The Future Works - A Podcast for Workforce Leaders

The pandemic changed many aspects of American life from home life, to school, and of course work. Now that some time has gone by, researchers are beginning to look at the overall impact of the shift to remote work, as well as its potential impact on the future of work. We were surprised in reading the report about the variability across the country -- but also the rural vs urban impacts. For this episode of The Future Works, we are joined by Liz Farmer, Future of Labor Research Center Fellow at the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government. She is the author of a new report, Remote Work during COVID-19: What Can It Tell Us About the Future of Work?.

 Music used in this episode was produced by Jason Shaw on AudionautiX. This episode was edited by Brian Finch.

Earlier this fall, Melinda Mack joined NYSAC’s Communications Manager Tom Oldfather for a cross-over episode focused on the state of New York State’s workforce,. This included potential solutions for training programs and workforce initiatives for county and municipal employers.

Music used in this episode was produced by Jason Shaw on AudionautiX. This episode was edited by Brian Finch and the staff at NYSAC.

Laura Quigley takes over this episode of the podcast for a conversation with Melinda Mack, NYATEP's Executive Director, to reminisce about her 10 years at NYATEP. They return back to the early transition from NYATEP's founding Executive Director to the evolution of the organization.

Music used in this episode was produced by Jason Shaw on AudionautiX. This episode was edited by Brian Finch.

Many jobs across New York continue to go unfilled due to lack of quality, affordable childcare. Parents and caregivers are piecing together care, and it is unsustainable. Compounding the issue - recruiting and retaining childcare workers is a challenge. For this episode of The Future Works, we are joined by Meredith Chimento, Executive Director of the Early Care and Learning Council. Learn more about her organization and use their childcare locater: https://earlycareandlearning.org/

It should come as no surprise that the last few years has contributed to a mental health crisis across the globe. In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%, according to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO). In this podcast we're joined by Joelle Monaco, the Director of Outreach & Business Engagement at the Mental Health Association of New York State. Joelle is who we have turned to over the last year to help us support training front line workforce staff in trauma informed practice; Mental Health First Aid Certification; and also practices for supporting overall well-being.

Below are the resources Joelle shared during our discussion: Mental Health & Information Center - https://mhanys.org/explore/links-resources/

MHANYS Trainings - https://mhanys.org/products/

Working on Wellness with MHANYS - https://mhanys.org/working-on-wellness-with-mhanys/

Music used in this episode was produced by Jason Shaw on AudionautiX. This episode was edited by Brian Finch.

Measure of America recently released a report called A Disrupted Year focused on the spike in "Opportunity Youth" across America. The 2020 national youth disconnection rate was 12.6 percent, or 4,830,700 disconnected youth, and likely even higher as COVID disrupted so many young adult lives. (Read the full report: https://measureofamerica.org/youth-disconnection-2022/) For this episode of The Future Works, we are joined by Melanie G. Ferrer-Vaughn, Associate Director at the L.A. Opportunity Youth Collaborative and Robert Sainz, Executive Director at New Ways to Work. They will share their progress, learning and success of the California Opportunity Youth Network (COYN)

Melanie shared the following for our podcast listeners:

The episode was produced by Brian Finch. Music used in this episode was produced by Jason Shaw on AudionautiX

Many workforce providers seek to maximize scarce resources and address the training and hiring needs of multiple employers in a sector through regional collaborations and partnerships. Over the last two years, NYATEP has worked closely with Atlanta CareerRise, a partnership in Metro Atlanta as they rethink their approach to neighborhood-based collaboration. In this Episode of The Future Works we will speak with John Helton who leads Atlanta CareerRise about their regional workforce system; how they have been able to create meaningful efficiencies; developed a regional continuum of services, and how they approach sector-partnerships as a region. To learn more about Atlanta CareerRise: https://nationalfund.org/collaborative/atlanta-careerrise/ Music used in this episode was produced by Jason Shaw on AudionautiX. This episode was edited by Brian Finch.

Political conflict, poverty, and discrimination has driven humans seeking safety and shelter across borders and into categories like "refugees" and "asylum seekers" all over the world. Considering the recent crisis in Afghanistan, and now Ukraine, thousands of these newly displaced individuals are now in need of employment. While some of these individuals are low skill, many are not -- but struggle to find work because their credentials do not translate to American credentials. That is where Jina Krause-Vilmar and the team at Upwardly Global come in.

In this Episode of The Future Works we will speak with Jina about this "hidden talent" and how Upwardly Global works behind the scenes to connect real talent to meaningful work.

To learn more about Upwardly Global: https://www.upwardlyglobal.org/about-us/

Music used in this episode was produced by Jason Shaw on AudionautiX.

In this episode we are joined by Van Ton-Quinlivan, a nationally recognized catalyst and CEO of Futuro Health.  She is known for creating inclusive social and economic mobility and has recently released WorkforceRx: Agile and Inclusive Strategies for Employers, Educators and Workers in Unsettled Times, a playbook for workforce leaders. She discussed what she has learned throughout her career around partnership, innovation and getting to scale.  To purchase your copy: https://mastercatalyst.org/

September is here and as the federally funded Pandemic Unemployment Benefits come to an end over 8 million Americans will be out of money and need to get back to work.  Despite the growth in job openings across the country, many Americans and New Yorkers don't have the necessary skills or supports like childcare, to get a good paying job. Unfortunately, Congress continues to put funding for job training, adult education and upskilling on the back burner.  Rumors are that funding once thought to be as high as $100 Billion could be cut completely from negotiations.  Katie Spiker from the National Skills Coalition gives us the run down on what is happening in D.C. and why we need to keep up the advocacy on investing in workforce.