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Why Economic Success is So Connected to Quality Childcare

Katie Rast, Director, Community Impact, The San Diego Foundation
Community Improvement
Data
Early Childhood Education
Education
January 16, 2020
Center for Education and Workforce
Childcare Efforts in San Diego
© The San Diego Foundation
To better understand the need and childcare challenges that currently exist, The San Diego Foundation partnered with San Diego Workforce Partnership and the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce to commission two new reports that outline the regional landscape surrounding early childhood care and the economy.

Beyond School Walls: Combining Mentorship with On-the-Job Learning

Roger Turner, Fleet Operations, Cox Enterprises
Education
Postsecondary Education
Workforce Training
Youth Employment
January 8, 2020
Center for Education and Workforce
Beyond School Walls
© 2019 Beyond School Walls
Last year, Cox and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta (BBBSMA) joined forces to launch a new approach to mentoring with a program called Beyond School Walls. Though other BBBS affiliates had tried the program, this was the first of its kind for Atlanta. This program combines traditional mentorship with an immersive educational experience. The one simple, but very important element that makes this program different than traditional mentoring programs is location. 

A Snapshot of Employer Interest in Early Education in Iowa

Nicole Crain, Executive Vice President, Iowa Association of Business and Industry
Early Childhood Education
Economic Growth
Education
K-12 Education
Women
December 17, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Iowa Survey on Early Education Needs
© 2019 Getty Images
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.  

Engineering Excellence: CofC and STEM Businesses Look to Bridge Regional Skills Gap

Chief Etheridge
Postsecondary Education
STEM
Workforce Training
December 12, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Engineering Excellence
© 2019 Getty Images
By 2020, one of the city’s higher education institutions, in partnership with some of the city’s major STEM businesses, will look to make a bridge of their own to address a skills gap that is prominent across the country. In the fall of 2020, the College of Charleston (CofC) will officially introduce its Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering degree program after being approved by the state’s Commission on Higher Education this summer. 

Accelerating Childcare Solutions in Oregon

Katy Brooks, CEO, Bend Chamber of Commerce
Community Improvement
Early Childhood Education
Education
K-12 Education
December 10, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Accelerating Childcare in Oregon
© Bend Chamber of Commerce
Like much of the nation, Oregon is in a childcare crisis. There are openings for only one in three children under the age of five in registered childcare centers and in-home providers. This is not only a crisis for families seeking affordable and high-quality childcare, it impacts employers who are struggling to attract and retain talent in a record low unemployment environment. 

“A country that lends itself to bigness”: The Texas-Size Importance of Higher Ed’s Role in Rural Workforce Development

Chief Etheridge
Community Improvement
Education
Postsecondary Education
Talent Pipeline Management
Workforce Training
November 14, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
A Country Lends Itself to Bigness
© Lubbock Economic Development Alliance
Lubbock is home to Texas Tech University (TTU), which has eight satellite campuses located within the “bigness” of the West Texas region: Abilene, Amarillo, El Paso, Fredericksburg, Highland Lakes, Junction, Midland, and Odessa. While you may not be familiar with these towns, you are probably familiar with the problems that face their workforces.

Workforce Challenges? NAEP Scores Show U.S. Must Start Solving Them with a Focus on Early Reading

Cheryl Oldham
Competitiveness
Early Childhood Education
Education
K-12 Education
November 7, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Workforce Challenges Solved with Early Reading as a Priority
© 2019 Getty Images
The 2019 Nation’s Report Card, released last week, showed alarming drops in reading and disappointingly middling results in math. This has huge implications for our nation’s future workforce and heartbreaking consequences for families across the country who are trusting our public education system for the most basic of learning goals. 

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

Jaimie Francis
Competitiveness
Data
Economic Growth
Education
Innovation
K-12 Education
Postsecondary Education
STEM
Talent Pipeline Management
Workforce Training
Youth Employment
October 25, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Talent Forward 2019 Wrap-Up
© Photo by Ian Wagreich / © U.S. Chamber of Commerce

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.

If You Can’t Find Women Tech Innovators, You’re Not Looking Hard Enough

Alex Amouyel
Economic Growth
Women
October 22, 2019
Corporate Citizenship Center
MIT Solve
© Adam Schultz / MIT Solve

The past year has been a momentous one for women. Following the global #MeToo movement, there have been many moments of progress. A record number of women won U.S. congressional seats. Ethiopia elected its first female president along with a new cabinet that is half female.

Renewable Learning: How A New Partnership is Taking a Sustainable Approach to Workforce Development

Andy Hall, San Diego Workforce Partnership
Dr. Josh Shapiro, Assistant Dean of Innovation and Research Affairs, UC San Diego Extension
Education
Emerging Issues
Postsecondary Education
Workforce Training
October 22, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Renewable Learning
© 2019 Getty Images
As the labor market tightens and the pace of technological change continues to accelerate, it’s becoming an increasingly common theme that the traditional “one-and-done” model of education is over. As a result, employers, policymakers, and analysts alike are increasingly calling for new approaches to lifelong learning that will help upskill and re-skill individuals to compete and succeed in a fast-changing economy. In this shifting landscape education and workforce organizations are joining forces to experiment with new models with the potential to create pathways to opportunity and economic mobility. 

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