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December 1, 2024 30 mins
All states are vying to attract new businesses and industries, making the competition fierce. Tennessee has excelled in this arena, successfully attracting major companies and driving significant job growth for the future. A crucial factor in this success is developing a skilled and qualified workforce for emerging sectors.  The Tennessee Department of Labor & Workforce Development plays a vital role in preparing this workforce, and Commissioner Deniece Thomas recently joined John Clark to talk about it on TENNESSEE MATTERS. website: https://www.tn.gov/workforce.html
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Tennessee Matters on the Tennessee Radio Network.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Welcome to Tennessee Matters. I'm John Clark in the Tennessee
Radio Network. The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development
is the state's workplace resource for adult education, employment, occupational
health and safety, compensation and services, and regulations and compliance.
It's spearheaded by Denise Thomas, who's Commissioner of the Tennessee
Department of Labor and Workforce Development and our guest today. First,

(00:27):
just tell us what's going on with the department.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Well, I'll tell you there's a lot happening in the
world of workforce and specifically with our department.

Speaker 4 (00:35):
You know, a couple of things. One, I think the
last time we had a conversation.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
We talked a lot about labor force participation and how
that looks in Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
But it appears as if the needle.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Hasn't moved much because the numbers remain somewhat stagnant.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
But in reality, there's a lot going on underneath.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
We've diversified how we deliver programs out into the community
regarding workforce development. We have some new and exciting partnerships
that I hope we can talk more about. So there's
a lot of work happening, not just our department, but
other agencies as well, So lots to unpack.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
How critical is this year's teams training, How critical is
it for marketing Tennessee where the jobs races are, Well.

Speaker 4 (01:10):
I think it's vitally important.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
You know, every state in the country is competing and
make sure they can get you know, businesses relocated into
their state, and so it's a highly competitive market.

Speaker 4 (01:20):
But you know, we've seen a shift over and over time.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
You know, before businesses are super focused on infrastructure on sites.

Speaker 4 (01:26):
Now it's all workforce development.

Speaker 3 (01:28):
So states have to make sure they're in the right
posture to really show that their state can meet the
workforce demands or the companies are skeptical about showing up,
as you can imagine. And so it's true, we got
to have a viable and competitive workforce in order to
keep pace with the rest of the country.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, because you're doing so much here in the state,
so many other states you're doing things too. It's growing,
especially down here in the Southeast, it's really growing, and
so you're having to come up with new and different
ways to reach people, aren't.

Speaker 4 (01:53):
You we do.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
And you know, it's one of the reasons why I
bring up labor force participation as often as I can,
because that really is a signal about worker availability. And
you're right, I think all the states are, you know,
getting as innovative and creative as we can. But it
really boils down to what's the available talent pool in
your state?

Speaker 4 (02:10):
And then how do you reach them?

Speaker 3 (02:11):
And how do you train them to meet the qualifications
and the standards that companies want for their future workforce.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
How do you do that? How do you reach those people? Yeah,
how do you do?

Speaker 4 (02:22):
You know?

Speaker 3 (02:22):
I think it's a lot of things at once, right.
I think for us, it's as I mentioned, it's really
shifting to a more community centric approach. You know, ten
years ago we built American job centers and said, you know,
we build it, they'll come.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
That's not the case.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
People are not walking through the doors of these centers
and so where are they? So for us, it's really
paying attention to the data. Where are the individuals who's
not opting into the labor force and how do we
find them? And that's a lot of partnering too, right,
It's partnering with community based organizations.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
That are already in communities.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
And doing the work. It's us coming alongside them. It's
creating new programs in a way that people find value
to participate. And so we have to try all of
these things. It's not we can try one evaluated. It's
not that model anymore. It's like we got to put
it all out there at the same time.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Now, the Department of Economic and Community Development is doing
a great job recruiting employees. How close do you work
with that department towards doing that well?

Speaker 4 (03:15):
I will tell you I've set this publicly. You know,
economic development and workforce development have.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
To be twins, and states that are doing it well
have found a way to make sure that happens. Economic
and Community development is so vitally important to our state.
They're an amazing agency and they do great work. Commissioner
Order his team are humming on all cylinders. We're not
short on getting businesses coming to Tennessee, but every time
they get a win, it puts a demand or on

(03:42):
my team to make sure.

