This is Part 2 of a blog post on how students’ and workers’ voices are shaping public policies. Read Part 1 here.
Earlier this year, students and workers who participated in National Skills Coalition’s listening sessions shared powerful stories about how skills policies impact their lives, as well as their families and communities.
Across workers of different ages, ethnicities, and geographic locales, a set of common themes surfaced. These themes highlighted the importance of:
Below, we dig deeper into how these themes can be addressed through policy, especially as Congress considers reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
Students told us that they make substantial investments of time and energy to participate in skills training programs, and it’s essential that policymakers invest equally in them. “I would work all night, then sleep only four hours and go back to school,” explained Aregahegn Mekonenn, a North Carolina worker studying cybersecurity. Other workers spoke of giving up time with family and friends, working multiple gig jobs or otherwise juggling school and studies. Students told us they looked for well-designed programs that took their sacrifices seriously and provided resources that matched students’ own level of investment.
Several workers stressed the need for transportation assistance, an especially significant challenge for rural residents and younger workers (sometimes called Opportunity Youth). “My program provided bus passes [or] Lyft/Uber rides,” said Chassidy Carter, a Louisiana worker who praised the availability of such resources. At 21, Carter was among the youngest of the workers we spoke with, and she emphasized the importance of these supports for herself and her fellow culinary arts students.
Other students and workers mentioned the significant stresses that parents face in finding childcare, especially when working evenings, weekends, or other non-standard hours. Younger students highlighted the mental health challenges faced by many of their peers, and the importance of obtaining the health services necessary to persist and succeed in education and workforce programs.
Making these types of holistic supports portable and easily accessible throughout a person’s career journey – throughout the training program, during job search, and post-placement – is a crucial step toward equalizing access to economic mobility and a central ask of NSC’s Creating an Equitable Resilient Workforce Campaign.
Skills training programs can be offered by a wide array of providers, from community colleges to technical schools to local organizations and beyond. But especially for programs that want to provide effective on-ramps for under-represented workers, partnerships with trusted community-based organizations (CBOs) are crucial.
Students in NSC’s listening sessions emphasized that trust is built through actions. Local CBOs have often spent years or even decades building relationships and demonstrating a commitment to the communities they serve. Many CBOs have in-house expertise in culture, language, and community dynamics that position them to serve as effective mentors and career navigators. Policymakers should value the prowess that CBOs have to offer, and invest in them and partnerships including them as vital components of the workforce ecosystem.
Interpersonal connections and relationships are core to most workers’ ability to progress in their careers. The informal and tacit knowledge shared by professional mentors and sponsors is an invaluable tool for workers of all backgrounds, but especially for youth and those who have been traditionally underrepresented in particular industries.
Students in our listening sessions described how useful it was to have such mentors available to them. “It was good to feel supported, not just by teachers but by others in the program,” said Diamond Grace, a Chicago worker who recently completed an IT training program. “The professional development [resources], being able to have someone go through your resume, [being able to] talk to recruiters,” was especially valuable.
Similarly, having access to industry networks and associations helps workers build the social capital they will need to make connections outside of their current employer and build toward a long-term future in their chosen fields. To this end, policymakers should invest in organizations that provide mentors who have a wide range of lived experiences and professional expertise, and are well-suited helping workers build these crucial connections, as outlined in NSC’s earlier recommendations.
Students in our listening sessions repeatedly emphasized that no matter what a person’s starting point might be, skills training policies need to be flexible enough to meet them where they are and move them forward over time. For instance, strategies such as expanding Pell Grant eligibility to include high-quality short-term programs and implementing Skills Training Grants would help meet workers where they are financially.
Students told us that big challenges – such as how low-income workers can pursue training that gives them a meaningful economic boost – deserve equally big solutions. In particular, students stressed that NSC’s proposal for including $10,000 Skills Training Grants in the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act would be a powerful starting point in helping them to cover out-of-pocket expenses for training, though ultimately not sufficient to meet their needs in the entirety.
