This year’s Skills Summit didn’t start with an official theme – but by the time the last Hill visits wrapped, I think one had emerged loud and clear: the power of people meets purpose. In this moment of economic uncertainty, political division, and rapid technological change, our coalition showed up not just ready to respond to the challenges ahead, but to shape a future of economic prosperity – one that includes working people and local businesses at its center.
More than 350 coalition members from 30 states held 150+ meetings with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Together, we pushed for policies that invest in people – the workers and the local business who make up the backbone of our economy but whose needs are too often overlooked in policy debates.
The 2025 Skills Summit was my first in the role of Interim CEO. But my very first Skills Summit was more than a decade ago, when I was a local advocate working to change policies affecting Washington, D.C.’s working families. At that time, economic development in the District was booming and creating new jobs. But too many D.C. residents were locked out of new job opportunities, in part because workforce and education policies were not designed to fully support them.
As I advocated for change in my city, I realized that federal programs were shaping our local programs. I came to that Skills Summit to learn about federal policies that impacted us locally, to learn from my peers in other cities, to advocate for change with members of Congress, and to bring lessons back to my community.
To this day, that’s what National Skills Coalition is all about: we mobilize students, workers, local businesses, practitioners, and advocates to channel their unique experiences into a collective voice that has the power to change workforce policies that deliver shared prosperity. In fact, that’s why National Skills Coalition was founded 25 years ago.
At that time, I was a teenager, growing up in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, an area historically known for heavy manufacturing. My parents were public school teachers, and my neighbors worked at construction sites, in hospitals, and in manufacturing plants, including Bethlehem Steel – once one of the world’s largest steel producers. The steel plant shuttered operations throughout the 1990s, leaving thousands of people without jobs and forcing families to navigate an uncertain future. My community wasn’t alone. Lots of communities were struggling – some due to factory closures, others because of decades of neighborhood disinvestment rooted in redlining and other systemic discrimination.
But a national economic expansion and record low unemployment rates masked these challenges, and federal policymakers made sweeping changes to safety net and job training policies. These reforms prioritized quick employment, often in low-quality jobs, over investments in workforce programs that would train and connect people to new family-supporting careers.
Workforce leaders in communities across the country had created innovative and effective sectoral training strategies. But they had no organized voice in Washington, D.C. to respond when federal elected officials made these changes. So, they founded National Skills Coalition to bridge the gap between federal decisions and local realities.
While our coalition has grown and changed over the years, its founding commitment was on full display at the 2025 Skills Summit.
The economy is once again changing with the advent of new technology and Artificial Intelligence. Across industries, digital skills are no longer optional; they are the foundation for 92% of all jobs. On the Summit mainstage, Sheila Ireland, OIC Philadelphia; Molly Kinder, Brookings Institution; and Brent Orrell, American Enterprise Institute emphasized that AI is reshaping work across all sectors—not just in tech—and that workforce policies that invest in people are urgently needed to ensure all workers, especially those in frontline and lower-wage roles, have equitable access to the digital and AI skills necessary to adapt and thrive.
With a changing economy, it’s no surprise that many people want opportunities to quickly learn new skills or upgrade their existing ones so they keep pace with the labor market, pursue their career dreams, and ensure their families can prosper. As NSC Student Advisor and advocate Lynne Hamblin told Congressional staff at the Summit, “Workforce development is dignity, opportunity, and access.”
The lived experiences of students and workers should shape our education and training policies – a theme uplifted throughout the Skills Summit. On the mainstage, leaders from the field and NSC Student Advisory Council members stressed the importance of designing workforce policies in true collaboration with workers and learners, not just for them, to get the most effective and equitable results. New Mexico Cabinet Secretary Sarita Nair explained why she engages people in crafting policies that she sets at the state’s Department of Workforce Solutions, saying “Listening is an act of love. We listen to the communities that we serve, not to check a box, but because we love them.”
Thanks to voices like these and decades of advocacy by thousands of people in our coalition in all fifty states, there is now overwhelmingly strong public support for government investments in workforce training and related supportive services. Our polling shows that voters of all backgrounds agree that investing in training strengthens the economy, gives more people access to good jobs, and helps businesses. This holds true across political party lines: 91% of Democrats, 74% of Republicans, and 83% of Independents support increasing government investments in workforce training. That’s not just bipartisan consensus – it’s a shared national priority. As Congressman Steven Horsford put it at the Skills Summit, “I don’t care what party you belong to. If you care about America and workers, you should talk about workforce development in every room and conversation. It’s more important now than ever.”
Even as NSC’s policy agenda now enjoys strong and broad public support, we again find ourselves at a crossroads in Washington, one that could shape the prospects of working people and local businesses for years to come. While there is growing momentum and strong bipartisan support for policies like apprenticeship, Short-Term Pell, and skills-based hiring, proposed budget cuts to workforce, education, and safety net programs (and wholesale changes to the federal agencies that administer them) threaten to derail that progress.
At a time when the economic challenges of working people and small business are top-of-mind for the nation, our policymakers should be investing in the programs that support them. From the Summit mainstage, national policy leaders shed light on why public investments in effective skills training policies are crucial to the success of broader national priorities like American manufacturing, infrastructure, and AI. NSC’s state network leaders also shared how they are stepping up to protect existing state workforce investments in light of federal budget uncertainty.
In addition to protecting investments in essential education, workforce, and safety net programs, we must ensure that education and training policies give everyone a fair shot at real opportunity, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, or zip code. Attacks on equity and inclusion threaten our nation’s economic growth and shared prosperity by ignoring not only our country’s long history of unequal opportunity, but also the realities of today’s diverse workforce. Black, Latino and other people of color account for 45 percent of the working class, almost half of the working class is women, and nearly 1 in 5 workers in America is an immigrant. We need policies that recognize the needs and value the strengths of our diverse workforce. And as Andrew Volmert from the FrameWorks Institute reminded us, shared values of fairness and opportunity – which are deeply held across political lines – give us a powerful narrative framework for making the case for equity in a way that resonates broadly and moves people beyond individualistic thinking.
At the Summit, we didn’t just discuss challenges. We also shared strategies for forging ahead and gave advocates the opportunity to take action. This is what happens when the power of people meets purpose. National Skills Coalition was made for this moment – a moment when, once again, big economic shifts demand bold policy solutions. A moment when, once again, there’s a disconnect between what’s happening on Capitol Hill and the realities facing workers and local businesses. From the beginning, we’ve united workers, local businesses, practitioners, and advocates to influence policy. Today, that continues not just in Washington, D.C. but across 20 states through SkillSPAN (our State Policy Action Network).
In times of economic uncertainty and political division, our coalition doesn’t pause. We show up because it’s necessary. We listen to people on the ground; we build bridges with policymakers from both sides of the aisle; and we protect the progress we’ve made. This is how we operate — crafting policies that reflect the real experiences of communities and giving our networks a way to take action and have their voices heard.
As Interim CEO, I want to reaffirm my commitment to this approach. Together, we’ll keep pushing forward, grounded in purpose and driven by the collective strength of our coalition. The work doesn’t stop with the Skills Summit. We invite you to stay engaged—whether you advocate in our nation’s capital or in your home state. Join our coalition as we push forward policies that invest in people and drive shared prosperity. Together, we can contribute to a stronger and fairer economy for every worker, every industry, and every community.
