Workforce Pathways

001Hello. Thank you for joining us for a community conversation on workforce pathways connecting adults with credentials and career opportunities in Massachusetts. I'm Kate Lipggerabedian, state representative for the 32nd Middle Sex District, which includes Melrose, Wakefield, and Maldon. During my tenure as a state rep, I have been pleased to host the community conversation series to bring together diverse groups of people from a wide variety of backgrounds to focus on policy issues of importance. With respect to today's policy focus, there are a wide array of programs and supports in Massachusetts for adults re-entering the workforce, changing careers, or advancing without a traditional degree. As a state representative, I've been glad to connect many of my constituents with these opportunities related to education, certification, and workforce skills, and I've been just as pleased to interface with various organizations

002and offices that offer these programs and supports. Today's event will serve as an overview of some of the programs that aim to align our talent in Massachusetts with economic opportunity, supporting mobility, and building a more resilient and future ready workforce across the Commonwealth. With that, I'm excited to review our time together today. I'll start by acknowledging our panel and providing some context regarding workforce development and upskilling in Massachusetts. We'll then benefit from presentations highlighting key resources and recommendations from each expert who I will individually introduce. And then we'll close with information about how to learn more and stay in touch. So, I'm very glad today to be joined by four esteemed presenters from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, the Commonwealth Corporation, Action for Boston Community Development, and Bunker Hill Community College. Thank

003you all for being here, and I'm really looking forward to your remarks. So, a quick context setting. Massachusetts is home to a wide array of job sectors and opportunities and roughly 70% of the employment opportunities in our knowledge-based economy will require some post-secary training beyond a high school degree. More specifically, Massachusetts ranks 49th among states in the share of jobs for workers with just a high school school diploma or less. And we are third in the share of jobs requiring postsecary education. Today, due to advancements in technology, we're witnessing profound changes in the nature of work throughout the Commonwealth. Sectors like health care, clean energy, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing already are experiencing talent shortages with many employers citing difficulty finding candidates with the right skills. Our clean energy workforce alone will need to grow

004by 38% by 2030 to fill all the expected jobs across more than 140 occupations. While these workforce shifts bring exciting possibilities, they also call on us to act to ensure our workforce is ready to meet the moment. As of May of this year, there were more than 200,000 active job openings in Massachusetts with roughly 400,000 undermployed individuals. So, we have a large proportion of untapped talent. and it will be essential that we support our workforce with opportunities and programs to make industry transitioning, new employment, and upskilling more accessible for everyone in the Commonwealth. Throughout my tenure as a state rep, I've been glad to engage with numerous constituents, businesses, organizations, and other stakeholders concerned with these issues of building a skilled workforce. here in my district, the 32nd Middle Sex. In just the last year,

005I've attended the ribbon cutting of a new Mass Hire Metro North Career Center and visited a local career program, watching healthcare students in action. I've been just as pleased to join the legislature in continuing to fund workforce development programs and supports. Just this week, the general court passed the fiscical year 26 budget, now on the governor's desk for her review. I was proud that we appropriated nearly $60 million for adult basic education services, $20 million for DTA employment and training services, 9 million for career technical institutes, and 3.3 million for registered apprenticeship expansion among other workforce development investments. And more than 6,000 bills have been filed to start this legislative session with many focused on labor and workforce development. One bill I filed would codify in statute the Workforce Skills Cabinet, which was created in

006the last administration. The Workforce Skills Cabinet works to align the Executive Offices of Education, Labor, and Workforce Development, and Economic Development to support a comprehensive economic growth agenda. House Bill 637 would confirm the Workforce Skills Cabinet's purpose of studying regional workforce needs and aligning programming with the state's goals around economic growth, workforce development, and universal student access to opportunities. Many of my colleagues in the building have filed bills this session aimed at cultivating increased opportunities for skills building, career transitions, and boosting our labor force. The Healey administration and the legislature have made workforce development a key priority, committing significant resources to this effort. Additional recent legislative investments include 6.8 million to train, upskill, and employ over 1100 workers across sectors like healthcare, life sciences, technology, and construction. Another 22 million allocated to provide summer and

007re year-round employment opportunities for more than 6,500 youth and young adults across the Commonwealth. So that gives us a bit of context as we now turn over to esteemed panelists to hear more about your work and expertise in this space. And I'd love to start with under secretary Cutler. So Josh Cutler serves as the under secretary of labor in the executive office of labor and workforce development where he leads initiatives spanning apprenticeship, labor standards, economic research, caregiving, and pay equity. He joined the Healey Driscoll administration last year after six terms in that Massachusetts House of Representatives. It was a pleasure to have you as a colleague where he chaired the labor and workforce development committee, the future of work commission, and the coastal caucus. Josh has been honored with the Thomas M. Munino public service

008award and recognized as a legislator of the year by multiple organizations for his leadership on disability employment, workforce development, and mental health policy. So, Under Secretary Cutler, I'll turn it over to you. >> Fantastic. Well, thank you, Representative. Uh, it's great to be here. Thank you for that wonderful uh set of remarks just framing all the great work that's happening here in the Commonwealth in terms of uh workforce. Uh it was a pleasure serving with you in the legislature and and and really excited you all the great work you continue to do. We're really uh value the partnership that we have here with the legislature and I think the folks in your district are very fortunate to have you advocating for them um on behalf on their behalf. Uh so briefly folks I just wanted