Speaker 4 (03:43):
We have the workforce.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
I think it's communication right if I want it to
be very practical, it's making sure we understand how they're
selling the state and in what industry sectors, so that
we can make sure we're prepping a workforce to meet
that demand wants it shows up.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
We have him coming in later today. He's going to
tell us all about what doing so and all the
things he's doing. It's for in terms of work, so
they'll give you more people, yes, yes, as a result,
so does his work really he develops more more people
for you to get to have jobs for.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
Yeah, you know, I always tease him.

Speaker 3 (04:16):
You know, he writes a check that we'll have to cash, right,
you know, so when when he sells Tennessee, he's selling,
you know, with the assurance that we truly will have
the workforce when the company makes a decision to choose Tennessee.
And we don't take that lightly. You know, it's it's
a good problem to have, right. Some states would envy Tennessee.
You'd love to be in our position. So we have

(04:38):
to make sure that when he goes out and they
are the salesforce for Tennessee, that we do make sure
that we are in communication and we have a plan
that we can make sure we present a workforce that
companies find valuable and not just for the big announcement, right,
but it's for years to come.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
These are sustained partnerships. You know, some of the companies.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
That are relocate, they may be in a building situation
where it may be three years before their facilities up
and running and another five years of hiring. Well, guess what,
we have to be their partner then, and we have
to be their partner for the long term.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, you do, don't you Because they don't just show
up and bam they're there. Absolutely, they show up, so
you have to kind of work through with them.

Speaker 4 (05:12):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, we have to do workforce planning. So we have
to make sure that once we get an announcement, and
that's for companies that are already here and maybe are expanding,
that we work in lockstep with their HR team, their
workforce folks, so that we can come up with a
timeframe so we know when we have to produce the workers.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
That's very critical. So understanding what their skill sets are, Understanding.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
The competencies the company is looking for, as well as
their timeline are all things that we use to really
do workforce staging.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
How do you prepare for that in terms of your
people going out and working with these people? How many
people do you have your staff.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
We are a little shove a thousand people, but you know,
by nature, labor is a collaborative. So again, we work
with local workforce boards, community organization.

Speaker 4 (05:55):
We partner across the globe. We have other state agencies
we work with.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
We have the border regents that does a train, universities, institutions.

Speaker 4 (06:01):
We work with everyone. It takes every single group.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Here in Tennessee to make this, to make this happen,
and so we don't do it alone.

Speaker 4 (06:08):
We wouldn't want to do it alone.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
But what we have to make sure is that we're
all operating from the same playbook, that we all understand
the need, we understand the demand, and then how do
we all respond, you know, respond to that. It may
be training, right, if a company needs seven hundred workers
and training a specific thing and we know they're going
to need them in two years, then that's an indicator
to our border regions to stand up that training program
so that we can meet the timeline.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
Is the economy impact on what you do with it?
Good or bad? Or how does it work?

Speaker 5 (06:34):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (06:34):
Absolutely?

Speaker 3 (06:35):
You know we can tell when confidence is soaring because
you get more announcements, who get more workforce demands and
so I think there is a direct correlation to that.
You know, in Tennessee typically it's all you know, it's
always ahead of the curve. You know, even in times
of the Great Recession, Tennessee er later we got out
of it sooner. So our state fair as well despite
economic conditions, and so we do have to pay attention

(06:56):
to the data. Sometimes it's hard to know where that
puck is going, but we do pay attention to market conditions.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
So I guess we know we've got a new administration
coming and you don't know how the COMMANI is going
to do, but we think it will do good. So
you have to look at that ahead of time, go
by what it's going to do.

Speaker 4 (07:11):
And now, well, I think we do both.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
We look at current market conditions because one of the
things we don't want to do is overlook what our
current labor climate looks like in hopes of reaching something
two or three years on the road. It's much too
volatile to be able to do that. And plus we're
talking about human beings, which you know it changes constantly.
But I will tell you you know, despite administration changes,
workforce development, it has been a bipartisan you know issue

(07:34):
when when much can't be agreed on.

Speaker 4 (07:36):
Workforce development is one of those things.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
So we don't think we're going to see any downturn
in the demands, specifically for the Southeast and notably for Tennessee.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
So we have to keep our foot on the gas.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Yeah. One of your department's major wins in twenty twenty
four was a state funded youth employment program. How's that
has that been so far? How does it worked?

