Education has long been seen as a critical pathway to prosperity. With COVID-19 hitting both the education system and the economy, how do we ensure young adults are able to access quality higher education opportunities, ones that will lead to good careers?

College Promise believes making education free for the first one or two years after high school for everyone is a step in the right direction. It’s been the mission for the nonprofit since before the pandemic, but College Promise is even more committed to seeing it come to fruition.

“It’s a pretty simple mission. We want to get people far better prepared and technically adept for the workforce of the 21st century,” explains Martha Kanter, executive director of College Promise and my guest in this episode of the Work in Progress podcast. “The idea is for business and education (to) partner together to create the kinds of pathways that students need, so they get real world experience and can actually harness the skills and training they need to be successful in their communities.”

Kanter says that education should be available for young adults just out of high school and older adults who now find themselves unemployed in this recession. “There’s all kinds of public and private partnerships that are happening. The Promise is a galvanizing tool. It brings partners to the table. The public private partnerships are really essential to keep students motivated and on track.”

Kanter goes into detail on how College Promise works, how the partnerships work, and some of the upskilling opportunities now available to anyone looking for postsecondary education. You can listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 141: Martha Kanter, Executive Director, College Promise

Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and Ramona Schindelheim

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

As we talk about how we bring the tens of millions of unemployed Americans back into the workforce, there is a lot of discussion around upskilling and the importance of every jobseeker having strong tech and digital skills. There is a big divide between the need and the reality, and the lack of access to broadband is making that divide even wider.

A third of all American workers, and half of all Black and Latino workers, already have limited or no digital skills, according to Digital US, a nonprofit working to ensure that everyone has the technology skills and digital resilience to thrive in work and life. Without broadband access, people will be left behind in our changing economy and workforce.

“For folks to be ready for the jobs of the future they need technology and the most critical one is the internet. It is as vital as water, electricity, and really has risen to the level of a human right,” Chike Aguh, a senior advisor to Digital US and a senior principal of The McChrystal Group, tells me in this episode of the Work in Progress podcast.

18 million Americans do not have broadband access, and you may be surprised to learn that the majority of those people live in urban areas, not rural areas. Aguh makes the strong case that this lack of access puts these jobseekers at a disadvantage in the hiring process.

“When was the last time someone submitted a paper job application? So literally the most vital things that are critical to living your life, and creating a better life for you and your family, go through the internet. That’s why it has to be available for everyone.”

Access to broadband is part of the bigger Digital US mission, which is to ensure there are programs in place that can help everyone get the skills they need in our digital economy.

“Very simply, every job and every task is a technology job or a technology task. We need to make sure that for all these new technologies that are coming out that workers have the digital skills—the ability to use those tools—but even more important, they need the digital resilience to learn new skills as those technologies change over time,” says Aguh, whose role at The McCrystal Group is to help organizations understand the future of work and how to adapt to it.

Aguh has spent much of his career examining how technology is changing the workforce and the need to create equal access to the internet to ensure everyone has the digital skills to take part in the transformation. He is definitely someone you want to listen to! You can listen to the full episode here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 140: Chike Aguh, Senior Principal, The McCrystal Group, and Senior Advisor, Digital US

Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and Ramona Schindelheim

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

As we talk about how we bring the tens of millions of unemployed Americans back into the workforce, there is a lot of discussion around upskilling and the importance of every jobseeker having strong tech and digital skills. There is a big divide between the need and the reality, and the lack of access to broadband is making that divide even wider.

A third of all American workers, and half of all Black and Latino workers, already have limited or no digital skills, according to Digital US, a nonprofit working to ensure that everyone has the technology skills and digital resilience to thrive in work and life. Without broadband access, people will be left behind in our changing economy and workforce.

“For folks to be ready for the jobs of the future they need technology and the most critical one is the internet. It is as vital as water, electricity, and really has risen to the level of a human right,” Chike Aguh, a senior advisor to Digital US and a senior principal of The McChrystal Group, tells me in this episode of the Work in Progress podcast.

18 million Americans do not have broadband access, and you may be surprised to learn that the majority of those people live in urban areas, not rural areas. Aguh makes the strong case that this lack of access puts these jobseekers at a disadvantage in the hiring process.

“When was the last time someone submitted a paper job application? So literally the most vital things that are critical to living your life, and creating a better life for you and your family, go through the internet. That’s why it has to be available for everyone.”

Access to broadband is part of the bigger Digital US mission, which is to ensure there are programs in place that can help everyone get the skills they need in our digital economy.

“Very simply, every job and every task is a technology job or a technology task. We need to make sure that for all these new technologies that are coming out that workers have the digital skills—the ability to use those tools—but even more important, they need the digital resilience to learn new skills as those technologies change over time,” says Aguh, whose role at The McCrystal Group is to help organizations understand the future of work and how to adapt to it.

