KCSpeaks

In workforce development, we assume other people’s problems as our own. People that do not have jobs are our problem. If there are not enough jobs or the right jobs, it is our problem.   As an industry, we look at the problems of the individual and the problems of society and work to solve them through employment and training options. The focus is centered on the needs of the client- whether it is the job seeker, the employer, or our funder. In our process of trying to solve problems of others, we neglect the big elephant in the room that is preventing us from actually achieving our mission.   The industry is on the verge of a shift. The change is that in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act, WIOA, we will be required to work harder than we ever have before to find employment for people with multiple barriers. These barriers will not be easily solved with a bus map and a stack of bus tokens, but will instead require us to look at the whole person. We may need t...

I live in New England. That means that this time each year, I am in the midst of snow season. February is the month when we receive the most snow. The amount of snow can vary each year. Some storms bring an inch and others bring a “snownado” or “snowmagedon.”   Some of you reading this out there cannot relate at all and think I should be blogging about how to do professional development on the beach, while others out there in readers land think that they live somewhere it really snows and people in New England should just deal with it, but my frame of reference is snowy New England and therefore SNOW DAY! I just want to say that we do not shut down the Northeast every time it snows. Sometimes we get a snow day because it is a blizzard and the governor of the state will shut it down. Other times, we self-impose snow days because we live somewhere where the plow has not got to us before it was time to leave for work and are stuck at home. No matter the reason, one could find t...