A quarter of the regional population of Central Texas is under 18, and many will be entering the workforce this year. How do we better empower these youth for Central Texas careers in high demand? Join Future Ready NextForce Podcast Host Diane Tackett, Chief Operating Officer with Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area (WSRCA), and her guests, Paul Fletcher, Chief Executive Officer with WSRCA, Camille Clay, Senior Director of College and Career Transition Programs with Leander Independent School District, and LaKissa Bright, Founder and President of Ladders For Leaders, as they review current challenges and solutions to connect classrooms to careers and introduce Texas youth to the world of work.
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(00:00):
Are you ready? But are youfuture ready? Be a part of the
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Podcast. Identifying barriers tocareer success. NextForce.
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Ready NextForce Podcast.
The Future Ready NextForcePodcast is brought to you by
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Hello, and welcome to the futureready next force podcast. I'm
your host Diane Tackett, ChiefOperating Officer for Workforce
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Solutions Rural Capital Area.
Today we're taking a closer lookat youth career exploration
specifically, how do we empowerour youth for local careers in
high demand? To give someinsight on this issue, I've got
some great guests joining metoday. Paul Fletcher, CEO from
Workforce Solutions RuralCapital Area, LaKissa Bright,
Founder and President of theorganization Ladders 4 Leaders,
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and Camille Clay, SeniorDirector of College and Career
transition teams for the LeanderIndependent School District,
also the high school I graduatedfrom.
Before we get into theconversation, let me share this
quote from footlocker CEO MaryDillon. She says the best way to
build the best workforce is tofocus on the largest talent pool
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you have.
A quarter of our regionalpopulation is under the age of
18. And many will be enteringthe workforce this year. Here in
Central Texas, our region ismade up of Bastrop Blanco,
Burnet Caldwell, Fayette, Hays,Lee, Llano, and Williamson
counties. Paul, you and I arealways digging into the numbers
and you've got some greatinsight on the workforce in our
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area. So when you see stats thatsay 24.3% of the population in
our nine county area is under18. That's about 254,000 young
workers. What does this say toyou? And what trends do you see
emerging?
Well, thanks, Diane, you know, Ithink that offers us a
tremendous potential pipeline oftalent. And we want to be able
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to work with our educationalpartners to ensure that they are
getting the right kind of labormarket information that helps
tell young people what careeropportunities look like for them
in this area, what it could looklike for them in five years and
10 years, so that as they asthey pick a career path, they
can kind of project and seetheir future in that potential
industry and see where theywhere they could be in five to
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10 years.
Some may be college bound, somaybe going into trade, so maybe
going for a six monthcertification post high school
that lets them get right intothe workforce. We're very much
in favor of all of thoseopportunities for kids today.
But we want to make sure theyhave information about what
those opportunities look like,what the career paths within
each of those opportunitieslooks like what costs are and
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where they see themselves in twoto five years, and then five to
10 years.
So I'm also glad that you'resitting with us today, because
you've been in this field for agood while. Can you tell our
listeners a little about yourbackground? And what previously
has been the conversation thatyou've had about our younger
workers?
Sure, yeah. That's Diane's wayof saying that I've been in this
field for a long time, is herway of saying I'm really old,
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which is probably true. But soI've been in, I've been involved
in workforce development since1997. I started as the workforce
board's workforce centeroperator back in 1997, under a
corporate corporation calledLockheed Martin. Over the years,
we transitioned into severaldifferent companies. And I had
the opportunity to leave theworkforce center operator realm,
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and come over to the WorkforceBoard as their executive
director or the CEO. So I'vebeen in this business for about
25 years. Really enjoy it. It'sa great opportunity to work not
just with kids, but witheveryone in our communities to
help them understand what labormarket information looks like,
what it can do for them, how wecan help employers, how we can
help job seekers, how we canwork with our child care, early
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care learning providers, so thatthey're getting good information
about what the labor marketlooks like. And when we start
talking to kids, when they'rethree or four or five years old
about what careers look like,it's never too early to start so
that they start thinking aboutthat, you know, you don't have
to decide when you're in secondgrade what you want to do, but
knowing what opportunities arethere for you, I think I think
are important. And I think it'scritical that people have the
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right information and theyunderstand what that information
can do for them.
Not just that not just knowingabout career opportunities, but
Sure. Thanks so much, Diane.
Yeah. So Ladders 4 Leaders wasI think it's also being able to
have the things that we consideractually started out of a
personal experience. My daughtersoft skills for people to be
able to be successful inemployment. And many times
children learn that whetherwent off to college, and she
changed her major three times inthey're in an early-learning
center, or they learned thatwhile they're in elementary
school and middle school, butthe first year. Well, when she
went off to college, she decidedit's those things like having
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grit and resilience anddetermination and being able to
bounce back through adversitythat she was going to be a
reproductive endocrinologist,and being able to take some
constructive criticism and youlike, what is that? But okay.
And so she goes, and she startsknow, trying harder the next day
to try again and continue toimprove. So one of the things
that leads me to I'd like totaking all these specialized
classes. And so when she changedtake a moment and introduce
LaKissa Bright. Thank you forjoining us today. I know that
Ladders 4 Leaders is the secondher major, it was money, just
wasted, classes that she nononprofit you've started after
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being in the corporate worldlonger needed. So $10,000 in the
hole, I started to wonder whatworking for IBM. Your work puts
you right on the ground helpingstudents in Travis and
Williamson counties. Tell mecould I have done to better
expose her and prepare hermore about how you got started
in the work your organizationbefore she went off to college?
And the answer to that questiondoes for students?
was put her in positions whereshe can see what professionals
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do. I know she wouldn't havebeen able to sit with a
reproductive endocrinologist.
But now she's in business, shemight have been able to sit with
somebody in business and say,Yes, this is what I like to do.
And so based out of thatexperience, Ladders 4 Leaders
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was born. I also had a son whowas going into high school at
the time, and I promised myselfthat he was going to have these
experiences before he went offto college. And so he interned
with our program for two years.
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He went into college as abusiness major, and he's still a
I really liked the idea of beingable to offer career exploration
business major today, fingerscrossed. So, so yeah, so we are
a workforce development programfor youth, focusing on
internships with companies thatare in the local community. And
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our goal is to give them atleast six weeks of experience
with an accountant with asomebody in trades with somebody
in business, whatever it is thatthey desire to be, we placed
them in those opportunities sothat they can make informed
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decisions upon graduating fromhigh school.
opportunities for young adults,where they can really get into a
business and see what the whatthe impact is, and see what it's
like to work for anorganization. So I can kind of
see from Paul's perspective,looking at the labor market
information that shows whatindustries and occupations are
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expanding and then giving youngadults the opportunity to
actually go into an internshipor some type of real world
experience to decide if thoseoccupations or trends are a good
fit for them. I think that makesa lot of sense. And so the third
person I'd like to introduce isCamille Clay, Camille, you
oversee the district's Careerand technical education, dual
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credit programs, studentinternships, and teacher
externships. Would I be correctin saying your work within the
school district shares? Thecommon goal with LaKissa's?
Absolutely one of the thingsthat we really do strive to do
is give students in elementary,middle high school as many
opportunities to figure out whatit is that what career that they
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might want to enter. And thatcan be done in a number of ways.
The internship is a huge part ofwhat exposes students that they
really get to try on a careerwhen they go out to that
internship, but really leadingup to that, you know, Paul
mentioned earlier about some ofour elementary students and that
age. It really for us, we kindof frame it in three ways where
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we really look at awareness,kind of in our elementary years,
that morphs into a little bitmore of what I would call
exploration in middle school.
And then in high school, itreally jumps over into
preparedness with, you know, avery intentional program of
study. But we're also very awarethat when students, they may
start in a health science careerand figure out very quickly in
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the first course, that that'sreally not for me. So we do want
them to be able to switch andtry on something else, maybe a
career in education, or maybethey want to try to go into
engineering, and so as manyopportunities as they have to
try on a different career. Sowhen they graduate, their path
is a little bit more solidifiedfor them. The other thing that I
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will say is that when we areworking on that preparedness
piece, we want them to haveevery opportunity open to them
when they graduate, and thenit's really up to them. When
they decided to enter theworkforce. Some students are
going to graduate they are goingto go straight into the
workforce. Or they may go to alocal junior college or
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community college and start, youknow, a certificate program.
They may go for an associate'sor they may go straight into
industry. Many of our studentsare also going to work while
they're in college and we wantthem to have those skills that
they've developed while they'rein high school to actually help
support them along the way. Andso one of the mechanisms that we
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will use that is very much inline with LaKissa is what we
called work-based learning. Andso we really do try to focus on
how can we connect industry into the teachers, which is the
great thing what we love so muchabout that teacher externship
program, because that getsindustry a step closer to the
students in the classroom. Andso we can engage with students
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through career fairs, we canengage and have our students
engaging with industry throughsite visits to different
industry locations, having guestspeakers come into the
classroom, the internships forour for students, and teachers
so that they connect. But Ithink the bottom line for us,
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let's give them as manyopportunities at whatever level
to see what is out there, whatfits for them. And to graduate,
maybe a step ahead with eitherthat industry credential, or
some college credits, or thedual credit program, or a
mentorship or an industryconnection.
That sounds really interesting.
And again, just the connectionand the opportunity for young
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adults to explore differentoptions. I mean, nobody's going
to know right away what theywould like to do. And honestly,
when people are making decisionsabout their career paths, I
think fewer and fewer people aremaking a decision about what
they'd like to do for the restof their lives. And they're
making decisions using adifferent set of criteria,
whether it's what I might beinterested in for the next five
years, what is available to meimmediately, but there's
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different criteria that I thinkyoung adults are using and and
other adults as well whenthey're making those career
decisions. So LaKissa andCamille, when we look closer at
our young workers, specificallyin our area, about 25% come from
single parent families. Andthere's another two and a half
percent or so that aredisconnected from services. So
not connected with a schooldistrict or educational program,
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not necessarily connected withan employment program or a
workforce provider. What's someof the realities for the young
people that you help? When itcomes to career exploration?
I can answer this actually, frompersonal experience, I was a
child that came out of a singleparent home, and honestly was
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not aware of a lot ofopportunities out there. I did
have a school counselor whopulled me to the side one day
and said to me, you need to fillout this application, like,
Okay. I filled it out and gotinto a university and I was
going to that university. And soI think when you ask what are
the realities, for some of thesestudents, I think the reality is
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that they don't have theassistance, and they don't have
the exposure, and that they needorganizations and companies who
are willing to pick them up andgive them those opportunities,
they need the school system. AndI know the school system has
programs like AVID (AdvancementVia Individual Determination)
for first generation collegestudents and transition programs
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for students and, and so thereality is that those students
need all of us to come togetherand to make these possibilities
a reality for them.
I would say for me just apersonal example. I knew when I
was in high school, that mystrengths were math and science.
But I had absolutely no idea howto turn that into a career. I
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was raised in a very small ruralcommunity. And I didn't really
understand or know what optionswere out there. And so my lens
and in working with programs, isto try to really make sure that
that students do know whatoptions are out there for them
to have a variety of programswithin our district, especially
in the CTE realm that are basedon labor market information.
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Where we can provide as manyopportunities, we do have those
students who walk in the door,who they've known, they were
going to be an engineer sincethe second grade, because
everybody in our family is anengineer, and I know what it is,
and I love it. And then we haveother students who walk in the
door, and they know they don'twant to be an engineer, because
everybody in their family is,but they still don't know what
that looks like for them. Soagain, it's about providing as
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many opportunities and for thatstudent that does know what they
want to do, what our what ourgoal is for them to graduate
with as many skills as possibleif they stay on that path. But
for that student who doesn't,let's expose them to as many
opportunities as we can, througha variety of programs of study,
through guest speakers, throughfield trips through whatever
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kind of work based learningactivity we can do. And I can
tell you that our transitioncoordinators and our counselors
play such a key role in workingwith our students one on one,
and trying to help guide themand make those connections for
them. One of the primary rolesof our transition coordinators
and our counselors is to makesure that our students we know
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where our students are goingwhen they leave us and that we
have a plan past high school andalso try to make ourselves
available so that if things arenot working out for them that
they still can come back andtalk to us. You know, it's not
like, you know, waving by atgraduation. You know, we still
want our students to feel likethey can come back if there's
some additional advice that theyneed.
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I think that's great. And one ofthe things I heard was this idea
of exposure, there's no shortageof opportunities. And one of the
key things we can do to helpyoung adults in identifying what
their career goals or their nextjob goal would be is to offer
that opportunity of exposure todifferent different options,
different occupations in thecommunity, maybe different
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employers in the community. Andso what I think is really
interesting about this is thisisn't just an issue that we're
looking at in our rural capitalnine county area, this is
actually something the state ofTexas has addressed. And so
there is 60 by 30, Texas HigherEducation Plan that has come out
recently. And some of the goalsin this plan say that at least
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60% of Texans aged 25 to 34 willhave a certificate or degree all
graduates from Texas publicinstitutions of higher education
will have completed programswith identified marketable
skills. At least 550,000students will complete a
Certificate associate'sbachelor's, or master's from an
institution of higher educationin Texas and undergraduate
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student loan debt will notexceed 60% of the first year
wages for graduates of Texaspublic institutions. Now, that's
a lot of information. And whilethis, this plan is moving Texas
in the right direction, our datahas shown that a degree isn't
always enough. Sometimesstudents will need to match
their credentials to the needsof employers, the role of the
higher education helpingstudents and employers
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coordinate their efforts isessential. So it's not just the
idea of having a certificationor a credential, it's being able
to match that to employers inthe community so that we can
ensure that our young adults areon career pathways and are
really able to continue topromote and progress in this
career. So in saying that, I'dlike to put this question out to
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everybody, what can we do tobetter align certifications and
credentials with the needs ofthe industries in our area?
So you know, I think one of thebest things we can do, from from
my perspective as a WorkforceBoard is to bring people to the
table and bring educators andemployers to the table. And
everyone sit down and talk aboutwhat from the employers
perspective, what do they need,from the educational
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perspective, they talk aboutwhat what kind of resources they
have, and what kind ofeducational opportunities they
can provide. And I thinklistening to the employers helps
the educators kind of fine tuneand hone in on the skills they
need to be teaching so that theemployers are able to get from
those kind of programs, thestudents with the right skill
sets to come work in theiroperations,
I will add to that as well.
Being a parent and very involvedin the community. The one thing
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I'll say is education of theparents as well. One thing that
I've seen is that a lot ofparents push careers on their
children, mostly because youknow, you go into a four year
university and being a doctorsounds great, being a lawyer
sounds great. But if parentswere educated on what some of
these other opportunities areout there, you know, what are
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the exact needs of the industry?
And what are the salaryopportunities that come with
those. Specifically like some ofthe trades, I just think parents
aren't as educated on it. And sothey push their children towards
the greys and other areas, whichmay not be a good fit for their
child.
One of the things I've seen overthe last few years is really the
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tri agency partnership betweenthe Higher Ed Coordinating
Board, Texas WorkforceCommission, and the Texas
Education Agency really comingtogether around this effort. And
in alignment. I know that we'vebeen had the opportunity for
quite a few programs of studyand kind of a revamp that's very
much been aligned to high scale,high demand, high wage jobs
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within the state or within ourlocal region. And so that has
really helped us in aligning ourprograms to that demand here
within our community. The otherthing that's that's really
important, Paul, I'll echo whatyou said about bringing all the
employers because within thoseprograms of study bringing our
employers and both at the statelevel and at the local level to
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help us with the differentcredentials, because credentials
for us have been identified, youknow, through through industry
but being able to bring thoselocal employers in to look at
the different options and how wemight embed those within our
programs is really essential forus.
You know, I think it's importantto refresh that over time
because those credentials getestablished and the skill sets
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that are taught to attain thosecredentials are set but the the
work the employers do inindustry do continues to evolve.
So the curriculum and thecredentials have to evolve over
time to keep pace with what theemployers need. So we can't we
can't still be shoeing horseshere. We need the mechanics and
be able to fix the automobiles,not the horse and buggy anymore,
and we just have to keep keepevolving and keep learning and
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keep doing new things.
So I've I've heard us talk aboutbeing able to align employers
and higher education and schooldistricts to kind of be on the
same page when we talk aboutaligning certifications and
credentials to meet the needs ofindustry, but I think also
there's a young adult voice. Andso LaKissa and Camille, I'd like
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to hear what kind of things areyou hearing from students and
from their parents when it comesto looking at careers? Or
looking at education past highschool? What kind of worries do
they have? What what are theyconcerned about?
Some of what we hear isfinancial. Can you... How are we
going to pay for education? Ithink people do not want, you
know, to graduate with a largedebt, we do educate based on the
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recommendation of the 60% ofyour first year salary as far as
debt and some things like that.
That's one of the things that weprobably hear the most about
from parents, and is really thecost of higher ed. And are there
other ways? Is there a way thatwe can work our way through Is
there a way that we can get inwith a company who's willing to
train us. Some of thosedifferent options parents are
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really looking for,I would actually echo that.
That's definitely the big thingthat we're hearing is, college
is so expensive, and we'reunable to pay for it. And we
don't want to graduate with alarge amount of debt. So what
are the options there? If I hadto pick a second thing that I'm
hearing most from parents is, ismy child prepared to go off to
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college? Are prepared to evenenter the workforce? Because
they have been dealing with apandemic for the past three
years. And so there's, you know,social issues, you know,
learning issues that havehappened over the past three
years. And so there's a lot ofconcern about really being ready
as compared to students fromfrom the past.
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Some of the efforts WorkforceSolutions rural Capital Area is
doing is the work coming fromour K through 12 career
exploration team. They'recurrently working with all 36
independent school districtsacross our region to help host
career days, allowing students avocational experience through
immersive virtual realitysimulations. Paul, do you want
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to talk a little bit more aboutthe virtual reality program?
Sure, we had a tremendousopportunity and with resources
made available to us through theTexas Workforce Commission to
allow us to purchase 25 virtualreality headsets. And we have
staff that use those thoseresources to take them out to a
school that number 25 was wasdecided on, because that should
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accommodate a classroom full ofstudents. So we can take those
virtual reality headsets out toa classroom and immerse those
students in all kinds ofoccupations that they may never
have an opportunity toparticipate in, and get, you
know, get a glimpse into whatit's like to be a carpenter or
an electrician, or a plumber, orwelder or a nurse or, you know,
on and on and on to really seewhat what a day in the life is
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like in that kind of industry orin that occupation. And from
that point, it gives them anopportunity to kind of step into
an internship or a some kind ofmore immersive activity but but
without having to travel andleave your desk you could really
get get a hands on experience ofkind of what that's like and
decide if you like it. Thestudents who say they want to go
into healthcare, and they taketraining for six months, and the
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first time they go in the field.
finally understand they don'tlike the sight of blood. That's,
you know, that's not a good useof that six months for them. So
let's let's help them get on apath more quickly. And we're
ready to give them experiencesthat did they would never have
an opportunity to try. Were itnot for some of this kind of new
technology.
LaKissa and Camille, based onyour work with students, what
can organizations like ours doto have more effective school
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visits and more effective visitswith youth and young adults?
I actually love the the virtualreality thing. I think the same
daughter that I talked aboutpreviously, when she was in the
medical field, went into theoffice one time saw blood and
just had a whole panic attack.
So that I think that's a great agreat thing that you're doing.
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The only other thing that I canthink of is you know, direct
exposure. So a day in the lifeof is a great idea. So maybe
taking the students and havingthem follow a nurse for a day,
follow an engineer for a dayfollow an attorney for a day, I
went into college as anaccounting major. And I always
said if I had 20 minutes tospend with an accountant, before
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I got off to college, I wouldhave changed my mind. And so a
day in the life of I think is avery, very effective way to
expose students and to let themactually see what happens in
that profession.
I would echo that and of the thehelp that you give us by
bringing industry partners tothe table so we can connect with
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them at the Career days and thecareer fairs with the with the
virtual goggles. Also, you'vegiven us connections for
different internships andexternships. So for me is
continuing to convene the folkswho are working in the school
system with industry with othercommunity partners. Not always
just industry but other peoplewho are assisting with youth in
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a variety of ways. So continuingto be that partner who brings us
all together, I think isincredibly important.
I like that idea too, we kind oftouched on it earlier of teacher
externships as a way to bringthe occupation into focus and
really help students understand.
Because when the teacher hasthat real world experience, and
they can bring that back intothe classroom, I think it helps
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students get a betterexpectation of what that
particular career occupationwould be. So Paul, what do you
think, has been the biggestchallenge for workforce boards
when it comes to meeting theneeds between families,
employers, local leaders? Andwhat kind of things have we done
to respond to that?