Aguh has spent much of his career examining how technology is changing the workforce and the need to create equal access to the internet to ensure everyone has the digital skills to take part in the transformation. He is definitely someone you want to listen to! You can listen to the full episode here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 140: Chike Aguh, Senior Principal, The McCrystal Group, and Senior Advisor, Digital US

Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and Ramona Schindelheim

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Just last year, Morgan Stanley estimated that revenue in the space industry could triple to more than $1 trillion over the next 20 years, with interest on the commercial, civil, and defense fronts. Employment in the sector is also expected to continue to grow with the increased interest in space exploration.

Many of the jobs require tech skills—from aerospace engineer to avionics technicians to data scientists—but not all of them require a four-year degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, having a degree in data analytics can give you an edge.

There’s a Lot of Data Analysis in the Space Industry

“In the past, you might have seen people who have engineering backgrounds, people who have operations research backgrounds, or straight up analytics or even statistics backgrounds migrate into data analytics in the contemporary sense,” explains Carissa Christensen, founder and CEO of Bryce Space and Technology, a space industry analytics and engineering firm.

“More recently, you absolutely can get a degree in data analytics and that’s a very prized and coveted set of capabilities. Companies find it challenging to hire graduates with those skills. There’s a lot of competition for those folks in the space industry and many other industries,” she tells me in this episode of the Work in Progress podcast.

Geospatial Analysis and How it is Used

In particular, there is a demand for a part of the space sector you may never have heard. It’s one that is used across all sorts of industries. “The geospatial industry uses data related to location, data related to timing, data related to imagery, and puts all of those together to provide information that enables mapping and tracking of assets, efficient routing and management of logistics of huge range of industrial and commercial applications from real estate, to agriculture, to transportation,” Christensen explains.

“Much of that information, both the positioning and timing information as well as the imagery, comes from satellites. One example that every one of us uses every day is Google Maps, which gleans imagery and positioning data.”

“A much more esoteric version of that would be what we just saw happen, where we saw SpaceX conduct the launch and deliver astronauts to the International Space Station. Tracking and telemetry for that launch relies on satellite data as well as AI and autonomous systems to conduct the mission. So those analytics technologies blended with automation technologies are also very fundamental to space capabilities,” she says.

Asteroid Mining? Really?

Okay, I am really fascinated about this idea and think you will be, too. But you’ll have to listen to the podcast with Carissa Christensen to find out more! You can listen to the Work in Progress here, or find it and download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Look for the logo below 🔽. Thanks for listening!

Episode 139: Carissa Christensen, Founder & CEO, Bryce Space and Technology

Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and

Just last year, Morgan Stanley estimated that revenue in the space industry could triple to more than $1 trillion over the next 20 years, with interest on the commercial, civil, and defense fronts. Employment in the sector is also expected to continue to grow with the increased interest in space exploration.

Many of the jobs require tech skills—from aerospace engineer to avionics technicians to data scientists—but not all of them require a four-year degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, having a degree in data analytics can give you an edge.

There’s a Lot of Data Analysis in the Space Industry

“In the past, you might have seen people who have engineering backgrounds, people who have operations research backgrounds, or straight up analytics or even statistics backgrounds migrate into data analytics in the contemporary sense,” explains Carissa Christensen, founder and CEO of Bryce Space and Technology, a space industry analytics and engineering firm.

“More recently, you absolutely can get a degree in data analytics and that’s a very prized and coveted set of capabilities. Companies find it challenging to hire graduates with those skills. There’s a lot of competition for those folks in the space industry and many other industries,” she tells me in this episode of the Work in Progress podcast.

Geospatial Analysis and How it is Used

In particular, there is a demand for a part of the space sector you may never have heard. It’s one that is used across all sorts of industries. “The geospatial industry uses data related to location, data related to timing, data related to imagery, and puts all of those together to provide information that enables mapping and tracking of assets, efficient routing and management of logistics of huge range of industrial and commercial applications from real estate, to agriculture, to transportation,” Christensen explains.

“Much of that information, both the positioning and timing information as well as the imagery, comes from satellites. One example that every one of us uses every day is Google Maps, which gleans imagery and positioning data.”

“A much more esoteric version of that would be what we just saw happen, where we saw SpaceX conduct the launch and deliver astronauts to the International Space Station. Tracking and telemetry for that launch relies on satellite data as well as AI and autonomous systems to conduct the mission. So those analytics technologies blended with automation technologies are also very fundamental to space capabilities,” she says.

Asteroid Mining? Really?

