing the numbers of women in manufacturing is also a strong goal, according to Humpton. “In order to attract more women into the industrial sector, we've been focusing truly all the way from K-12 through mid-career changes. What's really exciting to me right now is the idea that people mid-career could choose to enter roles in manufacturing. I honestly think that by improving our overall parental leave programs, giving more benefits that help people with their responsibilities at home—men and women—we're finding more and more people can make the switch into manufacturing.”

Click here to learn more about Siemens USA.

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“We all know what needs to happen, which is to diversify the workforce up and down the chain across all functions,” says Pete Stavros, who is co-head of Americas Private Equity at KKR and is also co-chair of the firm’s Global Inclusion and Diversity Council. He says the Council is working internally, as well as with the firm’s portfolio companies, “to create a sense of belonging for all employees, independent of race, sexual orientation, or gender.”

WorkingNation sat down with Stavros at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

Stavros says diversity is the portfolio companies is important. “We feel like we can influence that. It's kind of like when you invest in a business and maybe their operations aren't perfect. We look at it and we say, ‘Hey, that's an opportunity.’ Doesn't need to be perfect Day One but there's so much research. It's common sense that diverse teams make better decisions.”

Additionally, Stavros is co-founder of Ownership Works, a nonprofit on a mission to "transform how ownership is distributed within corporations. We partner with private and public companies to implement innovative shared ownership programs that make every employee an owner and honor the collective effort behind a company’s success."

Stavros says making all employees owners helps create financial equality. “The concentrated nature of equity ownership is underpinning a lot of problems in society. If you look at the Federal Reserve data on household wealth, by a mile, the biggest driver of wealth inequality is the ownership of corporate equities.”

“If you look inside of a company - whether it's public, private-equity owned, family-owned - all the ownership and all the wealth creation potential is up in those top couple of layers of a company. It's the C-suite and their direct reports. And as hard as we are all trying to diversify all of our companies as fast as we can across the country, it's going to take time. And right now, all the wealth creation is hung up in those layers that are not diverse.”

Stavros says, “If you look across all of those issues - wealth inequality, racial wealth gap, racial inequity, the lack of financial literacy among American adults, and the lack of employee engagement—all of those can be impacted by ownership.”

“We’re trying to start a movement to prove workers are better off with this model. Not just they generate some more wealth, but they're more engaged on the job. They're happier.”

Click here to learn more about KKR.Click here to learn more about Ownership Works.

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Workforce development has always been an important issue, particularly over the last 10 years, says Michael Klowden, CEO of the Milken Institute. He notes that COVID-19 has brought the need for changes in workforce development to the forefront.

WorkingNation sat down with Klowden at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

Klowden says the past 20 months have resulted in changes in how people view their own place in the workforce. He notes there are people at the end of their careers asking whether they want to go back to work, while some people in the early part of their careers are asking whether they want to spend their lives doing what they are doing now.

“Some people would say this is just a temporary blip. Others say this is a change which is going to be generational and impact a large number of people. I'm in the camp that feels that these are accelerating trends, that this is very real and we're not going back to where we were.”

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have been a focus of the Milken Institute for at least 20 years, says Klowden. “We've been involved in these issues relating to access to capital for minorities, smaller businesses, and inner-city communities. We've attempted over the years to do more in trying to encourage the financial sector participation of minority managers and others, giving them access to the same opportunities.”

He continues, “One of the things that pushes businesses in this direction is that they recognize that for their colleagues, their employees, this is a very important issue, especially for younger ones. They're recognizing that they have to pay attention to this beyond just giving lip service. The greater opportunities have to be there."

Click here to learn more about the Milken Institute.

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1863 Ventures was created two years ago to support what founder and general partner Melissa Bradley calls the New Majority, Black and brown entrepreneurs who have historically faced barriers as they've tried to build and grow their companies.

WorkingNation sat down with Bradley at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

1863 Ventures has its roots in a student-led project that Bradley headed in 2015 to help new businesses in southeast Washington DC. In just four years, it evolved into a national initiative that now has helped more than 2,500 early-stage and growth-stage founders across various industries, through business training, mentorship, and access to capital.

Bradley notes that the success of New Majority entrepreneurs is good for the community. “When entrepreneurs make money, they tend to reinvest in new companies. I know many entrepreneurs who've gone on to become angel investors or start venture capital funds because they want to reduce the friction that they experienced in the process.”

Women are real drivers in entrepreneurship, notes Bradley. “Recognizing that Black women are the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurs and Latinx businesses are the fastest growing businesses. We saw there was a gap in the market.” She says these business owners, in particular, are targets of the organization’s support.

“Entrepreneurship - as businesses grow - creates jobs, which is huge. You're not only creating wealth for the individuals in the company, but you're creating wealth in communities where you're located. You're creating wealth through employment, pension funds, and retirement funds. I think we see that there is a trickle down, or multiplier effect, when that happens. Particularly within communities of color, we find that entrepreneurs skew not just toward creating individual wealth, but really thinking about the community writ large.”

Bradley says the organization was named after the year of the Emancipation Proclamation. “The year signified the opportunity of freedom and, ideally, access to wealth, and the American Dream for former slaves. So, we continue to carry that on to signify that we are seeking changes in our current structures that have historically marginalized Black and brown entrepreneurs, and to make a shift as they serve as our great economic opportunity moving forward.”

Click here to learn more about 1863 Ventures.

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Addressing issues related to climate change is leading to a major investment boom and job creation, according to Aniket Shah, managing director and global head of environmental, social, and governance (ESG), and sustainability research at Jefferies.

Shah says over the next 30 years, investments could reach $100 trillion and those opportunities will require a major workforce. “It will require high-skilled workers, engineers, and technologists who are thinking about how is it that we actually construct these types of energy systems? It'll require a lot of physical laborers, a lot of construction, and a lot of manufacturing. This is an enormous opportunity.”

WorkingNation sat down with Shah at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

Shah warns that while more will be created, there will be also be jobs that change, requiring new skills. “There will be dislocation, like any transition. There will be people who lose out in their jobs. Part of this whole project is to figure out how do we lessen the blow for them? How do we transition that workforce in the oil and gas industry, people in the coal industry, and so on into a new form of work?”

The sustainability conversation is being driven by a confluence of factors, according to Shah. Consumers, investors, and policymakers are pushing the business community to respond to concerns about the environment and in our society. He says business leaders are embracing their call to action. “They're saying, ‘If our customers want something different, if our investors want something different, if our regulators want something different, we need to evolve.’”

“I think that we are in a moment of transition. It's a very complicated set of issues, and we want more and more people on board and trying to think these things through so that, frankly, tomorrow can be better than today. The only thing that is holding us back right now is our ability not to go faster. And if we change that, if we put our shoulders into it and say, ‘We want this energy transition to speed up,’ we can do that. And a lot of people will be employed as a result.”

Click here to learn more about Jefferies.

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“We represent over 19,000 cities, towns, and villages across the United States. We work together with those communities to provide technical assistance on various kinds of programs. Those priorities range from equity in broadband to health care to workforce development to education.” explains Robert Blaine, senior executive and director for the Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute) with the National League of Cities (NLC).

WorkingNation sat down with Blaine at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

The NLC uses data to determine disparity in communities. Says Blaine, “It's a whole gamut of issues. Every community is different. What we're really focusing on now is how do we use this data-informed approach with cities to really think about where the inequities are, and then help them set a set of priorities.”

“We've known where disparities are in communities for a long time, but it's a way of using that confirmational data to really think about how funding is structured and to be able to use that in a way to open the spigot for federal funding, to be able to be leveraged in those communities," he adds.

Reaching the stakeholders in any given community helps inform change, according to Blaine. “We find working with mayors, for example, is that they have incredible convening power to bring together various cross sections of the community around an initiative. What we do is we come in on the back end and help with the technical assistance, really thinking about how we bring together these various communities and effectuate a program that's actually going to drive outcomes.”

Blaine offers an example of working with hurricane-prone communities in the South. He asks, “How can we have workforce training that goes along with infrastructure projects so that the people that live in the community are actually working to solve the problems? And then that they're using that to be able to gain a viable income, a living wage in their communities.”

Prior to working at the National League of Cities, Blaine was the city manager in Jackson, Mississippi. He describes the city’s economic model of dignity. “You can look at Jackson and cities like Jackson and find what we called ‘economic models of humiliation.’ When you look at blight, crime, poor educational outcomes, and lack of opportunity, essentially, you're looking at economic models of humiliations.”

“We wanted to turn that around and create economic models of human dignity. What are the components that actually create a dignified living for all residents of a city, no matter what your zip code is? How do we create a stable unit that actually provides the foundation for the success for the next generation? And when we think about having a stable job, what it means to have a living wage and to be able to provide for a family in a way where parents don't have to work three, four, or five jobs in order to be able to make a living.”

Blaine says, “In so many communities, your zip code determines your outcomes and your opportunities. And we want to divorce those two.”

Click here to learn more about the Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute) with the National League of Cities.

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The pandemic has exacerbated the impact of age bias, according to Paul Irving, chairman at the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging. “Older workers have had the experience of being reemployed later than others, and oftentimes, not successfully being reemployed at all."

WorkingNation sat down with Irving at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

“We have a real issue to tackle. AARP has some very recent data that suggests that the ageism—anti-older age bias—was really at its highest levels in something like 20 years,” says Irving. "At the same time, we know that that older people want to work longer in general, need to work longer, both for financial reasons and for reasons of challenge and ongoing stimulus. We know that they need to be able to have flexible work lives and employers just are not responding quickly enough to those needs.”

Irving says that the idea that older people are unable to learn new skills is unfounded. He notes that employers should be willing to invest in continued learning for the older workforce, not just young employees. Additionally, with lower birth rates and increased longevity, Irving says the multigenerational workforce is “a beautiful thing.”

“I think any advanced employer, any employer thinking about competitiveness as the century progresses, has got to think about the potential of combining young people and older people,” says Irving.

“It gives us the opportunity to capitalize on the skills, talents, and attributes of people of all ages - the combination of the risk-taking characteristics, creativity, and innovative thinking of young people and the wisdom, judgment, experience, the ability to navigate complex business environments, understanding the possibilities of multi-sectoral problem solving that really only comes with the wisdom of age.”

He says as people move through life, it’s important that they are contributing to their financial wellness. “Ensuring that older adults, and frankly, just as important, young people preparing for older age are in reasonably good shape financially.”

Irving says age is a universal denominator. “The fascinating thing about conversations - unlike race, gender, religion, or political affiliation - aging is the thing that we all share. We all have in common.”

Click here to learn more about Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging.

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Making educational opportunity global is at the heart of the mission of nonprofit WorldQuant University. “Our goal is to leverage technology to bring access to talent,” explains CEO Daphne Kis, through free and online courses in data sciences.

WorkingNation sat down with Kis at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

WorldQuant University offers a two-year program that leads to a Master of Science degree in financial engineering, and a shorter-term applied data science module that’s offered over 16 weeks.

Kis explains the significance of these pathways. “The first is a fully-accredited Master's program in financial engineering, which is basically the intersection of financial management, data science, and computer science.”

“Our program is a two-year sequentially taught program, covering everything from computational finance to machine learning to data science, Python, visualization, et cetera. We are accredited since January of this year and we serve about 1,500 students around the world with 25% of our students in Sub-Saharan Africa, about 12% of them in the U.S., and then the rest distributed around the world.”

Regarding the Master’s program, Kis adds, “I'm a huge believer in the value of this degree, because the traditional MBA doesn't focus on data science. The assumption is somebody else is going to do it. Our belief is that even if you're not the person to do it, you need to understand that data, how it works, and what the engine is behind that.”

“Our second program is a data science course, an intensive 16-week course in applied data science, giving students the opportunity to each use the Jupyter Notebook, learn and iterate on Python, data visualization, and all the tools used in the data sciences these days.”

Kis says there are about 4,000 students on the platform studying the shorter-term program, with about 30% in Sub-Saharan Africa and 19% in the U.S. Students receive badges and credentials as part of their participation.

Kis also notes that employer partnerships are an important part of the school’s focus. She says companies should consider talent who might not have traditional degrees, but managed to complete the institution’s rigorous programming.

With particular attention being paid to how organizations are driving their initiatives on diversity, equity, and inclusion, Kis says WorldQuant’s model of free and online education is pushing those efforts forward with a global student population.

She does say that progress needs to be made in terms of a particular population. “Gender diversity is an issue. And these are industries in which we are working on strategies. Campaigns to help women who have backgrounds in computer science, in sociology, right? In other disciplines, social science disciplines, where basically they just need 21st century tools to continue to pursue the work that they have been doing.”

Click here to learn more about WorldQuant University.

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"Our mission is to create clean, quality jobs in underserved communities, low-and-moderate income communities, and to grow generational wealth for women and people of color,"  explains Tracy Gray, founder and managing partner of The 22 Fund. They do it by investing "in manufacturing companies to increase their export capacity, meaning their international sales."

WorkingNation sat down with Gray at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

“I entered venture capital about 20 years ago and more women and people of color are coming in and starting companies, yet the numbers receiving capital have actually gone down percentage-wise,” says Gray. “I work in startup, but I also work with existing businesses. Manufacturing is a big equity gap—meaning not equity in race or gender, but equity in the type of capital they're receiving. Mainly, the only capital they have access to is loans or some government grants. And you just can't plan a business based on just debt."

Gray says, “We all have these biases that we want to be with people that look like us or act like us and think like us. And so that's who we give our money to. And 98.7% of all assets, money, capital around the world is managed by white men, 98.7%." She adds, "When you see these numbers, (there are) biases baked into the system."

Gray says the top allocators like the limited partners, the big banks, the foundations, the big institutional investors need to be funneling investment funds to women and people of color. “They need to put a lot more capital into this segment because diverse founders and diverse leadership leads to higher returns. We have so much research now that there doesn't need to be any more that proves this. We have no research that proves investing in only white men leads to higher returns, yet they keep doing that.”

Acknowledging the entrepreneurial drive of women and people of color, Gray says, “We do so much more with so much less. We've had to innovate, right? And that's why we are entrepreneurs because we're trying to innovate.”

“I have two sides of my personality—I'm optimistic and I'm very stubborn. When someone tells me I can't do something, I'll just dig in. I'm out to prove something and I'm a systems changer,” says Gray. “I am a former engineer and if it's illogical, if it doesn't make sense from numbers and research, then I got to try to fix it. That's just me.”

And for a little background—Gray explains The 22 Fund, based in Los Angeles, was named after the 22 men and women of color who originally settled the city, the Pobladores.

Click here to learn more about The 22 Fund.

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Educational providers can’t fill the needs for talent on their own. That from WorkingNation president Jane Oates. She says educators, employers, and nonprofits have to collaborate better and communicate better in order to move people into unfilled jobs and good-paying careers.

WorkingNation sat down with Oates at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

Oates notes that the U.S. has the “best higher education system in the world,” but she adds, “We need to really concentrate better on linking those people that we train for entry-level jobs to higher-level C-suite jobs."

"We need to build partnerships from the high school to the community college to baccalaureate and graduate programs, so we're ensuring an immediate job for those who need it, but also a clear pathway into higher-paying jobs with better titles and more flexibility.”

Oates also says getting out the word about education and training opportunities requires finding new ways to communicate, including the use of social media. “I think too often we talk to ourselves. The same people go to conferences. The same people go to meetings. The same people are excluded from those events.”

She adds that we need to be spreading the word in alternative places. “We need to be looking at places we haven't looked at before - Boys and Girls Clubs, churches, community organizations, basketball leagues, sports organizations. We need to make sure that not only young people are getting the idea, but they're taking those ideas home to their parents and they're talking about them at the kitchen table.”

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With the world of work changing so quickly, Infosys is focused on helping clients around the world keep up with digital transformation. President Ravi Kumar says the workforce should be given opportunities for lifelong learning, noting that it’s no longer the case that people spend their first 20 to 25 years getting education and then settle into work histories.

WorkingNation sat down with Kumar at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

Infosys itself is committed to significant hiring, including in the U.S., and Kumar says the company is focusing on “hiring for potential.”

“We look for something called learnability, the ability for you to adapt to new learning and the ability to be a learner in a specific set of skills," explains Kumar. "We use AI tools to test for learnability, then create models which will allow you to get people who could do this in the future and hire them. We hire people who have been in low potential jobs, but who have the potential to go to high potential jobs.”

In 2017, Infosys set a goal of creating 10,000 jobs which Kumar says the company met last year. They set a new goal of an additional 15,000 positions with 13,000 of those jobs already filled. “Our endeavor is to create this talent pool. We go to schools and colleges. We are one of the largest recruiters from schools. We built a corporate training infrastructure so that we could actually get people from schools and transition them to jobs.”

For example, Infosys has created training programs in which employees get 60 credits from a community college and can finish their undergraduate degree while working for the company.

Kumar adds that a worker who has been in the same low potential job for many years can also find a pathway to a new career. “We've done a mid-career shift program with Merit America. We get people who've been stuck at, say, retail check-in counters for the last 20 or 25 years. We start with an apprenticeship and then we take them through the process as they go forward. The idea is you create these learn, earn, and work templates and create upward social mobility in jobs, which is the need of the hour.”

Kumar calls the earn-and-learn model “a hidden jewel of talent.”

“It's an economically viable model to create jobs of the future. And it's a scalable model because there are so many large numbers of people who are available, who are looking for opportunities. That's why we believe this is a very unique opportunity for companies, like Infosys, who want to hire in large numbers to look at this ultimate pool of talent.”

Click here to learn more about Infosys Limited.

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In this episode of Work in Progress, my guest is Rachel Korberg, executive director and co-founder of the Families and Workers Fund (FWF), a coalition of now more than 20 philanthropic groups working together to build an equitable economic recovery and create jobs that enable upward mobility.

The Families and Workers Fund was started last year in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic with the goal of helping ease the financial pain being suffered by low-wage workers—those who lost their jobs and those who had to continue working despite the risk to their health because they needed the money to survive.

"We know that before the pandemic, 40% of people in the United States did not earn enough money to afford the basics of rent, childcare, food. People were already in a very precarious position," says Korberg.

"And then the layoffs hit hardest among people who were already at the bottom of the labor market. In 2020, nearly half of the lowest paid workers lost their jobs. Those jobs were people who worked in restaurants, people who worked in big box retail, people who worked in hospitality. The effects were really far- and wide-reaching, but they were clustered in people who were already earning the least, who are either in poverty wage jobs or just above it."

FWF was created to get money into the hands of those who needed it quickly. Korberg—then a program officer at the Ford Foundation—co-founded it with Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation and Eric Braverman, CEO of Schmidt Futures, both of whom remain on as co-chairs of the Fund. That initial coalition grew in short order.

"It was really a sleeves rolled up group. We pooled about $10 million over the course of 2020, and rather than do cash transfers directly— which we didn't think was the right role for us—we supported nearly 30 grassroots groups and worker networks that were already in long-term, authentic, trusting relationships with the hardest hit workers and families. And we supported them in doing cash transfer efforts.

"For some of them, they had already done work like this in the past, but for a lot, this was a new muscle that they were building and it was really exciting. There's this really virtuous cycle of beyond just the payment. It's also an opportunity to join up around advocacy, community building, and training opportunities." And that's what they've done.

Refocusing the Mission

Korberg says that while the Fund started as a rapid response to people in need, the organizers quickly realized that it was an unprecedented opportunity to build a more equitable economy, that is why is still exists, and that is why it has evolved. Rather than being a one-time $10 million emergency response fund, today it's a $51 million coalition of about 20 diverse philanthropies with the twin goals of funding job pathways that enable economic security and mobility and repairing the unemployment benefits system.

"The confluence of three forces—essential workers, equity, and unprecedented public investment in (job creation)—really come together to create this huge opportunity to reimagine our labor market and economic systems and to go big on ultimately advancing good jobs and delivering a more effective and equitable social safety net," Korberg tells me.

She says FWF sees two main strategies in advancing good jobs.

"Building ladders into upwardly mobile jobs—and that's usually a train in place model—and then we see approaches that are more about growing the pie of good jobs. So, maybe starting with a job that might not pay very well, that might not have great benefits, and look at what are the different set of incentives or shifts that we can catalyze to make this a better job.

For example, rather than only reskilling home health care aides to become x-ray technicians, how can we also make home health care aides a job that pays better and that is a good job and that many people are called to that work and to care work?

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"There's a labor shortage and everybody's searching for people to take on positions," says Sheryl WuDunn, co-founder of FullSky Partners, which advises for-profit organizations on long-term funding strategies. “We're seeing right now, if you don't pay enough you're just not going to get people. It may be that (employers) have to start paying more to get those people to come join their companies.”

WorkingNation sat down with WuDunn at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 and, according to WuDunn, many people don't see a job that pays that little as a "steppingstone, unless they're just out of high school or just out of college. That kind of job is just not uplifting to people." She notes that jobs are more than a paycheck, that employment should give workers a sense of purpose.

She also argues that the federal government needs to do more to help low-wage workers, and that this lack of good social safety nets has lead to despair and problems such as drug addiction. "Our nation doesn't provide the kind of net that allows people to fall into it and capture them if they lose that job. There's no health care associated with a lot of these jobs. There isn't any kind of support services, job search services, or childcare.”

WuDunn says career guidance should start early and it can be very impactful to make high school students aware of different options. She cites an example of programming in her Oregon town.

“The superintendent of schools recognizes that not everybody is going to go to college. What he's done is put together a modern version of a vocational training program where he works with the local employers,” says WuDunn.

“He realizes that it is important that these students—even if they don't graduate—will have one or two years of working in a particular area of vocational training. He recognizes that he's got to get the level of training up for those high school kids so that when they leave the area, they can find a job in the modern world.”

Click here to learn more about FullSky Partners.

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“Connecting students to the perfect pathway to be able to accomplish their careers is a major obligation of the universities,” says Eduardo J. Padrón, Ph.D., president emeritus of Miami Dade College, the largest degree-granting institution in the country. Under his leadership and continuing legacy, the college’s eight campuses now offer more than 300 career pathways.

WorkingNation sat down with Padrón at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

Padrón says the mission to guide students to their careers cannot be done alone. “You have to work with employers because, in the end, they are the ones who are going to hire the talent that you produce. You want to make sure that the students have the preparation that is needed to meet the needs of today’s employers, which by the way, is constantly changing. The pace of change in the world today has accelerated to the point where you need to constantly be revising and reviewing the career paths and what goes into a specific course and a program.”

Padrón notes that students and jobseekers are not the only ones who need to keep up with 21st century skills. Everyone is a lifelong learner. “We all have to go back and upskill and reskill. Teachers are not the exception. They have to constantly update their knowledge and skills to be able to keep up with what's happening in the marketplace and being able to give the students the latest information, the latest technology, and everything else that is needed to be able to graduate students that are really truly prepared to start being effective and productive on Day One when they join any company.”

He adds, “Institutions that do not support their faculty in terms of professional development are institutions that are falling behind in terms of their ability to really train the students well.”

Postsecondary education should be free or very affordable, according to Padrón. “It was about a hundred years ago that there was a big debate in America. The debate was whether high school education should be a universal right of every student. The country came to the conclusion that high school education should be provided free to all Americans. Today, we take it for granted.”

Padrón sums it up, “The message that I really am trying to convey to people constantly is the fact that we need to make sure that, in America, no one falls behind.”

Click here to learn more about Miami Dade College.

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More companies are investing in their employees by offering free education and upskilling opportunities via Guild Education, which coordinates and negotiates learning programs between employers and education providers. CEO and co-founder Rachel Carlson says these initiatives are an important component when it comes to attracting and retaining employees.

WorkingNation sat down with Carlson at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

“Employers are at a really unique moment of needing to think about their own workforce as part of their talent pipeline. The challenge is (they are) competing for not just the engineers, but the digital marketing talent, the cybersecurity, really the jobs of the future. And a lot of companies don't yet have the workforce strategy or the workforce to prepare for that, and they need to look inward to do it,” says Carlson.

Guild Education is already working with a number of companies on these education benefits, including Target, Walmart, and Chipotle. She says her company provides the infrastructure for employee learning and upskilling to take place by providing access to top education providers. “[Employees] have really informed decisions backed by data about where the right place is to go learn if I am a cashier today or a call center clerk, and I want to be in allied health care or in customer success,” says Carlson.

She says an employee’s tenure with a particular company also needs an honest look - different than the experience of the Greatest Generation of obtaining a four-year degree and then working for an employer for 40 years.

Carlson says potential employees have a lot of questions to be asking. “Today's Millennial and Gen Z workforce knows the four-and-40 is dead. They're looking to have an honest conversation with their employer that says, ‘Okay, I want to work here for a period of time. I want to learn while I'm here. I want to be contributive to your bottom line. And then let's be realistic about, do you even want me here 10 years from now?’”

“’If you're a business that's going to have fewer employees in 10 years than you have today - which is the honest reality of so many of our businesses today - can we talk about that? Can you help me move, not upward at your company, but onward in a productive trajectory to another company?’”

Click here to learn more about Guild Education.

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Mayor Steve Benjamin of Columbia, South Carolina is proud that his administration has created a pathway to careers during his nearly 12 years in office. “Our greatest contribution to the city has probably been our investment in the infrastructure and the jobs created as a result of it. Not just infrastructure - taking advantage of the low cost of capital offered by the markets the last decade or so - but also our investment in green infrastructure, building infrastructure that lasts the test of time.”

WorkingNation sat down with Mayor Benjamin at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, jobs, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

“We were able in the wake of the 1,000-year flood in 2015 - the greatest natural disaster we had in our city’s history - to pass the green bond. The largest and maybe only stand-alone storm water green bond in the history of the country that was certified green by the Climate Bonds Initiative.”

That job creation has come with strong efforts to ensure a more inclusive workforce. Benjamin says, “We have a local preference policy putting local people to work utilizing national, international capital to support that growth.”

“You have to be very intentional to try and drive people into the sectors where there will be good jobs and high-paying jobs. We want more jobs. We want high-paying jobs and, if we're lucky, jobs that also have benefits. We have a very good apprenticeship program in South Carolina, buy usually focused on advanced manufacturing. But (we're) working closely with our technical college system, driving more and more men and women, particularly those who live in the two bottom quintiles of our economy, into construction jobs.”

Benjamin's is in his third term and says he is not seeking re-election in November. He credits his time in office as giving his now-teenage daughters the opportunity to participate in and celebrate the American Dream. “What motivated me to run for mayor in the first place, and has served as my foundation in public life, is a recognition that so many children are not as fortunate as the Benjamin girls.”

“If we do what we're supposed to do, then every child - regardless of where they are from, what zip code, what census track, regardless of who their parents are - will all have the same opportunity that my children have. While opportunity is not universal, talent is.”

Click here to learn more about Columbia, South Carolina.

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“Grow with Google is our initiative to ensure economic opportunity for everyone,” says Lisa Gevelber, founder of the program. “We're teaching people the skills they need for in-demand, high-growth, high-paying jobs.” She notes that since the 2017 launch, 50,000 have graduated. Of those, 46% come from the lowest income tertile in the country and 53% come from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in technology.

WorkingNation sat down with Gevelber at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

Gevelber says many community stakeholders are driving the adoption of the certificate training programs to help prepare local residents for good careers beginning as early as high school.

She offers the example of the Anaheim Union High School District in California. “They have almost 2,000 high school students who are going to be doing the Google Career Certificates as part of their classroom experience. We're working directly also with Cypress College, which is the one right next to the Anaheim school system, for them to issue college credits for those students, as well.

Gevelber also tells WorkingNation that Google has made a $15 million commitment to expand economic opportunity in the Latino community through its Latino Founders Fund. “It's all non-dilutive capital to help them get started. But maybe even more exciting than the capital, they get mentorship from the business community as well as technical mentorship directly from Google. We will soon be officially bringing new entrepreneurs into this program.”

She adds, “It's based on the success we've had with our Black Founders Fund in which we invested $5 million in Google capital. Those founders raised an additional $50 million on the back of the $5 million we gave them. We're seeing a real catalytic effect of Google's investment in these entrepreneurs.”

Click here to learn more about Grow with Google.

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Many older workers want to keep working, but for those that want to retire there's a big problem says Teresa Ghilarducci, professor and director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at The New School. That problem is job quality. “I've been looking at the intersection between so many people not being able to afford to retire intersecting with the kinds of jobs that are being created.”

WorkingNation sat down with Ghilarducci at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

“Most of those people will not have enough to retire on and that means they're desperate for work. In technical terms, that means their reservation wage - their fallback position - is very low and they have no bargaining power. We are creating a desperate workforce, people in their 60s and 70s who will take any job because it's available to them.”