009to kind of talk touch on a few things. things I know we have a great lineup of of panelists here and so I want to make sure we save time but um is you know I like to say and I think representative touched on it really summed it up really well you know here in the commonwealth we have you know we don't have you know the sort of the natural resources that maybe other states do we don't have vast oil reserves or year- round sunshine as I like to say uh our most important asset is our is our workforce it's our skilled workforce and investing in our workforce is what really keeps uh is is the engine that keeps our economy moving and So, the Helriscoll administration has really been invested in our workforce from

010from from day one, working with our friends in the legislature, Rep. Libertaredian and her colleagues to really make those investments that we know are needed to continue to have that skilled workforce that's going to drive us forward. Um, so I just want to kind of touch on a couple quick things and then talk about um one of the topics, apprenticeship that you um recently uh mentioned, representative. Um when we first started the Hillary Driscoll School Administration came out with uh my boss, Secretary Lauren Jones came out with uh our new um you know our our workforce agenda and it includes a number of pillars uh which are are up here on the screen. Uh obviously number one talent attraction and retention and talent development are the first two ones and really the key uh to

011what we're trying to do here in the Commonwealth and you touched upon it in your opening remarks. you know, tapping into, you know, we know there's a lot of employers that need to find skilled talent and making sure we're we're giving everybody an opportunity. We're reskilling and upskilling workers and we're attracting new talent. Um, so there's a lot of exciting things that have been happening here in the Commonwealth on with both of those and I wanted to touch on them um, just briefly. But just to round out our workforce agenda, it also, you know, I think an important part of our agenda is leadership by example, which is, you know, when I I say that, I mean, you know, we're we're the Commonwealth. We're the seat of government, but we're also a major employer, and

012we can make changes and show leadership by example. We did that earlier this year. Actually, I'm sorry, last year uh with our skills-based hiring uh executive order, moving towards a skills-based hiring and focusing on people's skills rather than just, you know, resumes and what particular um things that might be, you know, checking a box, but really trying to see what what what skills does someone bring to the table. And so, we've made that, you know, that move as a commonwealth trying to show leadership by example. Many employers are already doing that. So I think that's a good example of how the Commonwealth can be not just seat of government but really you know setting an agenda. And then the last bit is just our workforce systems infrastructure. That's the the sort of the boring stuff

013the blocking and tackling the the database making sure we have access to great data. I know representative you've been a real champion in terms of trying to advocate for data for stronger data to make you know evidence-based decision-m really appreciate that. So those are sort of the four pillars of our our agenda. Um and if you want to Haley great go to the next slide here. Uh, one of the things I wanted to talk about was apprentichip because it's something that, you know, it's one of the reasons why I left the legislature and went to work for Governor Healey, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll, was we're making a big push in terms of expanding apprentichip and was something that I thought was fantastic to see and because of the strong support in the legislature which continues and

014again we're grateful for the budget that you you all just passed. um we've really been able to make a big push in terms of apprenticeship and when I say you know apprenticeship people may think you know your mind may go to like you know an image of a blacksmith or a carpenter or a printer you know what we think of as a traditional uh occupations that um have apprentices and that is definitely true and I would say that building trades are a huge huge part of our apprenticeship ecosystem and a key part of it throughout the Commonwealth but you know it's also much more than that and I wanted to kind of make that point home and we have a little Um I think we can go to the next slide. Um so just a

015quick you know quick little overview what is an apprenticeship. So people have you know are very familiar with the term but may not know really what goes into the details of what makes something an apprenticeship. Uh and so first and foremost an apprentichip is a learn while you earn model. It's it's learning on the job and I think that's the most important thing to understand. People talk about internships which are also fantastic but an apprentichip is almost excuse me is always a a paid uh employment opportunity. You're learning while you're earning, but you're also getting that education at the same time. Um, so you're developing your skills and furthering your skills and you're learning them on the job. And the nice thing about an apprenticeship is at the end of your apprenticeship, you're always getting

016some sort of industry recognized credential, something that you can take with you and you'll always have um that shows your mastery of that particular subject. So those are some of the sort of the quick key elements of what makes an apprenticeship, a registered apprenticeship. Um, so I I thought it would be fun, you know, I know we have a limited amount of time and and folks can do this at home and just do a little pop quiz to kind of highlight some of the things that are going on that are exciting in the world of apprentichip here in the Commonwealth. So, uh, if you'll indulge me, I'm going to go ahead and we'll we'll we'll, uh, we'll we'll roll this out. Um, and you can try to answer at home and keep track of your

017score. So, our first question is, what did Julia Child, Leonardo da Vinci, Aussie Osborne, and Benjamin Franklin all have in common? Is it A, they were all born in Boston? B, they were all famous social media influencers. Uh, they were all fashion icons. I would actually argue that that part is true. Uh, or D, they all started their careers as apprentices. And as you might guess, uh, the correct answer is D. They all started their careers as apprentices. Um, we we're famously know about Paul River and Ben Franklin, but there's a lot of folks um Elvis Presley is another uh individual who started his career as an apprentice. So, um, a lot of, um, people have gotten their start that way. So, uh, if you got that one right, give yourselves a check mark. Uh,

018all right. The next one, I kind of gave away the answer here, but, uh, we'll go through it anyway. The famous singer Elvis Presley is also known as the king of rock and roll. That sounds familiar. Uh, served two years in the US Army. I believe that's correct. Was once an electrical apprentice. I just mentioned that. Or D, all of the above. So, uh, which one is correct? I think, uh, as I kind of gave away, the correct answer is D. All of the above. Elvis Presley was also an apprentice. Started his career that way. So, another great example. Uh, so hopefully everybody's two for two in the audience there. Uh, so if you can look at that handsome gentleman right there on on the left, that's me wearing a surgical mask. Uh, and I'll

019I'll tell you why in a second. But question number three is, which of the following occupations is not currently a registered apprentichip program in Massachusetts? Is it a a cyber security analyst? B, a sterile processing technician, and that is what I was doing um in that photograph. Uh C, a credit analyst, or D, a Jedi Knight. So, which of these occupations is not currently a registered apprentichip program in Massachusetts? Think about that one for a second. Well, you're correct. We don't have any apprenticeship programs for Jedi Knights. Um we're working on >> disappointed. They'd be disappointed to know. >> It's disappointing. I understand. And we're working on it. and uh you know with the great funding from the legislature hopefully we can get there but uh we don't currently have that but we do the

020good news is we do have all the others and I don't know if you can back up a moment on the slide uh Haley uh but I wanted to just make the point um I went and visited this is way in the other part of the state out in the Springfield area uh Bayate Medical Center uh not too long ago to see their new sterile processing technician apprenticeship but a great example they were having trouble they had a key role that they needed to fill in their hospital for the people who sterilized the surgical equipment which is a really important role and they were having trouble filling that and creating that career pipeline and so they developed a a sterile processing technician apprenticeship program and we went out and and did a tour so I

021had to wear the the hat. Um so just another example um of how we're expanding apprentichip here in the hill administration to all different types of fields healthcare uh early education uh IT you name it it's not just about the building trades anymore. Um, all right. Let's go to our next question. Every hope everybody's three for three. Uh, so, uh, question number four. A registered apprenticeship offers which of the following benefits? Is it A, paid job experience with progressive wages? That that sounds good. Uh, B, related technical classroom instruction. That also sounds great. Uh, C, getting an industry recognized credential. Wow, this is hard to pick. Or D, all the above. Well, uh, if you're want to lock in your answers, uh, we'll we'll we'll go to the next slide. And hopefully everyone got that

022correct. D, all of the above. So, as I touched on very briefly in the one of the intro slides, an apprenticeship offers all of these different benefits. So, it's a great way to to, uh, develop your career and learn new skills. All right. So, question number five, uh, the Haley Driscoll administration, thanks to our friends in the legislature, has awarded uh, expansion and opportunity grants. We now actually call them the apprentichip the grow apprenticeship awards in which of the following? Is it A $250,000 for child care teacher apprentices? B $250,000 for licensed alcohol and drug counselor apprenticeships. C $200,000 for cyber security apprenticeships. Or D, our favorite answer, all of the above. Well, it's it's all of the above. Um, and if you could just back up one second. Uh, I just want to highlight,

023you know, this this slide hopefully highlights the different the breadth of different industries that we cover now with apprenticeship, you know, uh, early childhood educators, behavioral health, uh, mental health, cyber security, IT, uh, you name it. Banking. I just was recently at a graduation ceremony with the Mass Bankers Association. They graduated a number of credit analyst apprentices. So, a lot of exciting stuff is happening in the world of apprenticeship um with the investments that the legislature and the Haley Driscoll administration are making to help employers find uh and tap into talent. Um so, I just want to highlight that. And so, that's actually that's a picture of uh the awards day when we were giving out some of the grants which was um which was fantastic uh with my boss, Secretary Jones, and our and

024our great team that we have at uh labor and workforce development. So, I think that's the end of the quiz. So, um, I'm assuming that all of you hopefully got five out of five, right? I know repres Representative Libergarian got 100%. I'm sure of that, and I know the rest of the team did as well. So, give yourself a gold star for passing the pop quiz. Now, you can consider yourself an expert in registered apprenticeship. I hope this will peique your interest enough to learn a little bit more about what's happening with apprenticeship, whether you're an employer or would be apprentice, and certain certainly reach out to us to learn more. We're happy to to plug you in. And um I'll I'll I'll stop here and give our folks uh some of the other panelists

025a chance to um to share some knowledge, but it's been a great uh uh to be able to talk with you all for a brief amount. And again, thank you for everything that you do to support uh our workforce here in the Commonwealth. >> Thank you so much, Under Secretary Cutler. I really appreciated um the interactive quiz as well and really glad that you know the administration with support from legislature is really leaning in on apprenticeship. It makes all the sense in the world as we think about, you know, workforce opportunities and really glad that you and your team are expanding um a variety of pipelines for residents across the Commonwealth in areas that you know meet their passion and interest. So, thank you and um certainly we'll be sure that uh at the end

026of this there is an opportunity for folks to who are watching to see sort of how to get in touch and how to learn more about apprenticeships. So, thank you. Um, I'd now like to turn um to Commonwealth Corporation. And today we're joined by the vice president of youth and justice programs at Comore, Adil Sullean. The Quas. So Comcore is the quasi public agency focused on building industry sector uh pathways uh for youth and adults in Massachusetts to prepare for high demand jobs. Prior to joining Comore, Adele served as the director of Next Generation Jobs at Root Capital, a nonprofit supporting early development of agricultural enterprises. And prior to that, he worked for Europe united, equipping students with skills and success through career pathways and job training. So, we're very excited to hear today more

027about Com Core and a variety of the initiatives that are taking place there. Thank you again for joining us. >> Yeah, thank you Rap Liberian, and thank you for that nice introduction. Um, so hello everyone. My name is Adel Sulleman. I'm a vice president at Commonwealth Corporation or Comore for short. And as was mentioned, I oversee our workforce development programs that focus on youth and justice. It's a real pleasure to be invited and a pleasure to be a part of this important panel. Uh, and over the next few minutes, I'll provide a brief overview of Comore and offer some background on two of our programs that are helping workers in communities across the state to enhance their skills and secure jobs. one, the career technical initiative, also called CTI, and the other, the workforce competitiveness

028trust fund, WCTF. So, I'll start by providing a little background on conc. Uh, we're a quasi public agency that fall under the umbrella of the state's executive office of labor and workforce development where I get to work with my wonderful colleague Josh Cutler who just presented. I don't have a quiz, so that'll be a little variation here. Uh, we enhance workforce training on behalf of the state legislature. And again, thank you for your support, Rep. reprodian and also the helily driscoll administration at large. Common core is industry agnostic. So we support all sectors and particularly those with acute labor shortages such as healthcare, manufacturing and the trades. And our programs focus on a number of critical populations such as unemployed and underemployed adults, youth, returning citizens, young adults with disabilities and others. And we play

029really key roles in workforce development for administering workforce training grants and providing technical assistance to grantees particularly as uh communities of practice and as a convenor. On the next slide, uh we talked a little bit about how the programs that we administer uh yep the programs we administer have a broad reach serving a large number of workers all across the state. So last year uh we awarded over $130 million of grants across all of our programs serving more than 47,000 individuals across the Commonwealth. And this goes from the Cape to Western Mass and serving all industry sectors such as construction, healthcare, IT, and others. And we really place a focus on underserved individuals, including unemployed individuals and individuals of uh individuals of color to get into the Workforce Competitance Trust Fund, WCTF. Um, I want

030to mention that it's one of Concore's longest standing programs with its 20th anniversary actually coming up next year. And this program awards grants to partnerships of employers, community colleges, and other organizations to train workers for in- demand jobs in their local areas. We focus on training unemployed and underemployed adults and helping them secure employment. And these projects go in a wide range of industries. We can also pivot to address critical state workforce priorities. For example, recently WCTF placed an increased emphasis on English for speakers of other languages or ESOL. As you can see from this slide, eligibility for these grants is very broad. organizations can apply um including community based organizations, community colleges, employers, labor organizations, and a range of other entities. And the grants that are funded through this program can be up to

031$500,000 and last for up to three years. Moving on, WCTF has also placed a strong emphasis on funding healthcare focused training programs over the last few years and that reflects the major role that healthcare plays in the state and the job opportunities that we have in this critical sector. So, as part of this focus on healthcare, we awarded nine grants to mass hire workforce boards that support healthcare and behavioral health hubs, expanding training programs in nearly every region of the state. And you can see on the slide here the nine massire boards that those were awarded to. Further, the healthcare and behavioral health hubs um help individuals prepare for a wide range of occupations. So on this slide you can see that within these hubs individuals can train for jobs as dental assistants, EMTs, mental

032health peer support specialists and many other roles depending on the employer partners in each grant and the jobs available in local areas. So we really work together to enhance this ecosystem of labor talent and demand from employers to ensure that these are really effective programs. So there are healthcare and behavioral health hubs in all regions of the state and this slide is listing two of them. grants that are awarded to Massire Northshore Workforce Board and the Boston Private Industry Council. WCTF also funds other types of healthcare focused grants like another recent grant that we awarded to Massire Northshore Workforce Board which is specifically to train individuals for mental health counselors and mental health specialist positions. And I think this slide uh zooming in really particularly on these three grants shows the broad range and also

033how based on geography and job availability these grants are being targeted. And finally um on this slide we want to share a little bit of the impact that WCTF grants are having on individuals across the state. With support from a WCTF grant, Catholic Charities is now able to offer nursing assistant home health aid training free of charge with career coaching and other additional supports for participants. Enrolling individuals like the program participant featured on this slide. And I just want to read off this quote from the director of workforce development at Catholic Charities that I think speaks to some of the value of this program. Being able to offer this training free is a gamecher and allows us to change the lives of hundreds of individuals. Moving on from WCTF, I want to talk about the

034career technical initiative, CTI. It's a relatively new program launched a few years ago to award grants to vocational technical high schools to provide training after dark when the 9to5 workday is over. The idea here is that CTI trains unemployed and underemployed adults for jobs in specifically in manufacturing, construction, the skilled trades. And like other programs at Comore, partnerships are really vital to CTI. CTI requires schools to have partnerships with multiple employers and helps ensure that the training that schools provide leads directly to employment opportunities. And the grants that CTI is awarding um to vocational technical schools can be quite large with some awards reaching nearly $2 million. And in this most recent uh fiscal year, we served 1.5,000 un or underemployed adults through these grants. On this slide, you can see that CTI funds schools

035that provide programs in a range of construction trades and manufacturing occupations. Uh training individuals for jobs is such as carpenters, plumbers, robotics technicians, and host of other roles. And the training that each school offers is really based on the jobs that are in demand that local area. Again, similar to WCTF where in the healthcare hubs where we're really ensuring that we are aligning this training to where there is demand for jobs to ensure that participants are able to secure gainful employment following their time in the training program. vocational technical schools across state are receiving funding to support their programs. And so here you're going to see Essex Northshore Agricultural and Technical School and um Lynn Vocational Technical Institute and the target occupations uh that are listed for these. Again, another example of how these programs

036and the programs that Concord is administering through the CTI grant are meant to be really relevant to the region that they're serving. And finally talking about the impact, this slide provides a wonderful example of a CTI grand action. NHOBA's CTI electrical program provides both theoretical knowledge and practical skills and helped Felicia, the program participant featured here, secure full-time employment with Grant City Electric. I'm going to take a moment to read through um the success story as well before we move on. Felicia, former bartender, was searching for stability and better opportunities when she decided to enroll in the CTI electrical program at Nishoba. The program, which combines theoretical knowledge with practical skills, allowed Felicia to build a network and secure a full-time position at Grant City Electric just after completing the program. The CTI electrical program,

037which began in 2023, has gained significant momentum, drawn increased interest, and even created a weight list for future classes. CTI programs build a skilled workforce that in turn strengthen local economies and businesses. And so I've talked about several different types of job training programs and you might be wondering how do I find out what training programs are available in my area. So every community across the state across the Commonwealth is served by an organization called the Massire Career Center. And these are comprehensive organizations that provide both employers and job seekers with a range of information and services related to job training. Massire career centers have information on CTI, WCTF healthcare hubs, and other training programs in their community. And many of Concor's grants work handinhand with Massire Career Centers for their delivery in the local

038communities. So staff there can help you learn about specific programs that are offered in your area, program eligibility requirements, and if programs have openings from new participants, new enroles. If you'd like to find the Mass Career Center near you, please visit the website on this slide uh to learn more. For organizations interested in pursuing a grant from Concord through CTI, WCTF or one of our other programs, I encourage you to visit our website or follow us on social media using the links on this page or subscribe to our newsletters. We're on Facebook, we're on LinkedIn, we're in email inboxes, you can find us in your web browser. And when you go on our website, you can also find links um to further opportunities to subscribe like for the newsletter. And these are great tools for

039learning about different requests for proposals that we release throughout the year. So finally, please don't hesitate to reach out with questions about Concore and any of our programs. You can send your questions to the email address on this page, [email protected], and one of our program specialists will get back to you. I hope this information is really helpful, and thank you again for the partic uh the opportunity to participate in this terrific panel, uh, Rep Libergarian. Thank you again. >> Thank you so much, Adel. That was really helpful. Um, it was really interesting to me also to hear more about the career technical initiative that actually I didn't mention this when I introduced myself, but I was previously the chief legal counsel, the executive office of education when I was sort of supporting the ad the

040creation of that program and how we could really utilize our chapter 74 schools in after hours, you know, um, after work hours as well to really continue to provide residents across the Commonwealth with exciting opportunities. Um, and I'm thrilled to hear about a couple of the success stories already. Um, and I know there are thousands more like that. So, we really appreciate it. And your remarks and also your slide around, you know, the mass hire program is perfect segue into our next panelist. I'm really excited to get to introduce Ron Marlo, ABCD's vice president of workforce development and alternative education. Ron is overseeing uh ABCD's focus on uh developing and delivering workforce development and supportive services, the programs targeting adults, young adults and youth, English speaker, English for speakers of other languages, two alternative education

041high schools that ABCD operates in partnership with the Boston public schools, and now the Mass Higher Metro North Career Center, including the new location in Malden. Ron is also an alumnest of the ABCD Head Start program and we really appreciate uh your time and being with us here today. >> No. Well, thank you representative and uh hello to my colleagues uh in the workforce development field. You know, I chuckled when you mentioned the workforce skills cabinet. Uh when I served as under secretary of workforce development in the prior administration, that was one of the first two executive orders that I had the pleasure to write and the governor's office embraced to formalize and institutionalize the workforce skills cabinet under then secretaries Walker, Piser, uh and Jash. And so it is great that that institution is

042still around and that it may get codified one of these days. >> Well, I'll make sure to let you know when the hearing, you know, by maybe had the hearing, but I'll get you in front of the chair so you can advocate for the bill. >> I'd be happy to do so. And and the workforce skills cabinet of course has played a role in in the expansion and growth of CTI activity. um you know under secretary Cutler who's working in the apprenticeship space you know I I feel a strong connection not only personally but professionally to each of my colleagues because the onetop career centers really sit at the epicenter epicenter of of all of the work that we're all trying to do and we have tentacles that extend to each other uh as you

043mentioned ABCD is an operator of two mass hire one-stop career center systems, Metro North in which there are career centers located not only in Malden but also in Chelsea, Wuburn and Cambridge. And as of last July 1st, Mass Hire Boston ABCD Career Center, which is one of two systems in Boston, my colleagues at Jewish Vocational Services run Mass Hire downtown Boston. In addition to that, and I'll come back to the career centers, you know, ABCD is a community-based workforce development organization and when I served as under secretary and I think has continued on to this day, you know, we're fortunate in Massachusetts that we have rich ecosystems of workforce development practitioners. Uh we have the formal public workforce system which is characterized by Massire. We have our community college system, a very vibrant community college

044system here that's one of which is represented by my colleague from Bunker Hill. Obviously, Comore uh sitting as the quasi public entity, the premier one that supports workforce development efforts, especially those targeted to unemployed and undermployed as well as underrepresented uh populations and the expansion of apprenticeship. You know, 10 years ago, apprenticeship was as the under secretary described it. When you thought of it, you thought of of people with hard hats and working in skilled trades. And over the years, it's expanded tremendously to so-called non-traditional occupations that have been have now become engaged in apprenticeship as a way of helping people really make that transition from unemployed, undermployed to learning while they're earning earning a credential and then have been guaranteed employment really at the end of their apprenticeship journey. And so the onetop career

