Blog

Talent Pipeline Management

Innovation

Talent Finance: What We Learned and What Comes Next

November 23, 2020

We believe our nation should have an approach to financing talent development that is fit for our time, not one built for a different economy and era. The need couldn’t be more urgent.

Talent Finance Video Series: Ashli Watts

November 2, 2020

In this installment of the Talent Finance Video Series, Ashli Watts, president and CEO, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, sat down with Stuart Andreason, director, Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, to discuss Talent Finance.

Yvanna Cajina

Important Coronavirus Recovery Resources

Emerging Issues

April 13, 2020

When Will We Return to Work after Coronavirus?

Testing. Testing. And more testing. That’s one of the requirements to restart the economy and get millions of Americans back to work in the wake of coronavirus, according to many of the experts who’ve shared their thoughts on this topic in recent weeks.

Economic Empowerment

Emerging Issues

A Snapshot of Employer Interest in Early Education in Iowa

Nicole Crain, Executive Vice President, Iowa Association of Business and Industry

December 17, 2019

The current unemployment rate in Iowa is 2.5%, and there are currently 40,000 people on unemployment and 60,000 job openings. As historically low unemployment continues, employers are always looking for opportunities to recruit more workers and also to retain their existing workforce. To solve this challenge, Iowa business leaders have increased wages, offered flexible work environments where possible, and expanded benefits. More recently, one of those benefits is childcare.

From John Legend to Apprenticeship's John Lennon: A Wrap-up of Talent Forward 2019

Talent Pipeline Management

October 25, 2019

Each year, as the Chamber Foundation hosts the Talent Forward national workforce conference, we focus on talent—educating and training, talent tech and data, recruiting, hiring, and upskilling. With no shortage of talent challenges, the opportunities for informative discussion are endless. While a day devoted to dissecting talent-related topics could focus solely on the problems, Talent Forward is all about the solutions.

Postsecondary Education

STEM

Youth Employment

Market Failure: Our Childcare System is Broken

September 24, 2019

In this country, the early childhood education system is in market failure. In recent years we have seen the greatest federal funding increases for early childhood education in history, and yet those significant investments just barely make a dent to tackle the need. In 2018, NASEM studied “how to fund early care and education for children…that is accessible, affordable to families, and of high quality, including a well-qualified and adequately supported workforce.” The report concluded that a financial windfall of around $54 billion would be required.

Julia Barfield, MPH, MSW

The Win-Win Solution for Early Education Infrastructure Challenges

September 5, 2019

Twitter Chat: Is Early Ed an Infrastructure Conversation?

On Tuesday, August 27, the Chamber Foundation partnered with Linda Smith of the BPC to host a Twitter chat discussing infrastructure challenges for early childhood education facilities. In a span of 45 minutes, the participants of this chat were able to provide more than one million Twitter accounts with data, research, and case studies arguing for early childhood education to gain a seat at the table where infrastructure conversations are happening.

Julia Barfield, MPH, MSW

Rural Renewal: Using Best Practices to Stay Competitive

Michel Freedman, founder and CEO of Practical Academics

August 27, 2019

A core responsibility of a chamber or local economic development agency is to support the economic vitality of the communities they serve. To succeed in that role, it is critical to keep abreast of trends in society to anticipate change and stay ahead. By focusing on building a strong economic foundation for a rural community, that leverages existing resources and tools wherever possible, community leaders can develop a powerful toolkit for courting individuals and business to consider relocating to their towns.

Talent Pipeline Management

We Must Start Earlier: The Critical Importance of 0-3

Myra Jones-Taylor, Chief Policy Officer, ZERO TO THREE

May 30, 2019

Most people agree that the foundation for later learning and skill-building is shaped by children’s earliest childhood experiences. But do we all agree on what “early” means? Our brains grow faster between the ages of 0 and 3 than at any later point in our lives, forming more than one million new neural connections every second. When babies have nurturing relationships, early learning experiences, and good health and nutrition, these neural connections are stimulated and strengthened, laying a strong foundation for success in school and the workforce.