Ghilarducci says that "pensions are eroding and our retirement system is a failure" and that leaves older workers in vulnerable financial positions. She says reform is not an out-of-reach goal for the 63 million American workers who are currently working without a pension.

She points to the thrift savings plan that is available to federal workers and members of the military and argues it should be accessible to everyone. “You put a dollar into your pension when you're in your 30s. You keep it there. It's invested well. By the time you reach 62 or 65, (you end up) with $500,000, or maybe even a million dollars. You need a way to accumulate money to make it last your whole life.”

Ghilarducci says, as a society, improving the retirement system is just one step in ensuring that older workers who want to work can do so and feel financially secure. "We need to get the retirement system set, but there are a lot of other things we can do so that when older workers go to the job market, they will find jobs that have meaning. They will find jobs that give them some flexibility. They will find jobs that don't break down their health.”

Click here to learn more about Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at The New School.

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There is a crucial need for equitable access to jobs for all technology talent and creators, according to Charles Phillips, managing partner and co-founder at Recognize. As an executive of a technology services investment platform, Phillips says, “I wanted to do something not only to obviously stay close to technology, but something that would create a lot of well-paying jobs. That's another passion of mine - workforce development and giving people access to jobs.”

WorkingNation sat down with Phillips at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

“There are millions of people with aptitude that don't have access. We have a shortage of workers in the country,” Phillips tells us, and that means many employers need to rethink how they hire.

“There are many situations in companies in which I saw a person who does not have a college degree retiring, but all of a sudden to get that job you have to have a college degree. For people of color - particularly Black people when 74% of us do not have college degrees - that's a whole segment of the workforce being left out.”

Phillips also notes that entrepreneurial drive is an important factor in the economic recovery. He says, ”Roughly, half the jobs in the U.S. are from small businesses and in communities of color, particularly the Black community. We've always been entrepreneurial because we had to be. We had to create things. We didn't have access to the same jobs. There's a long history and culture of that.”

To that end, Phillips is working to make that access available through the Center for Black Entrepreneurship at two historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) - Spelman and Morehouse - “to produce, train, and support a new class of Black entrepreneurial talent.”

Phillips, himself a graduate of Hampton University in Virginia, says there is potential for expansion of this entrepreneurial programming. “If we're successful, we'll take it to other HBCUs. There will also be an online component to this. A tremendous amount of people want to be entrepreneurs and just need the infrastructure that other people have when they are in Silicon Valley.”

Click here to learn more about Recognize.

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“Career pathways will ultimately change. We've just seen in the past 20 months that—from the perspective of workers - career pathways are changing perhaps faster than they are for employers,” says G. Gabrielle Starr, president of Pomona College in Claremont, California. “That puts it squarely in your lap to think about what path is going to suit you.”

WorkingNation sat down with Starr at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

Starr says you don't have to figure out that pathway on your own. She says higher education has a responsibility to help learners find the right institution - one that matches their career goals. “If you ask [the institutions] what employers are asking of their students and the institutions, that can help you understand exactly where you should be going,” notes Starr.

“A liberal arts education like we provide at Pomona College really begins to engage you at the very beginning on a variety of paths. So, if you haven't already chosen exactly where you want to go, a liberal arts education can be right,” says Starr. She adds, “When you're looking at short-term training, then you're going to think more pointedly about where you want to be and the skills that you need to get there.”

Starr says even with shorter-term degrees or credentials, cost should be considered. “The total cost should not just count the amount of money that you spend to obtain the degree, but what you're going to forego while you attain it - whether it's work or it's other kinds of opportunities." Also, think about the additional costs you might incur, such as childcare or elder care. Starr says it is important to look at "whether or not you need to borrow in order to meet the cost of attendance and the other kinds of supports that are going to get you to where you want to go.”

When choosing the right education or training, Starr says you need to understand what is happening outside the classroom. “What kind of support for study skills are there? What kind of supports for career advice? What kind of mentorship are you going to get? Who is going to write you a letter of recommendation and is it going to be personalized to you and to your achievements?”

“All of those things go together when you're thinking about what the most value is for you and how long it's appropriate for you to spend pursuing your dream.”

Click here to learn more about Pomona College.

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New unemployment claims totaled 293,000 for the week ending October 9, according to the Department of Labor. That figure is below what was the predicted 318,000. And it is the first time that initial claims fell below 300,000 since the beginning of the pandemic.

As Americans look to land in the workforce, we are always looking for job and training opportunities around the country. Land, sea, and air. This week, we found some news about the automotive, wind energy, and aerospace sectors.

Take a look at what’s going on in these five states.

From Alabama: WVUA reports Mercedes Benz U.S. International is adding 700 full-time employees for its facility in the town of Vance.

From Iowa: The Gazette reports a nonprofit is using innovative ways to conduct outreach to underserved and at-risk populations to help recruit employees for companies in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.

From Minnesota: WCCO reports a nonprofit is offering free training to help people obtain their commercial driver’s licenses.

From Rhode Island: Seatrade Maritime News reports Crowley Maritime Corporation has opened an office to advance the development and operation of offshore wind energy installations, as well as workforce development.

From Utah: Standard-Examiner reports an aerospace company is expanding operations in Ogden that will create up to 100 new jobs over a span of eight years.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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“Having a good job is one of the most important things that this country can provide for people who are looking for the American Dream, because it provides financial security,” says Kerry Healey, president of the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, created to advance ideas, share experiences, and offer tools to help everyone prosper.

WorkingNation sat down with Healey at the Milken Institute Global Conference 2021 in Beverly Hills as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard interview series. With Charting a New Course as the guiding theme, thought leaders and innovators shared ideas about the changing economy, worker development, education, tech, philanthropy, and more.

“A lot of times people think about the American Dream as something that entails great wealth. But what we find when we talk to people is that all they're really looking for is the financial security to be able to overcome a hurdle,” says Healey referring to an unexpected expense such as a car accident or the loss of a job.

Healey says purpose in work is also part of that dream. “I had the experience of going into the workforce when I was 15 for minimum wage, which was not quite $2 an hour, because my father had had a heart attack and he could no longer work.” She says, “I felt, as a young girl, that I needed to help my mom. I knew that I needed to save for college. I didn't want to ask for anything. So I wanted to provide for myself. And I saw very quickly that actually any job can give you dignity if you're doing it for the right purposes.”

Healey says that experience at a very young age has stayed with her throughout her life. “I've been able to have jobs that were better paid, thank goodness, due to educational opportunities. But I never lost that sense that whatever you're doing can give you dignity if you put respect toward it.”

Click here to learn more about the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream.

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As the nation grapples with racial reckoning, so too are corporations and industries. While they’ve pledged to diversify their ranks, advocates point out that more focus needs to be placed on the removing the roadblocks for young people of color just to enter the workforce. Case in point: the unemployment rate for Black teens is far higher than the unemployment rate for white teens.

One solution posed by the nonprofit Urban Alliance is to build pathways into the workforce by providing job skills for students while they are still in high school. The goal is to prepare them for meaningful careers once they graduate high school whether or not they go to college.

Elizabeth Lindsey, CEO, Urban Alliance (Photo: Urban Alliance)

“We know that many youth, especially young adults of color, face extensive barriers to success when entering the workforce from lack of access to opportunities to lack of access to networks to a gap in knowledge of all the opportunities that are out there for them,” says Elizabeth Lindsey, CEO of the Urban Alliance.

Lindsey stresses the need to prepare students to enter the workforce after high school graduation and she's encouraged to see more high schools adding jobs skills training to their curriculum. “It’s really exciting to see that more and more high schools realize that not all of their students are going to go to college. Even those that do might not really have an understanding of what the workforce is like,” explains Lindsey. 

To open doors to opportunities, the Urban Alliance works with partners to provide internships for an estimated 500 high school seniors each year in underserved communities in Washington DC, Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit.

Building Connections and Preparing for the Workforce

In its 25 years of operation, Urban Alliance has placed over 6,000 students in internships and has trained more than 21,000 in workforce skills. Working through local high schools and school districts to reach students, it provides internships lasting roughly eight months with training for all kinds of industries from banking to IT to nonprofit work. Students earn an average of $8,000 over the course of the program with a majority of them using that income to help support their families.

Mark Turner, Alum, Urban Alliance (Photo: Mark Turner)

18-year-old Mark Turner of Detroit is one such student. Turner is a 2020 alum of the Urban Alliance program, completing an IT internship that landed him a job as a technical support specialist upon his high school graduation. He’s since been promoted and works full-time as an associate software engineer.

“Once you are on the job, you really connect with people and it gives you opportunities to talk to people and talk about their jobs and get career opportunities, pathways you might not have thought about prior to Urban Alliance,” explains Turner.

Turner says he expects to pursue a bachelor’s degree, which the Urban Alliance says it typical of 80% of its interns.  

Real Estate Property Management Pathway 

For the first time, Urban Alliance is offering internships in real estate property management. The Property Management Pathway pilot program launched in 2020 in the Washington D.C. area and is expanding to Chicago.

“This is a pathway where our students who choose not to go to college can move directly into a living wage job, a living wage career where there are opportunities for advancement,” says Lindsey. The organization is working with 21 partners and funders in the real estate industry, creating a new talent pipeline for the industry. 

Ivan Barron, Executive Director, Pension Real Estate Association Foundation (Photo: PREA)

“Leaders have realized the incredible value that diversity can bring to this industry,” explains Ivan Barron, the executive director of the Pension Real Estate Association Foundation, a partner in the program. Barron credits Urban Alliance with opening doors.

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John Reid, Director of Skilled Trades Programs, Penn Foster (Photo: John Reid)

It’s no secret that the skilled trades—plumbers, electricians, welders—are not thought of as the most exciting jobs the labor market has to offer. Nearly two decades after Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe premiered on the Discovery Channel, the dirty jobs themselves still don’t enjoy the prestige of careers like doctor or lawyer that traditionally signify success.

The truth, of course, is that the skilled trades are among the best jobs out there. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median pay for plumbers in 2020 was more than $56,000 per year. For HVAC mechanics and installers, it was more than $50,000—which amounts to more than $24 per hour.

These are good-paying jobs that require no college degree (and no debt). But employers in those fields consistently face labor shortages—and they often report that “public perception” is the primary reason why.

That stigma has a profound effect on not just the trades themselves, but also the labor market as a whole. As a recent PBS NewsHour special put it, “Millions of people are still looking for work, but some employers say they can't find enough skilled workers for certain jobs.” The perception of skilled trades is starting to warp the entire U.S. economy, as jobs go unfilled, and demand continues to outpace supply.

But, in an ironic twist, COVID-19 may be changing that narrative.

Over the past 18 months, skilled tradespeople have been keeping life going. Think of the HVAC technicians and plumbers who have helped newly-remote workers deal with overused air conditioners, dishwashers, and water heaters.

Those of us in the trades understand that we are professionals, even though the term is often saved to describe doctors and lawyers. We possess a specific set of skills, and the only time you see us is when you need those skills. Well, the pandemic has created a lot of needs, and skilled tradespeople have been able to fill them.

The economic impacts of the past year are increasingly clear as well. While too many restaurants and concert venues felt the brunt of COVID-19’s impact, many of the skilled trades businesses have not shut down. In fact, they stayed steady—and many are even continuing to grow. Demand for the sort of specialized services that skilled tradespeople provide has expanded over the past year. And as we chart a path to economic recovery, with an increasing focus on “resilient” jobs, we need look no further than the roles that provide the help our country has needed the most.

We’ve even seen the impacts when it comes to education. At Penn Foster, where I lead the programs that provide training in roles like residential electricians, plumbers, HVAC, and other critical occupations, enrollments have never been higher. Hundreds of students a month are enrolling in these programs, suggesting that more people are recognizing the importance of the work—not to mention the fact that it’s a well-paying, stable career path.

To put it simply, workers throughout all the skilled trades have spent years in the shadows. Now, they’ve been thrust into the light—and they continue to shine.

The question now is: what do we do about it? How can the skilled trades industry seize this opportunity to shift the narrative? How can we ensure that the recognition of tradespeople during the pandemic can persist even when the traditional rhythms of life have returned?

If public perception and narrative are the problem, maybe telling the right stories can be the solution.

Think of David Jones, who was able to complete an associate’s degree in construction technology and a bachelor’s degree in business management through an online, self-paced program that let him learn on his own time, even while managing the responsibilities of full-time work and parenthood. Now, he’s been promoted to a construction services manager, where he can put his skills to use (and make more money,

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SXSW EDU will be back live in Austin in March and WorkingNation will be there in full force!

We're excited to announce that once again WorkingNation will be there to share our insights into the issues impacting today's workforce development and career pathways, and we'll be talking to the inspiring leaders who are fostering innovation and learning in our education industry.

Here's What We're Talking About

WorkingNation will be hosting four panels. Here's a look at the issues we're talking about and the great line-up of moderators and panelists that we've pulled together.

Learn-and-Earn: A Proven Workforce Model

Employer-driven programs work. Apprenticeships work. Employers work with community colleges to set a curriculum that will teach skills needed in local businesses through a combination of classroom and on-the-job learning. And, the students are paid for the work they do while gaining valuable skills. Using this model, communities across the country can develop a much-needed, skilled workforce, leading to jobs that employers need to fill.

The panel will be moderated by WorkingNation president Jane Oates. She'll be joined by Jamie Merisotis, president & CEO of Lumina Foundation. We'll share the names of the additional panelists very soon.

Building Innovation Hubs Outside of Silicon Valley

The great 2020 migration from larger metro areas to more-affordable and less-populated cities and towns has created an opportunity for many of these mid-size and smaller communities to become tech innovation and entrepreneurial hubs of the future. Local businesses, civic leaders, foundations, and educators are teaming up to foster new tech-centric economies that will unleash new employment opportunities for all and encourage small business creation.

This panel will be moderated by award-winning journalist Hari Sreenivasan, senior correspondent and weekend anchor for PBS Newshour. Our panel includes Miami mayor Francis Suarez; Nicholas Lalla, co-founder and managing director for Tulsa Innovation Labs; and Patrick McKenna, founder of One America Works.

Closing the Latino Digital Skills Gap

Latino workers are 14% of overall workers, but represent 35% of workers with no digital skills and 20% of those with limited digital skills. Digital skills are crucial to obtaining gainful employment and resources to support their families.

We talk to leaders from various organizations providing training and education to close this skills gap and help the community thrive, including Frankie Miranda, president & CEO of Hispanic Federation and Hector Mujica, economic opportunity lead for the Americas at Google.org. Our panel will be moderated by award-winning journalist Giselle Fernandez, currently host of LA Stories for Spectrum News 1.

Don't Leave Older Workers Out of the Jobs Recovery 

The majority of the long-term unemployed are over the age of 45. A majority of hiring managers admit hesitating when it comes to hiring an older worker, fearing they are not tech-adaptable or might not fit into the work culture. Conversely, they say the older workers already on the job are valued employees. So, where does that leave mid-career workers trying to find a new job in the post-pandemic workforce? Let's address this age bias directly and examine what's being done to correct it.

I am very pleased to be hosting this panel of insightful and passionate leaders in an examination of this important issue. Joining me on stage will be Paul Irving, chairman of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging; Mona Mourshed, founding global CEO of Generation; and Marci Alboher, vice president of Encore.org.

WorkingNation Overheard

Our team will also be in Austin to bring you WorkingNation Overheard, our insider access to what America’s thought leaders are saying about the future of education, the future of work, and the future of workers. Over the past three years, we’ve interviewed CEOs, top educators,

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan and I discuss the importance of collaboration in solving employers' problem in finding enough workers while insuring workers find good-paying jobs and careers.

Take health care workers, for instance. The country was already in need of more trained health care workers—including medical technicians, medical billing specialists, dental hygienists, and more—when the pandemic struck and made that demand more urgent. By one estimate, and this is really an astounding number, the state of California will need 500,000 new health care workers by 2024. Again, that is just in California.

The nonprofit Futuro Health is working to fill some of the worker gap in the state through training and certificate programs that brings together all the stakeholders. Collaboration, Ton-Quinlivan who has lead Futuro since it launched in January 2020 says, is the key to success. "One of the misconceptions for many employers is that they have to go at it alone. There's a lot of other parties that can come together and I call it the three-legged stool."

"So, instead of trying to do workforce development where you do everything—setting up the education, finding the diverse candidate pool, and then doing the hiring process—there are actually stakeholders out there from the education institutions to community-based organization and public workforce agencies, who are ready to collaborate and to partner with employers to produce a talent pool that is inclusive, that is reliable, and that is quality. And all of that, there's a formula to growing the talent puddle that you may be facing into a talent pool."

Futuro Health is itself a collaboration. The venture is a partnership between health care provider Kaiser Permanente and the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UGW). Futuro helps identify in-demand careers in the field through tis work with health care providers, does community outreach to attract applicants, then helps match applicants to short-term, affordable, and flexible programs that will lead to jobs in those careers, Ton-Quinlivan tells me.

"There's usually two barriers that stand in the way of adults being able to skill up. The first is affordability. And then the second is flexibility. On the second point, flexibility, that's where it's really important that the education and instruction is delivered in a format that accommodates adult schedule, because adults have all these commitments of family and jobs. We make sure that the shortlist of education providers pay attention to having adult-friendly education and training.

"And then on the former, which is costs, we have fortunately been able to underwrite tuition for the over 4,000 adult students that have been with us, but it's still important for adults to have some skin in the game. They pay a $100 registration fee. And there may be some small ancillary fees, for example, if they need to take a background check or take an assessment test, but we have covered their tuition up to this point."

Ton-Quinlivan says the partner programs are curated to only include programs that will lead to a credential that will put them on the pathway to a good job.

"We're driving towards a goal of credentialing 3,500 healthcare workers in order to repopulate the frontlines. We are delighted that our average age of our students is 30 with 87% ethnic diversity, 36% bilingual. We continue to be able to bring diverse communities into the workforce to address this big number of 500,000 allied health workers needed in California, but there's 2.3 million needed across the country."

WorkforceRX: Agile and Inclusive Strategies for Employers, Educators and Workers in Unsettled Times

As a former vice chancellor for workforce and digital futures in the California Community Colleges system, Ton-Quinlivan is a veteran in the workforce development field and has long been a p...

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The jobs increase in September came in at 194,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is significantly less than the 500,000 predicted by a number of economists. The largest number of jobs were in leisure and hospitality with an increase of 74,000 jobs.

Additionally, the unemployment rate dropped to 4.8%—a decrease from the August rate of 0.4%.

WorkingNation is always looking for employment pathways being offered around the country. Our recent findings include opportunities to become an EMT, a licensed nursing assistant, and manufacturing apprenticeships.

Check it out.

From Massachusetts: The Standard-Times reports state officials are in discussions regarding offshore wind production and workforce development with city officials in New Bedford.

From Missouri: Hannibal Courier-Post reports BASF’s 12-month apprenticeship program will provide opportunities for people to launch manufacturing careers.

From New Hampshire: Keene Sentinel Source reports a licensed nursing assistant training program via the state’s Jobs for America’s Graduates, geared to participants between 16 and 24, is working to expand its reach to Keene, Laconia, and Berlin.

From New York: Bronx Times reports the next 10-week EMT training through Global Medical Response is accepting application with a deadline of December 1.

From Oregon: KGW8 reports microelectronics companies are running radio and TV ads to recruit new hires. Meanwhile, Intel’s expansion in Hillsboro is expected to add hundreds of jobs early next year.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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For the past year, a group of nonprofits has been digging deep into an important question: how do we eliminate cost as a barrier to educating, training, and upskilling in order to make certain everyone has access to opportunities in the changing workforce?

The question was first introduced last fall when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, along with several partners, introduced Talent Finance—a white paper calling for rethinking the public-private approach to financing workforce talent.

The paper clearly spelled out the mission. "We are in a new economy that competes on talent, yet the talent financing and development systems we rely on were built for a different era and economy. The global pandemic has introduced new urgency and risks that require bold thinking and transformational change.

"In this dynamic economy, skills and job opportunities are constantly changing and new skills and opportunities are emerging. Amid this change, employers, workers, and government face growing risks in achieving a return on investment in skill development and managing short- and long-term risks associated with employment and income."

The brief was co-authored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Greater Houston Partnership.

Sarah Castro is senior director, programs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Center for Education and Workforce. She notes since the initial launch, “We’ve really been ramping and amping this thing up to get lots of partners in there.” Castro says, “We have added Social Finance, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Education Finance Council, National Association of Workforce Boards, and JFF. The Customer Service Talent Pipeline Since the launch, the Chamber Foundation has conducted sessions with local businesses and organizations to explore talent finance instruments and identify pilots and partnerships with strong employer leadership. The first cohort was made up of 21 organizations and participants were tasked with presenting their ideas for pilot programs that, ultimately, grow and lift up talent.

Deborah Majeski (Photo: DTE Energy)

Among the cohort members, DTE Energy, a Detroit-based utility company. Deborah Majeski, manager of workforce development at DTE Energy shared with the group that a key strategies would be to make sure employers are actually in search of talent. “Now you're building the pipeline and you want to make sure it's aligned with jobs, right? You just don't want to build it and not have people wanting to hire from it,” says Majeski.

“I did a little homework in regards to customer service and realizing that customer service had a very high job demand in the state of Michigan—it was going to be number six for a number of years—I packaged it up in a way to share it with the CPO (chief procurement officer) leadership that this might be a project for us to consider and they grabbed hold of it,” says Majeski.

“We were able to collect the data. And then I was able to build charts that said this is what the story is. We have 11,000 job opportunities in the next 18 months.” Making the Pipeline Accessible and Equitable Majeski says the framework for the necessary customer service skills is multi-tiered. Among them, personal effectiveness, academic and workplace competencies, and industry-specific skills. She explains that customer service needs stretch across many employers. “This project is touching multiple industries. It is touching automotive, health care, entertainment, utilities, private companies like suppliers of DTE, suppliers to people in our community here within the Detroit region.”

(Graphic: DTE Energy)

The customer service initiative is now partnered with a local educational institution, according to Majeski. “We were able to connect with Henry Ford College. They have a customer service program. We're going to be expanding on what they already have.”

Majeski says the learning can also extend to high school students.

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Perhaps long overdue, the attention on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace has skyrocketed. Opportunities for DEI-related jobs rose 123% between May and September 2020. Organizations are also addressing DEI in facets such as their employee culture.

The pandemic, politics, and social justice issues “caused widespread societal examination of our how we think, act and conduct ourselves,” says Odessa Jenkins, president of Emtrain. “I like to call this time in our history as ‘The Great Introspection.’ The world is physically changing and so is the workplace. Exhibiting and working towards DEI is now table stakes for any business that wants to attract and retain employees for a thriving brand.”

WorkingNation had the chance to talk with Jenkins at the recent ASU-GSV convention. Her company trains corporate employees to help them develop what she describes as “healthy” workplaces through programs, some of which are DEI-focused. She says DEI training previously accounted for just 10% of its new business. Now, it accounts for half.

Broadly defined, Emtrain defines diversity as all the ways people are different. Those differences shape how the world is seen and how people interact in it. She says DEI is more than just the people (employees, managers, potential hires) but the organization’s structure itself that can create a truly inclusive environment to attract and grow the kind of diverse workforce it wants. She recommends employers do a self-assessment.

“How am I structured to ensure that I'm listening to my employees? What are the tools that I'm providing to new hires to help me learn what their competencies and skills are, because what you think you hired and what a person might be on their first day might be different, right?” she asks. “In a lot of ways, during the interview and onboarding process, you meet someone's representative. People become their authentic self as they get comfortable in the workplace.”

This, Jenkins says, can lead to inclusivity and diversity across and throughout the organization – from an employee base to the board. Organizations can develop internal collaborations organically and grow communities such as employee resource groups.

Like other key performance indicators, organizations are now measuring their DEI efforts and its impact on finances. At first, that can look like a simple counting of members within a category or community, or the number of employees from a specific demographic. Analysis of this data, she says, can help organizations achieve equity and inclusion in a deliberate, thoughtful way.

“It’s not just what your people look like, but where are you spending your time, your talent and your money, and how is that truly driving you to be more equitable and more inclusive? Because at the end of the day, if you want to make space for true diversity, diversity of thought, diversity of race, of ethnicity, of gender, of identity, of ability,” Jenkins says. “There's so much when it comes to diversity and what that word truly means. But if you really want to create an environment where diversity lives and stays, then you have to be intentional with your time, your resources, and your talent.”

It's a worthy investment. Not just a buzzword or trend of the times, studies show that companies led by diverse teams are more profitable than those that aren’t.

“More than in any other time in the history of our world, people of diverse backgrounds are interacting. They are working together, living amongst each other and relying on each other. No business is exempt from the impacts of diversity,” Jenkins says. “The health, growth and value of your business is dependent on how well you adapt to change. Making room for and valuing inclusion and representation is not optional. Businesses who don’t take action, make plans and invest in being inclusive, will be less valuable and competitive.”

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It's Cybersecurity Awareness Month. In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, Mark Ouellette, program manager for the Cybersecurity Youth Apprenticeship Initiative (CYAI), joins me to talk about a unique learn-and-earn program that is exposing youth adults to opportunities and careers in the cybersecurity workforce.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, there was a shortage of cybersecurity workers. With the increase in remote work and the increase in cyber attacks such as ransomware that need for workers has grown exponentially. Right now, there are at least 465,000 open cybersecurity jobs in the U.S., according to Cyberseek.org—a joint project of Emsi Burning Glass, CompTIA, and the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education—which tracks employment in the field. Ouellette says there is a need for experts in the field from entry level upwards in every industry.

"The thing about cybersecurity is that it's really industry-agnostic. I mean, you're going to need cybersecurity folks in government, in schools, in banks, in hospitals now," explains Ouellette. "If you have a problem—something all of a sudden is going haywire and you don't know why—and you make a phone call and you have your IT help desk. Those are all cybersecurity professionals. But it's also medical records in the hospital field, making sure that the data that you collect from all these COVID tests is secure and safe so someone doesn't hack into it and get your data and share it."

The need is not going away any time soon, so CYAI was created to encourage teens and young adults to enter the field and help fill some of the open roles. It's a registered apprentice program administered by ICF, a global consulting firm which acts as an intermediary on behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor. CYAI is only in its second year with a relatively small footprint and is open to people aged 16-to-21.

"The employment and training administration within Department of Labor has funded ICF to go in and support or register 900 youth apprentices in IT and cybersecurity by 2024. As of now, we're about 500 that we've been able to place. We work with high schools, community colleges, community-based groups that are saying we see a need for better training. What curriculum is out there? We help them identify curriculum," he tells me.

"We are a bridge to combine those entities that are interested in providing training. We help them align their training to their local employer needs, we help raise awareness with employers, and then we also fund programs. We actually have money from the Department. It doesn't cover the entire cost of an apprenticeship, but it does cover some expenses. And so, if you're a registered apprenticeship, we do give you funds per participant."

Ouellette says CYAI and ICF raise awareness through "capture the flag" events, so-called ethical hackathons in which young people can show their skills. "We encourage employers to come see what they're doing, see how qualified these individuals are, and that really is a match. You see light bulbs going off with employers all the time. 'Wow, that person has that skill? How do I get them on my team?'"

Employers range from small entrepreneurs to big companies such as IBM and Google. Depending on the part of the country and the size of the business, starting salaries range from $12 an hour to $21 an hour. "I would say the majority of them are in about the $15 range. But as you show more skills through your apprenticeship, and you're able to demonstrate expertise in the skill, that wage goes up. So by the time you exit the apprenticeship program you're on par with what an entry-level person in the field would be getting. Depending upon where you're located, what actual apprenticeship you're in, it could potentially be a six-figure salary," he explains.

CYAI is just one of the ways teens and young adults can get exposed to cybersecurity as a career path.

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New unemployment claims for the week ending September 25 came in higher than anticipated. According to the Department of Labor, the figure of 362,000 was more than the expected 330,000. The latest number marks the an increase for three weeks in a row.

WorkingNation is always looking for employment pathways being offered around the country. This week, among others, our findings include opportunities in collision repair, fulfillment and transportation, and construction trades.

Take a look.

From Arizona: Yahoo! Finance reports Amazon plans to fill more than 7,500 jobs across the state, primarily in fulfillment and transportation with opportunities to access training programs.

From Colorado: CBS4 reports the Colorado Homebuilding Academy is waiving fees and providing scholarship funds to people who have a serious interest in moving into the construction trades.

From Idaho: Repair Driven News reports a $1.3 million has been awarded to Lewis-Clark State College to expand its collision repair, diesel, and welding technology programs.