Okay, I am really fascinated about this idea and think you will be, too. But you’ll have to listen to the podcast with Carissa Christensen to find out more! You can listen to the Work in Progress here, or find it and download it wherever you get your podcasts.

Look for the logo below

Nonprofits in America employ more then 10 percent of all workers, or about 12.4 million people. These organizations, like so many other businesses, are being hit hard by the current economic recession which started in February, just a month before we began shutting down the economy to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The global pandemic has fueled financial and employment uncertainty. More than 16 percent of nonprofits worldwide say they didn’t receive any new funding in May, according to the CAF America June 2020 Survey, leading two-thirds of them to say that they don’t know if they can survive beyond the next 12 months. 70 percent of their overhead, on average, go to salaries.

Nonprofits are still hiring, despite the economic challenges. Read more about working in the nonprofit are in this WorkingNation article.

This economic challenge comes just as the work many of these organizations do is needed most.   needed. In this episode of Work in Progress, we talk to Tony Tapia, a principal of Bridging Worlds Philanthropic Advisors, which consults with organizations and individuals on global philanthropy, corporate giving, Latino and aging issues, and many, many more issues. He is also an Encore Public Voices Fellow.

Nonprofits are Sending Out an SOS

Tapia calls this an “SOS” moment and urges philanthropies to continue to step in and answer the distress call. Tapia says the SOS, in this case, stands for survival, operational, and sustaining.

“There’s the most immediate need of survival—fast and immediate cash to nonprofits to survive the short term and keep their employees and the doors open and the services flowing. Beyond cash, a lot of organizations were not set up to be remote and suddenly they had to be remote. Operationally, nonprofits need not only equipment like laptops or other type of technology, but also kind of technical advice on how you do that,” he explains.

The third leg—sustainability—will need to be a combination of both cash and technical assistance to help the NGOs rescale and retool and move forward. Tapia says corporate funders could be of great help here. “There is a lot of knowledge and expertise within businesses that can help with some virtual volunteering to some of the nonprofits. They can give them advice on how to operationalize and sustain their nonprofit after we get through this crisis moment.”

Tapia is based in Denver and shares how one foundation—The Latino Community Foundation of Colorado—has been helping nonprofits using this SOS strategy. He also sits on the board of Borealis Philanthropy, which he calls a really good example of an intermediary organization that helps very large philanthropic organizations reach grassroots organizations.

You can listen to this Work in Progress episode here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe.

Episode 138: Tony Tapia, Bridging Worlds Philanthropic Advisors

Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer,

Nonprofits in America employ more then 10 percent of all workers, or about 12.4 million people. These organizations, like so many other businesses, are being hit hard by the current economic recession which started in February, just a month before we began shutting down the economy to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The global pandemic has fueled financial and employment uncertainty. More than 16 percent of nonprofits worldwide say they didn’t receive any new funding in May, according to the CAF America June 2020 Survey, leading two-thirds of them to say that they don’t know if they can survive beyond the next 12 months. 70 percent of their overhead, on average, go to salaries.

Nonprofits are still hiring, despite the economic challenges. Read more about working in the nonprofit are in this WorkingNation article.

This economic challenge comes just as the work many of these organizations do is needed most.   needed. In this episode of Work in Progress, we talk to Tony Tapia, a principal of Bridging Worlds Philanthropic Advisors, which consults with organizations and individuals on global philanthropy, corporate giving, Latino and aging issues, and many, many more issues. He is also an Encore Public Voices Fellow.

Nonprofits are Sending Out an SOS

Tapia calls this an “SOS” moment and urges philanthropies to continue to step in and answer the distress call. Tapia says the SOS, in this case, stands for survival, operational, and sustaining.

“There’s the most immediate need of survival—fast and immediate cash to nonprofits to survive the short term and keep their employees and the doors open and the services flowing. Beyond cash, a lot of organizations were not set up to be remote and suddenly they had to be remote. Operationally, nonprofits need not only equipment like laptops or other type of technology, but also kind of technical advice on how you do that,” he explains.

The third leg—sustainability—will need to be a combination of both cash and technical assistance to help the NGOs rescale and retool and move forward. Tapia says corporate funders could be of great help here. “There is a lot of knowledge and expertise within businesses that can help with some virtual volunteering to some of the nonprofits. They can give them advice on how to operationalize and sustain their nonprofit after we get through this crisis moment.”

Tapia is based in Denver and shares how one foundation—The Latino Community Foundation of Colorado—has been helping nonprofits using this SOS strategy. He also sits on the board of Borealis Philanthropy, which he calls a really good example of an intermediary organization that helps very large philanthropic organizations reach grassroots organizations.

You can listen to this Work in Progress episode here, or download and listen wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t forget to subscribe.