045centers, as I mentioned, sit at the epicenter of all of this work. In many instances, if you're going after a WCTF grant, um, if it's not required, and it's not required in all instances, it's strongly encouraged that you have a partnership with your local one-stop career center to help facilitate uh outreach and recruitment efforts. Uh, in some instances, screening and assessments for our partners. If you're participating in the CTI world, as my colleague mentioned that in many instances, the local workforce development system uh typically the board and the career center are partners uh to our Voke Tech schools or career and technical education schools and and fulfilling a similar role helping under individuals understand the opportunities that are available to them not in just in so-called traditional work hours but as you mentioned representative in

046non-traditional work hours after the 5:00 p.m. hour to really make those opportunities available to adults who need them. If you go to a career center, not only can you find in employment information, i.e. who's hiring, what occupations are expected to grow over the next five to 10 years, what occupations uh it happens are expected to contract. And the one thing you don't want to do And even if you respect customer or client choice is to in any way lead a customer or a client into an occupation that's expected to really um suffer some contraction over the next few years and thus find themselves looking for a new job. Uh, I think the one element I would really stress about one-stop career centers is that they're not just a place you're expected or required to go

047to as a condition of unemployment insurance. They're a place in which a multiplicity of services are available. Whether you're unemployed recently or long term, whether you feel you're undermployed, that you work 25 hours a week, but you really would love to find a job that work 35 or 40 hours a week and you're just trying to figure out that transition. We have information to educational opportunities in Metro North and in Boston, partners with Bunker Hill Community College, Middle Sex Community College, Franklin Cummings Technical Institute, and many others across the Commonwealth. So, it's really, as it says, a one-stop shop for accessing information that will help you move from where you are to where you want to be. And both Metro North and in Metro, excuse me, Massire Boston, we've brought the what I'll call the

048ABCD DNA to the career centers. Um over time um if you were living in a community in which you've had very disconnected uh been very disconnected to the labor market, you may not have always seen a career center as your first opportunity. You may have turned to your local community-based organization to gain access to those job training opportunities that will get you into the labor market. At ABCD, we've decided that we're going to introduce specialized, I call them specialized services so that you will feel at home in a one-stop career center in the same way you felt at home at a CBO. So, what does that mean? It means at the career centers we operate, we've introduced digital navigation services to really help people not only with questions of digital access. As we know, um,

049access to high quality broadband does is not ubiquitous in the Commonwealth and in some instances, you can gain it, but you got to know where to turn to. And so, we offer information on how do you access digital uh tools to fulfill your needs. We also do digital literacy because again, not everyone who can use a an Android or a cell phone very well is as adept at using a laptop, Chromebook, or desktop. And so we find that people who are very adept at a cell phone or an Android sometimes struggle with the larger devices and our digital navigation services are meant to close the gaps if you will in those two areas. Additionally, we offer access to support services navigation i.e. In many instances, those who live in lowincome or hard to employ communities

050have social support barriers that may frustrate their gaining uh entry in continued participation in a job training program or an educational program if they can't mitigate those support services needs. Some people call them wraparound services. We said one of the ways to build a better mousetrap, if you will, at the career centers is to have actually a support service navigation team embedded in our career centers so that if you have those challenges, just because you come to a career center doesn't mean you have to go someplace else to figure out how to mitigate those barriers. We also operate what's called the Bridges Returning Citizen Center, a career center within a career center, if you will, that's really dedicated to helping those individuals uh who are metriculating from our prisons or jails and really just want

051an opportunity to rebuild their lives. And often employment sits as one of the top two or three issues that can frustrate that successful re-entry into society. And we decided that you know what career centers are high volume operations. It would not be fair to ask the existing staff to not only understand the population in question but to be able to work with them effectively. So we created a team uh within our career center systems to be able to assist such individuals. And last but not least, the one I'm most excited about because it's going to be the newest launching effort is we're going to launch what's called the clean energy career center. Another career center within a career center that's designed to fulfill the promise of the statistic you mentioned earlier representative of the great

052number of clean energy jobs that we expect to create in the Commonwealth. And sometimes employers have a hard time finding qualified job seekers. Job seekers have a hard time finding qualified or excuse me employers who are willing to hire or at least consider their candidacy. And we believe that this will be the next uh vanguard effort if you will and fulfilling the labor exchange function that is inherent in all career centers. How do we best connect employers and job seekers so that in fact we can actually build on the existing economy that we have? And we think that this is a model that will allow us to marry intelligence on both side effectively. Look forward to hearing more about that as the next fiscal year uh really gets underway beyond day two. And I' I'd

053be remiss if I didn't thank uh our colleagues at the Mass Clean Energy Center and some of the work they're doing in the workforce development space to try to ensure that there is a skilled workforce to meet the demand you talked about representative and they they gave us a a grant that will help us launch this this fiscal year. And so if I would leave you with anything I would just say remember the name one-stop career centers. They are a one-stop for many individuals to try to figure out the best way they looking to connect into the labor market. Uh there are 29 of us across the Commonwealth uh located in each region as evidenced by the map. The map does need updating and I will talk to my friends at the Massire Department of

054Career Services so that that takes place. And um I look forward to participating not only in this panel but any other opportunities where I can help you get the word out of how people can really connect to resources to fulfill their dreams. And I would stop there. >> Well, thank you so much, Ron. Um that was quite an overview. It gives folks watching today and in the future a real sense of the comprehensive pathways that each of these career centers may offer them in terms of, you know, where they find themselves, what kind of resources they need, what kind of career path they'd like to be um on. And it's a real testament to your work and the others in this space that we're continuing to iterate and innovate even within these career centers. So,

055appreciate your remarks very much. No, I appreciate the invitation. >> Absolutely. So, I'm really pleased now to turn to Carla Abate, the assistant director of workforce and economic development at Bunker Hill Community College. Throughout her career, Carla has spearheaded and managed complex initiatives. Her experience has involved roles in client services, program management, leading or participating on crossf functional teams to orchestrate implementation and business development. She previously served as a program manager for Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges where she led the BMASS competitive program which was forging partnerships, enhancing community interests and driving program growth resulting in the successful execution of the association's initiatives. Um, I also want to flag that for the second consecutive year just this week as we passed our legislative uh fiscal year budget, we again fully funded the Mass Educate program,

056which is the Commonwealth's universal free community college program. It became law in last year's budget. Uh, it ensures that we are offering free tuition and fees for residents. In addition to that 120 million, the legislature also has proposed to include $30 million for higher education wraparound supports, including $16 million to support services for students attending the community colleges through Mass Educate. So Carla, thank you so much for joining us today. I appreciate you being here to share your remarks. >> Thank you so much, Representative. and we appreciate that that lead in and all of the support and work that you and your colleagues have done um to assist us uh to assist our community um within the state. Um what an incredible panel. I was just thinking, you know, this panel really does talk about

057the it really shows uh the echo, you know, the e the the atmosphere and the, you know, ecosystem within our community. And that's something that the community college focuses on. Um and the next slide I will talk further about that is some examples kind of um for those who um to give a little bit of history about um Bunker Hill or just in community colleges in general. Um for us this is exciting because we speak um this panel is talking about upskilling workforce um our in community colleges something that I think that it's important for people to know is that is baked into our DNA. Something that's unique about us in higher education is you know we have economic and workforce development baked into our mission. Um we serve as a bridge between government, industry,

058communities to make Massachusetts residents have pathways to ensure good jobs and ensure that um we are providing an economy, a mass economy that has skilled, motivated, inclusive workforce. Um we provide something that people may not be familiar with is you know we provide and it is proven and I'll talk about that further an immediate economic uplift. So in uh a 2021 Mass Inc. study, um, it was found that those graduating with a two-year associates degree from Massachusetts community colleges had earnings that were 31% higher than their peers who only completed high school, according to the study. While those obtaining a community college certificate, a credential in a specific field without a full two-year degree, saw earnings that were 26% higher than high school graduates. So study after study confirms that community colleges are worthy of

059investment of student time and taxpayer support. So again, we greatly appreciate all of the work with the budget and that your continued work and and and acknowledging and recognizing that and us working collaboratively in that and to achieve our goals. Um, community colleges are big. We're home to just under half of the undergraduates in public higher ed in Massachusetts. More than 120,000 students across 15 institutions statewide. I don't think people realize that, so it's important to bring that up. Um, and our community college students are drawn from the communities around um around Bunker Hill. Um most of our students are within a 10 mile radius and as we know from driving traffic in Massachusetts 10 miles is significant in the area. Um but around um our area we are um we look at how we

060support and as you said representative we are experiencing a renaissance with the introduction of free community college. Um so when we talk about serving our communities we obviously Molden is one of the the communities in which we serve. We have people from Melrose is what we have most across it is the urban core and gateway cities within that we support um and I just spoke about upward mobility. You can go to the next slide please. Um, so when we talk about the this is again when we were talking about the quintiles, these were things that were taken from the 2016 Harvard University equity and opportunity project. Um, so about 75% start at Bunker Hill in the bottom two centiles of income and about 30% move up uh to two or more. And this this speaks

061to the stats that I was talking about previously. Um, so real world data we look at and how community colleges impact our students, the economy, and that seeking to have the highest economic mobility um increase. Next slide, please. So, when we're looking at our students, who are Bunker Hill Community College students? Um, so this gives a a look at that. We have 11,000 credit students, 6,000 nonredit students. our break of full-time part-time. Um, one of the things that we talk about a lot and you'll hear our president Edinger talk about is that whatever path you come into community colleges, you are welcome. We are looking to serve that extensive body. So, this slide here shows you that example of the makeup which is a diverse population within our community. Next slide, please. Um part of

062being um affiliated with a community college is we have uh dual enrollment which we have in high school. So people come in they can um come and be part of the college or dual enroll. These are our our our partner organizations which a lot of people aren't familiar with that the fact that coming in you can dual enroll in Bunker Hill and also be part of a four-year. So our path is we have credit programs. You can go to the next slide please. We have our credit programs and we have workforce programs. And so just to be clear in terms of some people come in and they already have credits and they're looking for degree seeeking programs. Some come in and they're looking at workforce um certificate-based programs or to upskill. We work very closely

063with not just high schools and community based organizations but also employer partners who upskill their um existing um co um workforce to increase their capability for um opportunity within their organizations as well. Next slide please. So, some of the examples of some of our offerings, you've heard things in some of our other that's why this is such a great panel to be part of. Um, things that we have available, short-term, medium-term programs within our workforce department. Um, and I will also say this, when you're coming into Bunker Hill, yes, we have these different departments. There is workforce, there might be degree seeeking people. There's a lot of crossover between the two. I work for Bunker Hill. I work for Bunker Bunker Hill Community College in workforce. However, I service anyone who comes in within our

064department. I'm on the Charleston campus. We see um a plethora of people who come in. Some people who are coming in with they might be transferring from a four-year, they might be coming in with new information, they might need to upskill. We have all of those things available. When we talk about our language institute, that's okay. I you can go to the next one because I'll I'll talk about that as well because ESOL was something that had been brought up. Um we have a a a vast language institute program. Um there are a lot of studies related to people coming in who may have a technical skill but they don't have the language to to proceed and and progress within the organization maybe from an existing employer. So we have relationships with different employers, different

065cities, different towns um to work with their constituents in that. So we are doing something with we work with Somerville as examples and Medford recently we had um uh different programs and and discussions about um that for them. So uh thank you for the leadin on uh free community college. We have definitely seen the expansion in terms of uh our student base per year here. Um the thing that's important I think for everyone to understand as much as we've talked about mass reconnect mass educate precom community college there's still um where people h are are reticent to participate or understand and think oh this can't possibly be for me and understand our median age in the college is 26. So we have people coming from high school. We have people who are continuing their education.

066We have people who put their family through um their children through college and put themselves on hold as they waited for that. So something that's important to understand is these programs with free community college in their case would be mass reconnect because over 25 um both of them allow people to broaden the experience for their families um which then impacts the community. So what I would say to your constituents is to understand that these things are available and don't hesitate to um to ask questions related to it because there is no wrong question just as we say there is no wrong door. Next slide please. So in terms of free community college again speaking to that this is just a slide that talks about the requirements and again um just wanted to reiterate to constituents

067that to understand that these are different things that are available to them. you may not be aware. I have we have many many people who will say, "Oh, I didn't know that applied to me." And the the wonderful opportunity that you have in in these types of presentations is to know that yes, in fact, it probably does apply to you. Next slide, please. And next slide. I want to talk about just the first year in terms of free community college and things that we saw as the increase um in free community college and what we saw for year one and this slide and you can see the increase and the next slide please. So the first one was mass reconnect because that that was the first program that rolled out and then look at to

068the next one with mass educate. We are definitely seeing the increase of people and we know that there's more people who are out there but just for the people who have been made aware of this opportunity um it continues to grow and we are very very excited of things that we can provide to our our um our community. Next slide please. We cannot stress just how important is to know that community colleges are community is in the name of our our institution because that is what it is. We work with community based organizations. We work with high schools. We work with our citizens. We are an open campus for people to utilize. there's open access to our campus. It's important for us to know we look at people holistically. We have incredible services that are

069available to students um to people whether they are a degree seeeking student or they are taking uh they are upskilling or they are um taking a certificate-based class. Um it isn't just the technical piece. It is also the how are you doing? What are the supports that are available to them? Um things that don't allow people to persist aren't just uh how am I doing in class often what we see with our students. We have part-time students. We have just people who have gone through different things in their life. Um it's it's important for us to be able to support them appropriately. And I I believe that is one of the things representative that you were talking about and the awareness of that of supporting our students. And um so I want to just stress

070that we have um if I talk about our our we have a really really innovative uh food pantry. um those who've seen we always I I admit I do show that off when people come and visit and anyone who comes to Bunker Hill um where you have a point system monthly and they can have their needs met in terms of different things that are available whether it's food like our diaper program. Those are things that you you have in a program that it's important it's part of the infrastructure of supporting our students be able to thrive. Um, and it's something that we talk about a lot because it's needed. It isn't just simply accepting someone, they're in, they're taking classes. There's a whole component of them that we need to make sure that we address.

071So, also, we have an open program, but some of our programs do have a competitive admission process. For example, nursing. Um, and it's important for students to understand and participants or future people to understand that we're not incomebased. um this is available to everyone and our workforce programs they're throughout the year. So right now from a college perspective people might think okay kids are out of school things are quieter not for us we are year round um for things and we're also looking because we're getting ready we have another summer session and then we have our fall session. If people have questions, they can come at any time and get those needs met and plan plan for the future or plan for now. Our workforce programs are are ongoing. So, we have a campus in

072Charletown, we have a campus in Chelsea, and we also have satellite campuses as well. Next slide. >> Well, so that's my last one. I'm sorry. Um the important thing in terms of community college I would say is and it sounds hokey to say it's community but it is community. We are there for you. This is your we are your institution. We are the institution of the commonwealth to be able to thrive and learn and grow and we want that ongoing learning whether you you know whatever your circumstance is we are available to support you. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you, Carla. And for those watching, Bunker Hill Community College is an excellent institution that does serve folks in my district and statewide there are 15 community colleges. So, there is an accessible campus or many

073campuses for folks all across the state. Um, and I'm really grateful for you for raising up um, you know, some of the programming both workforce and education that exists. Um, I'm mindful of our time and I want to make sure that if anyone has uh anything that any of our colleagues said that sort of sparked something else you wanted to share, I'd give you a chance just now to add anything before we close. I'll also note for those who have been watching that we will post the resources that you've seen displayed on the screen with hyperlinks and more information on my website kateforrep.com so that you can go there to look more closely at some of this incredibly informative um you know data and um and resources that that my colleagues here have shared in

074their own slides. Anyone else uh feel a burning need to share something that you've failed to mention before? I really do appreciate um your time and the degree to which you've provided really actionoriented information for viewers about where they could go next to explore opportunities for upskilling, for additional workforce credentiing, for postsecary education opportunities. Um, and of course I know that each of your organizations as well as my own office is available to field additional questions or inquiries. If you want to just go to the next slide, we can share out here ways in which you can contact each of our offices uh by phone, by email, and online. Um, we'd love to hear from anyone who has questions to help connect you um to your next adventure. So again, thank you all of you

075for being here with us today. Um, thank everyone for watching today this Conversations with Kate. We'll post this on the YouTube channel and hopefully you'll also be watching this at a number of local access television stations across the Commonwealth. Thank you again for being here.