From Oklahoma: Fox25 reports auto retailer Carvana is opening an inspection and reconditioning facility in Oklahoma City resulting in 350 new jobs.

From Tennessee: Area Development reports pharmaceutical production company USAntibiotics will invest $16 million to establish operations in Bristol creating 63 jobs in Sullivan County.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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“More than half of all the new workers joining the American labor force are Latinos and Latinas. So, it follows that our economy cannot be as competitive in the global economy without us having more opportunities to not only better educate Hispanic new generations, but to really put them in those fields where the national needs are greater,” says Antonio Flores, Ph.D., president and CEO, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).

Antonio Flores, Ph.D., president and CEO, Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (Photo: HACU)

Flores says there are 569 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) across the U.S. and Puerto Rico. For membership in HACU, “Hispanic-Serving Institutions are defined as colleges, universities, or systems/districts where total Hispanic enrollment constitutes a minimum of 25% of the total enrollment.”

HSIs are a microcosm of American diversity, says Flores. He notes, “HSIs are home to two-thirds of 3.8 million Hispanic college students across the country. But they also serve one of every four African Americans in college today and about 42% of all the Asian Americans in higher education today. We have a good number, about 15 to 20%, of non-Hispanic whites who are attending college.”

The pandemic has been hard on HSI students, according to Flores. Health issues and difficulty moving to online learning has had a deep impact. “We don't yet have the data to assess. But my sense is that we're going to see significant regression in educational attainment when the data are out there. We'll see that those groups that were, to begin with, at the bottom of the educational ladder finding themselves farther down.”

Despite COVID-19, Flores expresses optimism about the pathways that institutions will provide going forward. “Community colleges tend to be more nimble. So, I can see that they will have a tremendous role in the years ahead to bring up the many millions of new workers that we need for all the jobs.”

‘We Never Lost Focus’

Luke Dowden, Ed.D., chief online learning officer and associate vice chancellor for academic success (Photo: Alamo Colleges District)

One HSI is the Alamo Colleges District, located in south central Texas. It consists of five community colleges with a student population of about 70,000.

Echoing the thoughts of HACU’s Flores is Luke Dowden, Ed.D., chief online learning officer and associate vice chancellor for academic success at Alamo Colleges District.

“We never lost focus in the pandemic of who we were trying to serve. The untold story about Alamo is that we continue to innovate. We pivoted to remote. Had the highest course completion rate in a 10-year span, highest course completion rate in the peak of the pandemic, right? Kept going and kept innovating.”

With a large number of students who are food- and housing-insecure, Dowden adds, “We've partnered with our local nonprofits. We have food pantries, clothing pantries, emergency loans, financial literacy training. You name it, it's fully scaled at all five of our colleges. It's essentially critical.”

‘It Only Takes One Generation’

“We're making progress on getting our students out of poverty. With this educational opportunity, they can go to Alamo Colleges and change the lives of their family,” says George Railey, Jr. Ed.D., vice chancellor for academic success.

George Railey, Jr. Ed.D., vice chancellor for academic success (Photo: Alamo Colleges District)

“But most importantly, it only takes one generation. One student, who is many times here in our organization, is the first one who finishes with a certificate, who finishes with a degree. That generation paves the way for the next generation.”

Railey speaks from experience. “I can tell you from someone who is the son of slaves, the son of sharecroppers, that's what happened in my family. I was the first to graduate from high school, college, get a bachelor's, get a Master's, get a doctorate.”

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It's national Manufacturing Week and Friday is national Manufacturing Day.

Manufacturing continues to be one of the top five employers in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But, like all industries, the skills that employers want are changing. In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I'm joined by Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, for a look at the unmet demand for skilled workers in the industry and his thoughts on what can be done to fill open jobs.

One solution, he says, is taking a closer look at the current workforce and help them gain the new skills they need.

"Many of the types of work we're talking about here—varying types of deeply skilled work that was being done by hand in the past—may be now automated in the future. Some of those underlying skills are very valuable, but people are going to have to have a new set of skills. Digital literacy is going to be important in nearly all jobs in our economy. And it's not ubiquitous among the current U.S population. Understanding the problem is the first step, and knowing that we have to get that training out in a much broader basis."

"We've seen that major shifts in technology over the last several decades, under the broader rubric of automation, is not the thing that we have generally responded to as a society," Stettner says as he explains that businesses need to be more involved in meeting their own hiring needs.

"We're moving in that direction, and you certainly have seen in more cases large employers also being engaged in this, engaging in training their incumbent workforce. We think a lot more needs to be done there. We really need companies to look at their own talent and say, 'Okay, this person knows the company. They know how to work here. They know us. Let's go ahead and give them those additional digital skills,' for example."

Stettner points out that an increasing share of jobs in manufacturing require workers to use a touch screen and using computers to insure quality control of the parts moving through the line. And while you don't need a college degree, he adds that more and more of the jobs are requiring training beyond high school.

"In terms of the breakdown, it used to be that 80% of people working in manufacturing, their greatest education was a high school degree. That is down to 40% of people in manufacturing. The others at least have some post-secondary credential. There are entry pathways for those workers that have a high school degree and then some short-term training or a post-secondary credential, so it still is that on-ramp type of sector that you can get at and there is some areas for mobility."

Stettner says U.S. manufacturers are going to need an estimated two million workers over the next decade and an aging workforce is part of the problem, especially as Baby Boomers reach retirement age. "(Businesses) have to recruit a new generation of workers. If these talent issues aren't resolved, U.S. manufacturing is not going to be able to be competitive on a global basis, and it will shrink over time. America will always be the one (country) that's advanced technologies, whether it be at MIT or in private industry. The question is, will we have the people plus technology to actually produce the things?"

Another solution to the staffing issue, says Stettner, is to intentionally recruit from historically underrepresented communities.

In a report for The Century Foundation, he looks at the makeup of the manufacturing industry, writing that "manufacturing—which is currently 67% White non-Hispanic and 70% male—must recruit the next generation of workers from a rapidly diversifying workforce and bring these new workers into the sector at a time of rapid technological change."

"There seems to be on its face, this huge win-win. You have communities of color in particular, in urban areas and also rural areas, looking for good jobs.

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WorkingNation is always looking for employment pathways being offered around the country.

What do cannabis, propane, and seafood have in common? These are industries in parts of nation that are making training or hiring opportunities available. This week, we highlight Alabama, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, and North Carolina.

Take a look.

From Alabama: Huntsville Business Journal reports Toyota Alabama will begin exclusively producing the engine for the 2022 Toyota Tundra, bringing 450 new jobs to the Huntsville and Madison areas.

From California: East Bay Times reports Silicon Valley Clean Energy and the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District Workforce Institute have launched a new online course focused on all-electric building practices—designed to acquaint contractors and apprentices with the latest in all-electric building systems and appliances.

From Connecticut: Hartford Business Journal reports institutions in the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system are expanding their cannabis-related programming offerings as the state looks to growth in its recreational marijuana industry.

From Hawaii: University News reports a $1.6 million federal grant awarded to the University of Hawaii will fund food and agriculture education for Native Hawaiian and underrepresented students.

From Louisiana: Bossier Press-Tribune reports the Louisiana Sea Grant has received monies from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to support seafood industry workforce development in the Gulf of Mexico.

From North Carolina: Butane-Propane News reports the North Carolina Technical Education Center in Graham is training people to work in the propane industry as the current workforce considers retiring from their jobs.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Three years ago, when Nashlie Sephus, Ph.D., created her nonprofit The Bean Path in her hometown of Jackson, Mississippi, she might not have been fully aware of where that decision would lead.

Nashlie Sephus, Ph.D. (Photo: The Bean Path)

Sephus—whose day job is as an applied scientist in AI and tech evangelist at Amazon Web Services—says she started the nonprofit tech incubator and consulting organization because the city has so much untapped potential. The mission is to sow the seeds of technical expertise and fertilize networks within the community.

“Mississippi is often not talked about for anything good," Sephus says. "So, how can we show people what we have to offer? How can we stop what they call the brain drain of people who are very educated, intelligent, very innovative leaving the state because they feel like they don't have those opportunities within the state?”

The organization provides tech advice and guidance to both individuals and small businesses through a number of ways—engineering and coding programs for youth, scholarships and grants for students and community organizations, and tech office hours at the local libraries.

Since its creation, The Bean Path has helped more than 400 local businesses and people, and Sephus and her team are just getting started.

(Photo: The Bean Path) 

The Next Chapter: Expansion and More Workforce Development

Sephus’ vision expanded when The Bean Path started outgrowing its current location last year and she began searching for new office space. Having acquired 14 acres of abandoned land, groundbreaking for the $29 million first phase of the Jackson Tech District is scheduled to begin shortly.

“The Bean Path is the anchor of the tech district,” says Sephus. “But we're also adding additional components such as entrepreneurship training, makerspace, an event venue center, restaurants, retail space. Also, office space for other entities because it's not just us. We're bringing together the entire tech ecosystem to drive this economic development in the Mississippi area.”

Sephus says, overall, the district costs are estimated to be about $150 million. Completion is expected in three to five years.

She notes that the impact will be broad. “It really touches everything from the K-12 school system to the local and state government, as well as the economic and financial opportunities available.”

“Talk about jobs. People think that AI and automation take away jobs. It also develops new jobs. And a lot of times those jobs are more highly skilled and higher paid. So, we're constantly progressing everybody and moving everyone in the right direction.”

“It's important also to develop tech talent and understand what that looks like if people want to change their career path at any stage,” Sephus explains.

Funding is coming in to boost career development and training, says Sephus. A grant from the Kellogg Foundation and matching monies from sponsors are also “funding workforce development to work with other entrepreneurship incubators and accelerators in the area. Also, developing the next wave of technology officers.”

The Role of Partnerships

There are a number of companies that are already partners or sponsors of the tech district, according to Sephus. Among them, Acer and Airbnb.

As for her current employer, Sephus says Amazon has been supportive since the beginning when she launched The Bean Path. “There's different organizations that even reached out, ‘Hey, how can we help?’ Amazon Future Engineer has been one of the organizations within Amazon that has been really helpful by providing training to teachers, scholarships.”

Sephus says it’s important that stakeholders operate outside their silos. “The collaboration, the inclusion, and the live /work/ play aspect is what, to me, will bring and tie everything together to really build that support.”

Sephus says being able to give back to her hometown is a big motivator.

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As job seekers and employers grapple with the economic recovery, language is one of the key components to be addressed in the workforce world. Words have power. How we talk about workers matter, including what are the accepted words and phrases that get all stakeholders on the same page so we can help workers move forward.

Recently, a group of workforce-related organizations and WorkingNation released a field guide—The Words of the Workforce—which serves as an overview of key terms and concepts related to workers and workforce development. We designed the guide to be a living document, subject to ongoing feedback, input, and critiques, to ensure it’s as helpful as possible.

Our intent is for the guide to promote equity in opportunity, training and employment through the specific and thoughtful use of language. Examples in the field guide include:

What is skills-based hiring?What is degree inflation?What is work-based learning?

This language and more were the subject of an energetic #TalkAboutWork Twitter chat Wednesday, with participants offering their thoughts about the influence of language and its significance for workforce stakeholders. Here are some of the insights and observations from that discussion.

Byron Auguste, CEO and co-founder of Opportunity@Work, notes the importance of workforce terms being direct and on target.

A1: Lazy language makes for hazy thinking.It’s time to stop addressing what people don’t have, & start recognizing what they do have. Employers must start using the term STARs (Skilled Through Alternative Routes) to describe workers without four-year degrees.#TalkAboutWork https://t.co/VfFoUZ4WIB— Byron Auguste (@byron_auguste) September 22, 2021

Ohio Workforce Coalition says language is key to the entire workforce process—from how it’s talked about from the beginning to the subsequent results.

A1 Language is also critical to measuring outcomes and impact of our work. We can’t count what we can’t commonly define. #TalkAboutWork— ohiowfc (@ohiowfc) September 22, 2021

Ashley Putnam, director of the Economic Growth and Mobility Project at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, says misused terms are barriers to results.

TalkAboutWork Terms shape our policy decisions. When we frame job seekers as low-skill, we seek to address the skills gap without addressing the larger opportunity gap.Our terms are often informed by our biases, and thus limit our solutions. https://t.co/fNw1OPihUv— Ashley Putnam (@AshleyAPutnam) September 22, 2021

STRIVE, a nonprofit that helps people acquire skills that lead to sustained employment, notes misunderstanding around the phrase “skills gap.”

A2: Skills gap. People often use it to describe ways in which a talent pool is lacking, instead of a general mismatch of skills. It shifts attention away from the #responsibility of employers to #upskill their workforce or do away with unnecessary requirements. #TalkAboutWork— STRIVE (@STRIVEINTL) September 22, 2021

Peter Callstrom, president and CEO of the San Diego Workforce Partnership, says there is more to a job than just a job.

A2: When we #TalkAboutWork we must talk about #jobquality. It's not just perks, job quality must include opportunities and meet the employee's needs. The @sdworkforce has created a framework for building job quality into your #workdev approach: https://t.co/HDXzkiqJOB— Peter Callstrom (@PeterACallstrom) September 22, 2021

Handshake, an early career network that helps students embark on their careers, says it’s problematic that soft skills are difficult to quantify.

A2: Soft skills! Employers need talent with them, but struggle to measure something so intangible. To better understand them, we encourage organizations to double down on internships, micro-internships, and mentorship for young talent????https://t.co/Sa3gspjmDb#TalkAboutWork— Handshake (@joinHandshake) September 22, 2021

Skills for Chicagoland’s Future is a public-pri...

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Here's a sobering statistic: as of August, nearly half of the nation's long-term unemployed—people out of work for more than six months—are over the age of 45. As more aging Americans choose to stay in the workforce longer, the question of how do we help them find meaningful work becomes more important.

The U.S. Department of Labor has designated this as National Employ Older Workers Week (NEOWW) to call attention to the many challenges older, midcareer workers have in rejoining the workforce—including age bias, the need for upskilling for some open roles, obligations as caregivers, and concerns for their own health in an ongoing pandemic.

Over the past year and a half, on the Work in Progress podcast, we've talked with leaders focused on the issue, exploring challenges, surfacing solutions, and, importantly, highlighting the demonstrated value older, experienced workers can bring to the workforce.

Today, we're sharing some of those podcasts and insights. 

Meeting the Midcareer Moment: The Challenges of the 45+ Job SeekerMona Mourshed, founding global CEO of Generation

Training and Upskilling Older Workers is Crucial to the RecoveryRamsey Alwin, president & CEO of National Council on Aging

Don't Overlook the Older WorkerPaul Irving, chairman of Milken Institute Center for the Future of Agingand Gary Officer, president & CEO of The Center for Workforce Inclusion

Nonprofit Expands Entrepreneurship Program for Adults Looking to Restart Their CareersJ.D. LaRock, president & CEO of NFTE

Age Bias Contributes to Fears of Job Loss Among Older WorkersDavid Gittins, executive director of Age Inclusion in Media

We also want to share this great web discussion we co-hosted with Encore.org examining the benefits of Integrating and Leveraging the Skills of Older Workers to create a multigenerational workforce that not only serves all workers but hiring companies as well.

The panelists include Marci Alboher, vice president of narrative change for Encore.org; Eunice Lin Nichols, vice president of innovation for Encore.org; Lindsey Pollak, author of The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace; and Chip Conley, founder of the Modern Elder Academy.

Join our WorkingNation Facebook Group

Want to keep up on the conversation around midcareer and older workers? We invite you to join our new Facebook group: WorkingNation Midcareer Workers Forum.

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WorkingNation is always looking for job and training pathways being offered around the country. Today, our findings include manufacturing jobs in Kansas and Texas, and bus driving positions in Wyoming.

Take a look.

From Kansas: WIBW reports more than 300 inmates at Kansas correctional facilities are enrolled in classes, including programs in career tech, as well as associate and 4-year degrees.

From Nebraska: KETV reports an agricultural manufacturer is opening its own Omaha training center, that will provide certified training and leadership programs to existing apprenticeship programs.

From Nevada: Las Vegas Review-Journal reports Bank of America has given grants to 20 local organizations focused on boosting economic mobility, including College of Southern Nevada.

From Texas: Johnson City Press reports a metals manufacturer is opening a new facility in Temple. Eight area colleges and universities offer certificate programs and degrees in manufacturing-focused tracks.

From Wyoming: Rocket Miner reports the Sweetwater County School District is offering paid training to address a shortage of part-time school bus drivers.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Landing a first job as a teen can be tough. Gap Inc. is addressing that challenge with a program called This Way ONward at its Old Navy stores. The program offers paid internships, skills training, and mentorships to young people ages 16-to-24 years old who face barriers to employment.

“That can include juvenile justice system involvement. It could include housing instability. It could include the first in that person’s family to go to college,” says Abby Frost, director of opportunity initiatives at Gap Inc., the parent company of Old Navy. Frost adds that for some young people, their paychecks help pay family bills.

To date, almost 10,000 young people have participated in the program that was created in 2007. At the time, the initiative included several brands before moving to Old Navy in 2019. Frost says the goal this year is to hire 1,300 This Way ONward program alums at its Old Navy stores and to have them comprise 5% of Old Navy’s new sales associates by 2025.

A Willingness to Learn and Work Hard

Frost stresses that the company is looking for potential, not credential, when hiring young people for the program. “If young people have the work ethic and are willing to accept feedback, we can teach them all the other skills. Previous experience is not required,” notes Frost.

To recruit and train young people, Old Navy works with 17 different nonprofit organizations across North America.

The Youth Job Center in Chicago is one of them. The Center conducts outreach at high schools and focuses on students with limited job experience.

The Importance of Soft Skills

“They don’t necessarily know how to handle themselves in a professional environment. Those are the students that we really want to target so we can support them, help them have a good experience in their first job because that oftentimes sets up the rest of their career,” says Hester Buell, a career advisor and assistant manager at This Way ONward’s program at the Youth Job Center.

Hester Buell, career advisor at Youth Job Center (Photo: YJC)

Buell says there are 90 interns this summer and the goal is for a majority of them to work part-time at Old Navy once the internships are over.

The preparation and training that’s provided, says Buell, includes teaching soft skills. “Things like customer service, conflict resolution, how do you deal with issues between yourself and a co-worker, yourself and a customer because those soft skills are really important and those can be big barriers for students getting hired,” explains Buell.

The experience often leads to attainment of a critical life skill. “The number one change I hear from basically all the students has been, 'I’m so much more comfortable. I’m so much more confident. I can talk to strangers now. I can ask questions,’” says Buell.

Additionally, both YJC and Old Navy offer various supports while interns are on the job, including providing a “Big Sib” inside the store who can be a “go-to” person.

Getting Youth Into the Workforce

Gap Inc. reiterates the importance of that first job. The company produced its own research examining alumni in 10 years of its This Way ONward program. It finds that 72% secured more stable employment compared to 55% of their peers outside of the company.

“Alums make great employees and they stay two times longer than their peers. They stay highly engaged. They are significantly more diverse than their peers,” notes Frost.

“They are becoming a great talent pipeline for inclusive hiring at our store leader level.”

A 'Life-Changing' Program

Karen Diosa, Old Navy general manager (Photo: Gap Inc.)

Born to immigrant parents, Karen Diosa went from an intern relying on a “Big Sib” to becoming a "work mom" to seven interns of her own as a general manager at the Old Navy store in Brooklyn where she now works. It wasn’t her original plan.

In 2009, Diosa, at 16, was an Old Navy intern and aspired to be a nurse. “I was very shy.

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North Carolina, once primarily known for its agriculture and textile industries, developed some years ago into a major science and biotech hub with the creation of the Research Triangle Park in 1959.

As the biotech industry continues to expand in the state, so has the need for a skilled workforce.

“As the biotech industry grew globally to a juggernaut—and nothing validates that more than the pandemic—we’re seeing the integration with agriculture, health, data science, and technology, all transforming everything. These are good jobs. Clean jobs,” according to Bill Bullock, senior vice president for economic development and statewide operations of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center (NCBiotech).

Bill Bullock, SVP, North Carolina Biotechnology Center (Photo: North Carolina Biotechnology Center)

NCBiotech is working to help lessen the workforce gap while increasing opportunities for workers who might not have previously considered a biotech career.

Working with three area universities—University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina State University—NCBiotech was created to support the evolution of the industry in the state and globally. And now its mission is growing to meet the workforce demand.

“We’ve expanded our impact criteria from what was originally innovation and investment to now adding jobs, opportunities, and solutions," explains Bullock.

Working with Community Colleges to Prepare for Industry Jobs

One of those solutions is the BioWork certificate program, a partnership with community colleges. The program targets nontraditional college student populations—including veterans and transitioning military, education levels from high school graduates to Ph.D.’s, employed and underemployed, or those seeking to pivot.

At Johnston Community College (JCC), the first community college in the state to offer the program, students log 136 hours over five months to be able to work as process operators in biological products manufacturing facilities.

“It is our goal to train tomorrow’s workforce in the biotechnology field,” says Roxanne Curry, career development specialist at JCC.

An important component to the BioWork program is career development and work placement. Close to 3,500 students have completed the JCC program. Considering all graduates since 2007, the employment rate is 82% with an average entry-level annual salary of $40,615.

(Photo: Thermo Fisher Scientific)

Opportunity for High School Grads

NCBiotech piloted a career-related program Pharma K12 Workforce Development Initiative, targeting high school students about to graduate, but without plans for college or a job.

After leaving high school, students learn theory and manufacturing techniques during 20 hours of coursework over three days at Pitt Community College, training them for entry-level production jobs. Thermo Fisher Scientific was one of the initiative’s first partners. Nine Pharma K12 participants are now employed there.

“Nine students are not necessarily moving the needle when you need to hire 500, but if one of those kids who graduated didn’t know what they wanted to do and three months later, they have a career, we’re trying to replicate that,” Bullock says. “We’re impacting communities who wouldn’t necessarily see biotech as a career path.”

A collaboration with historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) is on the horizon. Bullock says talks are just beginning, and NCBiotech hopes to work in concert with life science companies and schools to expand connections and a talent pool for biotech jobs.

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“Resuming life after so many months of lockdown offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reboot.” That bold statement is found in a new report The Indispensable Institution from Opportunity America, in partnership with Lumina Foundation and Wilder Research.

Last year, Opportunity America set out to determine which community and technical colleges are working with employers, offering short job-focused programs and stackable credentials.

At that time, Tamar Jacoby, president of Opportunity America, noted it was still to be determined “how broad or how deep” the innovation at community colleges translates around workforce preparation.

The plan to research workforce education was hatched a few years ago. “We knew that we needed a better map to understand the landscape of community college workforce programs, but in 2018, we couldn't foresee just how important it would be in a world impacted by COVID today,” says Chauncy Lennon, vice president for learning and work, Lumina Foundation.

To that end, more than 1,260 community and technical colleges were invited to participate in a national survey to get a deeper understanding of the institutions’ credit and noncredit workforce programs, as well as their relationships with employers.

With a response rate of 38%, the findings are significant. Among them, more than 50% of students at the participating institutions are enrolled in job-focused programs.

In addition, the noncredit division’s primary strength is workforce education. Responding colleges indicate that 57% of noncredit students are enrolled in job-focused programs. Most of the programs are less than a semester.

(Graphic: Opportunity America)

The report finds the student populations are widely diverse, stating, “There’s no such thing as a typical community college student.” However, there is commonality in that “their time at a community college is likely to be just one stop in a lifetime of encounters with postsecondary education and training.”

The report notes, one institution offers a blunt self-assessment. “Most community colleges know very little about the noncredit students who pass through their doors,” with an educator stating, ‘The only thing we know about them is whether or not they paid by credit card.’”

The value of prior learning

Some students have prior learning from past experiences including previous jobs or the military. However, it does not seem that simple to translate that prior learning into school credit.

The report says, “Asked if noncredit workforce students who later enroll in a credit-eligible program can leverage most or all of their prior learning for college credit, only 20% of colleges said this is true ‘always’ or ‘most of the time.’ Another 46% said it’s true ‘sometimes.’”

Aligning credit and noncredit programs

One finding says, “Many educators aspire to build bridges from noncredit to credit education, but relatively few colleges provide robust opportunities for moving between divisions, and few noncredit learners—at most colleges, fewer than 20%—take advantage of existing opportunities.”

Public-private partnerships

It’s critical that companies offer input into the needs of the local labor markets and, ideally, have a willingness to hire.

“There can be no effective job-focused education without employers. When the relationship works, industry partners supply information about business trends and changing labor market demand. They often collaborate with educators to design programs and develop curriculum.”

“Most valuable, in the closest and most intensive partnerships, they commit to hiring graduates and help the college improve instruction by providing feedback on their skills.”

(Graphic: Opportunity America)

Incentivizing institutions

When the survey was launched, institutions were encouraged to present a scholarship program for their noncredit workforce students. A raffle that followed resulted in three responding schoo...

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In this episode of Work in Progress, Joe Fuller, Harvard Business School (HBS) professor and co-chair of the school’s Managing the Future of Work project joins me in a discussion about the widening labor shortage and some ideas about how business leaders can improve their hiring practices to uncover untapped talent pools. That's the focus of a new report from HBS and Accenture, Hidden Workers.

"Companies are increasingly desperate for workers. As they continue to struggle to find people with the skills they need, their competitiveness and growth prospects are put at risk," states the report. "At the same time, an enormous and growing group of people are unemployed or underemployed, eager to get a job or increase their working hours."

The numbers back up that analysis: there are 10.9 million open jobs and 8.4 million people out of work and looking for a job, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. According to the report, co-authored by Fuller, the workers remain "hidden" from employers because of the way businesses go about looking for talent to fill those open jobs.

"We framed the phrase 'hidden worker' because the processes that companies use, and the way they implement them, have the effect of screening out a large number of people from any kind of active consideration for a position. So they're hidden from the process," Fuller explains.

The report estimates that there are more than 27 million hidden workers in the U.S. According to the report, "Our analysis indicates many such workers want to work and are actively seeking work. They experience distress and discouragement when their regular efforts to seek employment consistently fail due to hiring processes that focus on what they don’t have (such as credentials) rather than the value they can bring (such as capabilities)."

One of the main reasons for this mismatch, Fuller says, is the use of AI-powered applicant tracking systems, or ATS, which 99% of the nation's largest companies use to assess job applicants. "In those software tools, there are a number of variables that an employer can set to both filter-in candidates, keep this person in the pool, exclude this person from pool, and to rank them."

"A common filter is, does this person have a college degree? No, exclude, yes, continue. Another one is, does this person admit to having a felony conviction. A more subtle one is that almost 50% of U.S. employers will use what's called a continuity of employment filter that says if someone has a gap on their resume of more than six months, exclude."

The result, says Fuller, is that these filters "aggregate in a way that causes a large number of people who might actually be 80%, 90% of the way home to being qualified, to fall out of the candidate pool, having never been assessed by a human being. They're just being assessed by the AI system."

This filtering process is just one of the hiring screening practices that Fuller and the report cite in the creation of hidden workers. The report also includes recommendations on steps companies can take to include hidden workers, and in doing so, create a "new and valuable pipeline of talent."

Learn more by listening to the podcast here. You can also find the episode wherever you get your podcasts. And you can read the entire report from Harvard Business School and Accenture here.

Episode 201: Joe Fuller, Harvard Business School professor and co-chair of the school’s Managing the Future of Work projectHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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The last 18 months have been unprecedented in our modern economy. The shock to the workforce triggered by the onset of the pandemic was quick and devastating—nearly 21 million jobs lost in just six weeks by May 2020, resulting in a jobless rate of 14.7%, a level not seen since the Great Depression. After months of workforce recovery, job growth took a step back last month with the resurgence in COVID-19 infections, particularly the Delta variant.

There are 8.4 million people out of work and looking for a job. Millions more have given up looking. While this is well off the highs of the February-April 2020 recession, these numbers are still higher than the pre-COVID level of 5.7 million unemployed. And it should be remembered that many of the challenges and barriers currently facing workers seeking jobs were around even before the pandemic.

The skills gap, the speed of change in technology, and equitable access to opportunity are all contributing factors, issues we've been reporting on for the past five years here at WorkingNation.

To mark this moment, we asked members of our WorkingNation Advisory Board to share their thoughts on how they are looking ahead. Frankly, this group is in the thick of it. They work in a variety of areas including education, nonprofit, policymaking, corporate, and workforce development.

Here is what some of them have to say.

Gerald Chertavian, Year Up

The extreme challenges of the last year and a half offer an opportunity for great change, according to Gerald Chertavian, founder and CEO, Year Up.

He says, “The pandemic has both exposed and exacerbated the economic inequities in our nation and created a passageway through which greater innovation and progress can be made. The opportunity facing us is to redefine who gets included in the next wave of economic recovery and to ensure that opportunity is accessible to all as we emerge from the pandemic.”

Chertavian offers a bright spot in the work being done by OneTen, an initiative that—with the support of corporate partners—aims to move a million Black workers into careers over ten years.

“We are encouraged by the commitment and movement we are seeing by employers to shift to a skills-based approach to hiring, retaining, and advancing talent,” says Chertavian.

“The recent launch of OneTen represents the largest commitment in corporate history to create economic mobility for those who historically have not had access to it. The CEOs of the OneTen organizations are engaged and actively working to change their talent management practices in ways that lead to greater inclusion and equity. It is a journey and we are far from the finish line, although we believe that the movement we have seen over the past year is real and will be sustained.”

Paul Irving, Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging

Stakeholders need to fully participate to ensure there is access for all to achieve the American Dream, according to Paul Irving, chairman, Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging.

“We need leaders in business, policy, philanthropy academia, and media to advocate for education, lifelong learning opportunities, and reskilling programs as new American priorities,” says Irving. “The COVID pandemic has elevated awareness of our disparities, divides, and social challenges. It has offered an opportunity for introspection—to think about what is important and what needs to change.”

“Rather than promoting homes and cars and clothes as aspirational and emblematic of the American Dream, we need a movement to shift culture, change hearts and minds, and advance a new public narrative about the power and possibility of education. That is a movement that can truly improve lives, stimulate innovation and economic vitality, and ensure a better future,” he explains.

Mona Mourshed, Generation

How and from where employees do their work has changed significantly due to the pandemic, notes Mona Mourshed, CEO,

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Today, WorkingNation joins the rest of the country in remembering the 2,977 lives lost on September 11, 2001, and honoring the thousands of first responders who became chronically ill as a result of the terrorist attacks.

Among those who died on that day 20 years ago was Akamai Technologies co-founder Danny Lewin, a friend and colleague to WorkingNation founder and CEO Art Bilger who describes Lewin as “the most remarkable” person he has ever met.

Lewin died at age 31 aboard American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angeles, the first plane to be intentionally-crashed into the World Trade Center by terrorists. The 9/11 Commission confirmed Lewin was stabbed to death as he confronted the terrorists in an attempt to thwart the hijacking, becoming the first victim of the attackers that day.

Lewin was a visionary computer scientist who changed the course of the internet during his brief lifetime. Without his pioneering work in the late 1990s, and the company he created with Akamai CEO Tom Leighton, the internet as we know it today may have evolved along a different course. Akamai since then has grown into a multibillion-dollar company dedicated to making the internet “fast, reliable and secure” and is responsible for handling almost one-third of global internet traffic.

“He was the rare person of incredible intellect and action. A truly one-of-a-kind person. It is safe to say that meeting Danny completely altered the trajectory of my life,” Bilger recalls. “Without him, I don’t think WorkingNation would exist.”

This video remembering and honoring Danny Lewin was first released at WorkingNation’s “Cracking the Code: A Town Hall Event on Bridging the Cybersecurity Skills Gap” in June of 2018.

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There is much discussion about worker shortages around the country. In Colorado, for example, as the state looks toward economic recovery, it expects to face the same challenges that existed before COVID-19 and the subsequent shutdowns. Not enough people to fill existing jobs.

“It’s real hard for workers and employers to remember February of 2020 when any skilled occupation in Colorado was really struggling to find talent,” says Joe Barela, executive director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. “You can’t expect that to go away,” he adds.

Colorado officials see older workers as part of the solution.

The Importance of Learning and Earning

A survey conducted earlier this year finds that half of Colorado residents who are 50 years and older are looking for employment, and half of those job seekers would like to work at something new.

Joe Barela, executive director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (Photo: CDLE)

Lifelong learning for workers is needed to make sure businesses have an accessible pipeline of workers, emphasizes Barela.

“It’s not just upskilling that involves skills training,” Barela explains.

“We are really moving towards learning and earning at the same time because we know incumbent workers that are aged 40, 50, 60 may not have the luxury to stop earning a living or a paycheck to support themselves and their families. So, they need to do it while they are working.”

Apprenticeship as a Pathway

Apprenticeships are often associated with skilled trades, but have expanded into other fields, particularly those sectors that need workers.

For more than five years, Home Care of the Rockies—which provides home health care to older patients—has been offering on-the-job paid training and work experience as a federally registered apprenticeship program.

Age is not a barrier to taking part in the program. 74-year-old Janet Messerli just completed her professional caregiver apprenticeship and certification through the program.

“I was very pleased that Home Care of the Rockies was not afraid to give me a chance because of my age,” says Messerli. “I wanted it to be lasting and meaningful, and I wanted it to be a good fit.”

Janet Messerli (L.) receives her professional caregiver certification (Photo: Home Care of the Rockies)

No prior experience is needed for the apprenticeship which requires working 32 hours of work a week with 100 hours of paid training sessions. Hundreds of people have gone through the program and the company has been awarded state grants to expand its training.

Home health aides in Colorado earn a mean hourly wage of $13.83 and an annual mean wage of $30,350, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

A Valued Employee

Sandi McCann, founder and CEO of Home Care of the Rockies (Photo: Home Care of the Rockies)

Older workers are desirable, says Sandi McCann, founder and CEO of Home Care of the Rockies. “They show up. They are on time. They’re professional."

She adds that they also meet a key client request. “They want a caregiver to anticipate their needs.”

McCann herself knows what it’s like to make a career change after decades in the workforce. She started the company at the age of 50 following a marketing career.

“This is the most rewarding career I’ve ever had,” says McCann.

Changing Stereotypes

Services that help older people navigate the workforce landscape are proving beneficial. Phillip Waltz, a self-described boomer, sought assistance from Arapahoe/Douglas Works! after losing his job during the pandemic.

Besides getting resume advice and learning effective interviewing skills, Waltz also attended a seminar on dealing with different generations in the workforce.

“There’s a perception we can’t learn any more. That we are very fixed in what we do. That we are not very flexible,” says Waltz. He learned tips on how to offset baby boomer stereotypes.

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We are all aware of the strain that the pandemic put on health care systems and the difficulty states face due to nursing shortages. Oklahoma’s nursing talent pipeline has been addressing the shortage for decades. Caring for COVID-19 patients exacerbated the strain on nurses and added a new sense of urgency to the problem.

A number of factors are cited including an aging workforce, nurses leaving the state for better pay elsewhere, and a shortage of nursing programs faculty.

Addressing the Nursing Shortage

One solution gaining traction aims to ease the nursing shortage, while rethinking the path to becoming a nurse. Oklahoma Christian University partnered with INTEGRIS Health, the largest Oklahoma-owned not-for-profit health system in the state, to give students a hands-on learning experience in hospitals while they are earning their B.S. nursing degrees. It’s called INTEGRIS University.

Brandon Tatum, chief strategy officer, Oklahoma Christian University (Photo: B. Tatum)

Brandon Tatum, Ed.D., Oklahoma Christian University’s chief strategy officer, says he came up with the idea, pointing to limited capacity at universities as a key problem.

“I don’t think we have a shortage of nurses,” says Tatum, “I think the people who want to become nurses are out there. We just haven’t scaled up the training of nurses.”

Apprenticeship-type Learning

Tatum says the model looks to leverage hospital space while creating an apprenticeship-type learning opportunity. He focused on Oklahoma’s career tech system at the high school level where students can gain certificates to become, for example, certified nursing assistants (CNAs) or licensed practical nurses (LPNs). 

Both are at the entry level of basic patient care and require the supervision of registered nurses.

Tatum says those students were trying to get into nursing degree programs and, additionally, not working in hospitals. “We created a system that really allows hospitals to hire nurse techs,” he explains. “So, they are hiring these nurse techs right out of high school, employing them, and we’ve embedded the nursing degree into the hospital system,” he adds.

Tatum emphasizes that students are learning in hospitals during the pandemic while also offering support to nurses who are stretched thin.

Scaling Up Training

Oklahoma Christian University and INTEGRIS Health launched a pilot program in August 2020 that grew to INTEGRIS University. Tatum counts roughly 140 enrolled students and expects that to multiply in the coming months.

Last month, OC announced additional hospitals in the state are partnering to provide their employees with work-based degree programs.

(Photo: Oklahoma Christian University)

Tuition is $7,500 per year, according to Tatum. Most students work part-time while taking courses online, but Tatum says there are adult learners who are full-time nurse techs while earning their degree. “I think we are providing opportunities for people who never thought they could get their degree,” says Tatum.

LPNs, for example, require a high school diploma and a certificate from a career tech program or community college. The median hourly age is roughly $18.64 in Oklahoma, according to the state’s Office of Workforce Development.

RNs with a B.S. degree earn roughly $32.02 an hour in Oklahoma, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with an average salary of $66,000 a year.

Innovation and Flexibility Provide Access

INTEGRIS Health’s Kerri Bayer, senior vice president and chief nurse executive calls the program an “innovative approach” needed to address a “critical nursing shortage.”

“We are extremely grateful OC has provided a flexible academic program which allows candidates the opportunity to work in a hospital setting while receiving their necessary credits” she tells WorkingNation in a statement. She writes, “INTEGRIS Health is proud to partner with these caregivers in a way that ensures a supportive environment t...

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In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm joined by Daniel Ferguson, the director of workforce development at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), a nonprofit organization that incubates promising cleantech startups in underserved communities and then helps to develop the local L.A. green jobs workforce through training and internships.

"There are two working definitions for green jobs. One is an actual company that has sustainable practices to be able to create a green product, and then the other, of course, is just an actual company that has a green product to be able to help to reduce greenhouse emissions and pollution," explains Ferguson.

LACI focuses on startups working on clean energy; smart, sustainable cities; and zero emissions transportation. The ultimate mission is to bring more green jobs to workers and communities that haven't always had representation in the tech industry. Ferguson says its important that for the cleantech industry to realize there are hidden treasures within local BIPOC communities that can help these companies grown.

"Giving startups exposure to our talent pipeline and seeing how well they can actually develop an idea and be able to work for an organization is really helping to change that narrative. Diversity, equity, and inclusion is very important to us. The purpose of our workforce development program is to provide individuals from underrepresented communities with experiential training and industry recognized credentials to get them into the green workforce."

Career Exploration, Boot Camps, Credentials, and Internships

LACI recruits from local community based organizations, local work source centers, community colleges and universities, and word of mouth. Once someone signs up for the workforce development program, they spend the day learning about green job opportunities.

"Clean tech, for some, it's attractive, and for others, it's this interesting concept that some folks might not be aware of. We believe that introducing them to clean technology is important. Throughout the career expiration day, we're providing individuals with the opportunity to learn about clean tech, also understand career pathways and introduce them to our LACI ecosystem and our startups. We believe that exposure is key," Ferguson tells me in the podcast.

"The ultimate goal is not only helping them to realize some of the career opportunities that can come out of participating in our workforce development program, but also some of the other opportunities to become an actual founder and to have your own cleantech idea and help them to see how realistic it could be for them to become a founder and provide solutions in their local community as well," he adds.

The career day is followed by a technical boot camp. "That is what I call the nuts and bolts of our actual program, where individuals learn from industry practitioners that are experts in the actual area in which we're training. This technical boot camp can range from two weeks, all the way up to eight or 10 weeks. It just depends on the particular theme that we're focusing on for the respective cohort.

"They then go into an internship program with our local startups, our partner organizations, where they get three months of hands-on experience to really apply all the things that they've learned throughout the technical boot camp. They also receive a stipend to be able to help them with living expenses as they go through the three-month internship.

"Technically, it's part-time. We do encourage our participants to take advantage of 20 hours a week. That way, there's a work and life balance so that they get the experience or training that they need in hopes that once they complete after three months, they can transition right into full-time employment with the startup, or either partner organizations, or perhaps other organizations that might be in our ecosystem."

Ferguson says while the current program focuses on underrepres...

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U.S. employers added 235,000 jobs last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase is sharply lower than the 943,000 jobs gained in July.

Additionally, the unemployment rate declined by 0.2% to 5.2% in August with unemployed people numbering 8.4 million.

Meanwhile, jobless claims for the week ending August 28 dropped to 340,000. The Department of Labor notes, " This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000."

We are always on the lookout for job and training opportunities being offered around the country.

On this Labor Day, we share information including manufacturing jobs in an outdoor equipment firm in Wisconsin, an inmate job training program in Virginia, and paid on-the-job training for Virginia college students.

Check it out.

From Arkansas: TB&P reports a new nonprofit is launching programming to help lift people out of poverty in northwest Arkansas with focus on financial literacy and job growth.

From Delaware: Delaware Public Media reports a Delaware prison is training inmates to work as home health aides. The skills will be utilized to help elderly and ill inmates with day-to-day care and then be applied to jobs after release.

From Indiana: WLFI reports the Indiana State Department of Agriculture is encouraging specialty crop growers to apply for funding that includes help with access, education, and training.

From Virginia: InsideNoVa reports collaboration between Northern Virginia Community College, AT&T, and the state labor department will provide IT training and on-the-job experience to college students to address the needs of national-security employers.

From Wisconsin: Spectrum News 1 reports a plastics manufacturer in Oostburg—in the southeastern part of the state—is hiring up to 40 new employees due to a particular demand for kayaks, coolers, and outdoor furniture.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Prior to the pandemic, the nonprofit sector was among the biggest employers in America, employing more people than the manufacturing sector and trailing only the retail and leisure industry in the number of workers. But, like others, the nonprofit sector experienced significant job losses as the pandemic took its toll on businesses across the country.

During the initial months of the COVID outbreak, nonprofits lost 1.64 million jobs, about 13% of its workforce. It's estimated that staffing won't return to pre-pandemic levels until next summer, but the jobs are now returning at a steady pace.

Hopeful Signs

Last fall, the Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies (JHCCSS)—self-described as a “source of groundbreaking research and knowledge about the nonprofit sector, social investing, and the tools of government”—began producing monthly reports examining the state of the sector.

From June to July, nonprofits added almost 70,000 jobs, according to the most recent JHCCSS report, continuing an upward trend. “The (nonprofit) educational field in particular continued its recent strong recovery trend, adding over 28,300 jobs—an increase of nearly 15% during the month [of July] over June’s staffing levels," notes the report.

As of July, nonprofit job gains since the initial job losses have been about a million, overall.

(Graphic: JHCCSS)

Deep Dive into the Nonprofit Employment Picture

“The fact is that nonprofit jobs are jobs, and by and large, nonprofit businesses are affected by the same forces that affect other businesses,” says Chelsea Newhouse, JHCCSS communications manager.

“While, during previous recessionary periods, we have seen nonprofits perform better than for-profits overall, a challenge like the COVID-19 pandemic affects all employers because of the cyclical shutdowns and precautions that need to be taken need to be taken by everyone, including nonprofits.”

Chelsea Newhouse, JHCCSS communications manager (Photo: C. Newhouse)

Newhouse says it’s a challenge to determine a clear view of how the pandemic is affecting nonprofits because the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) “does not break out nonprofits from the larger private employment data.”

“Our monthly estimates are an outgrowth of a process we initiated as part of our 2020 Nonprofit Employment Report,” explains Newhouse.

“While we were putting that together, I noticed that the BLS monthly employment updates were disaggregated by field in a way that was directly comparable to the data we have on hand on nonprofit shares of employment by field. So, we decided to look at what the implications of the job losses over the first three months of the pandemic—March, April, and May—would be for nonprofits based on their share of overall private employment in various key fields.”

Newhouse says that job loss data amounted to about 13% of the 12.5 million nonprofit positions that existed before the pandemic.

In September 2020, JHCCSS began producing its monthly updates based on these same datasets and implementing the same methodology. Says Newhouse, “As such, our estimates of nonprofit job losses and subsequent gains track with those experienced in the overall private economy and have occurred for the same reasons that for-profit job losses and gains have occurred.”

Return to Pre-pandemic Levels

“We have attempted to estimate how long it will take for nonprofits to staff back up to their pre-pandemic levels,” says Newhouse. “We do this by averaging the monthly jobs recovered since the start of 2021 and calculating how many months it would take to re-hire the remaining missing workers at that average rate.”

“As of July 2021, our estimate is that it will take the nonprofit sector, as a whole, about one year to get back to pre-COVID staffing levels. That’s assuming, of course, that changes in workflow, closures of nonprofits, and other factors don’t result in an overall smaller workforce as we, hopefully,

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It’s been almost 18 months since the onset of the pandemic and today, millions of job seekers continue to look for their places in the workforce. Many face barriers that are keeping them from landing well-paying jobs that provide family-sustaining wages.

To kick off National Workforce Development Month, the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Kansas City, and Fed Communities, along with WorkingNation, invited educational, philanthropic, corporate, and workforce development thought leaders to engage and share solutions around how to help workers move forward in an #InvestInWork Twitter chat.

The participation was robust in the hour-long online conversation on how we can work together to Get America Back to Work. The Q&A format resulted in many observations and suggestions—too many to share here. But we would like to offer examples of some of the tweets to illustrate the range of ideas.

And remember, it's not too late to jump into the mix by going on Twitter using the hashtag #InvestInWork. We encourage you to do so, so we can keep this important discussion going throughout the month.

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions says getting to workforce equity requires a very deep dive. The National Fund aims for a time when "workers, employers, and communities are thriving and prosperous."

A1: Addressing systemic issues requires systems thinking. Getting to the root cause of an issue and understanding how different systems interact is essential to making lasting, equitable change. Learn more about systems thinking here. #InvestInWork https://t.co/SEo6OBQIDh— National Fund for Workforce Solutions (@National_Fund) September 1, 2021

Removing barriers and achieving fairness in the workforce goes hand-in-hand with eliminating racism, according to the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). The organization advocates for the adult learner.

A1: We realize our work will never be complete while racism and the inequities it perpetuates exist. And this means we cannot overlook opportunities to more tangibly connect our mission and work to the broader one of eradicating systemic racism #InvestInWork https://t.co/XhbLWamfNx— CAEL (@CAELnews) September 1, 2021

In order to knock down barriers to employment, David M. Rubenstein Fellow Annelies Goger of Brookings says there needs to be consideration of lived experiences. The mission of the Metropolitan Policy Program is "to deliver research and solutions that help metropolitan leaders build an advanced economy that works for all."

A1. Start by asking people what their barriers and aspirations are, and build a coordinated strategy rooted in an understanding of our/their experiences rather than making assumptions. #InvestInWork https://t.co/9aEQFyCaKc— Annelies Goger (@annelies_goger) September 1, 2021

Collaborative funding efforts among stakeholders can provide critical impact for those that are often left behind, according to World Education Services. The WES Mariam Assefa Fund, the philanthropic effort of WES, invests in inclusive efforts for immigrants and refugees in the U.S., as well as Canada.

A2 (1): Leveraging non-government funding (employers, philanthropy, investors) can shift the future of financing workforce training – this has the potential to change existing employment pathway experiences and improve job quality. #InvestInWork— World Education Services (@WorldEdServices) September 1, 2021

Hiring managers need to rethink requirements when bringing in new talent. Opportunity@Work says there are plenty of people who don't have college degrees that are skilled and capable of filling those positions.

A2: Employers need to find and invest in STARs (workers Skilled Through Alternative Routes) where they are. Our Navigating with the STARs report finds that there are 51 gateway jobs that unlock economic mobility for STARs. #InvestInWorkhttps://t.co/WWH2NJk3QD— Opportunity@Work (@OpptyatWork) September 1,

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A majority of Americans think colleges are not adapting to the changing needs of students fast enough, and that alternatives to four-year schools are offering a better option for young adults looking to kickstart a good career.

In a new survey released by the Charles Koch Foundation, more than half of Americans say they believe tech schools and credentialing programs better prepare students for their future in the workplace.

"51% would recommend someone they know pursue a credential provided by a reputable tech company over attending a highly prestigious college—if it provided a high likelihood of landing a job," according to the survey released this morning.

"When presented with a list of educational options, 32% said technical education programs do the best job of preparing learners for successful careers." Four-year institutions came in second at 21%.

61% of respondents say universities and colleges "should do a better job of changing to meet the needs of students." One way four-year institutions can accommodate the changing needs of learners is to offer more accessible and flexible options, says the survey, with 62% of the respondents saying that there is a need for more online classes and 19% adding that it would make postsecondary education more affordable.

"We must remove barriers like cost and inflexibility that stand in the way of people reaching their potential," says Ryan Stowers, the executive director of the Charles Koch Foundation.

"Now is the time to empower all learners to discover, develop, and apply their unique aptitudes," he continues in a statement released with the survey. "Our survey indicates that Americans are supportive of more individualized options that accelerate innovation of the status quo."

According to the survey, the demand is there for more employer-provided education benefits. "Americans overwhelmingly favor the type of programs being offered by companies like Walmart and Target where employers pay for employees' college tuition. Almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents say these work-and-learn programs would be a good idea for young people."

Stowers calls learning a "lifelong endeavor" and adds, "By supporting education entrepreneurs and bottom-up solutions, we can help transform the postsecondary education landscape."

The survey of 1,000 respondents was conducted by YouGov for the Charles Koch Foundation from August 11-16.

Ryan Stowers on Purpose and Work at ASU+GSV Summit

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Last year saw a marked increase in scams due to COVID-19. The FBI notes there has been “a wave of criminals seeking to prey upon an anxious public.”

Additionally, with many more people working remotely—cybercrime has had more potential targets—all of whom are more dependent on digital tools. Businesses need to be aware of these threats, but also develop a strong cybersecurity culture.

These are challenges facing people working in cybersecurity. According to a report by Cybersecurity Ventures, there is not enough talent to fill the available positions.

Safeguarding Your Network

What do security specialists do? They provide support services for companies with their internal technology assets. They seek out cyber threats or weaknesses in businesses’ security, while helping companies upgrade systems. They usually assist other colleagues – like a security architect or engineer.

Molly Elise Young is a cybersecurity specialist II with Akamai Technologies—based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She says, “Cybersecurity is making sure that a life lived online is lived online securely. So only the people who should have access to your information or your activities online have that access. It is available and secure no matter what's going on in the rest of the world.”

Young tells WorkingNation that her responsibilities are varied. “In general, I get to do a lot of research. I do a lot of creative problem-solving. I work with people a lot, either working with our engineers or our assessors, our stakeholders to make sure that everybody is on the same page and whatever questions they have are being answered.”

Young continues, “So one of the pieces I do is help people understand what tools and resources are there for them to use. Then I help them apply those in a way that’s most efficient and makes everybody's lives less complicated in the process.”

Typically, security specialists have an understanding of antivirus software, software design, hardware architecture, and tools that identify security issues. Young adds, “It's really important to have a basic understanding of how certain code languages work.”

Transferable Skills are Valuable in Cybersecurity

According to Young, transferable skills landed her a job in cybersecurity. “Traditionally, cybersecurity is looking for a bachelor of science and computer science. However, a lot of people who work in cybersecurity are like me. They're career changers. I come from an education background. I have colleagues who have come from backgrounds in sales, in library sciences, in mathematics. It's really the kind of field where there is a spot for everyone no matter what you're interested in or what you're good at or what your experience is. There's a spot for you in cybersecurity.”

She also says people interested in working in cybersecurity should explore the learning resources that are available. “Do a lot of independent learning. There are many opportunities online for free courses or  free textbooks on cybersecurity, security threats, security protections, networks, system hardening, those kinds of topics.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the median annual wage of an information security analyst is $104,120.

Young says what she does is helping, not only Akamai clients, but people in her own life. “The most rewarding thing about what I do is knowing that the internet is a better place because of the work I'm doing. It's a safer place for my mom to go online and talk to my sister. It's a safer place for my grandfather to do his online banking. It's a safer place for me to keep in touch with friends.”

Watch all the I Want That Job! videos here.

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management—better known as SHRM—sits down with me at the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 to discuss upheaval in the workforce, the questions hiring managers and employers want answered now, and the issue that makes him want to climb onto his soap box.

An Unprecedented Period of Adjustment

"We're in the middle of a level of transition that we've never seen in such a short period of time in the workforce. There's a paradigm shift from the resume and the degree being a proxy for smart and capable and having the skills, to a different world where maybe (qualification for a job) doesn't show up in a bachelor's degree or a person with a graduate education, it just shows up.

"Hiring managers are trying to keep up with it, and it's tough. That's the only way I can describe it." Taylor says hiring managers are relying heavily on feedback from the people who are actually interviewing for a job.

"I want to know who's showing up (and) how are they describing themselves and their skills and qualities and characteristics. I don't mean to dance around it, but it is really difficult. I've been at this work now 25 years in human resources, and let me tell you, even I'm a little flummoxed at times."

Tell Me Your Story

According to Taylor, that means hiring managers now want job seekers to not only describe your technical competency, they want you tell them who you are, what you've done, and what kind of results you've gotten in the workplace. And you can't get all this simply from a resume, he adds.

"The most important thing you've got to do is to become a storyteller, even if you're not great at it. Think about it. We don't allow people to say to us, 'I'm not good at this, so trust me.' You've got to get good at it," says Taylor.

"(You've) got to be able to convince me that, 'I'm agile, I'm flexible. I'm a lifelong learner.' Anyone can put those three words, those phrases on a resume, but if you give me a story, you tell me how you're agile, you tell me how you have been flexible, give me examples at its core, storytelling is going to get you the job."

Taylor acknowledges that it could be difficult for some people to become a storyteller, but he emphasizes that in this new work environment it is crucial.

"They've got to commit themselves to it. I wish I could tell you there's a magic way to do it, but long gone are the days when a degree that you got 20 years ago matters to us. It doesn't. Because the world changes too much in a 20 year period. Heck, it changes a lot in a five year period. So more and more, you've got to be able to evidence that you can change with the times, because the one thing we know that's constant is change."

Ageism in the Workplace

This brings us to the question of the midcareer worker who might have lost their job and are now trying to find their way back into the workforce.

"We openly discriminate against people in the workplace based on age," states Taylor. "It drives me nuts. It is personally—when I get on my soap box—it's that point."

"Ageism in the workplace is one of the biggest, most tragic forms of discrimination in the workplace. We have to address that head on and sensitize people to the fact that—if you keep waking up—one day you too will be 50, and therefore you have to, 25-year-old, understand that this is in your best interest to change the narrative and the way that people think about it."

Taylor goes on to say it is up to CEOs, like himself, to establish that diversity, equity, and inclusion isn't just about race, gender, or national origin, it includes age. "We 've got to broaden the definition so that it encompasses everyone. Opportunity for all. It starts with the CEO and boards, we've got to say, diversity is not a program and an initiative, it's the way we do business here."

The conversation was insightful and engaging,

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Working women continue to be disproportionately hit by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even as 4.3 million people have found work this year, women are returning to work at a much slower pace than men, and this is particularly true for working mothers.

Melissa Panzer, executive producer, WorkingNation

WorkingNation's Melissa Panzer—executive producer who oversees all our video production and development—has a nearly three-year old son, and she has personally struggled to find a balance between parenting and working from home throughout the pandemic.

Monday, Panzer appeared on ABC7 in Los Angeles to discuss the impact the pandemic is having on working moms across the country and to discuss her new interview series, currently called the WorkingNation Mom Project.

As news started to break this spring on the staggeringly slow speed at which mothers were returning to work, she became interested in getting to the heart of the issue. Panzer has since started an interview series, in which she has committed to interviewing at least 200 moms across America to understand what is keeping them from returning to the workplace.

Watch Melissa Panzer on ABC7 in Los Angeles

She is currently collecting stories for her interview series. If you are interested in sharing your story or you have someone you would like to nominate to share their story, please reach out to momproject@workingnation.com

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WorkingNation is always looking for job and training opportunities available around the country. This week, we found some programs in five states, including access to tech jobs in Florida, logistics positions in Georgia, and boosting the logging talent pipeline in Maine.

Take a look.

From Florida: Refresh Miami reports REEF Technology plans to hire more than 1,000 employees in Miami over the next three years with a commitment to include hires from underserved communities.

From Georgia: Business Facilities reports a Netherlands-based logistics company is expanding its North American headquarters in Cobb County leading to the creation of 500 new jobs.

From Hawaii: Hawaii News Now reports Honolulu is partnering with the University of Hawaii and its community college system to provide free job training to 500 residents who lost their jobs during to the pandemic.

From Maine: Mainebiz reports a hands-on, 12-week certificate program developed by the logging industry, a logging association, and community colleges is helping fill the industry’s talent pipeline.

From South Dakota: The Brookings Register reports that next month South Dakota State University is offering a remote workers training course through its extension programming.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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For members of the military-connected community, the civilian workforce can prove daunting whether you’re among the 200,000 members transitioning out of the military each year or the spouse of an active duty member who has had to move frequently with new deployments and have your career disrupted.

To address these challenges, Walmart has made it a priority to hire veterans and military spouses. But the retail giant is taking its commitment to another level with a new program called Find-a-Future. It’s an online platform designed to offer veterans and military spouses support in setting goals for professional aspirations and providing the resources to achieve them.

The program comes one year after Walmart exceeded a benchmark of hiring 250,000 veterans, a commitment it made in 2013.

Brynt Parmeter, Senior Director Military, Walmart (Photo: Walmart)

“It’s this amazing quantitative achievement but at the time, we realized we needed to be a little more qualitative in our delivery in what we are offering to folks,” says Brynt Parmeter, Senior Director of Military & STEM Programs at Walmart.

The retired U.S. Army Colonel says Walmart re-envisioned its strategy. “As opposed to being primarily focused on employment outcomes, we wanted to be more focused on economic opportunity and well-being outcomes in a holistic way,” adds Parmeter. 

There’s also a payoff for Walmart. The retail giant, says Parmeter, believes the strategy will lead to increased retention and promotions over time.

Online Career Platform Serves the Military-Connected Community

Find-a-Future was officially launched in late June and has already had more than one-thousand people register. The idea is to first connect users with coaches to audit skill levels, education, and experience, and then begin conversations about goals and the paths to reach them.

That may mean employment opportunities at Walmart. For veterans and military spouses wanting to be entrepreneurs, it could mean training for starting or growing their own businesses.

A third outcome is an education path that may mean an associate getting a traditional degree while they are working at Walmart or getting skills training through the Walmart Live Better U employee education benefit. 

For example, Parmeter cites a range of upskilling programs from project management and human resources certifications to specialized roles. “We are very interested in Walmart in helping people go into these roles you might not think about whether it's to become an optometry technician or a pharmacy technician in our health side of the business.” 

To provide these resources, Walmart connects veterans, members of the National Guard, and military spouses with external partners that include the Student Veterans of America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroes program, and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF).

Upskilling to a Career Path 

Kimberly Keller, User Experience Manager, Institute for Veterans and Military Families (Photo: IVMF)

“Basically, we take them on, take them under our wings,” says Kimberly Keller, user experience manager at IVMF, a no-cost career prep and employment program that trains and assists veterans and spouses. Keller says roughly 50 certification tracks are offered from different industries.

One of the most popular, she says, is project management professional certificates. For this certification, for example, professional work experience is required. Median salaries for project managers, according to The Project Management Institute, is $116,000.

It’s just one of the certification training offerings at IVMF which Keller says also prepares learners for job interviews with the goal of helping veterans and military spouses to “secure meaningful and satisfying employment.” 

“We’ve heard time and again that the military community has needs. And they vary across the board.

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A lot has been written about last-mile training programs that provide just-in-time training around the specific skills and business experiences that employers are looking for in their open positions.

By starting with employer needs and working backward to education and training, last-mile training programs are highly responsive to shifts in the labor market, create a fast track for talent, and improve employment outcomes—especially in emerging technical fields plagued by skills gaps.

But, alas, not all last-mile programs are created equal. American history is rife with examples of training programs that exacerbate racial disparities, from certificates that prepare young Black and Latinx workers for dead-end jobs to training programs that sort students into different vocational tracks based on demographics.

If we are to build a future of work that works for everyone, we need to seriously evaluate last-mile training programs through the lens of equity, learn from past mistakes, and invest in scaling the most promising solutions.

There are many promising last-mile models out there, and a few key trends across the most effective programs that give us a glimpse of what the engine behind a more equitable future of work could look like.

Integrating Hard and Soft Skills

While many last-mile training programs focus on in-demand technical skills, the most equitable solutions offer holistic, competency-based approaches to building these skills while also integrating soft skills to set workers up for long-term career growth and success.

For example, Talent Path—a company committed to recruiting from underrepresented communities—not only trains candidates on specific digital skills like software development and data analytics and visualization, but its curriculum expressly focuses on soft skills and emotional intelligence and promises well-rounded candidates.

Building Professional Networks 

Beyond hard and soft skills, other factors play an important role in employment outcomes—and the question of who you know may be the biggest. Training programs that recognize the value of networks can help reduce barriers for communities with fewer connections to professionals in the most lucrative fields.

Consider the case of Designlab, which provides last-mile training in UX and UI design and branding with a six-month online intensive that provides 480 hours of learning, 50 hands-on projects, and most importantly, 34 synchronous mentoring sessions with a professional working in the field. Designlab has more than 500 part-time mentors to help reinforce learning, check on progress, and coach students through a successful job search.

Eliminating Tuition

The best way to level the playing field is to take tuition off the table. Not surprisingly, many of the models with equity at their core have already addressed this. Tuition-based programs discriminate against those who are not willing or not able to take on student loan debt.

While income share-based programs are a better option than loans for some, many workers with the greatest need are leery of assuming any financial obligation. Income share offers can be confusing and conflated with arrangements that are truly predatory.

If training programs ask workers to take any financial risk to upskill for jobs where there is a skills gap, they either have a suboptimal or unimaginative business model. Because if there’s truly a skills gap, there’s a very willing payor for that upskilling: the employer that cannot find that trained talent otherwise (or at least, find diverse trained talent and/or trained talent at an entry-level wage).

Guaranteeing Jobs

The uncertainty of a positive employment outcome is a big turn off for diverse talent when seeking training or upskilling opportunities. Even if tuition is off the table, going through a training program without a light at the end of the tunnel may not be worth the time and opportunity cost.

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, Diana Caba, assistant vice president for policy and community engagement for the Hispanic Federation joins me to discuss the digital skills gap in the Latino community and what is being done to close that gap.

"The dire need for digital skills is a longstanding issue for communities of color in general. And before the pandemic, the digital divide has been especially detrimental to the economic prospects of Latinos of all ages," says Caba.

"The Latino workforce is growing exponentially," she adds, "(and) a lot of those workers are lacking critical digital skills to be able to work, to be able to progress in their careers, to be able to increase their financial security."

Latinos are 14% of today's workforce and will account for as many as seven out of 10 workers entering the workforce by 2025, but they also currently represent 35% of workers without digital skills and 20% of those with limited digital skills, according to the National Skills Coalition.

This disconnect means that Latino workers without in-demand digital skills will have fewer opportunities to compete for the best-paying jobs.

"This stems from a variety of different issues from K-12 education and access to opportunities. There's so much to be said in regards to that, but I think that we can all agree that the devastation the pandemic has caused has shed light on these deep-rooted inequities, but has also offered the opportunity to see that digital access is no longer a luxury."

To address the digital skills gap, a few years ago the Hispanic Federation created the Latino Digital Accelerator initiative, which enhances and expands the digital workforce activities of Latino-led and Latino-serving nonprofit organizations across the nation.

"The intention of the Digital Accelerator is to be able to support Latino-serving organizations that are doing the work, that are in the community with the resources and expertise for them to grow their digital skilling initiatives, that in turn will prepare Latinos for the workforce of today and tomorrow, and the idea of creating a coalition of organizations working in this area to then further inform other groups that want to do this in their communities," Caba explains on the podcast.

The Hispanic Federation is currently working with 24 community-based organizations (CBOs) in 10 states and in Puerto Rico. "We have provided them with seed funding to either start a digital skilling program or enhance their digital skilling programs that they currently have, again, through the workforce training work that they do.

"In additional to the capital, we have developed a basic digital skilling and job preparedness curriculum, which was created also with input from the CBOs that we're working with and also additional research and also combining that with free tools that can be incorporated. It's part of our essential services that we provide to the organizations that we provide capacity building for."

As Caba explains, "We are very fortunate to receive the support of Google.org and also continue to work with other entities interested in digital skilling for Latinos. The long-term vision for the Digital Accelerator, of course, is to establish a pipeline that leads to well-paying jobs."

"The future belongs to those who are connected."

You can learn more about the Digital Accelerator and the work the Hispanic Federation is doing to close the digital skills gap by downloading the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.

Episode 198: Diana Caba, Hispanic Federation, Assistant VP for Policy and Community EngagementHost and Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, editor-in-chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress pod...

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Millions of people are looking for the pathway into the workforce. WorkingNation is always looking for job and training opportunities available around the country. This week, we note some programs in five states, including Alaska and Ohio.

Check out what we found.

From Alaska: Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reports a certified nursing assistant training program is helping fill area health care needs.

From New Mexico: Deming Headlight reports agriculture businesses can apply for internship funding for beginning farmers and ranchers.

From Ohio: Knox Pages reports the launch of a certification program to train Knox County residents for manufacturing jobs.

From South Carolina: Cola Daily reports a work-readiness program is available for young people with autism.

From Washington, D.C.: The Washington Informer reports the D.C. Infrastructure Academy offers hands-on training to work on the city’s gas pipelines.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Get out the vote!

PanelPicker® community voting for the SXSW EDU 2022 conference in Austin in March 2022 is underway now through August 26.

As always, WorkingNation is looking at innovative pathways to good jobs and careers, and we believe we've put together some interesting panels and conversations that we'd love to share with our workforce development and education community when we all gather in Austin next Spring.

Help us bring these panels to life. Give us your support by clicking on the links below, create a free SXSW account with just your email, and vote us UP!

Learn-and-Earn: A Proven Workforce Model

Employer-driven programs work. Apprenticeships work. Employers work with community colleges to set a curriculum that will teach skills needed in local businesses through a combination of classroom and on-the-job learning. And, the students are paid for the work they do while gaining valuable skills. Using this model, communities across the country can develop a much-needed, skilled workforce, leading to jobs that employers need to fill.

Jane Oates, President, WorkingNationJamie Merisotis, President & CEO, Lumina Foundation

Vote for this panel here!

Building Innovation Hubs Outside of Silicon Valley

The great 2020 migration from larger metro areas to more-affordable and less-populated cities and towns has created an opportunity for many of these mid-size and smaller communities to become tech innovation and entrepreneurial hubs of the future. Local businesses, civic leaders, foundations, and educators are teaming up to foster new tech-centric economies that will unleash new employment opportunities for all and encourage small business creation.

Hari Sreenivasan, Senior Correspondent, Weekend Anchor, PBS NewshourFrancis Suarez, Mayor, City of MiamiNicholas Lalla, Co-founder, Managing Director, Tulsa Innovation LabsPatrick McKenna, Founder, One America Works

Vote for this panel here!

Closing the Latino Digital Skills Gap

Latino workers are 14% of overall workers, but represent 35% of workers with no digital skills and 20% of those with limited digital skills. Digital skills are crucial to obtaining gainful employment and resources to support their families. We talk to leaders from various organizations providing training and education to close this skills gap and help the community thrive.

Frankie Miranda, President & CEO, Hispanic FederationHector Mujica, Economic Opportunity Lead, Americas, Google.orgGiselle Fernandez, Anchor, Spectrum News 1 Los Angeles

Vote for this panel here!

Green Jobs Are More Abundant Than You Think

Helping the environment while helping yourself. Green jobs are one of our greatest hopes for employment growth—as environmental challenges multiply, which they will, so too does the need to meet those challenges with a wide range of skills. Green jobs extend to water management, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and infrastructure improvement, as well as jobs you may be surprised to learn are green. Here's how to find one and get one.

Paula DiPerna, Special Advisor, CDPJon Shieber, Venture Partner and Editor, Footprint CoalitionBill Ritter, former Governor of Colorado, Founder & Director, Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University

Vote for this panel here!

Don’t Leave Older Workers Out of the Jobs Recovery

The majority of the long-term unemployed are over the age of 45. A majority of hiring managers admit hesitating when it comes to hiring an older worker, fearing they are not tech-adaptable or might not fit into the work culture. Conversely, they say the older workers already on the job are valued employees. So, where does that leave mid-career workers trying to find a new job in the post-pandemic workforce? Let's address this age bias directly and examine what's being done to correct it.

Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationPaul Irving, Chairman,

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To fill the urgent employment needs brought on by the pandemic, City Colleges of Chicago has launched a collection of short-term college programs to get Chicagoans into jobs.

Future Ready includes 60 workforce-aligned programs, according to Mark Potter, provost and chief academic officer of City Colleges of Chicago. And because Future Ready is funded by federal stimulus dollars, the program is free for students.

“We wanted to think through how we could utilize those resources in service of Chicago’s recovery. It made sense to think of what we already do well, and what is of value to Chicago and Chicagoans,” Potter says.

Fields of study are broad and include health care, technology, transportation, distribution and logistics, cannabis operations, auto tech, and more. The overwhelming majority of students are from Chicago and the school system’s population diverse. Close to 75% of students are Black or Latino, and they tend to skew slightly older. Potter expects adult learners will be most attracted to the program.

Mark Potter, provost and chief academic officer of City Colleges of Chicago (Photo: City Colleges of Chicago)

“Students of a nontraditional age who are looking for access to the job market, or to upskill, reskill, and advance in the job market,” describes Potter.

“The way the pandemic has affected Chicagoans obviously varies from individual to individual, family to family, neighborhood to neighborhood. We did see some industries like hospitality come to an almost complete halt. We would absolutely expect people to take part in Future Ready in some cases thinking about a new or different opportunity.”

The programs can be as short as one week for a food sanitation manager, who can make an average salary of $21.23 per hour/$44,159 a year. In five weeks, a student can earn a Google Workplace Certification.

Some longer programs (two semesters or more) include auto technician basic certification, cybersecurity, criminal justice. While the non-credited programs lead to industry-recognized credentials, credited programs can help prepare students for degreed programs.

Gary Trapp, 18, currently works in lawn maintenance, but has enrolled in Future Ready to become a certified electrical lineman and hopes to work for ComEd in the future.

“I’m super nervous and excited about the transition,” Trapp says. “Going back to school is a new experience but I’m doing it because my stepfather is an electrical lineman. I think Future Ready is great opportunity for everyone. City Colleges is helping to put you in a higher position in life.”

Enrollment is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Eligibility is also available to undocumented students. Potter estimates that Future Ready can serve up to 3,000 students and they must complete the program within 150% of time (a two-semester program must be completed in three semesters).

“This, to us, is our contribution to Chicago’s recovery. To really provide an onramp back into well-paying jobs,” he says. “For Chicagoans really looking to come out of this pandemic with optimism on the economic front in terms of what lies ahead of them, reskilling and upskilling is critically important, not just for themselves but for their families and their community.”

Registration for Future Ready for fall closes on August 26.

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Let's Get America Back to Work! Let's #InvestInWork.

For the nation to achieve a strong jobs recovery, we need to work together to address the many issues and questions surrounding access and equity in the workforce.

Millions of job seekers are still facing challenges preventing them from actively participating in the workforce, while millions more are facing barriers that are keeping them from seeking and getting better-paying jobs that provide family-sustaining wages.

On September 1, WorkingNation, the Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Kansas City, and Fed Communities are coming together to host the #InvestInWork Twitter chat to discuss these issues and surface solutions to these challenges.

We want to know:

What are the challenges facing workers and job seekers as we look forward to a post-pandemic jobs recovery?How do we eliminate the cost barriers that are preventing some of our fellow Americans from getting the skills training needed to be competitive in a rapidly changing workforce?How do we ensure equity in broadband access, broadband subscriptions, hardware access, digital literacy, and digital fluency?How do we make certain that all workers’ voices are heard and the recovery doesn’t leave anyone behind?How do we build and sustain strong public-private workforce development partnerships?How do we improve the economic outcome for all Americans?

We invite everyone in our workforce development, education, business, and nonprofit communities to join the conversation. And we want to hear from workers and job seekers, too!

The greater the participation, the more robust the dialogue.

Planning to join us?

RSVP and we will email you the #InvestInWork Twitter toolkit to get you ready for the chat.RSVP here.

You can also download the toolkit here.

September 1 | 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET.

Be a part of the conversation.

Be a part of the solution.

InvestInWork

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I am joined by Kelcey Reed, the new chief technology officer for the nonprofit Opportunity@Work.

Opportunity@Work's mission is to rewire the U.S. labor market so that individuals Skilled Through Alternative Routes—workers and job seekers they call STARs—can work, learn, and earn to their full potential.

"You shouldn't have to have a college degree to acquire a good-paying job. You should have the acumen to gain skills and utilize those skills to your fullest potential," explains Reed.

"I don't want to ever tell anyone college isn't important, but college isn't for everyone. We have to remember that—we see the numbers—70-plus million folks out there do not finish a four-year degree."

In the podcast, Reed and discuss how these STARs who don't go to a four-year school obtain their skills. "They go into military service, just like I did. They go into community colleges and do two years. You got that working mom that is trying to put food on her kid's table, and she's a single mother that can't."

"Should I penalize you because you don't have a college diploma, you shouldn't come work?" he asks. "No, we shouldn't do that. We should really find ways to reward them for trying to get the skills that they need in order to be competent in their job and proficient in their job, right? That is key."

To that end, in his role as Chief Technology Officer, Reed will oversee and expand the organization's Stellarworx hiring platform which highlights and matches a job seeker's skills to employers with open jobs.

"Stellarworx actually levels the playing field for STARs who otherwise are overlooked in recruiting channels that cater to college graduates—and are dominated by employers who rely specifically on pedigree as a proxy for skill—by allowing them to showcase the skills they have for a job," he explains.

Reed's passion to help STARs find a pathway to a good job comes from his own life experiences. "I didn't have all of the resources to go into college, so I decided to go into the military where I could actually get money to go to college later, so I basically was postponing college."

"When I went in the military, my job was fire direction control for artillery. It is a computer operations/computer programming type of role in which I learned a lot of skills in how to program computers, how to plot on a map, how to read a map."

After eight years in the military, Reed says he "hit a brick wall. A lot of employers look for you to have a four-year degree before they let you come in and get higher-paying jobs like a management type of job. Although I was managing troops, the employers was not looking at my military experience or the skills that I gained in the military."

Reed was able to find employers who valued the skills he learned in the military and later in the civilian workforce. He doesn't want it to be as hard for others as it was for him.

"People shouldn't be faced with the same challenges that I was faced with, especially if you've gained real hard skills that can translate for you to be very productive inside of an organization. That's what we need today."

You can listen to more of Reed's personal journey and his plans for the @Opportunity@Work's Stellarworx platform here, or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 197: Kelcey Reed, chief technology officer, Opportunity@WorkHost and Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, editor-in-chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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For the third week in a row, initial unemployment claims declined, according to the Department of Labor. The number of new claims totaled 375,000 for the week ending August 7, down from 387,000.

WorkingNation is always checking around the nation to see what workforce opportunities are being offered. This week, we found trainings in real estate, construction, and free career exploration.

Take a look.

From Alabama: WZDX reports Drake State Community & Technical College is among six institutions that received a NASA grant for STEM workforce development and outreach that will benefit construction and advanced manufacturing industries.

From Illinois: The Edwardsville Intelligencer reports the state is committing $10 million to provide additional training programs in the building trades and increase diversity in the construction industry.

From Maryland: The Southern Maryland Chronicle reports a tri-county program is available to residents to take over 5,000 free online classes, explore different careers, and prepare for various certifications.

From Mississippi: Daily Journal reports Northeast Mississippi Community College is allowing employers and employees from the surrounding five counties access to more than 700 free online job training modules.

From Washington: Daily Record reports Redfin is launching an accelerated program to increase diversity among real estate brokers in Seattle, as well as Washington, D.C.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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With the second largest military air depot in the nation located in Oklahoma City—Tinker Air Force Base—it’s no surprise that aerospace is the largest industry there. It’s also facing the most significant workforce and education gap, as compared to other sectors.

"In 2016, over 107,200 jobs, approximately 6% of Oklahoma’s total workforce, were associated with industries in the Aerospace and Defense Ecosystem. By 2025, total employment is expected to increase 6.1% to nearly 114,000," according to a state report.

That same report says there will not be enough people with the skills and education needed to perform the jobs being created.

Another one of the hurdles to filling those jobs is attracting talent to—or convincing talent to stay in—the state, says Phil Busey, Sr., founder, chairman, and CEO of global aerospace training service contractor Delaware Resource Group (DRG), which is based in Oklahoma City.

Phil Busey, Sr, DRG founder, chairman, & CEO (Photo: DRG)

“A lot of people outside the borders of Oklahoma don’t know what we’re about. They don’t know what Oklahoma is like outside of what they read about social legislation,” he says.

“We have to be able to tell a positive story to create an image of the blended culture we have here. When we recruit, we have to recruit the whole family, not just the employee. That’s the universal issue.”

“We see first-hand every day what the challenges are, as well as what the future will hold for kids and students with very strong STEM backgrounds," But, he says, "We’re not meeting (those needs) yet.”

Tapping into the Local Native American Talent

Within the state, Busey advocates for developing awareness and interest in STEM by tapping into an overlooked potential employee base—the Native American community.

Oklahoma City has the fourth largest Native American population in the United States. “When we look at Oklahoma, my view is it’s a small state,” he says. “Our tribal nations can be a huge resource for the development of the industry, curriculum, economic development, and STEM.”

Busey is a member of the Cherokee Nation and is working with community leaders to develop the talent pipeline starting with elementary classroom visits by subject matter experts (using video conferencing right now) in robotics, coding, software engineering, and design. As students get older, they’ll learn of various jobs within aerospace and STEM, higher education programs, certificate programs, and internships.

The Cherokee tribe is already investing in STEM through programs in schools, and in scholarships and partnerships with area universities, colleges and technical institutes, ultimately leading to pathways into STEM careers. To bring these efforts to fruition, Busey says it needs to go a step further by engaging local companies, local and state government, and other community leaders.

“There’s a stigma. An old history. We’re helping to educate Oklahomans, businesses and state leaders that tribes are essential and we’re not going to accomplish anything without the tribe’s economic engine. They are powerful,” he says. “Other states have a lot of resources because of their size and scope. In Oklahoma, with four million people in heavy rural concentrations, we have to have everyone working together.”

Encouraging Interest in STEM Careers at an Early Age

As an example, DRG is hosting 15 interns from the Cherokee Nation for a week-long shadowing opportunity this summer to learn about opportunities in the industry, as well as visits to cultural sites in Oklahoma City such as the Cowboy Hall of Fame and Stafford Air and Space Museum. DRG also purchased and donated an aviation flight simulator to Sequoyah High School to expose students to the aerospace industry.

But the company’s leadership in trying to build the gap started three years ago, when DRG hosted a meeting of 70 business leaders from across Oklahoma City, including industries from healthcare,

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Get out the vote!

PanelPicker® community voting for the SXSW EDU 2022 conference in Austin in March 2022 is underway now through August 26.

As always, WorkingNation is looking at innovative pathways to good jobs and careers, and we believe we've put together some interesting panels and conversations that we'd love to share with our workforce development and education community when we all gather in Austin next Spring.

Help us bring these panels to life. Give us your support by clicking on the links below, create a free SXSW account with just your email, and vote us UP!

Learn-and-Earn: A Proven Workforce Model

Employer-driven programs work. Apprenticeships work. Employers work with community colleges to set a curriculum that will teach skills needed in local businesses through a combination of classroom and on-the-job learning. And, the students are paid for the work they do while gaining valuable skills. Using this model, communities across the country can develop a much-needed, skilled workforce, leading to jobs that employers need to fill.

Jane Oates, President, WorkingNationJamie Merisotis, President & CEO, Lumina Foundation

Vote for this panel here!

Building Innovation Hubs Outside of Silicon Valley

The great 2020 migration from larger metro areas to more-affordable and less-populated cities and towns has created an opportunity for many of these mid-size and smaller communities to become tech innovation and entrepreneurial hubs of the future. Local businesses, civic leaders, foundations, and educators are teaming up to foster new tech-centric economies that will unleash new employment opportunities for all and encourage small business creation.

Hari Sreenivasan, Senior Correspondent, Weekend Anchor, PBS NewshourFrancis Suarez, Mayor, City of MiamiNicholas Lalla, Co-founder, Managing Director, Tulsa Innovation LabsPatrick McKenna, Founder, One America Works

Vote for this panel here!

Closing the Latino Digital Skills Gap

Latino workers are 14% of overall workers, but represent 35% of workers with no digital skills and 20% of those with limited digital skills. Digital skills are crucial to obtaining gainful employment and resources to support their families. We talk to leaders from various organizations providing training and education to close this skills gap and help the community thrive.

Frankie Miranda, President & CEO, Hispanic FederationHector Mujica, Economic Opportunity Lead, Americas, Google.orgGiselle Fernandez, Anchor, Spectrum News 1 Los Angeles

Vote for this panel here!

Green Jobs Are More Abundant Than You Think

Helping the environment while helping yourself. Green jobs are one of our greatest hopes for employment growth—as environmental challenges multiply, which they will, so too does the need to meet those challenges with a wide range of skills. Green jobs extend to water management, energy efficiency, renewable energy, and infrastructure improvement, as well as jobs you may be surprised to learn are green. Here's how to find one and get one.

Paula DiPerna, Special Advisor, CDPJon Shieber, Venture Partner and Editor, Footprint CoalitionBill Ritter, former Governor of Colorado, Founder & Director, Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University

Vote for this panel here!

Don’t Leave Older Workers Out of the Jobs Recovery

The majority of the long-term unemployed are over the age of 45. A majority of hiring managers admit hesitating when it comes to hiring an older worker, fearing they are not tech-adaptable or might not fit into the work culture. Conversely, they say the older workers already on the job are valued employees. So, where does that leave mid-career workers trying to find a new job in the post-pandemic workforce? Let's address this age bias directly and examine what's being done to correct it.

Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationPaul Irving, Chairman,

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Diversity in the workplace and a sense of belonging are critical, according to Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president and CEO of SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management.

SHRM “creates better workplaces where employers and employees thrive together.” SHRM has more than 300,000 HR and business executive members in 165 countries, impacting more than 115 million workers and families globally.

“There is dignity in work, and we know that when people are out of work forcibly, it literally changes the person that you are,” says Taylor. “Therefore, the people who you are around are impacted by that—family, friends, communities”

“So, this idea of dignity and work is so important to the human experience that we all have to commit to ensuring that people get more than a paycheck. It builds self-esteem. It builds their confidence and that of the communities of people, families, and friends who are around them.”

But Taylor notes the relationship between employer and employee works both ways. “When I think about work and the importance of work, a phrase comes to mind—mutual benefit. At the end of the day, work doesn't work when it's only good for the employer. And by the way, it doesn't work when it's only good for the employee.”

"Yes, employers need employees, but so employees need employers so they can provide for their families. And this is why this concept of mutual benefit in work is tied with the dignity of work. So, it's not just enough to have a job. But to have a good job, one where you bring your whole self to work.”

Click here to learn more about SHRM.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Taylor in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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Western Governors University is a fully accredited online institution with career-aligned bachelor's and master's degrees in IT, teaching, business, and healthcare and designed to help working professionals fit an online university education into their busy lives. “If individuals don’t have internet access, we certainly are going to find ourselves in a situation where large portions of our people are not able to engage in the economy and change their lives,” says WGU president Scott Pulsipher.

“Today's student is very much a working learner. So, we have to figure out how to fit their education pursuits into their already busy lives,” says Pulsipher, adding micro-credentials are a key pathway going forward.

Click here to learn more about Western Governors University.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—spoke with Pulsipher in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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“Opportunity@Work is a workforce development, social enterprise nonprofit focused on the 70 million workers in America who do not have a four-year degree who are skilled through alternative routes. We call them STARs—Skilled Through Alternative Routes,” explains Shad Ahmed, COO of Opportunity@Work.

Ahmed continues, “We are an interesting nonprofit in that we don't do direct service provision, but really our focus is on supporting the many other partners, organizations, and companies interested in STARs and STARs’ talent, and finding ways for them to invest in pathways for STARs so that more STARs get onto pathways for great middle-wage jobs of the 21st century.”

Degree requirements often deny access to those without them. “So, the case a generation ago, you could have an entry-level job in sales and that could be your gateway to a great middle-wage job today. Those entry-level jobs in sales are called sales account representative roles, and 80% of those have a degree requirement. So, we're putting up structural barriers that are shutting out many workers from giving getting into those first entry level jobs,” says Ahmed.

Employers need to realize the depth of the talent pool of those with high school diplomas, but without college degrees. “We're cautiously optimistic. This is hard stuff. No one knows the answers. And so, we're anticipating over the next several years a lot of experimentation, trying to get to the structural hard parts to solve this so that STARs are seen as a talent pool—just as college grads are seen as a talent pool that companies are resourcing in the same way,” says Ahmed.

Click here to learn more about Opportunity@Work.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Ahmed in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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Advances in technology have provided many with opportunities, but according to the Cognizant Foundation, “Far too few have access to the quality education, training, and job opportunities required to improve their economic and social mobility.”

The Cognizant Foundation partners with grantees to “rethink the pathways into and through the tech sector, grow more diverse talent pipelines, and fundamentally reimagine the education and workforce systems.”

Hannah Lee, director at the Cognizant Foundation, says it’s important to include communities that have historically been excluded. “It's not a skills gap. It's an opportunity gap. We have so many folks that have the skills to excel in jobs in technology. If we do not do something now, we are going to continue to bifurcate the labor markets of those that have, and those that have not.”

“And it is important for innovation at companies. It's important as we think about building inclusive technology and software, that we are ensuring that all have access to the jobs of today and tomorrow, and especially those in technology.”

Click here to learn more about Cognizant Foundation.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Lee in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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In the past year, the interest in online learning has grown significantly, according to Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, which provides learning content from 240 universities and industry educators.

“The pandemic basically closed every school in the world. It closed every office in the world and for workforce development programs—it forced all these programs to move online. So, in 2020, we were very busy. Thirty million people came to Coursera to learn online,” says Maggioncalda.

“And now as the pandemic eases up a little bit, we're seeing a lot more interest, especially from workforce development boards, looking to online learning as a way to upskill people for new digital jobs.”

Working with educational partners in different states, cities, and even countries is exciting, because learning can be tailored to a specific region, says Maggioncalda.

Maggioncalda also notes changes in workplace learning. “We have over 2,000 companies around the world who use Coursera for Business. Companies are starting to look first to the job, then to the skills, then to the content.”

“I would say that four years ago it was content first. Now, it's much more—which jobs are in demand, where are the job openings that people can be hired into. Then there's the question of what skills are needed to do those jobs. We have to make sure that we've got the content and the course assessments to make sure that the skills that are needed for those jobs are being taught in the content. And those skills are measurable. And you can benchmark them against people who are actually in those shop positions, as well.”

Click here to learn more about Coursera.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—talked with Maggioncalda in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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Guild Education, an education platform, asks, “Is your workforce ready to take on the jobs of tomorrow?” Guild “drives business outcomes—increasing employee retention, upskilling talent, and improving representation at every level of your organization.”

Guild “unlocks mobility” by collaborating with businesses and educational institutions to provide access to learners, according to Rachel Carlson, co-founder and CEO of Guild Education.

Providing learning opportunities is important to today’s job seekers, says Carlson. “[Companies] can do well by doing good by their employees. So, for companies it often starts with a talent recruitment value proposition. How might they use education as a way to differentiate themselves for candidates who are looking at companies that have similar wages, especially amidst the great wage growth we're seeing that has brought wages closer to $15 an hour.”

Carlson adds, “Most companies now have a health benefit. Employees are asking, ‘How do I choose an education and learning and development and career opportunity?’ That whole stack is something that the average millennial or Gen Z wants to use to differentiate where they work. It's the way that companies are winning the war for talent.”

Click here to learn more about Guild Education.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Carlson in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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Tech is taking over every industry and is driving workforce mobility, according to Ruben Harris, CEO and co-founder of Career Karma. Harris explains the organization matches people to job training programs in order to land high-paying tech jobs.

“What makes our platform unique is not only is it free for you, but we give you support during the program, during the job search, and for the rest of your life—through our lab, audio rooms. We have a community of hundreds of thousands of peers, coaches, and mentors that could help you.”

Ruben also notes an initiative that is helping equip people who want to get on the tech pathway. “We're giving away 5,000 laptops to people that want to break into tech. It's very simple. You just Google Reskill America and Career Karma. All you gotta do is to apply to it. We're giving away free laptops to people that are enrolled in boot camps.”

He says the industry is right for people of all ages and backgrounds, noting that the typical person that's seeking out Career Karma is between the ages of 25 and 35. He adds, “We have plenty of people that are in the 35 to 55 range, actually, and even older than that.”

“People are living longer and working for longer periods of time. Not only are companies hiring people without a college degree, they're hiring people across ages. If you are older, you've probably spent a significant amount of time in a certain field. It might be retail, it might be sales, it might be telephones, it might be nursing, or whatever. And that's valuable because those industries are being transformed by technology. Your experience in the industry for a long period of time actually makes you very valuable,” explains Harris.

Click here to learn more about Career Karma.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Harris in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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When WorkingNation founder and CEO Art Bilger started the nonprofit media company five years ago the mismatch between skills employers wanted and the skills job seekers had was already a growing issue. Now, due to the impact of the pandemic on the workforce, the issue has become even more urgent. “We, as a society in all the different levels really have to focus much, much more carefully on where the jobs will be and the solutions,” says Bilger.

“Starting point is what are the jobs today, tomorrow and in the future? Then we figure out what the solutions are. We, at WorkingNation, have been focused on the solutions being local. What companies are doing. What academic entities are doing. What local governments are doing. What not for profits are doing.”

While attending this year’s ASU+GSV Summit, Bilger says he was greatly encouraged by all the innovative thinkers he met who are creating solutions for a range of populations.

“They were talking about people coming out of college and different types of programs that may factor in employability on top of the college education,” says Bilger. “But then also one guy focused on the incarcerated. Those people who are hopefully coming out of prison in the not-too-distant future and programs that are helping them prepare for re-entering society from an employment standpoint. I just think this is very encouraging.”

Click here to learn more about WorkingNation.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Bilger in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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Emeritus offers online learning for in-demand skills intended to help people advance their careers. The organization partners with universities around the world including Wharton, Harvard, and Dartmouth. Emeritus states its “short courses, degree programs, boot camps, and senior executive programs help individuals learn new skills and transform their lives, companies and organizations.”

“We do it in a unique way that we think drives better outcomes in that we developed with these universities, cohort-based learning. It is then delivered online with defined start and end dates, real life course leaders that go through the program with students in order to drive these types of outcomes,” says Charlie Schilling, president of enterprise business at Emeritus.

Schilling notes that a significant number of Emeritus’ students are working people whose upskilling is paid for by their employers. “Traditionally, our business has been designed to serve consumers directly, but what we know about our consumer base is that 41% of individuals in our courses get their tuition reimbursed by the companies for which they work. We think that's an important signal about how we can do more.”

Among the course offerings—data science and analytics, coding, finance, and artificial intelligence. Schilling points out that last year Emeritus served 100,000 learners around the world.

Click here to learn more about Emeritus.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Schilling in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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“One of the trends that we've been seeing, that's having a profound impact on the market right now is just the pace with which skills are changing writ large,” says Matt Sigelman, CEO of Emsi Burning Glass, a data and analytics firm focused on the labor market and the skills needed to successfully compete in the today's workforce.

“Overall, the average U.S. job has seen 30% of its skills replaced over the last decade alone. And that's accelerating. We know that there are certain skills, particularly those that are involved in driving technology which are in high currency—a range of data skills, a range of analytics skills, a range of software and development skills,” says Sigelman.

But he adds, “I want to emphasize that the demand for those sorts of digital skills today, isn't just the province of tech jobs. In fact, we're seeing huge demand for those kinds of skills across the economies.”

The green economy is one of five sectors that will drive the country’s post-COVID economic recovery, according to Sigelman.

Sigelman offers a look at the significance of green jobs, as outlined in a Burning Glass report. “A lot of what we need to focus on is not how do we transfer workers from the carbon economy to the green economy, but instead, how do we move people who have been working in carbon-based parts of the economy to other kinds of roles?”

He continues, “How do we find a talent base that can shift into the green economy? When we can understand the skills of each job, we can affect those transition successfully.”

Click here to learn more about Emsi Burning Glass.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Sigelman in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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New Profit is a venture philanthropy organization created by and for social entrepreneurs. It states, “We back breakthrough social entrepreneurs through our unique model that brings together the rigor of venture capital and the humanity of the nonprofit sector.”

A current New Profit project is the Future of Work Grand Challenge—a $6 million initiative in collaboration with JFF, XPRIZE, and MIT Solve.

“We've identified 15 finalists that we've supported and paired with influential workforce boards in six cities. Those 15 solutions are on the ground, and they're actually being validated with real job seekers, with the goal of training and placing job seekers in jobs with living wages,” explains Dr. Angela Jackson, managing partner with New Profit.

Jackson says it’s critical that the job seekers are people who have experienced barriers to employment.

“The reason that we selected the workforce boards as a public entity is because they have access to the folks who are actually looking for jobs today. So one example, the MassHire Central Region Workforce Board sent out an email to all job seekers within Massachusetts, alerting them that we had this accelerated learning opportunity. We had over 8,000 job seekers apply. So, we know today that there are many people who are looking for jobs. They're just looking for the invitation and opportunity for jobs that actually pay living wages,” says Jackson.

The Challenge has a goal of training 25,000 job seekers over a two-year period.

Click here to learn more about New Profit.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—spoke with Jackson in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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The Charles Koch Foundation collaborates with “social entrepreneurs to remove the barriers that prevent people from reaching their potential.”

“A lot of individuals face extreme difficulty, real barriers that prevent them from reaching their potential. Charles Koch is a philanthropy that's working to stimulate, to invest, to catalyze ways in which we can help to break down some of those barriers that people face,” says Ryan Stowers, executive director of the foundation.

Stowers says it’s important for people to find self-actualization in their work and says the foundation finds kindred thinking at the ASU+GSV Summit. “Why we've got a big team here is that we don't have all the answers. We're the first to admit that we're learning. And we're excited about the entrepreneurial spirit we see in this space where barriers are being broken down, because people are again discovering innovative ways to individualize learning and individualize the connection between learning and work, and helping people get empowered in ways where they can do incredible things.”

Click here to learn more about the Charles Koch Foundation.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—talked with Stowers in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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University Innovation Alliance is a national coalition of public research universities committed to increasing the number and diversity of college graduates in the U.S.

“Innovation and my institutions have united around a sense of urgency that they wanted to do a better job helping students graduate specifically from low-income, first-generation, and students of color backgrounds,” says Bridget Burns, executive director of the organization.

She adds, “We wanted to do it together because they were all working on these issues and they wanted to not waste time, energy, and money by working alone. We innovate together. We scale up what works and we diffuse what we learned to the world in hopes to galvanize transformation in the sector.”

Burns does note that the events of 2020 have been eye-opening. “We've always been on the journey to improve our institutions and make them more student-centered. And I think that this past year really made it clear just how ‘un’ student centered institutions were.”

That realization has led institutions to be more authentic. Burns says, “I also think people dropped the kind of fancy complex that higher ed can often have.”

She continues, “I think that if you really want to help universities make transformational change, they have to start by admitting they don't have it right. Institutions can't pretend, cannot BS your way, and say that you have it all figured out, and you knew how to do digital learning.”

“’Yes, we've done virtual zoom, professional engagement, and we've run virtual teams.’ No, we didn't know any of those things. The vulnerability required to navigate the last year meant that institutions were more honest about what they were struggling with. I think that means that we have far greater opportunity for transformational change. If we can admit we all have the same problems, then we don't have to all go it alone and can work together to truly achieve the kind of change necessary for the future of our democracy.”

Click here to learn more about University Innovation Alliance.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Burns in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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Brooklyn-based Marcy Lab School describes itself as an alternative to college. “In one year, you will unlock the skills, the habits, and the network you need to launch a financially-rewarding, purpose-driven career in tech.”

As someone who worked in public school education, Reuben Ogbonna, co-founder and executive director, explains the motivation behind creating the Marcy Lab School.

“I saw students every year who would go off to college with big dreams and often end up with debt and no degree to show for it. Or debt, and underemployed or unemployed. We thought there has to be another postsecondary pathway for hardworking, motivated students who face financial barriers or those who are least likely to be served really, really well by traditional higher education.”

Ogbonna says the program goes beyond learning tech skills, but also acknowledges students’ life experiences.

He proudly shares a story about a recent graduate whose family arrived in the U.S. from Jamaica. This student’s goal was to land a great job that would allow him to take care of his family. During the pandemic, he interned at a top tech company alongside other interns from prestigious colleges. And was offered a position that pays him $190,000 annually, as well as company stock.

Click here to learn more about Marcy Lab School.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Ogbonna in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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“Ultimately to solve the long-term needs of society around skills and jobs and making sure we're at full employment, we think that there needs to be a more ecosystem approach,” explains Todd Zipper, president of Wiley Education Services.

In order to have a robust ecosystem, it requires a variety of stakeholders, according to Zipper. Universities and education providers, employers, governments associations, and learners. “What we continue to keep finding is that the skills that are relevant today are not necessarily relevant tomorrow. Universities can't just be stuck in a model of 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. They need to keep adapting their models quickly to meet the needs of society and the market,” says Zipper.

Zipper says that Wiley represents approximately 70 universities across the world with about 800 different online programs. “We partner with universities to help them build and grow online degrees mostly, from teaching and nursing to business and technology, social work to help people get graduate degrees, undergraduate degrees, and advance their careers to what we call career-connected education.”

Additionally, the organization’s mthree initiative works with companies to determine the skills employees need, then collaborates with universities to ensure students learn those skills. “We run a business that helps recruit, train, and deploy emerging tech talent into blue chip companies like Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan as a new type of educational model that doesn't just train, but also gets people a job at the end of their training.”

Click here to learn more about Wiley Education Services.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Zipper in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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“Multiverse at its core is building an outstanding alternative to college and corporate training. We see apprenticeships as the best way to achieve this mission. For us apprenticeships combine full-time employment with applied on-the job-training that really works backwards from the needs of employers,” says Sophie Ruddock, vice president and general manager for North America, Multiverse. “We're operating in a space where we're tackling huge skills challenges around software engineering, data analytics, digital marketing, which is really the number one issue on every single executive’s plate.”

“The other challenge that we're looking to address is that of diversity. We do that by really democratizing access to the best careers by finding high potential individuals without a four-year college degree, matching them to employers, and then training them up on the job.”

Ruddock explains that Multiverse’s apprentices are placed in jobs after a rigorous vetting process. Additionally, their online learning is taught by instructors with industry experience.

She adds that what most excites her is the community that Multiverse builds for its apprentices. “This is how we build that really outstanding alternative to college and corporate training. That involves speakers from the Fortune 500, government officials, office hours at Harvard Business School so that our apprentices are not only developing their skills, but also developing as individuals, as leaders, and the social capital that it will take to truly progress to the boardroom.”

Ruddock says Multiverse is working hard to level the playing field, “What we see is about 55% of our apprentices are people of color. Over half are women and a third are from the most economically under-resourced communities. That is the same at the top of the funnel for those applying to those that get placed all the way through to those who then complete our apprenticeships and stay on.”

Click here to learn more about Multiverse.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Ruddock in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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Two trends are of note, according to education investor Ryan Craig, managing director of Achieve Partners. Tech investing and education to employment.

Even with the growing focus on improving digital skills for all, many are still being left behind in the digital economy. Achieve Partners invests in technologies and business models “to bolster skill development and secure the future of work for millions of Americans.”

Says Craig, “We have a fund that we've just launched where we're building apprenticeships into business services companies that operate in skill gap sectors of the economy.”

“But with all of these sorts of intermediaries that help bridge the gap between the education ecosystem and employers, and employment, we're seeing a ton of interest in those companies and companies similar to ed tech companies that have achieved some scale in that space are trading at a significant premium.”

He continues, “Last mile training is the term that we've coined to reflect what we think the gap is between what employers are currently demanding and what our education ecosystem is providing. It's primarily a combination of specific tech skills, tech stacks, platform skills that really colleges and universities don't train on much, if at all.”

“And the second element is understanding the landscape of business and business processes and how these companies and industries work, which is not something that even business schools do a very good job.”

Click here to learn more about Achieve Partners.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—spoke with Craig in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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A debt-free education opens up opportunity for many who are seeking paths to learning. Voxy EnGen, an online platform that offers English language skills with a focus on job-related language, is among the organizations partnering with Walmart and Target in their ongoing initiatives to pay tuition and the cost of books for their employees.

Company initiatives like these are a great step forward, says Katie Nielson, Ph.D., founder and chief education officer of Voxy EnGen. “They're thinking about raising up all of their workers, which is why they have foundational programs like Voxy EnGen.”

With much conversation around talent shortages, Nielson says the immigrant and refugee populations are vital to the future of the workforce.

“We try to help people get access to jobs with economic potential. We try to help them get the English skills they need for further credentials and education. Education is a huge obstacle for immigrants, refugees, second language speakers in general in the United States.”

Click here to learn more about Voxy EnGen.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—talked with Nielson in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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“We need to be investing in and innovating in the current systems that we have, but I truly don't think that that's enough,” says Maria Flynn, president and CEO of JFF, referencing the country’s current look at infrastructure.

Flynn adds, “At the same time, we really need to be stepping back and starting a very thoughtful process about if we were to build the workforce and higher ed system of the future of the U.S., where would we start? I don't think that is tinkering around the edges of the system that we currently have. I think it is a fundamental reimagining process.”

Explaining JFF’s role in the space, Flynn says, “We really work to drive economic advancement for all. And we do that by working to transform the nation's education and workforce systems. And as a national intermediary, we work with policymakers, practitioners, funders, technologists, investors around the country to make that happen because we really believe that you need all levers to be pulled in order to drive the types of impact that we all want to see.”

She notes that collaborations that allow stakeholders to work together will help create change. “One thing that we are really doubling down on is to really help build a bridge between the traditional education and workforce systems, and the innovators, and the new solutions.”

“I think, too often, those worlds kind of operate in silos from one another. We are really leveraging our networks and our programmatic expertise in order to bring kind of the best of both worlds together in order to drive solutions.”

Click here to learn more about JFF.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Flynn in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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“Handshake is the largest early career network helping over 8 million students jumpstart and launch their careers,” explains Christine Cruzvergara, chief education strategy officer of Handshake.

“We serve students all over the U.S. and the UK. We partner with over 1200 universities and colleges to help connect their students to over 550,000 employers on our network.”

She continues, “We have all types of employers from all different industries and all different sectors. We have a 100% of all the Fortune 500 companies on Handshake, but we also have mid-sized companies, local companies, mom and pop shops. Employers are able to find students from everywhere and students, in turn, are able to actually find employers regardless of what their interest is.”

Cruzvergara explains that the virtual nature of the platform allows students to build social capital and often land internships and first jobs.

The platform has opened up the hiring being done by Handshake’s employer partners, according to Cruzvergara. “We've been really fortunate in working with our employers, helping them to understand that by building a virtual strategy, they're actually able to be school agnostic. They no longer need to just go to the schools that perhaps they went to, or their CEO or exec team went to, but rather they can recognize that talent is distributed evenly, even though opportunity isn't.”

“What we're really trying to solve is how do we democratize opportunity? How do we get those opportunities out to more students? And how do we help employers ultimately find better talent -because talent is not just concentrated at those few particular schools.”

Click here to learn more about Handshake.

WorkingNation - a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Cruzvergara in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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Employers are looking increasingly at ways to educate and develop talent in-house aided by ed-tech innovations and programs that are also driving mobility and equity within the workforce.

2U states it uses “tech, people, and data to help top universities transform in the digital era - and eliminate the back row in higher ed.” With more than 80 educational partners, 2U’s online offerings number more than 550.

David Sutphen, chief strategy and engagement officer of 2U explains online access allows students to control their own educational pathways.

Recently, 2U was endorsed as a talent developer by OneTen, an initiative with a goal to upskill, hire, and advance one million Black individuals over the next 10 years.

“We were obviously thrilled to have that happen,” says Sutphen. “I'm excited about our ability to not only help them figure out how to attract more Black learners, I'm also excited about our ability to potentially partner with their corporate partners to help bend the cost curve.”

“At the end of the day, the debt burden that a lot of particularly the Black community faces when it comes to higher ed - if we really want to solve this problem, whether it's traditional degrees or alternative credentials - we have to make it more affordable. I'm a big believer that the way to do that is through public private partnerships,” says Sutphen.

Click here to learn more about 2U.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—spoke with Sutphen in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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How do we ensure more people have access to the training they need to compete for jobs in today's workforce? Innovative approaches to financing programs for those who can't normally afford them could be a key. “Income share agreements are helping to close this opportunity gap,” says Peter Callstrom, president and CEO of San Diego Workforce Partnership.

San Diego Workforce Partnership offers a highly successful ISA initiative, the only one in the entire country operated by an organization within the workforce development system.

Callstrom explains matching students with employers is a strong outcomes-focused funding model. “We're working with employers all the time. When we can make that match happen, it works wonders because then this is a renewable fund instead of just funding out a training and you're done. You have to go and find more, which is the public workforce system model, where we use the dollars and we pay for the training.”

“This can renew and get more and more folks that same opportunity going forward.”

Click here to learn more about San Diego Workforce Partnership.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—spoke with Callstrom in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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WorkingNation is in San Diego this week for the 12th annual ASU+GSV Summit, the big three-day convening focused on innovations in education and technology, and their impact  on the way we acquire knowledge and skills. My guest on this episode of the Work in Progress podcast is Deborah Quazzo, managing partner of GSV Ventures and the co-founder of ASU+GSV, a collaboration between GSV and Arizona State University (ASU).

The way we prepare for our future—the way we learn—has changed just as much as the way we work and the skills we need for a good job. As we've seen over the past 18 months, the adoption of education technology has accelerated as we've had to address the impact of the pandemic on our lives.

"We really are here. It is truly the dawn of digital learning," Quazzo tells me in the podcast. "There has been a transformational change in the acceptance of digital learning and scaling solutions that has the opportunity to really make a difference in the lives of millions of people in ways that just had not happened here before, and the attraction of capital into the space is going to drive more and more innovation."

The three days of conversation touch on all stages of learning, from "pre-K to gray", as Quazzo describes it. Given the impact of the pandemic on the workforce, many of those discussions zero in on how this ed-tech innovation can help close the skills gap.

"It's really about what can this means for the transformation at scale for working adults who desperately need it, who probably even more desperately need it coming out of COVID.

"We can finally really look where the puck is going and chase it. While it's hard not to talk about what we've just been through, we're trying to keep a focus on staying on the balls of our feet. How do we take advantage of this? How do we transform things? And how do we use the crisis to transform workforce learning, to transform reskilling, upskilling, higher education, and K-12 education. We're trying to push the conversation that way.

"What we really hope is that people walk away feeling like the world really did change, and that learning has really become a centrally important cultural and economic sector and learning is just a critical economic sector for the world."

You can listen to this Work in Progress podcast with Deborah Quazzo here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Check out what WorkingNation is up to at the ASU+GSV Summit this year.

Episode 196: Deborah Quazzo, ASU+GSV Summit co-founder, GSV Ventures Managing PartnerHost and Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, editor-in-chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurs (NFTE) has a long history of inspiring youth in low-income communities to embrace entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship education—a model that starts by identifying a student’s passions and builds from there—is among the most effective ways to help students match with postsecondary and career paths that truly resonate, says J.D. LaRock, president and CEO of NFTE.

The organization has expanded its programming to include postsecondary students at community colleges and adult learners. The current college roster includes the College of St. Petersburg, College of Southern Nevada, and El Camino College.

“The focus of all three of those partnerships will be the same to work with, in this case, community college students and adults who are in those communities to learn about what all NFTE students learn about. How to take a business idea that they may have, and really research it, grow it, put a business plan around it, and ideally, even launch a business out of it,” says LaRock.

It’s of significance that entrepreneurship is a pathway for people who are rethinking their futures in response to the pandemic, notes LaRock.

Click here to learn more about NFTE.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—caught up with LaRock in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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Innovative finance is a way to drive equitable outcomes in education, says Hanna Jamal, director of Social Finance. The organization is an impact finance and advisory nonprofit that works with a variety of stakeholders to build partnerships with the goal of improving lives.

Social Finance is partnering with TheDream.US to develop an education financing initiative for immigrant youth who are unable to access federal loans for graduate school because of their immigration status.

“We're specifically focusing on degree programs and institutions that are high quality and that we believe have really strong labor market outcomes. We don't want to create a situation where we're saddling a bunch of students with debt that they can't repay,” says Jamal.

“We focus specifically on eligibility criteria and high labor market types of programs. So, think about your Master's in nursing health sciences, medical degrees, MBAs, degree programs where we believe students can actually justify the debt that they're taking on and be able to repay it back over time.”

Currently, the program is targeting scholarship recipients of TheDream.US—which has awarded over 6,500 scholarships to DACA students towards bachelor’s degrees.

Jamal says the interest in graduate school among that population is significant. “Their surveys indicate that 70% to 80% of those students have aspirations of continuing their education by going on to get their professional degrees.”

“Ideally, over time, we'll be able to further expand the aperture and serve more dreamers that aren't part of TheDream.US, but that's where we're starting. And with this pilot cohort that we've launched for this fall, we expect to make about 90 loans to students.”

The program has set a goal to expand the number of awarded loans to 1,000 students over the next five years.

Click here to learn more about Social Finance.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Jamal in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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The Education Design Lab designs, tests, and launches and scales new models for higher education, explains Kathleen deLaski, founder and CEO of Education Design Lab. She notes that over the years, the Education Design Lab is shifting some focus onto lifelong learning for people, deLaski describes as “new majority learners, which is basically everyone for whom college was not originally designed.”

The organization is launching a three-year project called XCredit with the goal of giving value, similar to credentials, based on a person’s lived experience.

deLaski explains, “XCredit is short for experience credit, which means how can a worker, or a learner, or a single mom, or someone who has lived experience or work experience, but no degree, get credit for that? And we don't mean college credit. We mean, how can that count as experience and competency when an employer is considering hiring them?”

Initially, the project will focus on people who have military experience. “We're working with a partner that is already doing competency translation for military. And we're working with four or five, at first, employers who military would transition to and trying to set up this translation currency,” says deLaski.

Measuring 21st century skills is being evaluated first, says deLaski. “XCredit is going to offer a way for people to immediately get validated in their creative problem solving or critical thinking skills. Doing a proving ground simulation that companies and employers have helped us design. So, we're hoping that we can make them universal enough that they'll be transferable across many fields.”

Click here to learn more about Education Design Lab.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with deLaski in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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As we continue efforts to recover from the pandemic, business leaders are looking for several things as they hire, according to Joseph B. Fuller, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. A combination of hard and soft skills, and more diverse, inclusive workforce.

Fuller says companies need to be proactively thinking about who they are looking to add to their payroll. “Employers have to accept the fact that candidates aren't just going to drop out of the sky and be available to them with a skills profile they want. Willing to work for what they're prepared to pay.”

“Companies needed to adopt a supply chain management-type approach to this. Meaning, they've identified sources of people with the skills that fit their needs. They've cultivated a relationship with that group. Whether it's a skills intermediary at community college or private sector training company. They've thought ahead about what their demands are for skills and that they're not constantly relying on the spot market for labor to fill urgent needs.”

Fuller also notes that learning with long-term social impact should start at an early age. “If you look at the way we approach education in K through 12, we don't design our curriculum to cause people to develop better social skills starting in the earliest part of their educational cycle.”

“We don't design curriculums to emphasize the types of social skills that are really going to be critical to getting on pathways, to good paying jobs, and keeping them in the future. It's a big opportunity for innovation in both education and the commercial space.”

Click here to learn more about Harvard Business School.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Fuller in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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Supporting innovation in the green economy is a key to fighting climate change, as well as providing a pathway to a good-paying job for everyone, particularly in historically overlooked populations, according to Daniel Ferguson, director of workforce development for Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI).

Ferguson points to LACI's Advanced Prototyping Center fellowship program. Working with local community colleges over the last two years, the initiative has upskilled local residents for a variety of jobs, including product design, EV charging infrastructure maintenance, and software development and IT support as it relates to electric mobility. As part of the training, LACI also offers internships.

“Green jobs are really the present future,” says Ferguson. “This is the new industrial revolution where people can actually work in healthier environments, be able to provide for their families, do incredible and exciting work, be better stewards over the environment.”

He adds, “We believe green jobs can provide better pay, can provide more equity, and can provide an environmental impact as well.”

Click here to learn more about LACI.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Ferguson in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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The cost of postsecondary education can put career opportunities that require certain skills or credentials out of reach for some. Vemo Education is working with these schools to help create new income-based financing programs—such as income share agreements—"that empower more students to succeed.”

Vemo says it aligns itself with partners that want to make "education more expansive: broader in its reach, more generous in scope, and more inclusive of students who need improved education access."

Kate Cody, COO of Vemo Education, says income share agreements help students achieve their educational goals. “Vemo Education believes that learners, institutions, employers all benefit when we can align incentives around great outcomes for those we’re serving. We work with education providers and employers to serve learners by addressing the upfront risk that sometimes prevents people from under-investing in their education. We do this by helping employers and educators share that risk with students by taking away some of that upfront burden from them by pricing for the value the learner gets on the backend.”

Click here to learn more about Vemo Education.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—talked with DeSorrento in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

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Does online work as well as face-to-face learning? Phil Regier, the CEO of EdPlus at Arizona State University says the answer is a resounding yes.

Regier explains how data helps inform how courses are taught. “The idea for the Action Lab was to figure out how to be able to use all of these incredible backend resources that we get in terms of data and actually use it to improve teaching and learning.”

Additionally, a new development uses technology to transport students to a digital world to enhance their learning. ASU and Dreamscape Immersive are rolling out their Dreamscape Learn pod next year—which will, initially, offer science majors a virtual reality experience to problem solve.

“One problem we have is people think that they can't learn science,” says Regier. “What we're trying to do is make the engagement in a scientific endeavor so amazing and so instructive that people overcome that reticence and will go on to careers in STEM. It's really a startlingly, impressive environment. I've never seen anything like it.”

Click here to learn more about EdPlus at ASU.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Regier in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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Virtual reality as a learning tool is just around the corner at Arizona State University. ASU and Dreamscape Immersive will be rolling out the Dreamscape Learn pod.

Lisa Flesher, chief of Realm 4 Project Acceleration, EdPlus at ASU, explains. “With our first product of Dreamscape Learn, we are going to launch our biology labs. Students will go in to this immersive experience. They’ll be putting on their headsets. They're in a full body tracking haptic experience.”

“They will go through a zoo and be interacting with creatures and figuring out why someone is sick. And this is a new immersive hands-on really engaging way to learn curriculum that is applicable and can be just different than reading a textbook or watching a video,” adds Flesher.

“Experiencing it virtually is better than a traditional textbook because it's engaging a different part of your brain when you're in there. And when you're the scientist and when you're doing the discovery, it commits to memory in such a different way to engage with you in a way that you are going to remember, not just for the semester, but for long-term beyond your degree,” notes Flesher.

Flesher notes that the Dreamscape Learn pod has potential beyond ASU. “Our goal is to be able to scale this. So, launch it with our campus students, launch it to our online students, and then to figure out how we can partner with other universities and with K-12.”

Click here to learn more about EdPlus at ASU.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Flesher in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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"Millions of Americans are blocked from achieving their economic, social, and civic potential by an education system that fails to capture and recognize their knowledge, skills, and abilities," writes University of Maryland Global Campus professor Peter Smith, Ed.D., in his recent book, Stories from the Educational Underground: The New Frontier for Learning and Work.

At the heart of this systemic obstruction of opportunity lies our failure to understand and value personal learning, says Smith.

Explaining the premise of his book, Smith says, “An attempt to get at real time, real life, in this case, the life stories of 20 learners for whom by circumstance of their birth, the higher education system, the way the ladder to opportunity is structured in America, however inadvertently, just doesn't work for them.”

Click here to learn more about Smith and his philosophy on the connection between work and education.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—caught up with Smith in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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Creating diversity has to be done with intention, says Odessa Jenkins, president of Emtrain, which uses data analytics and other insights to help organizations create a healthy workplace culture. “I'm really excited to be speaking about this topic because when you look at what we focused on in the last year and a half, as it relates to diversity, it's all about what things look like. It's kind of turned into this financial metric. ‘What are your numbers? How many of this do you have? How many of that do you have? How are you demographically?’”

“And I think diversity with intention means truly getting to equity and inclusion. And you can't get to those things unless you train a skill base or a workplace on certain skills.”

She adds, “I like to call any employee base of the company the real board. They are the board of directors. They are the board of advisors. Without you this business doesn't go,” says Jenkins.

“So, I think collaboration amongst employees and a shared expectation of the business is how you make the business more intentional. Employee resource groups are huge. They're important. They're a force to be reckoned with if they are employee-led. I think that's where employees need to know their power.”

Click here to learn more about Emtrain.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—spoke with Jenkins in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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The College of Health Care Professions is the largest provider of allied health graduates in the state of Texas. The importance of these roles became even more clear with the demand generated by the pandemic. Allied health workers are unsung heroes, according to Eric Bing, chancellor and CEO of CHCP.

“They are being appreciated more than ever and picking up more duties. They are going to have so many more opportunities and growing their careers in health care going forward because of what has happened in COVID and the need for the quality services they provide,” notes Bing.

Technology and the ability to access learning online is critical to CHCP’s students. “What we do know is a single mom, working two jobs, and putting kids to bed, cannot do three hours of reading at 10 o’clock,” says Bing. “You need to be able to look at the whole picture.”

Click here to learn more about CHCP.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Bing in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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The look of the labor market is unlike any he’s seen before, says Jake Hirsch-Allen, workforce development lead, LinkedIn. He notes more people are changing jobs and employers are struggling to fill positions.

Looking ahead to part of the gaps solution, Hirsch-Allen says, “I think eventually we're going to create a spectrum of different learning opportunities from very formal educational institutions all the way through to what we do at home, with on-the job-training probably being in between. But we're also going to create a spectrum from the sort of lifelong learning of a Ph.D., plus post-doc, plus tenure track professorship down to an hourlong micro-credential.”

He adds, “Postsecondaries like Western Governors University, SMHU, or ASU have adopted that mentality that they're going to be able to create that diverse range of credentials from an hour to a lifetime. Those are the schools that will thrive.”

“The rest are really going to struggle. The school has to be part of the employers’ day-to-day operations and vice versa for both to succeed.”

Hirsch-Allen also notes he is excited about LinkedIn’s role in both education and workforce development systems. “We are helping those systems adopt new practices, best practices around everything from online learning to the use of labor market information. Designing curriculums according to what employers want right now, in terms of skills.”

“And how to better match individuals with those employers in American Job Centers and across workforce boards, basically powering the public systems with our technology and allowing them to use the same tools that the top recruiting firms, the top banks, the top educational institutions use, except that now we're democratizing.”

Click here to learn more about LinkedIn.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Hirsch-Allen in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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“The worker shortage is a real serious one right now,” says Cheryl Oldham, vice president of education policy with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

She notes a historic number of more than 10 million job openings—a million and a half more than there are workers to fill them. Oldham says, “We've got to be thinking about how do we get everybody off the bench? What are barriers to employment? How do we address those?”

Among those who have dropped out of the workforce in large numbers are women. Oldham says childcare is a workforce issue that needs to be addressed and employers have a role in the solution.

The Chamber is studying, Oldham says, “What is the economic impact, both on a state economy and to the employer community, when childcare breaks down? I mean, it's billions of dollars annually.”

“[Employers are] very interested in what can we do from a benefits perspective? It's a retention issue. It's a hiring issue. They want to figure out their role and how do they support their working parents.

She continues, “And for many, they want to engage in the policy discussions. Is it tax credits? Is it more subsidies? Is it government programs? Is it private sector programs? They play a major role because it is impacting their ability to grow, to take on new business. It's a bottom line issue for them.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce describes itself as the “world’s largest business organization representing companies of all sizes across every sector of the economy.”

Click here to learn more about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—sat down with Oldham in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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Providing current employees with easily accessible online upskilling helps both the worker and the company, according to David Blake, co-founder and CEO of Learn In.

Businesses purchase the Learn In tech platform to gain access to vetted learning programs, affording employees the opportunity to gain targeted, in-demand skills without leaving their jobs.

Employer tuition assistance opportunities typically have a 3%-5% participation rate, says Blake. “You could take that as evidence that people don't really care, but really what we believe is that it means there are barriers between most employees and their ability to engage in participate in these programs.”

Blake continues, “The biggest barrier is time. And the crazy thing about it is companies appreciate they need to upscale, and they are spending truly millions of dollars, often buying content, developing content, often just creating programs where they will subsidize or pay for, or reimburse education. And then they give zero time. And that is a crazy irony that they are willing to spend millions of hard cash dollars, but not willing to spend any soft time to let people upskill.”

Blake says Learn In is working to help companies understand the return on investment when it comes to growing their employees by teaching them new skills.

Click here to learn more about Learn In.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—talked with Blake in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

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Hiring in the U.S. rose in July by 943,000 jobs as the unemployment rate dropped to 5.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The increase in payroll numbers is the highest since August of last year.

Leisure and hospitality—a sector severely hard-hit by the pandemic—created 380,000 jobs, while new education posts numbered 261,000.

WorkingNation is always looking at local stories around the nation to see what job and career opportunities are being offered. This week, we found training in robotics, workforce development for at-risk young adults, and first-job programs for high school and college students.

Check it out.

From Kentucky: The Lane Report reports Pratt Paper is building a new mill in Henderson that will create more than 300 jobs over the next five years.

From Michigan: Local 4 News reports a new 14-week program at Oakland Community College in Auburn Hills trains students for a career in robotics.

From Puerto Rico: The Weekly Journal reports a medical manufacturing company that makes sterile product bags is expanding operations in San Germán that will result in 150 new jobs.

From the Virgin Islands: A public-private partnership around solar energy is launching initiatives that include focus on workforce development and a diversion program for at-risk young adults.

From West Virginia: WV News reports opportunities are providing high school and college students with valuable internships and first-job experience.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories? Catch up here.

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The ASU+GSV Summit brings together the best and brightest minds at the intersection of education, technology, and work, with a focus on the new efforts underway to ensure everyone has equal access to participate in the future.

This year's three-day conference kicks off Monday in San Diego, and, once again, WorkingNation is proud to be a collaborating partner with the conference. We're hosting a number of panels and sharing with you some of the conversations we're having on-the-scene through our original social media interview series, WorkingNation Overheard.

Keep an eye on our Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram channels and watch for the #WorkingNationOverheard and #ASUGSVSummit hashtags to find out what speakers and attendees are telling us about new solutions to today's workforce challenges.

WE'RE Speaking Live at the ASU+GSV!  

We're hosting a couple of important discussions and helping out on a third one.

The green economy is growing and has been identified as one of the five economies expected to lead the post-pandemic jobs recovery. So what does this mean for the millions of job seekers trying to find their way back into the workforce? WorkingNation is hosting a panel that examines the skills needed to get a good-paying green job and where to find those jobs.

We've brought together an amazing line-up of panelists, including our own president Jane Oates, to share this important information.

We're also screening our short documentary The Middle: Indianapolis, the centerpiece of our most recent digital magazine, followed by a discussion about the important role education plays in preparing people with the skills they need to achieve a middle-class lifestyle throughout the country.

WorkingNation's executive producer Melissa Panzer takes part in that discussion and is joined onstage by a distinguished group of thought leaders who've agreed to share their thoughts on how education is key to economic mobility and job security.

WorkingNation's editor-in-chief Ramona Schindelheim moderates a panel for our friends at New Profit about the next steps in their Future of Work Grand Challenge. The equity-focused effort aims to rapidly reskill 25,000 displaced workers into higher-wage jobs over the next two years. We'll dig in on how to activate a local community and its leaders to create a good jobs pipeline.

Be In The Room Where It Happens, Or Close to It

We hope to see you there, but if you're not in San Diego, we want you to feel like you're in the room where it happens.

See what we’re up to on Twitter, LinkedIn,  YouTube, and Instagram at @WorkingNation and follow the hashtags #WorkingNationOverheard and #ASUGSVSummit.

And check back here at WorkingNation.com later this week for a recap of the all the action taking place at the ASU+GSV Summit.

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Whether from trauma or difficulties in their personal or family lives, 267 million 16- to 24-year-olds around the globe are neither in school or employed. The U.S. accounts for 4.4 million of these “opportunity youth,” who may be characterized by their struggles with unemployment, poverty, and crime. But the nonprofit YouthBuild says, most importantly, they have potential.

“YouthBuild partners with opportunity youth to build the skill sets and mindsets that lead to lifelong learning, livelihood, and leadership,” says Gina Plata, YouthBuild USA’s chief program officer. “(Our) movement strives to create a world where all young people are seen for their potential, and power to transform themselves and their communities.”

As the organization's website states, "Young people do not need fixing; they need champions who see them for who they really are, and who they can become."

The organization’s mission recently received a new financial boost from a $8.9 million grant from AmeriCorps. Since 1994, more than 400,000 YouthBuild AmeriCorps members rebuilt or rehabilitated 12,000 units of affordable housing, refurbished more than 10,000 computers for low-income families and nonprofits, and earned more than $35 million in Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards to help pay for college expenses.

The grant from AmeriCorps is the final installment of a three-year grant and begins August 15.

How YouthBuild Works

YouthBuild USA itself includes close to 233 programs in 46 U.S. states and territories. Those who join YouthBuild spend about half their time pursuing their formal education goals including a high school diploma or its equivalent, numeracy and literacy skill-building and hands-on learning focused on livelihood preparation. They can also earn certifications and credentials towards apprenticeships and postsecondary education.

“As we make our way out of the pandemic, these young people will be leading the way, rebuilding our communities, and reclaiming our stake in each other. With access to an education and a support system of people who believe in them, there is nothing they cannot accomplish,” says John Valverde, president and CEO of YouthBuild USA.

Program participants learn job skills in industries such as construction, manufacturing, health care, tourism and hospitality, retail, and information technology.

Here’s how these skills are put to work:

Health care: Students serve as patient companions and/or advocates in nonprofit healthcare facilities for low-income residents.

Environmental conservation: Students contribute to the clean-up and/or restoration of parks, trails, waterways, roads and highways within the local community and participate in varied conservation projects within the local area that relate to the ecosystem. Their recycling efforts involve educating community members in proper collection and recycling methods; removing tires from habitats on public lands; collecting e-waste; and sorting and separating recyclable materials in preparation for processing.

Computer infrastructure: Students help bridge the technological digital divide for economically disadvantaged individuals. They refurbish and distribute computer hardware to low-income families and community organizations and provide computer literacy classes to community members.

Childhood development: Students support staff and young children at nonprofit daycare centers and drop-in centers in low-income neighborhoods. This support leads to improved early childhood education gains and provides much needed nurturing, support, and care to low-income young children.

“All young people who enter a YouthBuild program pursue a dual mission: to create a meaningful and productive life for themselves and their families, while giving their best energies to improve the world around them,” Plata says.

Education and skills development are just part of the program’s foundation. Students can also receive mentoring, career counseling,

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My guest in this episode of Work in Progress is Andy Van Kleunen, the founder and CEO of National Skills Coalition, a national organization which describes its mission as "fighting for inclusive, high-quality skills training so that people have access to a better life, and local businesses see sustained growth."

NSC is a diverse group of stakeholders—business leaders, community leaders, community colleges, and industry intermediates—all trying to figure out how to reskill the workforce, says Van Kleunen, "so we can get more folks into the good jobs that are available in a very rapidly changing economy." As a group, NSC makes recommendations to state and federal leaders that they hope will influence policy and spending on skills training and education.

Van Kleunen says it all comes down to investing in people.

"The job market that those folks are going back into is very different than the one they faced back in March 2020. So we're very worried about the fact that with all of the great things that Washington has done to bring support and rescue to businesses and local workers who've been really challenged by this pandemic, we've done virtually nothing up until now to actually invest in the futures of those millions of workers who are currently out of the labor market, and are going to have a really tough time getting back in unless we invest in them now to get them ready for a very different economy."

Van Kleunen says that we've seen how the challenges of the last 18 months have disproportionately impacted workers of color, workers without a bachelor's degree or even any kind of post-secondary training, low-wage workers, older workers, and women. Some of these workers and job seekers will need short-term training, others would benefit from a longer-term strategy and collaborative partnerships among various stakeholders.

"I do think the American Jobs Plan that the Biden administration has proposed as part of its infrastructure strategy is very explicit about wanting to have those kinds of partnerships there to figure out both employment strategies for new workers that are coming into skilled work, but also how we're thinking about our unemployment policies and how it is that we're trying to transition workers if it's not back into the industry from which they left into new industries locally. And so I think that that partnership idea has really taken hold," he adds.

Van Kleunen says he's encourage by signs that investing in people—investing in training for workers—is a bi-partisan issue. "It resonates with Republican and Democratic and Independent voters. We did a recent poll, 89% of U.S. voters want to see workforce training be part of any infrastructure job creation package coming out of Congress this year. They see that as an essential part."

"I'm also encouraged by the fact that the kind of partners that we're bringing together, who don't typically work together on policy—business leaders both large and small, labor unions, colleges, and community organizations—they've done a great job of coming together to work on this stuff. And so I think that that's where we've got a great opportunity to move this conversation forward, not just with what we do here in 2021, but in some years to follow."

You can listen to the full podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts.Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Episode 195: Andy Van Kleunen, National Skills Coalition founder & CEOHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

Program Alert!

Andy Van Kleunen is among the guests when WorkingNation president Jane Oates moderates a Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and AARP virtual panel discussion about solving some of these long-term unemployment i...

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The number of unemployment claims in the U.S. fell the week ending July 24 to 400,000. That’s a 24,000 drop. The decrease may suggest the coronavirus Delta variant isn’t yet deeply impacting the economy, but economists are waiting to see what effect increases in variant cases has on the workforce.

Meanwhile, around the country, efforts continue to help people find new job opportunities. We are always looking for local solutions. This week, our findings include a partnership to help older people in North Dakota get back into the workforce and free college classes for Vermont residents.

Check it out.

From California: California News Times reports a new training initiative for Orange County residents will help fill openings in much-demanded health care careers.

From Georgia: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports a new cohort of the free Construction Ready program gets underway August 16 and includes training, credentialing, and job placement.

From North Dakota: The Dickinson Press reports the National Indian Council on Aging is partnering with the federal SCSEP program to provide training to help older people get back into the workforce.

From Pennsylvania: Lehigh Valley Live reports a new training program has been launched to help workers – displaced due to the pandemic – in Lehigh and Northampton counties finish degrees or certifications in a number of areas.

From Vermont: WCAX reports two postsecondary schools are offering free college classes through the Upskill Vermont Scholarship program to residents who are seeking new careers.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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More than any other demographic, Californians age 16 to 24 years old suffered the worst unemployment rate during pandemic. While it’s improving—from a high of 24.5% in March 2021 to 19.7% in June—the rate of joblessness is more severe for foster youth, those experiencing homelessness, LGBTQI, and those of color.

An expanded Los Angeles-area program addresses the issue by providing skilled labor for an evolving labor market. Youth@Work started as a summer job program 15 years ago and has gone through several name changes. But the goal to prepare and connect Los Angeles County youth for employment has remained unchanged.

“Several studies over the years have proven that the age 14 to 24 is a critical time in a young person’s life when young people need to be connected to education and/or employment,” says Felipe Moscoso, acting human services administrator for Los Angeles County’s Youth Workforce Development Programs. “Their future and our collective future depend on it. Literally.”

Those under 18 years of age need parental permission to participate. Open to county residents, applicants apply online. Priority is given to youth who have dropped out of school, struggling to stay in school, and those who may have graduated but don’t yet have a job nor are enrolled in classes.

In less than two weeks, applicants receive a response from an America’s Job Centers of California (AJCC), which will help them complete the enrollment process. All youth need to provide “right to work” documentation following Form I-9 guidelines.

“The Youth@Work program equips and empowers teens in our communities who are most at-risk of falling through the cracks,” says Kathryn Barger, county supervisor. “Even as we battle the current public health crisis, L.A. County remains committed to provide youth with educational and employment opportunities to bolster their skills, increase their confidence, and propel them toward career success. Especially now, L.A. County communities will be strengthened by the innovation, creativity, and determination of our youth.”

Industries were adopted by the Workforce Development Board and selected based on labor market intelligence from the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, the State of California Employment Development Department, and additional local efforts through the AJCCs. The AJCCs work with local businesses in the service area and evaluates them for hosting youth employees. In addition, the Los Angeles County Workforce Development, Aging and Community Services partners with industries across the nation and brings in AJCCs for potential partnerships and initiatives.

Youth@Work follows an “earn and learn” model. Once fully enrolled, participants receive 20 hours of subsidized soft skills development and 100 hours of paid work experience with a private, non-profit or public employer. Wages are $15 an hour for a total of 120 hours. Because of health and safety concerns, youth have been provided with remote training and work opportunities. Once the program is completed, they may qualify for additional career services.

“The program also challenges youth to imagine what they may want to do in the future based on their interests now,” Moscoso says. “This program is beneficial to local employers as it provides them with an opportunity to mentor and invest in their communities. Employers often hire our youth on a permanent basis. Youth at Work is critical for young people who have been underrepresented in the job market and who often face the higher barriers or disconnection to employment due to lack of opportunity, guidance, and experience.”

Priority industries in the program include those driving COVID-19 recovery efforts such as health and digital media, he adds. To address digital media skills, WDACS introduced a new digital workforce platform called Career EDGE that enables youth to learn about specific industries through online modules and activities that are self-paced.

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, my guest is Mona Mourshed, founding global CEO of Generation, a nonprofit with a mission to support the training of learners of all ages, leading to careers that were previously beyond their reach. Generation's new report, Meeting the Midcareer Moment, is an in-depth look at workers over the age of 45, the challenges they face advancing in the workplace, and, for the unemployed, competing against younger job seekers. Let's start with the job interview. What does a hiring manager see when she or he looks at a job seeker over the age of 45? According to the report, they see someone who isn't tech-savvy, isn't adaptable, and who won't fit into the company culture. These perceptions of midcareer workers are putting them at the bottom of the pile when it comes to hiring. "We asked employers to describe what are the strengths that you see of different job candidates in the different age brackets. Long story short, employers see the age 45+ population as having absolutely no strengths relative to those who are age 18-to-34 or 35-to-44," explains Mourshed. Job seekers between the ages of 35 and 44 are most popular with hiring managers, according to the survey. "That's the sweet spot. They've had enough experience, but employers still view them as being nimble and creative. This for us was one of the most stark findings of the report. It really puts a number on ageism," Mourshed tells me in the podcast. Conversely, the hiring managers have an entirely different view of the older workers they already employ. "We asked the very same employers, 'In those cases where you have hired age 45+ within the last three years. how are they performing relative to their job peers?' And we found that 87% of those individuals are performing as well, if not better, than their younger job peers. "When we asked about retention, we found that 90% of those aged 45+ cases are showing as much potential, if not more than their younger peers. And that is the definition of bias, right? It's that whenever a general bias can prevail despite evidence to the contrary, that's what it looks like. And it's very pervasive," argues Mourshed. So simply put, older workers looking for a job are not seen as strong candidates for today's workforce, but once hired, they prove that they are just as capable as their younger colleagues when it comes to actually doing the work.

Older workers looking for a job are not seen as strong candidates for today's workforce, but once hired, they prove that they are just as capable as their younger colleagues when it comes to actually doing the work. This is an important point. Workplace demands have changed. Midcareer workers have the talent, and they are adaptable to the changing work environment—when they are given the opportunity. This is reflected in another number. The majority of the long-term unemployed—those out of work for more than six months—are over the age of 45. Once out of work, it is hard for older workers to find their way back into the workforce. Generation says that we are at a crossroads—"if we choose to recognize the talents of this group and help them adapt to workplace disruptions, we can prosper together. But if we stick with the status quo, a bad situation will only get worse." It is also important to point out that everyone is different. There are, in fact, some people who need some additional training to meet the new demands in the workplace. Generation is doing so much in this field. This excellent report has more information on this and the rest of the findings. I encourage you to both read and listen to find out more. You can read Meeting the Midcareer Moment here. You can download the podcast here or wherever you get your podcast.

Episode 194: Mona Mourshed, Founding Global CEO, GenerationHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerMusic: Compo...

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Opportunities in manufacturing, construction, and the offshore wind industry are some of the workforce options available around the U.S.

WorkingNation is always looking at local stories that are addressing how different parts of the country are helping get people back on the job.

Take a look at this week’s findings.

From Alabama: Alabama NewsCenter reports Trenholm State Community College has partnered with area utility companies in offering a nine-week course to prepare Montgomery residents to become lineworkers.

From Iowa: KCRG reports 50 new Procter & Gamble jobs are coming to Iowa City as the company expands its existing beauty production operations.

From Minnesota: Sun Post reports a manufacturer that specializes in medical devices will be relocating and expanding operations in Brooklyn Park creating an additional 90 jobs.

From Montana: MSU News Service reports Gallatin College Montana State University is offering a training program to prepare people for the construction trades.

From New Jersey: Downbeach.com reports Atlantic Cape Community College is establishing an offshore wind safety training program to train for jobs in the state’s growing offshore wind industry.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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Last month, 9.5 million people around the U.S. were looking for employment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, there was a record high 9.2 million job openings.

Art Bilger, founder and CEO of WorkingNation, in a recent op-ed for CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business, looks at some of the reasons for this seeming shortage of workers.

Art Bilger, Founder & CEO, WorkingNation

The pandemic has accelerated the reliance on technical and digital skills, writes Bilger, giving greater exposure to the jobs skills gap.

“Companies are not going to go back to the old ways of doing business. Today’s jobs, and the jobs of the future, require strong, sometimes new skills,” notes Bilger.

Among the issues compounding the need for new skills are health concerns and lack of affordable childcare.

However, there is a bright spot—innovative training and educational opportunities are out there, according to Bilger.

While the lift is still heavy, he writes, “Many key stakeholders are doing their part, coming together to eliminate barriers to upskilling and helping jobseekers along the path to a good-paying job and career.”

To read Bilger’s full op-ed, click here.

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Arizona State University is developing a workforce ecosystem to boost the talent pipelines in advanced manufacturing, information technology, cybersecurity, and data analytics.

Earlier this year, the university received an $8M grant from the Department of Labor to fund its Workforce Training Accelerator Partnership for Next Generation Jobs or, more simply, AZNext. Over the next four years, the program hopes to help 2,000 participants achieve industry-recognized credentials and find jobs.

Fixing the Talent Gap

Raghu Santanam, Ph.D., lead investigator of AZNext and chair of the Department of Information Systems in the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU, says a talent gap in STEM-focused careers is not new. “There is huge growth in those areas. And when you have such growth and your educational pipeline is not reacting fast enough, doesn't have the capacity to react fast enough, you do end up seeing those talent gaps,” says Santanam.

Raghu Santanam, Ph.D., Arizona State University (Photo: W.P. Carey School of Business)

“The second way that these kinds of talent gaps emerge is that you have this incumbent workforce that's been busy doing what needs to be done. Then it's not suddenly prepared for something that drastically changes in the industry. So, both factors, in general, contribute to that kind of a talent shortage.”

Partnerships are Essential

Critical to AZNext’s development is the internal collaboration with other ASU programs and public-private partnerships.

“We collaborated with Arizona Technology Council, which is an organization with about 800 member companies that are all in the technology industry or are influenced by technology changes within their industries,” says Santanam.

“They are helping us put together these workforce advisory boards that help us engage with our employers very closely. Right now, in the first year, we're meeting with them on a quarterly basis. These are working sessions where we are closely listening to what their demands are, what the needs are, and what are some specific programs they would need,” explains Santanam.

The input will help inform what learning will be available to participants. Santanam says, “We are in the process of building curriculum that is not currently available, but that we predict will be really important for the employers.”

He adds, “We are also in the process within the university community, making sure we have the communications in place in terms of recruiting students or participants into the program.”

(Photo: Arizona State University)

Student Populations

The program will be open to anyone who is 17 years or older, a high school graduate, and a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Training goals include new talent development, upskilling, and reskilling, according to Santanam. “I think your participant groups that you want to target expands to address each of those goals.”

“The unemployed and underemployed, of course, that's the societal imperative. They could be in that upskilling and reskilling bracket.”

“Some of them may also be ready to come back to university and completely train in a new area and we should keep that option open for them. So that's where they would still benefit from all of those three goals.”

The program will also focus on people with ties to the military. “We have the veterans, the military spouses, and the transitioning service members also in our target group. We have the Pat Tillman Foundation at ASU and we are working with them to address specifically how we help veterans transition into technology careers,” says Santanam. He adds, AZNext is in discussions with the Arizona Coalition for Military Families about possibly getting involved.

Santanam reminds that virtual learning is also an option and one of ASU’s strengths. “ASU is probably one of the largest research universities in the U.S. that has this large number of online degree programs. Also,

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It's Global Skills Day 2021, a worldwide virtual gathering of hundreds of speakers from 25 countries—from nonprofits, educators, nonprofits, jobseekers, and more—all focused on creating strategies for learning crucial 21st Century skills in a post-pandemic world.

My guests today on this episode of Work in Progress podcast are two of the people I respect the most on the subject of the intersection of education, skills development, and work—Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation and the closing keynote speaker at Global Skills Day 2021, and our own Jane Oates, president of WorkingNation.

The COVID-19 crisis exposed a lot of issues in the way we prepare our workforce—young or old—for the skills they need today to get a good-paying job. There are challenges, but there are opportunities.

Both Merisotis and Oates are in agreement—first off, we have to tear down the false divide between learning and work that has existed for so long.

"Learning and work have to be talked about as seamless parts of one whole. In other words, the intersection of learning and work is not something that you should be talking about in distinct sections. They have to come together...at this inflection point for society," says Merisotis.

Merisotis adds that the pandemic may actually be an opportunity to reset the conversation, In particular, he says, we need to "talk about how the pandemic has accelerated some of the trends around how technology is changing both work and learning, about how, in fact, we need to focus more on equity when it comes to these issues of bringing work and learning together."

"There's a terrific concentration now, a drum beat on equity," says Oates. "I also think it's a business reality right now, that sense of urgency business has that feeling. It's not just people in the communities of color, it's not just women, it's not just people looking for social justice.

She points out there is a gigantic need for talent in our economy right now with more than nine million jobs going unfilled. "People are saying, 'We cannot find the talent that we need,' and they're reframing the conversation around skills."

One of the questions being discussed today in the virtual gathering is how does a jobseeker signal to employers the skills they have, especially when not everyone agrees on what that signal should look like.

"The best way to demonstrate skills is with a credential," says Merisotis. "The problem, I think, is that the people pushing back on the credentials are really pushing back on bachelor's degrees. I think it's that credential that they're pushing back on.

"Most employers do not have the capacity of a Google or a PWC to assess skills in a way that they can do massive hiring in the way that large employers can. Most employers are small and medium-sized employers, they need to know that people know and can do certain things. And the workforce training certificate, the associate degree, whatever the credential is, is going to continue to be important."

Oates and Merisotis say an important public policy discussion needs to be had around what's behind those credentials and how do we know that people have actually gotten something out of it?

"If a credential doesn't have a valid assessment—if you just get a piece of paper for being in a seat for amount of time—you don't have the skills necessary for that job. And whether it's a blue collar job or a white collar job, really doesn't matter," says Oates.

"I think where the bachelor's degree has been important to employers is that it's proof that you have an ability to persist and learn. It doesn't necessarily talk about your specifics, unless you're a nurse getting state licensed or a teacher getting state licensed about the specificity of your skills, but it gives you a very general look that this person can stick to it, do a two or four year degree and graduate," she adds.

In the podcast,

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Job training, apprenticeships, public-private partnership are some of the opportunities around the country to help people get back into the workforce. WorkingNation is always looking for local stories about the available options.

This week, manufacturing, biotechnology, and utilities are among our areas of focus. Take a look.

From New Hampshire: The Keene Sentinel reports a medical supplies manufacturer is offering an apprenticeship program that combines on-the-job training with classes at local community colleges.

From New York: Rome Sentinel reports a grant will fund training for 600 unemployed and underemployed residents – in 17 New York counties – to meet increased demand for workers to fill health care jobs.

From Oregon: Blue Mountain Eagle reports Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative and a local technical school are developing a training center in Baker City for people looking to become utility workers and also to provide continuing education to current employees.

From Rhode Island: Patch Narragansett-South Kingston reports the University of Rhode Island is offering a free, virtual course to introduce people to biotechnology careers that encompass jobs in marine, agricultural, and medical biotechnology.

From Utah: Daily Herald reports Owens Corning is expanding operations over the next decade in Juab County adding about 70 jobs to its existing workforce.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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From retailers to health care, industries across the board are relying on data and artificial intelligence to solve business problems. It’s resulting in a rising demand for workers in the data economy.

Data scientists are one of the fastest growing occupations in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a projected growth rate of 31% in the ten-year period ending in 2029.

And a report on the future of jobs by the World Economic Forum also lists data analysts and data scientists among in-demand occupations. It also finds that there is demand for soft skills, including critical thinking, analysis, and problem solving.

Jobs in the data economy often require technical skills, namely programming languages such as Python.

Making the Data Science Workforce Inclusive

The challenge is making sure all workers who want it receive data science training, so they are not left behind and to make sure the future workforce is inclusive and diverse.

Rasheed Sabar, co-founder & co-CEO, Correlation One (Photo: Correlation One)

“On the one hand, you have data literacy as an important skill for the future of work becoming required for more and more jobs. On the other hand, you have institutions that aren’t well equipped to provide data literacy to workers in an efficient, scalable, equitable way,” says Rasheed Sabar, the co-founder and co-CEO of Correlation One, a technology company “whose mission is to create equal access to the data-driven jobs of tomorrow.”

Data Science for All

To create that access, Correlation One developed Data Science For All training programs for underrepresented communities that include people who identify as women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and veterans. Correlation One partners with companies that serve as pipelines and provide funding, so qualified students don’t incur costs. “We want to systematically remove all the barriers that keep underrepresented individuals out of the jobs in the data economy,” adds Sabar.

Courses are held on Saturdays in a multi-month program for fellows across the country. Instruction is virtual with a typical day running 10-12 hours. There are live lectures given by university professors that include Ivy League schools, guest speakers from various industries, and team project work using data to solve real world challenges. One recent example: helping a grocery store co-op diversify its supply chain. Fellows are also paired with mentors and instructors.

Sabar says entry into the program is based on merit, adding that a prior requirement to have a four-year degree has been dropped. Applicants are chosen, he says, using assessments to find “high potential, high grit” individuals who are lacking technical skills.

Career Pivot During the Pandemic

Vanessa Johnson is one of those individuals. A former HR professional in the education field with a degree in psychology, Johnson lost her job during the pandemic. She didn’t want to accumulate debt paying for a boot camp or advanced degree to switch careers. She describes learning the programming language Python as challenging but something that boosted her confidence.

Vanessa Johnson, graduate, Data Science For All (Photo: Justin Durner)

Johnson completed the program in February and is working as—in her words—"a people analytics analyst” for a national education nonprofit.

“It’s using data analytics and business intelligence concepts, and applying them to the HR field,” she explains. “I don’t even think I would have even considered applying for a job like that without having completed this program,” says Johnson. She also considers her job more future proof.

Johnson is one of about 1,000 fellows who graduated earlier this year. Sabar says while data is still coming in on their outcomes, he estimates the jobs they’ll land have a salary range between $60,000 and $110,000. Salaries can vary depending on geography, with higher wages in areas where the cost of living is higher.

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Seeing the sharp demand for digital skills, accelerated by the COVID-19 health and economic crisis, nonprofit Generation USA partnered with Verizon last year with a goal of preparing 500,000 people for jobs of the future by 2030.

The Verizon Reskilling Program is a $44 million investment and part of the Citizen Verizon initiative—a three-pillar plan supporting digital inclusion, climate protection, and upskilling/reskilling efforts.

WorkingNation checks in with Generation USA to discuss that collaboration and others designed to ensure no group is left behind in the recovery.

Scaling Efforts to Create More Opportunity

Before the pandemic, Generation USA had been training about 1,000 people a year, but CEO Sean Segal says that wasn’t enough.

Sean Segal, CEO Generation USA (Photo: Generation USA)

“Generation’s mission is upskilling and reskilling the most vulnerable populations in the United States. During the pandemic, we really stepped back to consider what our role should be as the nation faced this unprecedented crisis,” Segal says.

“We knew that any economic recovery, when it came, would leave our populations out. So, we decided to focus on scaling our efforts.” That's were Verizon comes in.

More than half of Generation’s students (80%) were unemployed or in gig work before beginning the program, and 70% self-identify as Black or Latinx.

The online program—Verizon Skill Forward Program—provides free resources with a focus on tech jobs including junior cloud practitioner, IT help desk technician, and digital marketing analyst. Each program takes approximately 10 to 12 weeks to complete.

Applications are now being accepted for those programs.

Generation USA Collaborations Expand Training Opportunities

Additionally, JFF, a nonprofit whose mission is to transform education and workforce systems, is collaborating with Generation USA. JFF is delivering the Generation training curricula to a pilot group of 9 colleges to expedite access to tech careers. JFF hopes to expand the program to 15 colleges next year.

“From a do-good standpoint of corporate social responsibility, it creates access and inclusion, providing gateways for people who haven’t been able to access learning, good jobs, social capital and all the things a lot of us enjoy,” says Kathy Mannes, JFF’s vice president of impact partnerships.

“It’s changing the paradigm around how colleges function; this is a gamechanger.”

One participating school is Dallas College whose goal is to serve an estimated 600 students in eight to 11 cohorts over the next 12 months. The school previously partnered with Generation to offer entry-level IT training to low-income 18- to 24-year-olds.

Joe May, Ed.D., chancellor at Dallas College (Photo: Dallas College)

“Their model combination of workforce skills and job readiness delivered in an accelerated format pairs well with our integrated training and education pathways. This innovative model helps non-traditional learners obtain micro-credentials that allow them to jumpstart their careers and earn sustainable living wages,” says Joe May, Ed.D., Dallas College system chancellor.

“The added value of paid experiential learning through the student experience made it a more attractive alliance and a natural fit for career connected learners. Through this work, Dallas College is not only transforming one life, but generations of lives within our Dallas County community.”

Placement is Critical

Since 2017, Generation has had an 81% graduation rate with more than 4,000 participants completing their programs. In addition to the education and training, Generation’s programs include job placement.

“Placement is a huge part of our program,” Segal says. “Training doesn’t matter if you can’t get a job. Our graduates have already landed roles with Google, Infosys, Verizon, and Belle Fleur Technologies, to name a few.”

“We’re also partnering with a tech outsourcing firm, ConSol,

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In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, Governor David Ige joins me to discuss The State of Work in the state of Hawai'i and how the "ready for anything" "Aloha spirit" is helping Hawai'i recover from the COVID-19 unemployment crisis.

At the end of 2019, the state recorded its seventh record year of tourist visits to the islands and the unemployment rate was just over 2%. Then the pandemic hit.

"Clearly the most difficult decision I had to make was the decision to order a mandatory quarantine for all incoming travelers to the state," recalls Governor Ige.

"We were closing hotels and closing businesses through that first six weeks in the pandemic. We were asking visitors not to come to the islands, to postpone trips and vacations, because we wanted to ensure that we could keep our community healthy and safe."

Essentially, tourism-dependent Hawai'i went from one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country to one of the highest—more than 22%—in about six weeks. Governor Ige and his administration started to look for for opportunities to get Hawai'i residents back into the workforce and they began to tap into the digital transformation that was accelerating during the pandemic.

"The whole transformation to a digital economy—the infusion of technology into virtually every single business and organization in the community—had to occur in order for any of those organizations to survive. At the same time that many businesses were shut down and laying people off, there were businesses that were thriving and booming and unable to hire the people that they needed to be successful."

"They work very hard in the hospitality industry, but for those who were interested...we wanted to really give them the opportunity to support expansion of our economy," the Governor tells me in the podcast.

The state's workforce development team got to work. "We clearly wanted to look for opportunities for upskilling and retraining. We worked with our community colleges and our universities and private sector providers to really make training available to those who may have been impacted in the visitor industry."

An example of a successful program is Remote Ready Hawai'i.

"As you know, virtually every organization transitioned to telework in some way, shape, or form and we were working with those who were unemployed here to identify telework opportunities for Amazon or Google, or a wide range of companies that were looking for telework. (We) really focused on intensive training for these individuals, looking at the digital skills gap, connecting them with online instruction and programs that would allow them to qualify for these telework opportunities and get them back employed."

The unemployment rate in Hawai'i is now around 8%, not where it was before the pandemic, but definitely on the road to recovery. Governor Ige credits the state's rebound to its willingness to diversify its economy and its "ready for anything" attitude.

"What makes Hawaii a very special place is our Aloha spirit and our willingness to understand that we are a community and that we're stronger together than apart, and that everyone is willing to help each other.

"We really worked to build the mindset within state government to be creative and innovative, to not stop with what we normally would do in the context of state government. As we explored and identified resources in our community, and as we identified the gaps between the skills that unemployed workers had and what they needed, the model was really be ready for anything."

That "Aloha spirit" and the embrace of innovation has led Hawai'i to be chosen as one of the inaugural cohort of 10 state grantees in the Workforce Innovation Network (WIN), a collaboration for the National Governors Association and Cognizant Foundation. Each state receives a grant to "improve employment outcomes in response to the economic impacts of COVID-19, connecting job seekers to training,

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Efforts continue around the country to get people back to work or onto new pathways.

Where are the most promising opportunities in your state? We're always looking, and this week we've found five stories we'd like to share, among them jobhunting access for people in a rural Arizona county and job training for immigrant women in Massachusetts.

In other states, transportation, logistics, construction, and cybersecurity are some of the industries looking to hire.

From Arizona: CopperArea.com reports two organizations are collaborating to better connect job seekers in rural Pinal County to local businesses. The area is expected to see significant population and job growth over the next 10 years.

From Colorado: The Colorado Springs Business Journal reports the cybersecurity program at the University of Colorado–Colorado Springs has been approved as a registered apprenticeship program by the U.S. Department of Labor.

From Idaho: KMVT reports College of Southern Idaho is offering free workforce training classes in areas including food processing and manufacturing, construction, and health care. Classes range from one day to four weeks and will be funded through January of next year.

From Massachusetts: Dorchester Reporter reports a local nonprofit has received funding to continue training low-income, bilingual immigrant women to become medical interpreters.

From Missouri: Kansas City Business Journal reports a trucking company that ships frozen foods is opening a facility in Butler, creating 60 new jobs.

Did you miss our previous Back to Work stories from around the country? Catch up here.

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For many service members, exiting the military to enter the civilian workforce can be stressful and even difficult as they leave a stable career behind. The workforce they are entering is likely very different than they one they knew before entering the service.

One boot camp program called Operation LevelUp aims to make that transition successful by using the final phase of active duty to teach soldiers the skills they need to enter the in-demand field of software engineering.

“We’re not only teaching them these technical skills, we are teaching them how to learn, how to solve problems, and we’re helping them along the way,” says Matt Elledge, a former U.S. Army Colonel who is director of military affairs at tech ed company Galvanize, which runs the boot camp.

The company embeds itself on bases including Fort Hood and four others to offer an 18-week immersive program to active-duty personnel about to exit the service. Elledge says software engineering skills were chosen because of the high demand from all kinds of industries.

Openings for software and application developers top the list of hiring activity among tech positions, according CompTIA, a trade group tracking tech employment in the U.S.

“They are needed everywhere and that’s why there are so many job openings in this field. “I don’t see software engineering ever going away,” says Elledge. And the majority of the jobs don't require four-year degrees.

These jobs are projected to grow 8% between 2019 and 2029, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with a median salary of $77,000.

Increased Demand for Software Engineering Skills

“In the last few years, there has been a correlated increase in demand for software engineers,” says Dave Walters, CTO at Hired, an AI-driven marketplace matching tech talent to companies.

Software engineering can include different roles depending on skill level and job functions. Web developers that focus only on web applications, explains Walters, is one specific role falling under the broader software engineering category. He says web developers are in high demand especially for candidates skilled in the coding languages of Python, Java and JavaScript.

Software engineers not only build software for web applications but also for desktop and mobile applications, explains Walters, lists Redux.js, Google Cloud, AWS, and React.js as the highest in-demand coding skills. For coding languages, he says Go and Scala top the list.

As for education levels required for these jobs,  a traditional university degree is not always needed. Hired finds that while 45% of software engineers have a computer science degree, and 22% have a relevant college degree, another 23% are self-taught, and 10% went to a boot camp program. While the cost of coding boot camps can vary, the average cost is estimated at $13,584.

Operation LevelUp

28-year-old Army veteran Zach Yusef learned his software engineering skills during his final months of active duty at Fort Hood, Texas through Operation LevelUp.

His tuition was paid through the U.S. Veterans Affairs program and one year after leaving the military, Yusef says, his salary has roughly tripled from his military paycheck.

“It was honestly life changing for me,” says Yusef. He calls it a “no brainer” for him to decide to learn skills for a career in software engineering. “Careers in tech are offering the highest starting salary for people who did not have any experience and it was fun,” he adds.

Yusef also describes the coursework at Operation LevelUp as intense. Days are typically 10 hours long and he describes daily coding challenges, individual work, and team work.

Matt Elledge, director of military affairs, Galvanize (Photo: Galvanize)

Galvanize’s Elledge says coursework starts with providing programming fundamentals in web development. It then delves into software engineering and works up to a final project with everyone working as a team much like they woul...

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In this encore episode of the Work in Progress podcast, first aired in April, my guest is Lisa Gevelber, the founder and vice president of Grow with Google, Google's training initiative which is helping people gain tech skills for in-demand jobs in today's economy.

Gevelber says there are millions of American workers without a college degree who feel like good jobs are out of reach for them, and Google wants to break down that barrier by training workers for skills that employers are looking for right now.

"The objective is really to make sure that the opportunities that are created by technology are truly available to everyone. It's an economic opportunity program that really has two pillars, which is how do we help small businesses succeed, and then how do we help people reach their full economic potential regardless of their background, education, and make sure that they really have opportunities to get great, high-paying, high-growth jobs.

Gevelber explains that the career certificate program grew out of the company's efforts to solve an internal problem—finding enough talent trained to do IT support.

"We built a specific training program so that we could successfully bring in non-traditional (non-degreed) talent and build out our own workforce. Then we realized that we had something really special and that we could share this with everyone. So, we created our very first Google Career Certificate in IT support and made it available to anyone—put it up on Coursera—in January of 2018. And it's a super robust training program, it's still the training program that we use at Google to train our own IT support professionals."

More than 50,000 people have gone through the program, gotten the Google IT certificate, and are working in the IT field. "The good thing is so many of our students do not have a college degree and are just thriving in these jobs."

Google recently added new certificates in three other high-demand fields—data analytics, project management, and user experience design, which is the creative field of how we all interact with websites or apps on our phones.

There are 1.3 million open jobs in the four Google Career Certificate fields. Says Gevelber, "Employers are out there looking for great talent and, ideally, also diversifying their workforces. After the training, Google works with more than 130 companies to place its graduates in jobs with entry-level salaries of at least $69,000 a year."

Coursera charges a small fee for the training, which is taught online by Google professionals. "Each of our certificates can be done for $39 a month. Most people finish in three to six months, so the total cost for most people would be $120 to $240.

Gevelber says the Google Career Certificate training program is a "win for everyone. It helps job seekers get the skills they need for these in-demand, high-paying jobs, but it also really helps the employers fill their talent pipeline with non-traditional talent."

You can listen to the full podcast here, or download and listen from wherever you get your podcasts.

Download the transcript for this podcast here.

Episode 191: Lisa Gevelber, founder & VP, Grow with GoogleHost and Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, editor-in-chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa PanzerMusic: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

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Like many school districts across the country, the Oakland Unified School District in California, which serves about 36,000 students, faced the dilemma of how it could transform its high schools in order to engage students and boost graduation rates. It also aimed to prepare students for meaningful careers.

Oakland Unified’s answer was to create pathways for students to different careers by combining classwork with hands-on learning and real-world work experiences. As a result, the district has seen its graduation rate climb from 63% to 73% in the last five years. Among the 13 pathways available - Building & Construction Trades, Engineering & Design, and Marketing, Sales & Services.

Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammel, Ed.D., Oakland Unified School District (Photo: OUSD)

“What we’ve seen is that students who are in pathways tend to have better graduation rates and go to college at a higher rate.

"And we are seeing that trend break down in terms of equity when we look at the performance of our African American students, Latino students, special education students, even our newcomers and English language learners. That’s really the idea behind it,“ says Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammel, Ed.D.

The district has a diverse population with 72% of students being eligible for free and reduced lunch.

Investing in the Community

A key partner with OUSD is the Linked Learning Alliance, a nonprofit organization with a mission dedicated to the success of young people. The organization works with educators, employers, and community organizations to achieve its goal.

Anne Stanton, president and CEO of Linked Learning Alliance, says the pathways program works to dismantle the idea that students will either go to college “or” have a career. Instead, she says, the emphasis is to prepare students to go to college “and” have a career. Stanton says equity is the core goal.

Anne Stanton, president and CEO, Linked Learning Alliance (Photo: Linked Learning Alliance)

“I would say it’s the North Star. That might be an overused term, but I think part of what we were trying to do when we started the work was to get away from this ‘or’ conversation, the sorting mechanism of which kids are prepared for what. We just wanted to totally blow that up,” says Stanton.

Carrying out that vision of preparing students for both college and careers requires partners and resources. The Atlantic Philanthropies provided a grant, and a ten-year revenue stream comes from Measure N, a parcel tax approved in Oakland in 2014.

Among the popular pathway options, Oakland’s high school seniors rank the Oakland Health Pathways Project as their top career choice. With the OUSD partnered with the Alameda Health System, the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, and some area hospitals, it’s estimated 100 students complete health-related internships each year. Across all pathways, the number of internships, annually, is about 1,000.

The number of students participating in the health pathway has more than doubled in its first four years.

(Photo: Oakland Unified School District)

“There’s been so much mentorship and rich experiences that really help the subject areas of math and science come alive, and really help kids start to think about all the various careers that are in the health field,” notes Superintendent Johnson-Trammell.

And careers in the health field are growing. Roughly 2.4 million health care jobs are expected to be added in the ten-year period ending in 2029. That includes everything from doctors to registered nurses requiring a bachelor’s degree with a median pay of $75,330 in 2020 and opticians who need a high school diploma or equivalent, along with on-the-job training, at the 2020 median salary of $38,530.

Shaping Students’ Futures

Thirteen hundred students are currently enrolled in the health career pathway program, including 17-year-old Bryan Moreno. He serves as a student co-chair of his public health...

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Even before the pandemic, railroad equipment maker and track servicer Atlantic Track in Memphis faced a hiring challenge: it had plenty of open jobs but couldn't enough people to fill them. The employee-owned company was finding that as its older workers were retiring, there weren't enough young people entering the skilled trades, particularly as welders.

The solution was to grow its own talent by creating an apprenticeship program in the local high school district.

(Photo: Atlantic Track)

Atlantic Track Memphis Registered Apprentice Program in Welding is the first state-registered apprentice program in the Shelby County Schools district and its goal is to connect high school students to career pathways within the company. A dozen juniors and seniors are expected to enroll in the inaugural cohort in September.

Students will receive 144 hours of related technical instruction in the classroom, learning about topics such as manufacturing basics, how to use certain tools, and precision measurements, explains Angela Massey, the workforce development and training manager for Atlantic Track. 

To complete the program, the students will get 2,000 hours of hand-on training. “We test them to assess where they are in the classroom, then they will be doing actual on-the-job learning with a journey worker who’s been here and is certified,” explains Massey.

Angela Massey, Atlantic Track workforce development and training manager (Photo: Angela Massey)

The goal, she says, is for the apprentices to get hired into full-time positions at Atlantic Track in Memphis. The company expects to be filling 30 jobs in the next year that will include welders. “If we don’t have jobs here, we have jobs nationwide. We have five manufacturing facilities,” adds Massey.

Students out of high school start at $15 an hour and after 90 days receive full benefits that include a 401(k) savings and investment plan and an employee stock ownership plan. Massey notes there is also a tuition reimbursement plan if employees want to go to college.

A Proven Track Record of Talent Building

Atlantic Track’s training blueprint in Memphis follows an informal apprenticeship program for several students hired out of Shelby Count’s high schools. 21-year-old Aramis Hardy is one of them.

Aramis Hardy, American Track employee (Photo: Aramis Hardy)

He's now a full-time employee with full benefits, on track to become a journeyman himself, and is slated to attend a training certification program for robotic welding in September.

Hardy says there are not many family-sustaining job opportunities right now in Memphis, where an estimated 27% of the population lives below the poverty line.

His dream in high school was to become a professional football player but considered it a one in a million chance of making it happen.

His Plan B was welding, which turned out to be a great choice for him.

“I took it to heart. I see that I am really making a difference for my community,” he tells WorkingNation. “I’m really happy to be part of it, to be honest.”

The Outlook for a Career in Welding

In terms of nationwide demand, welding is listed among manufacturing middle skills occupations with the highest projected job openings during 2019-2029, according to a report by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics also expects welders will be needed to help rebuild the nation’s aging bridges, highways, and buildings.

Welders typically need a high school diploma, or the equivalent of one, along with technical and on-the-job training to get certified. Median pay is roughly $44,000 or $21.25 per hour, according to the BLS.

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In this week's Work in Progress podcast, Maurice Jones, CEO of OneTen, joins me to discuss the organization's mission and a big announcement from OneTen—the launch next month of a platform connecting Black talent directly with employers interested in hiring based on skills, not degrees.

"We are a coalition of, now, 53 companies, from all over the country, committed to hiring and advancing a million Black talent who don't yet have four-year degrees into family-sustaining careers over the next 10 years," explains Jones.

As Jones points out, roughly 75% of Black jobseekers between the ages of 18 and 50 do not have a college degree, while 61% of middle-skill jobs currently require a four-year degree.

"I've been to the East. I've been to the West. I've been in small towns. I've been in big cities. I've been in big metropolitan areas and little communities. There's genius everywhere," he says.

"What's not present everywhere is opportunity. We're all adversely impacted by this very imbalanced distribution of opportunity. And so, what this movement of OneTen is all about, is attempting to make the opportunity for a family-sustaining job one that is open to all."

There are five co-founders from corporate America, including Ken Frazier, Chairman and CEO of Merck and Ginni Rometty, Executive Chairman and former CEO of IBM, who both serve as OneTen board co-chairs. Among the 53 companies to sign on to the hiring and upskilling committment are Walmart, Comcast NBCUniversal,  Allstate, Bank of America, and Target.

The OneTen Committment

So what that commitment means, Jones tells me, is companies are actively working to eliminate barriers and putting the "jobs on the table. Those are jobs that have to pay a living wage—we use the MIT living wage calculator to determine what that is—in various metropolitan areas across the country. Secondly, the jobs cannot require a four-year degree for one to be competitive."

"Thirdly, the jobs have to have a low, low, low risk of automation, so they're going to be around. And then lastly, the jobs cannot require more than five years of experience in order for that candidate to be competitive. Any jobs that have those four characteristics are jobs that we're committing for this journey," Jones explains.

New Jobs Platform Coming in July

So how do you connect Black talent with these family-sustaining jobs? That is where the new tech platform comes into play.

"We are launching our technology platform in the month of July. By the end of the month, we will have 50-plus companies and we'll have at least a dozen, if not more, talent developers like Year Up and community college programs on the tech platform."

Jones explains how it will work. "Employers will be able to post jobs on that platform, jobs translated into skills. Talent developers will see those jobs and those skills. And we'll be able to—also on that platform—list the programs that they have that align with imparting those skills that are in-demand, that the employers are posting jobs for."

For the talent, they will be able to create their own skills profile on the platform. Jones adds, "They will be able to find jobs that they're interested in, find talent developers who can help them close the gaps in their skills, and compete for those jobs. We will have that ecosystem all online, serving the entire country, in July. And that's part of how we scale what is, right now, a pretty fragmented system."

The American Journey

Sixty-six percent (66%) of all Americans do not have a four-year degree. So, while the first step in the OneTen initiative is fixing the issue for Black talent, Jones says, it will also fix it for all talent.

"We know that if we make the workplace one that is more equitable and inclusive of Black talent without four-year degrees, we're going to impact other talent without four-year degrees, and we're going to benefit promotions and retentions of people of color with four-year degrees,

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The way we work has changed dramatically over the past decades due to evolutions in technology, increasing globalization, and, now, a health pandemic that has led to an unemployment crisis. These factors have thrown roadblocks into the road to the middle class for many Americans.

What does the middle class look like today? How do we create new pathways to good jobs and careers? Where do jobseekers find the help they need to gain the skills that employers are looking for now in an employee?

These are questions being asked all over the country. Looking for answers, WorkingNation turns its attention first to Indianapolis.

Like many midwestern towns and cities, Indiana's capital city of nearly 850,000 has long relied on manufacturing to fuel the economy and provide good-paying jobs for its workforce. Those traditional manufacturing jobs have been disappearing, being replaced by jobs requiring new kinds of skills.

In this new WorkingNation special, Map to the Middle: Indianapolis, broadcast in Indianapolis on CBS4, WorkingNation talks with local and state leaders, business leaders, and educators about how they are working together to ensure that the city's residents—young and old—jobseekers can find their own pathway to the middle class.

Watch The Map to the Middle: Indianapolis here

Learn More About the Workforce Opportunities Featured in The Map to the Middle

Jobseekers can access the WorkOne Indy portal and find training opportunities, as well as other resourcesKenzie Academy from Southern New Hampshire University offers tech trainingCareer exploration programs are available to students of Indianapolis Public Schools at Area 31 Career Center