Speaker 5 (07:54):
So?

Speaker 3 (07:54):
The youth program is one that we are extremely excited about,
you know, our hopes. You know, we're to serve a
couple of thousand kids, to give them an opportunity to
really put their hands to work, to fill it, to
kind of get an idea of what they like to do,
what they didn't.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
Like to do.

Speaker 3 (08:08):
Today, we've served over forty seven hundred kids in the program,
and it's important to.

Speaker 4 (08:12):
Note we're not just this is not some social experiment.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
This is true workplace development that we're actually screening, assessing
on the youth, beginning at age fourteen, into sectors that
we think they would like, and they are working and
earning their own money. And there's power in having a
young person actually go to work and be proud of
their paycheck, and so we were able to do that
across Tennessee in rural communities for small businesses, and it

(08:40):
was very diversified in the industry sector, everything from hospitality
to healthcare to outdoor recreation.

Speaker 4 (08:45):
So it was very exciting.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
Anytime we can get youth working early and to start
thinking about their career decisions, we don't have to necessarily
have that conversation with them later in life. And so
it's about really trying their hands at a variety of
jobs and we hope that they'll return for summers to come.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Well, you have a youth in a Chigan, youth goes
into college and you have the university systems here, you're
trying to get them to stay here right when you
when you're there, trying to to stay in Tennessee and
bring others from other states too, but try to get
them to stay here.

Speaker 3 (09:15):
Absolutely, we want everyone's talent, but we absolutely want to
retain our Tennessee talent, and especially in our rural communities,
it's important for our future workforce to understand there are
opportunities in your community that you don't have to leave
and go to another state, and not everyone has to
flee to the urban core to find a career. And
I think the you know, being able to showcase that

(09:36):
in hands on work experience over the summer helps to
kind of combat that. But I think for you know,
a lot of folks, Tennessee is a place that they
want to live and they want to retire, and that's great,
and so we want to take advantage of our current
talent and also the in migration that we're seeing from
across the country.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
And you mentioned too, and it's not just urban only thing.
It is out in the rural areas. The areas well well,
rural areas need all sorts of programs and just they
need the same thing. And here in urban areas in Nashville,
the same thing is somewhere out in the middle of nowhere.
Do you work in those middle of nowhere, middle of
nowhere parts of the company of the.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
State, Well, I think, I think there's a lot of
zip code that work for survelpment doesn't. But but to
your point, I think, you know, when you look at Tennessee,
it's a beautiful state. It is, and a lot of
our rural communities they may never land the big global
brand in their area, but they have natural beauty that
they've really been blessed with and how do you turn
it into an economic development opportunity? And again, I think

(10:32):
our ec D team does an amazing job working with those.

Speaker 4 (10:34):
Community leaders to do that. Well, guess what each time
that happens and you turn.

Speaker 3 (10:38):
Your your your blue ways or your greenways into a
natural wander of beauty and tourism, those are jobs that
are come attached with that. And so I think diversifying
and looking at assets that you have across Tennessee is
a way to really spark work for develpment opportunities.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
And I'm thinking too, like a lot of our radio
stations out in the hinterlands of Tennessee and uh and
so I'm thinking about them, and they they really where
they are need people and so to people, you need
people too. So Tennessee continues to break records too in
registered apprenticeship programs. How are you working on those right now?
You're breaking records, so you're doing well.

Speaker 3 (11:14):
Yeah, you know, Tennessee, you know, really got started I
would say later than some of our other states, especially
our partners in the Southeast.

Speaker 4 (11:22):
But when we.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
Arrived at the party of what did we make an
entrance and so apprenticeship has really taken root in our state.
Last year we served over twelve thousand apprentices that it's
record high.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
A lot for our state.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
You know, the model itself is attractive for so many
for so many people because you have an opportunity to
both work and learn and progress at the same time.
So earn and learn models are always going to be attractive.
I think what's most exciting to us is that we're
seeing apprenticeship really take root and occupations that are not traditional.
We're absolutely still seeing proliferation in the trades, but we're

(11:56):
also seeing apprenticeship in education, whether that's a teacher or
early education. So just about any occupation can be a principle.
And I think that's what's really helping Tennessee to keep
the energy, is that we're really looking at all industry
sectors as a way to introduce apprenticeship.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
How about the American Job centers? Where are they now?
What are you doing with those now?

Speaker 3 (12:14):
So our American Job centers, we have over seventy three
of those across the state. You may have heard in
my earlier comments I talked about if you build it,
they will come up. Well, our American Job centers aren't
going anywhere. You know, there are people across Tennessee that
need to come into a brick and mortar location.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
But we're also bringing the American Job Center to the
Tennessee people.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
So you're going to see American Job Centers on college campuses,
you're going to see them in community centers, you're going
to see them in public housing, and they exist there already.
And the whole notion is that we don't want to
be confined to just a space.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
We want to be where everyone needs us.

Speaker 3 (12:48):
And so we have thought very, very thoroughly about how
we redesign our service modeling to be able to come
to community and come with services that are applicable to
the needs of that specific community and or population.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
Okay, so when you go in somewhere in Knoxville, you
go into one that has things that Knoxville has available.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
In absolutely so we partner with the Knoxville community because again,
you know, we don't want to sit here in Nashville,
and I think that we can solve the problems across
our state. That's why I love having local workforce sports
that we partner with and our teams that work in
American Job centers. They live in the communities in which
they serve, so they understand some of the needs there,

(13:27):
all of the needs there, and we want to make
sure that they're serving neighbor, that they're serving the person
they see at the grocery store by designing specific programming
for business and industry there as well as those that
are looking for work or looking for a better job
or and or a career.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
And how many job centers do you have right now?

Speaker 3 (13:44):
We have seventy three. We have seventy three job centers,
but there are tons more access points and I just
want to land on that for a second. So you
can walk into a library or again, as I mentioned,
community centers and you may not see a staff of
ten or fifteen people, but there's linkage to our services.
And that's what we really want is to say, no
matter where the physical building is, wherever there's a staff

(14:07):
or there's linkage, you can access the many resources and
programs we have around workforce developments.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Can can they look like look a Knoxville for example?
Can they look at a place in Chattel can look
like that? Can they look somewhere else if they want
to move.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
Absolutely all of our American Job centers are linked. We
use the same system, so if you're in one sitting
you're looking to relocate, we can call ahead of time
and connect you to a real person if you want,
or you can use our Virtual American Job Center to
access you know, labor market data so you can research
the occupation and a career you're interested in, look for
a job, or get any of the assistance that we offer,

(14:40):
and you can do that from anywhere in the state.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
What are some of the jobs to talk about some
of the job job areas or facilities and things where
you need help right now.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
I will tell you that there's sectors after sectors after
sectors that are emerging.

Speaker 4 (14:56):
I don't think you can really go anywhere and not
see a need for worker.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
And I'll start with leisure and hospitality. Typically, maybe even
in our previous interviews, we didn't.

Speaker 4 (15:07):
Talk a lot about leisure and hospitality.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
I think we've been enlightened over the last year is
that when we think about a sector that's generating the
sales tax that tennessee is leisure and hospitality, and they
need workers. These are the front facing people that bring
the Southern smile and hospitality to tourists all across our state,
and they need a viable workforce, and so we're working
with Department of Tourism to make sure that we elevate
that these are great startup careers for a lot of

(15:31):
folks that are maybe coming out of incarceration or maybe
don't have a lot of skills.

Speaker 6 (15:35):
Well.

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Listen, the hospitality community is amazing at onboarding people and
giving them an opportunity for advancement. And as they have
made sure, I understand, all they require sometimes is a smile,
So going to show up and have a smile. So
we're continuing to see job opportunities there. It healthcare, you know,
we're going to continue to see that grow in our state.

(15:55):
The trades, there's a huge demand for trades. We're seeing
a lot of folk that are master craftsmen in this arena.
They're going to retire and we got to have a
workforce that can come behind them, and so we'll continue
to see that grow. Advanced manufacturing is always going to
be a huge market for us here in Tennessee, and
so I think when we look at growth, it's going
to be in all of those areas and they're happening

(16:17):
all at the.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
Same time depends on trade people. Well, that brings about
the trade schools. Do you work with them quite a bit?

Speaker 3 (16:25):
We do, We do, and so for apprenticeship, even though
we have a State Office of Apprenticeship, we are not
the curriculum specialists. So we have to make sure when
we are helping a business design an apprenticeship program that
works for them, that we have our training partners there.
And those can be public institutions, private institution, trade schools, association,
it doesn't matter. It's the company's choice. And so we

(16:47):
work with them, and we funnel a lot of the
folks that are interested in apprenticeship to our Tennessee Border regents.
They have the curriculum and can very quickly spin up
the curriculum for these folks, and so we work with
just about everyone in that arena to make sure that
apprenticeship really works.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
I think some of these larger companies you are, like
construction companies, need people and you probably work with a
lot of them to get people to come in and
take the place of those who are retiring or leaving
or whatever.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
Yeah, and you have to start early, right because it
takes time to become you know, a massive craftsman, and
so I think starting early, and I also think just
you know, how we brand it, how do we market
opportunities in the trades. We have the same sort of
thoughts around advanced manufacturing. You know, it's not it's not
the old dirty factories of old right, you know, it's

(17:36):
advanced manufacturing. You go into the environment and there's robots everywhere,
so the way you do work, the nature work has changed,
the environment has changed. So even with the trades, it's that,
you know, we're still fighting some of those stereotypes that
it's a C or D student who can't go to college,
that maybe they learn to be a corporateer. Well, I
can tell you that is absolutely not true. We're seeing
individuals that maybe already have before your degree that are

(17:58):
drawn to the trades and they are incredible at it.

Speaker 4 (18:01):
And so we want to make sure that one that
it's a.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
It's a wide open sector for those that are interested
in really working with their hands and building something.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
How incredible these beautiful.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
Buildings in the National Skyline be able to say I
help to build that. That's incredible. And I think we're
seeing some really great partnerships as well. For example, the
Titans project, you know, and you know, folks are wondering,
what what does that have to do with you know,
public workforce. Well, you know, we were proud to partner
with the Tennessee Titans and would turn a construction to
make sure that those boot camps, that those construction boot

(18:32):
camps that are happening right now, that we were able
to provide funding and support with our local workforce boards,
individuals can come and get hands on training around the
trades and then go to work. And maybe it's building
the stadium, maybe it's building something else. But I think
creating the uniqueness of partnerships to help open up the
trades and give people, you know, sort of a nudge
to say, you know, don't count out the trades.

Speaker 4 (18:55):
We're gonna need you. There's been huge national investments around infrastructure.
Somebody has to build a in the bridges.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
Right, Yeah, you're you're absolutely right with that, because you know,
look out here, like right here where we see things
going up. But you need to build these things and
some people I can't build those things that other people can't.
So and it's very very.

Speaker 3 (19:15):
Important, yes, And it's not a lesser occupation. It's just
your occupation of choice, right, And I think that's important
to note.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
Yeah, after the remnants of Hurricane Helene caused devastating floods
in East Tennessee, your department was one of the state
agencies providing critical assistance. You visited some of the areas.
What did you What did you see the first of all?
And then what do you take away from those trips?

Speaker 3 (19:38):
Well, I'll tell you the first thing I saw. You know,
we we saw some damage. We didn't we didn't go
into some of the more ravaged areas, but you know,
I share what I've heard our governor say. It's the
intersection of heartbreak and hope. You know, you see the
families that are impacted, but you also see this tremendous
spirit of neighbor helping neighbor, and people really wanting to

(19:59):
help families and individuals rebuild. I was almost overcome with
emotion when I saw our team on the ground. Because
no one's complaining about their creature conference in their office.
They wanted to make sure that they could help those
individuals that were impacted by the flooding. And I was
so incredibly proud that we have folks on our team

(20:20):
that are so driven by hope and by help that.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
They would do that.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
I mean, you know, some of them were standing out
in the cold, in the rain, but they were making
sure that people knew that they were there to help
them and serve them. And so I think that's incredibly important.
And so I think that embraces the volunteer spirit in Tennessee.
I think it also shows how dedicated we are to
really helping the folks that really need us the most,
and they really need us the most, and they continue
to need us, and so we'll be there until we

(20:46):
help every single person that needs our help. And I'm
just glad we could be able to do that and
do it so quickly. And I have to say this,
you know, Patrick Sheehan, the folks that Teama are the
best at it. I mean, no one wants to be
in this situation, but when we find in our state there,
it helps to make sure we got the best in
the business. And I tell you are our folks at
Team are are the best.

Speaker 4 (21:06):
In the business.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
They are. That's just there's terrible what happened out there.
And and like you said, it's I mean, it's just
it's gonna be. It's gonna be around for a long time.
It's gonna take a while.

Speaker 3 (21:15):
This will be a long recovery period, and I think
we all have to be patient enough to see it through.
It's not something we're just gonna have a master plane.
It's gonna go away in a matter of months. This
is a multi year effort, and our department will be there.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Also. EV's the electric vehicles. Talk about that here and here.
There's some some factories that are building them, there's some
factories that aren't building them. What's the latest with that.

Speaker 3 (21:36):
Yeah, I think immediately we go to Louisville City, which is,
you know, sort of the hub in West Tennessee. Uh,
they are still building the battery plant. They're still on schedule.
They're still making sure that they are producing the batteries.
I think we've seen a slow down in Ford's timeline
as they have shared.

Speaker 4 (21:56):
I think the EV industry is still really really.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
Trying to match demand consumer demand, and so we're seeing
ebbs and flows, and it's not just the blue of
a project. We're seeing that across some of the EV
manufacturers across the country. We're seeing it with Nissan, for example,
and I think everyone is just trying to you know,
figure out what is the pace, what is the case
of adoption for the EV industry. And I think as
their research improves, as the longevity of the batteries improved,

(22:19):
as the extraction of the raw materials for the battery improves,
I think we'll see more of a stabilization. But it's
like anything, when it kind of comes on, it's it's it.
Is it cooled off, is it heating up?

Speaker 4 (22:30):
What is it? And I think that's still to be determined.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
But we're going to be here to make sure that
when they're ready for the workforce, we can provide it.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
What's another emerging sector besides the EV it has.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
To be nuclear energy for us.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
I think people well I don't think people forget, but
I think it's worth reminding people of our rich history
and nuclear energy here in Tennessee with Oak Ridge National
Laboratories and so with the announcement of IRONO, you know
we talk about Tennessee being a major player in the
nuclear energy space.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
Well, guess what they need a workforce.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
And our role is really to help people understand that
you don't need a Everyone doesn't need a PhD to
work in nuclear There's a lot of transferable competencies that
will go into the nuclear energy space, and I think
there's roles that a lot of folks would be surprised
that are needed for nuclear And so, you know, we've
been working with our partners and the oatreach community and

(23:17):
those in post secondary education and really talk about the
nuclear collaborative and what that work really means. And so
we're excited to be a part of that conversation. I
think it's going to be it's going to be amazing
for our state. But we do want to, you know,
help folks think about nuclear should be on your short
list if you're thinking about career opportunities.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
And finally, give out your website to find out more
about you.

Speaker 3 (23:40):
If you want to know more about our department, you
can go on to jobs four TN dot gov and
tnworkready dot com.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
Look on those sites and you can find out all
you need to find out. Because there's you got plenty
going on.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
We have plenty going on.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Thank you for coming in and talking today. I appreciate
it very much.

Speaker 4 (23:54):
Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
That's Denise Thomas, who's commissioner of the Tennessee Department of
Labor and Workforce Development, talking about the importance of jobs
in Tennessee. Next on the program, we're talking about the
Faces of Fentanyl Wall. It highlighted the Faces of Fentanyl
at the CMA Awards this year. Here to talk about
this wall, artist Stokes Nielsen and the DEA's Amanda Wisney act.
You've been to the Faces of Fentanyl Wall at the

(24:16):
CMA Awards. What was your takeaway from that?

Speaker 5 (24:19):
Well, I tell you, we decided to bring it to Tennessee, John,
because the original.

Speaker 6 (24:27):
Faces of Fennel wall is up in Washington, d C
at DA headquarters.

Speaker 5 (24:32):
I had done an event up there and met the
director of the DA and she said, you know, folks,
it'd be great if we could connect this with country
musicians because their their voice really heard by so many
different people around the country. And I said, well, CMA
Awards are coming up and that might be a great place.

Speaker 6 (24:52):
To do it. And before you knew it, John, they
had called me.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
And said, well, we have a mobile wall that we
can bring And what this is is an Amanda can
describe it, but it's one of the most powerful things
that I've ever seen because you get to see firsthand
the lives that are affected by illicit fentanyl and.

Speaker 6 (25:11):
The lives that we've lost. So, Amanda, could you share
on how those wall came out? Absolutely so.

Speaker 7 (25:19):
John.

