KCSpeaks

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of my son came to the house. Both boys have graduated high school this past June and will be embarking on separate paths soon. My son will be attending a community college before transferring to another school to complete his four year degree. The other boy will be moving to another state to learn about farming in a spiritual environment for a year before entering any formal education.   The boys sat in my suburban back yard and were chatting. Afterwards, I asked my son about the conversation and his friend’s plans.   He said they were talking about their post-graduation plans and others they graduated with post-graduation plans and antics.   I spoke to him about some things I heard about his former classmates in the news lately. One graduate is accused of burglarizing a gas station. Another is accused of exposing himself in public to a group of children in a park. Both boys are currently pending criminal charges and facing serious j...

By now everyone in workforce development land is entering the waters of WIOA. Some folks have dove into the pool, while others are gradually getting deeper in the WIOA Ocean. In my neck of the woods, we are walking into the ocean.   As part of this, front line staff received some training on the basics of WIOA. It was discussed how each partner is now a mandatory partner and each partner has the same outcomes, meaning that the era of paper only partnerships are over.   During this training the new buzz words “collaborative partnerships” were tossed around. Again this is a fancy way for saying everyone needs to play nice in the sandbox to get the job done. I get it.   We have left the farm. There are no more silos of “I only do this” and “that is not my job.”   The end result, employment, is everyone’s job.   In order for these new “collaborative partnerships” to work, there is something that needs to be in place. I call it the silent “C.”   It ...