(25:34):
So you know, I think one of ourbiggest challenges is awareness
of the Workforce Board and theand the work and the work that
we do in the community, we callmarketing the M word, we're not
supposed to really do it basedon a lot of our funding, we try
to spread awareness to everyfree opportunity we can we do a
lot of work through socialmedia, you know, just a lot of
going out and talking to talkingto schools, talking to
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employers, talking to industryassociations, trying to get the
message out about who we are,what we do, and what kind of
resources we can bring to helpsome of those groups together.
Like employers and educators,I've talked to parents do some
educational opportunities withstudents about what careers look
like and how they can use theresources that are available to
find those career pathways, andthen walk those career pathways
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and enter, enter that world ofwork in whichever, whichever way
they choose to do so. I thinkthe other thing that is a big
challenge is getting through tokids on what it really costs to,
to live in the real world. Ihave a 14 year old granddaughter
who plays video games and one ofthose video games, she has built
herself a giant mansion, it'sbeautiful. I've seen it. She
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drives a really nice car, Iasked her what she did for a
living and she delivers pizza,she makes $200,000 a week
delivering pizza. So some of theinformation out there for kids
is just not real. And how dothey know the difference between
what's real and what's not,there's a great app out there
called Reality Check that letsyou as a as a student, or just
any individual go through andsay I want to, you know, I want
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to live in this neighborhoodwant to drive this kind of car,
I want to do all these differentthings. And it breaks down for
you what those things reallycost in that area. And then you
start comparing that todifferent occupations. And you
see that if I want, if I want tomake $200,000 a week, delivering
pizzas probably not going to bethe occupation you're going to
choose. But it really gives youan indication, if you you think
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in my head, I want to be afireman. This is what that job
pays. And if you have differentkinds of dreams about how you
want to live those dreams andthat reality may not match up.
So using that kind ofinformation to help people
explore, you know, what, what doyou think is really pay? And
how, how can I get the skills Ineed to do those kinds of
things? And then is that goingto provide me with the lifestyle
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that I think I want? I thinkthat's great information for
kids to have. And it's one ofour challenges is getting that
information out to everybody.
So I'm gonna add live here,because this also kind of
reminds me of the careerlattices that are available on
our website. So you know,honestly, I think probably one
of the conversations that wehave with young adults as
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they're preparing to transitionout of high school is, you may
not be able to achieve thesalary that you need on day one.
But what we can do is helpprepare you for a career pathway
that's going to get you aprogression into a profession
that will pay the salary thatPaul was referring to through
the Reality Check app that wouldbe important or that somebody
(28:25):
identifies that they need. Andso, you know, just kind of
thinking about using the careerlattices as tools for
exploration, it kind of showsthe young adult, the entry level
positions that will allow themto advance into their career or
different occupations, and thento transition between different
occupations. Because again, it'snot, it's not likely that a
(28:46):
young adult is going to stay inone career for the rest of their
lives. But it allows thattransition to show what skills
are needed to go from occupationto occupation, and to be able to
progress in the employment worldin the professional world, and
also through wage increases. Ithink that's something that's
really interesting as well, thatwe've been able to bring
together. And we've we did thatthrough the intersection and
(29:08):
conversation of employers andeducation, and economic
development, looking at labormarket information to develop
what those pathways look like.
So before we go, I'd like tolook ahead, going about the
state's 60 by 30, date of 2030,which is only seven years from
now, what are some of thesuccess points that each of you
would like to see from our youthworkforce?
(29:32):
From my perspective, I thinkit's important that we continue
to see growth in those post highschool credentials, we have to
ensure that that every studentthat leaves school has a plan.
Breaks my heart to see studentsgraduate, and you know, they're
not going to college. They'renot going into the military.
They don't know what they wantto do and they don't know how to
obtain the skills that theyneed. So we want to make sure
we're getting people connectedto those kinds of opportunities
(29:54):
and the information that theyneed to make those kinds of
decisions before they leave highschool because once they leave
it's that's when people becomedisconnected when they, when
they leave one institution thatthey've been in, and they don't
have a plan to go somewhereelse. A lot of times people get
lost, they start off on a jobthat that feels good feels,
okay, they're making $18, $19 anhour, maybe. But there's not a
(30:16):
lot of career growth in, in thatfield, and they, they make
enough money to buy a car andget an apartment, and then
they're not going to make muchmore money than, than that for
the rest of their lives. If theystay in that field and don't,
don't continue to to evolve,then they're stuck with a car
payment and rent, and how dothey stop and go back and get
the skills that they need? Soyou know, I think it's important
(30:37):
that that everybody have a plan,and they understand what they're
working on what they're workingtowards, of course, everything
changes. And Sometimes lifehappens to people and things,
things happen that you didn'tplan for. And that's, that's one
of the reasons why it'simportant. I think that as a
community, we're connected to,to those resources into to each
other so that we can make thoseresources available and help
(30:59):
apply those things where they'reneeded to help people overcome
some of those barriers.
What about other success points?
So for me, let me just give anexample of what I think Paul was
really talking about. Last year,we had a young lady who
graduated from our healthscience program, she graduated
with a certified medicalassistant, clinical certified
medical assistant, she had herOSHA 10 medical card, along with
(31:23):
CPR and First Aid, she was hiredupon graduation offered a bonus
to work at one of our localhospitals where she was able her
plans when she left as they hadpromised to work with her
schedule so that she couldcontinue working towards her
nursing degree at AustinCommunity College. They were
going to work with her schedule,so that she could do that she
(31:44):
was also going to be able to tapinto employer reimbursement. So
for me, you know, making surethat we have the right
credential because she was shewas hired as a patient care
technician, which is directlyapplicable to the certification
that she had. But it also speaksto what you were talking about
earlier, Diane with the latticestaking that knowing that
credential, being able to buildon it being able to deal with
(32:07):
some of the debt through someemployer assistance, staying
here locally with AustinCommunity College, keeping her
cost down some of those kinds ofthings. But she's taking and she
is working that that ladder allthe way up. That's the start
that we really in theconnections that we want to see
with our students as much aspossible. Now we know that not
everybody is going to stay herelocally. But if we can still get
(32:30):
them in an internship, wherewhen they're coming back over
their winter break, or they'recoming back over summer break in
different times where maybe theycan still be connecting into
that industry. That's the thingsthat we would like to see as
those connections and howthey're progressing.
For me, what I would say isbased upon what I've seen, in
(32:51):
the youth that we're dealingwith, and talking to the
parents, I echo what Camillesays and Paul say about, let's
make sure that we that ourstudents understand that going
to a community college isdefinitely an option to get you,
you know, those stepping stonesto where you need to be. I think
that our students, given whatthey've been through for the
(33:11):
last three years, I honestlyfeel like it's going to be very
beneficial for a lot of them tostay closer to home and get that
foundation that they need beforebranching out. But the other
thing I would say in terms ofsuccess coins, is I would like
to see us intentionally focus onthose underserved students who
(33:32):
don't have the exposure. And I'mtalking about the students who
are in AVID the students who arefirst generation, the students
who are in foster care. I thinkthat those are the students that
we definitely definitely have tobe intentional about in these
few in this next coming years.
Because it's going to beextremely easy for them to be
left behind. You know, given theway that things have been over
(33:54):
the past few years.
I'm really glad you brought thatup. I think that is such an
important point, we're talkingabout trying to bring
connections between differentsections of the community
between higher education,between schools in secondary
education and the workforce. Andit's so much easier to do that
(34:15):
when is when a student has thesupport of family or other role
models in their circle. But forsome who do not or have lost
that it's really important tobuild that connection as well.
And to be able to provide thoseresources in a manner that is
easily digestible andunderstandable for those young
adults who maybe have not hadthe exposure or the experience
(34:38):
that others have had. So thankyou so much for bringing that
point up. I think that was agreat point.
I'd like to add a point to whatLaKissa said, so I think our
current economy really lendsitself right now to being it's
very advantageous for us toengage those underserved
populations right now becauseemployers are very open to
looking at people that have afew more barriers to employment
(34:59):
than that and might haveconsidered a couple of years ago
when when unemployment rateswere higher when they had a
wider selection of people topick from when they were trying
to make their hires. So I think,you know, given the low and very
low unemployment situation wehave right now, everybody in our
communities needs to be in theworkforce, we need everybody,
it's a really good opportunityto engage people, we haven't had
(35:20):
an opportunity to engage before,and to create pathways into some
of those communities and some ofthe some of the areas with
students with disabilities, allkinds of all kinds of things out
there that may not have had goodinroads into before, this is an
opportunity to make thoseinroads and to continue that
even when the current economicsituation is not as prevalent as
(35:41):
it is right now. But it's just areally good economic time to be
making those kind of choices.
So what other thoughts? Orideas? Or things Would you all
like to share as it relates tocareer exploration for youth and
getting youth connected todifferent opportunities? Is
there anything that you thinkthat we should discuss that we
haven't talked about today?
(36:02):
One thing that I'll add, it'ssomething that you really
started with, and, and that isaround soft skills, you know,
because the technical skills wecan teach, but the soft skills
are really what we keep hearingfrom industry over and over that
we need. We need people who cancommunicate, who can
collaborate, who can thinkoutside the box, who can work as
(36:24):
a team. And we continue to hearthat that's one of the most
important things and I think weall can do that in all of our
classes, you know, in the Kthrough 12. system. But that
that's one of the most essentialthings that we can do. So I do
appreciate you bringing that upearlier.
Yeah, in terms of soft skills,we are hearing the same thing. I
mean, we we give out surveys atthe end of our internships, and
that was the number one thing weheard from employers is the
(36:46):
communication skills need to beworked on. And so at Ladders 4
Leaders, we do what's calledLadders 4 Leaders University,
which is eight sessions that ourstudents have to go through
before they take on aninternship. And one of those
classes is Communications One OnOne, we did it in person this
(37:07):
year. And one of our volunteerssaid at the end of it, she said
those kids left this roomdifferent than they entered. So
when they walked in, their headswere down, you could barely hear
them say what their name is. Butby the time they walked out, I
mean, we had them walking aroundthe room, shaking hands with
people introducing themselves,looking people in the eye. And
(37:28):
so by the time they walk out,she's like, they were different
kids. And so just something thatsmall, I think makes a big
difference. In addition to that,I know I said that we focus on
internships. But I feel like anyexperience that a kid has helps
them build the soft skills. Andso I feel like a kid who even
works in retail, or a kid whoworks in a fast food restaurant,
(37:49):
you're learning customer serviceskills, you are having to
communicate with people, you arehaving to be efficient, and
you're having to utilizeorganizational skills. And so I
think that any experience that astudent could get as a youth is
beneficial to them in theirfuture.
Well, you know, we talked a lotabout career pathways, and
(38:10):
there's different, there'sdifferent paths for people post
high school, so I'm going tocollege, so choose other
options. But I think it's it'scritically important that we
celebrate students who pick thenon college options in the same
way as we celebrate the studentsthat pick the college options. I
think, you know, if you decide Iwant to be an apprentice and go
into plumbing, or electrical, orwhatever trade might be, we
(38:33):
should celebrate that just likewe celebrate somebody going off
to Harvard, or Yale orUniversity of Texas, because the
people going into thoseoccupations, they're fully
engaged in learning, just likethe students that go to college,
and they are not going to incurany debt. And they're going to
immediately begin to earn money,and build build a career. But
it's important that we celebratethat so that students and the
(38:54):
parents and the community atlarge gets gets the importance
of what what these kids aredoing, and why it's important.
And it's important that we wecelebrate and shout Hip Hip
Hooray for the kids that aregoing into trades or going into
advanced manufacturing orwherever, wherever they're going
as ones that are going to go tocollege.
Thank you LaKissa and Camilleand Paul, for joining me today.
(39:14):
I really appreciate theopportunity to have this
conversation. And I hope wecontinue to have conversations
like this again in the future.
You can learn more about LaKissaBright's work by going to her
website Ladders 4 Leaders DotOrg. We'll continue the
conversation on youth careerexploration and hear from local
employers in some upcomingepisodes. Thanks so much for
listening. The Future ReadyNextForce Podcast is produced in
(39:36):
Cedar Park and Round Rock,Texas. I'm your host Diane
Tackett. You can learn about ourprograms services and check out
labor market information bygoing to our website, Workforce
Solutions RCA Dot Com. And youcan listen to the show wherever
you find your podcasts.
The Future Ready NextForcePodcast.
Are you ready? But are youfuture ready? Be a part of the
force Future Ready of course,the Future Ready NextForce
Podcast. Identifying barriers tocareer success. NextForce.
Finding solutions to empowerbusinesses. NextForce. Helping
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(00:24):
Ready NextForce Podcast.
The Future Ready NextForcePodcast is brought to you by
Workforce Solutions RuralCapital Area. Developing talent
for employers by coaching Texansto employment.
Hello, and welcome to the futureready next force podcast. I'm
your host Diane Tackett, ChiefOperating Officer for Workforce
(00:46):
Solutions Rural Capital Area.
Today we're taking a closer lookat youth career exploration
specifically, how do we empowerour youth for local careers in
high demand? To give someinsight on this issue, I've got
some great guests joining metoday. Paul Fletcher, CEO from
Workforce Solutions RuralCapital Area, LaKissa Bright,
Founder and President of theorganization Ladders 4 Leaders,
(01:10):
and Camille Clay, SeniorDirector of College and Career
transition teams for the LeanderIndependent School District,
also the high school I graduatedfrom.
Before we get into theconversation, let me share this
quote from footlocker CEO MaryDillon. She says the best way to
build the best workforce is tofocus on the largest talent pool
(01:33):
you have.
A quarter of our regionalpopulation is under the age of
18. And many will be enteringthe workforce this year. Here in
Central Texas, our region ismade up of Bastrop Blanco,
Burnet Caldwell, Fayette, Hays,Lee, Llano, and Williamson
counties. Paul, you and I arealways digging into the numbers
and you've got some greatinsight on the workforce in our
(01:55):
area. So when you see stats thatsay 24.3% of the population in
our nine county area is under18. That's about 254,000 young
workers. What does this say toyou? And what trends do you see
emerging?
Well, thanks, Diane, you know, Ithink that offers us a
tremendous potential pipeline oftalent. And we want to be able
(02:15):
to work with our educationalpartners to ensure that they are
getting the right kind of labormarket information that helps
tell young people what careeropportunities look like for them
in this area, what it could looklike for them in five years and
10 years, so that as they asthey pick a career path, they
can kind of project and seetheir future in that potential
industry and see where theywhere they could be in five to
(02:37):
10 years.
Some may be college bound, somaybe going into trade, so maybe
going for a six monthcertification post high school
that lets them get right intothe workforce. We're very much
in favor of all of thoseopportunities for kids today.
But we want to make sure theyhave information about what
those opportunities look like,what the career paths within
each of those opportunitieslooks like what costs are and
(02:58):
where they see themselves in twoto five years, and then five to
10 years.
So I'm also glad that you'resitting with us today, because
you've been in this field for agood while. Can you tell our
listeners a little about yourbackground? And what previously
has been the conversation thatyou've had about our younger
workers?