Speaker 8 (25:19):
In twenty twenty two, DEA administrator and Milgram asks families,
as part of a sentinel awareness to send us photos
of loved ones, and quite honestly, we thought we would get.

Speaker 6 (25:31):
Fifty one hundred.

Speaker 8 (25:33):
We get fifty or one hundred every single week.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
We have a six thousand and six thousand photos at
DEA headquarters and we've just established a new kiosk as
well to be able to share these people's stories and
raise awareness for the fentanyl crisis that is facing rural,
suburban urban America.

Speaker 6 (25:58):
It does not discriminate.

Speaker 7 (25:59):
It is in every community.

Speaker 9 (26:01):
And we saw that with the people that we worked
with at the CMAS and the people that looked at
the wall with us, and we saw the faces of
America and the faces of.

Speaker 7 (26:12):
Fentanyl and just the impact that it has. And we
would ask anybody who is in the DC area to
come by and see the.

Speaker 9 (26:18):
Wall because it is so powerful.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
As soak set, Yeah, is there do you know any
reason why finnyl has gotten so big now?

Speaker 4 (26:26):
So it takes a.

Speaker 9 (26:28):
Very small amount to be potentially lethal just two milligrams.

Speaker 7 (26:33):
So if you John, if you think of a sugar packet,
that could a sugar packet if that was fentanyl, that
amount would be five hundred.

Speaker 6 (26:41):
Deadly doses potential. It's it's and it's very very addictive.

Speaker 7 (26:47):
So the cartels have been putting fentanyl into other things
like meth them, fetamine, cocaine, heroine, and then most most
recently the pills. They sentanyl on pills and people think
they may taking oxycodone or an M thirty or an
adderall pill because they're sold that way on social media.

Speaker 4 (27:08):
But it's pure fentanyl.

Speaker 8 (27:09):
There's no medicine in there.

Speaker 6 (27:11):
It is.

Speaker 7 (27:11):
It is fentanyl, and one pill, one.

Speaker 4 (27:14):
Time, can kill somebody.

Speaker 9 (27:16):
Is why the awareness is so incredibly important.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
What there's a website you can go on and look at.

Speaker 9 (27:22):
This now right now, Yes dea Dot do slash one pill,
and you can find all of our resources, the most
up to date information.

Speaker 6 (27:30):
You can learn more about the.

Speaker 9 (27:31):
Faces of fentanyl and how to bring the mobile exhibit
to you, and also what we're doing in this fight
to save lives.

Speaker 6 (27:38):
And John, I wanted to share with you one story.

Speaker 5 (27:42):
You know that so the artists have been so wonderful
and generous with their time. Get the messaging, help us
get the messaging out. But I'll take an artist like
Randall King for example. Randall took a look at the
wall and it really hit him hard because they he
and his family no people.

Speaker 6 (28:01):
Who've been lost to Fenel.

Speaker 5 (28:03):
And he also said, and this is right on spot on,
He said, Nashville has suffered so much with this epidemic.

Speaker 6 (28:12):
And two years ago, John, Nashville.

Speaker 5 (28:16):
Was the second, I think the second most death per
capita of any major market in this country, you know,
and a lot of people that we lost, and you know,
when people are going out to see the live music
and kind of enjoying all the things that Nashville has

(28:37):
to offer, you know, we all need to understand that
you have to be extremely careful. And his reaction to
that also Annie Bosco, she looked at it as you
started crying, you know, because it is so heartbreaking.

Speaker 6 (28:53):
See all of these lives lost. And I will tell you, John,
so many or young people, I mean, Amanda I was
for me, that was the thing that really.

Speaker 5 (29:02):
Affected me when I saw it in DC is the
amount of young people. So you just think of all
the young Tennesseeans that we've lost over the last couple
of years to this illicit fentanyl epidemic, and we as
country musicians and country artists, I mean, we're just not
gonna stand by and take that.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
Is it, Amanda, anything else you want to say?

Speaker 9 (29:23):
We just we appreciate the power of music, especially the
power of country music.

Speaker 7 (29:29):
And we appreciate soakes.

Speaker 9 (29:30):
Taking this, taking this on because it's it's very important.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
That's artist Stokes Nielsen and Amanda Wasiak from the DEA
talking about the faces of Fentanyl Wall. For questions of
comments on today's program, you can email me John Clark
at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks for listening. I'll talk to
you next week right here on your local radio station
on Tennessee Matters.
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