Host Rachel Unruh talks with National Skills Coalition CEO Andy Van Kleunen about the state of our workforce, the lessons we've learned from the recessions of our distant - and not-so-distant - past, and how National Skills Coalition envisions an inclusive economic recovery that benefits every worker and every industry in the post-pandemic economy.

Sign up for our post-election analysis webinar: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_k6PkBcSEQWWsP2V5AM5Ulw

Learn more about Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: https://www.nationalskillscoalition.org/covid19

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Juliet Ellis of SFPUC and Elizabeth Toups of JVS join us to talk about their efforts – which started long before the pandemic hit – to rethink the water utility workforce in the San Francisco Bay Area and how they're reshaping the workforce pipeline into a staple of the communities they serve. 

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Success with containing Covid-19 has been linked to investments in contact tracing in countries around the world.

With the more than 33 million workers that have filed new unemployment claims in the past two months – and millions more that were out of the labor market before the pandemic – investing in contact tracing capacity is not only essential to respond to our current crisis, but also an opportunity to get people back to into the workforce.

In an episode recorded as part of a virtual briefing for Congressional staffers, host Rachel Unruh talked to Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI 09) about the contact tracing proposal he and Sen. Elizabeth Warren devised that was incorporated into the House version of the HEROES Act. She then spoke to a panel of workforce experts - Diane Factor of California's Worker Education and Resource Center, Steve Jurch of the Community College of Baltimore County, and Luann Dunsford of Michigan Works! Association - about how to make contact tracer training effective while addressing the racially inequitable impacts of Covid-19.

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With unemployment numbers rising to near record levels as a result of Covid-19, a substantial investment in rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure could be necessary for reinvigorating our economy and creating new jobs.

For a clearer perspective on what a significant investment in infrastructure would mean for our economy - and what it would need to include to make the biggest impact for the most workers - host Rachel Unruh talked with Congressman Steven Horsford (D-NV 04) and Mark Kessenich of WRTP.

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Many job training and adult education programs at community-based nonprofit organizations and community colleges have had to move to digital learning in response to Covid-19.

But that transition has been complicated by the inequities in digital infrastructure, access, and literacy faced by program participants… as well as the instructors tasked with creating new learning environments.

We talked to Jerry Rubin of JVS Boston and Trevi Hardy of College of Western Idaho, two people dealing with those challenges in very different parts of the country to find out how they’re adapting and what their students need as they navigate their education in the face of a global pandemic.

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As cities and states seek to reduce their jail and prison populations to slow the spread of Covid-19, already stretched re-entry programs are working to address increased demand for their services.

We talked to Chris Watler of the Center for Employment Opportunities in New York and Jeff Abramowitz of JEVS Human Services in Philadelphia to find out how they're dealing with the increased demand and the challenges brought to bear by the pandemic.

We also chatted with Darnell Manuel, a participant of JEVS Looking Forward Philadelphia program, about his experience and what support men and women like him need both now and beyond our current circumstance.

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Recent news has been dominated by the stories of our country’s frontline healthcare workers, who are battling a rapidly spreading virus in less than ideal conditions.  

But prior to COVID-19, the industry was already working to fill shortages in healthcare occupations at all levels of care. 

Host Rachel Unruh talks to Van Ton-Quinlivan of Futuro Health and Daniel Bustillo of the Healthcare Career Advancement Program, or H-CAP, two people entrenched in the effort to train, upskill, and deploy a critical healthcare workforce across the country about the challenges – and solutions – accelerated by a global pandemic.

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As skilled workers find themselves on the front lines of the national response to COVID-19, host Rachel Unruh talks to manufacturers Traci Tapani and Mike Tamasi about how their companies have adapted in the age of social distancing, how they've shifted production to contribute to the fight against the pandemic, and what they think about the sudden attention their essential work has brought on the industry.

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LIVE from the 2020 Skills Summit (February 4, 2020), it's the debut episode of the Skilled America Podcast. Host Rachel Unruh welcomes panelists Stephanie Martinez-Ruckman of the National League of Cities, Traci Scott of the National Urban League, and Brian Turmail of the Associated General Contractors of America to talk about skills, the 2020 election, and what their organizations are doing to advocate for their members.

3:06 - Panel talks about their constituencies and how skills training fits into the mission

7:10 - NSC's Ayobami Olugbemiga reports from the Iowa Caucuses

11:24 - Panelists talk about why they think we've heard so little about skills training on the campaign trail and how it could be discussed to resonate with their constituencies

21:58 - Panelists talk about what policies they'd like to see to address skills training

35:47 - We hear from Steve Ovel, member of the Board of Trustees of Kirkwood Community College, about his experience zigzagging the state of Iowa talking to candidates about skills

43:43 - Rachel and the panel talk about how their organizations are working to amplify the voices of their constituencies

57:12 - Question from the audience: The panel talks about America's older workers

1:02:15 - Question from the audience: How can states get more discretion to scale successful programs?

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A preview of the first episode of Skilled America, recorded live at the 2020 Skills Summit.

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