Episode 138: Tony Tapia, Bridging Worlds Philanthropic Advisors

Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer,

We learned Monday that we are now in the early months of a recession that started in February. As the economy seeks a balance between reopening and public health safety, employers are making plans for what their workforces will look like in the coming months. There are many unknowns ahead, but we’re already hearing that it won’t be “business as usual.”

Joe Fuller is the co-director for Harvard Business School’s Managing the Future of Work project, which analyzes research and recommends plans of action for business and policy leaders trying to navigate the evolution of the workforce.

Fuller has spent the last few weeks speaking to employers about what they’ve been thinking about when it comes to bringing employees back to work and hiring new workers. He is the guest on this episode of Work in Progress.

“What I think we are going to see with employers is that they’re going to proceed cautiously on the whole with rehiring. You can already see more progressive employers investing in—or beginning to plan for—how they’re going to upskill their current employees for this new reality,” he says.

“How are they going to get them to be able to be productive with some of these new (tech) tools, with specific emphasis on making them more—the word that employers often use—agile. The word that I’m going to use is more fungible, and this goes down also to jobs that we don’t historically think of as being high-paying or even technologically oriented.”

So what does this mean for job seekers? What skills do they need moving forward and how do they get them? Fuller and I spend much of the episode on these questions.

You can listen to Work in Progress here, or find us wherever you find your podcasts.

Episode 137: Joe Fuller, Harvard Business School professor and Managing the Future of Work co-director

Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and Ramona Schindelheim

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

We learned Monday that we are now in the early months of a recession that started in February. As the economy seeks a balance between reopening and public health safety, employers are making plans for what their workforces will look like in the coming months. There are many unknowns ahead, but we’re already hearing that it won’t be “business as usual”.

Joe Fuller is the co-director for Harvard Business School’s Managing the Future of Work project, which analyzes research and recommends plans of action for business and policy leaders trying to navigate the evolution of the workforce.

Fuller has spent the last few weeks speaking to employers about what they’ve been thinking about when it comes to bringing employees back to work and hiring new workers. He is the guest on this episode of Work in Progress.

“What I think we are going to see with employers is that they’re going to proceed cautiously on the whole with rehiring. You can already see more progressive employers investing in—or beginning to plan for—how they’re going to upskill their current employees for this new reality,” he says.

“How are they going to get them to be able to be productive with some of these new (tech) tools, with specific emphasis on making them more—the word that employers often use—agile. The word that I’m going to use is more fungible, and this goes down also to jobs that we don’t historically think of as being high-paying or even technologically oriented.”

So what does this mean for job seekers? What skills do they need moving forward and how do they get them? Fuller and I spend much of the episode on these questions.

You can listen to Work in Progress here, or find us wherever you find your podcasts.

Episode 137: Joe Fuller, Harvard Business School professor and Managing the Future of Work co-director

Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and Ramona Schindelheim

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

We are living in trying times. More than 40 million people have lost their jobs since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The jobless rate is at the highest level since the Great Depression. For most people, a job is necessary to pay bills and put food on the table. The other side of unemployment is the emotional and spiritual toll it can take on someone without a job.

“In theory, all of our religions teach that a person and their being gives purpose as opposed to their doing,” Rabbi David Wolpe says. “You have to try and remind people of that. And yet, it’s almost impossible for any of us to separate how we feel about ourselves from the role we play in society.”

Rabbi Wolpe is the senior rabbi at the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. Newsweek magazine has called him the most influential rabbi in America and the Jerusalem Post has called him one of the 50 most influential Jews in America.

In this episode of Work in Progress, Rabbi Wolpe and I discuss the connection between employment and the feeling of purpose in one’s life. He says that some of his congregants have expressed feelings of worthlessness after they’ve lost their jobs.

Rabbi Wolpe says society needs to explore the “nature of employment and what it means to someone spiritually and psychologically, and how we think of it from the outside. I think that that’s essential right now when we’re facing the greatest unemployment crisis in American history.”

“Part of what I think we need to start doing is to understand that, while work is integrally tied to one’s sense of self-worth—the shock we’re about to endure, that we have to take care of as a society—we’re going to have a psychological and spiritual fall that’s going to be even greater than the fall in employment numbers.”

In the podcast, Rabbi Wolpe and I discuss what religious leaders can and should be doing to address the emotional and spiritual crisis that is accompanying this unemployment crisis. We also explore how society’s notion of what is and is not an essential job has shifted in light of COVID-19.

You can listen to to the full podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for listening, And please consider subscribing.

Episode 136: Rabbi David Wolpe, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles

Host: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation

Producer: Larry Buhl

Executive Producers: Joan Lynch, Melissa Panzer, and Ramona Schindelheim

Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0.

You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts