How to Become a Community Influencer

Four tactics to help you build and exert influence To make change, you must have influence. Workforce development is no exception. In your community, you need to influence employers, community-based organizations, community colleges, workforce boards, educators, economic developers, elected officials,…

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When Words Get in the Way

President's Message September 2021 Every field has its own common language, but industry terms can become too wonky or fall out of date as culture shifts. This is certainly true in workforce development where the terms — and acronym alphabet…

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Workforce Collaboratives Are Helping the Service Sector Rebuild

With a clear value proposition, collaboratives demonstrate a range of ways to help both businesses and frontline workers succeed in these challenging times Employers in many service industries — including food service, education, transportation and logistics, and hospitality — are…

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#TalkAboutWork: The Words and Ideas Defining Today’s Labor Market

America’s workforce is undergoing unprecedented change. In the wake of the pandemic and its impact on the labor market, workers are demanding more from their employers and and business leaders are paying attention. At the same time, millions are out…

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What We Talk About When We Talk About Workforce

Building a shared lexicon for a critical national conversation As the country continues to navigate the pandemic and its impact on the labor market, we are seeing an entrenched dynamic starting to shift. Workers and job seekers feel empowered to…

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Delta Variant Blues

Here we go again. The pandemic tide has turned for the worse, and we’re all getting reacquainted with uncertainty: unpredictable schedules, scrambling for child care, relying on family and neighbors just to make the day work, inadequate school instruction, unexpected…

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Workers Are at the Heart of Our Economic Recovery

We need a bold new way of thinking to help them succeed. If you’ve tried to schedule a meeting with more than a few people recently, it probably felt like a game of calendar Tetris that ended in frustration. Summers…

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What I Did on My Summer Vacation

After being housebound, unable to travel for 16 months, I was eager to get out on the road. The day after school let out, three generations of my family organized ourselves in a caravan and headed out for a self-curated…

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Workforce is Having a Moment

Workforce is having a moment. There is real potential for an unprecedented infusion of resources to support state and local efforts to engage employers and ensure workers have pathways to good jobs. The Biden Administration’s American Jobs Plan and American…

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