Sure, yeah. That's Diane's wayof saying that I've been in this
field for a long time, is herway of saying I'm really old,
(03:20):
which is probably true. But soI've been in, I've been involved
in workforce development since1997. I started as the workforce
board's workforce centeroperator back in 1997, under a
corporate corporation calledLockheed Martin. Over the years,
we transitioned into severaldifferent companies. And I had
the opportunity to leave theworkforce center operator realm,
(03:43):
and come over to the WorkforceBoard as their executive
director or the CEO. So I'vebeen in this business for about
25 years. Really enjoy it. It'sa great opportunity to work not
just with kids, but witheveryone in our communities to
help them understand what labormarket information looks like,
what it can do for them, how wecan help employers, how we can
help job seekers, how we canwork with our child care, early
(04:06):
care learning providers, so thatthey're getting good information
about what the labor marketlooks like. And when we start
talking to kids, when they'rethree or four or five years old
about what careers look like,it's never too early to start so
that they start thinking aboutthat, you know, you don't have
to decide when you're in secondgrade what you want to do, but
knowing what opportunities arethere for you, I think I think
are important. And I think it'scritical that people have the
(04:28):
right information and theyunderstand what that information
can do for them.
Not just that not just knowingabout career opportunities, but
Sure. Thanks so much, Diane.
Yeah. So Ladders 4 Leaders wasI think it's also being able to
have the things that we consideractually started out of a
personal experience. My daughtersoft skills for people to be
able to be successful inemployment. And many times
children learn that whetherwent off to college, and she
changed her major three times inthey're in an early-learning
center, or they learned thatwhile they're in elementary
school and middle school, butthe first year. Well, when she
went off to college, she decidedit's those things like having
(04:50):
grit and resilience anddetermination and being able to
bounce back through adversitythat she was going to be a
reproductive endocrinologist,and being able to take some
constructive criticism and youlike, what is that? But okay.
And so she goes, and she startsknow, trying harder the next day
to try again and continue toimprove. So one of the things
that leads me to I'd like totaking all these specialized
classes. And so when she changedtake a moment and introduce
LaKissa Bright. Thank you forjoining us today. I know that
Ladders 4 Leaders is the secondher major, it was money, just
wasted, classes that she nononprofit you've started after
(05:12):
being in the corporate worldlonger needed. So $10,000 in the
hole, I started to wonder whatworking for IBM. Your work puts
you right on the ground helpingstudents in Travis and
Williamson counties. Tell mecould I have done to better
expose her and prepare hermore about how you got started
in the work your organizationbefore she went off to college?
And the answer to that questiondoes for students?
was put her in positions whereshe can see what professionals
(05:37):
do. I know she wouldn't havebeen able to sit with a
reproductive endocrinologist.
But now she's in business, shemight have been able to sit with
somebody in business and say,Yes, this is what I like to do.
And so based out of thatexperience, Ladders 4 Leaders
(05:58):
was born. I also had a son whowas going into high school at
the time, and I promised myselfthat he was going to have these
experiences before he went offto college. And so he interned
with our program for two years.
(06:20):
He went into college as abusiness major, and he's still a
I really liked the idea of beingable to offer career exploration
business major today, fingerscrossed. So, so yeah, so we are
a workforce development programfor youth, focusing on
internships with companies thatare in the local community. And
(06:42):
our goal is to give them atleast six weeks of experience
with an accountant with asomebody in trades with somebody
in business, whatever it is thatthey desire to be, we placed
them in those opportunities sothat they can make informed
(07:03):
decisions upon graduating fromhigh school.
opportunities for young adults,where they can really get into a
business and see what the whatthe impact is, and see what it's
like to work for anorganization. So I can kind of
see from Paul's perspective,looking at the labor market
information that shows whatindustries and occupations are
(07:26):
expanding and then giving youngadults the opportunity to
actually go into an internshipor some type of real world
experience to decide if thoseoccupations or trends are a good
fit for them. I think that makesa lot of sense. And so the third
person I'd like to introduce isCamille Clay, Camille, you
oversee the district's Careerand technical education, dual
(07:47):
credit programs, studentinternships, and teacher
externships. Would I be correctin saying your work within the
school district shares? Thecommon goal with LaKissa's?
Absolutely one of the thingsthat we really do strive to do
is give students in elementary,middle high school as many
opportunities to figure out whatit is that what career that they
(08:08):
might want to enter. And thatcan be done in a number of ways.
The internship is a huge part ofwhat exposes students that they
really get to try on a careerwhen they go out to that
internship, but really leadingup to that, you know, Paul
mentioned earlier about some ofour elementary students and that
age. It really for us, we kindof frame it in three ways where
(08:29):
we really look at awareness,kind of in our elementary years,
that morphs into a little bitmore of what I would call
exploration in middle school.
And then in high school, itreally jumps over into
preparedness with, you know, avery intentional program of
study. But we're also very awarethat when students, they may
start in a health science careerand figure out very quickly in
(08:49):
the first course, that that'sreally not for me. So we do want
them to be able to switch andtry on something else, maybe a
career in education, or maybethey want to try to go into
engineering, and so as manyopportunities as they have to
try on a different career. Sowhen they graduate, their path
is a little bit more solidifiedfor them. The other thing that I
(09:12):
will say is that when we areworking on that preparedness
piece, we want them to haveevery opportunity open to them
when they graduate, and thenit's really up to them. When
they decided to enter theworkforce. Some students are
going to graduate they are goingto go straight into the
workforce. Or they may go to alocal junior college or
(09:32):
community college and start, youknow, a certificate program.
They may go for an associate'sor they may go straight into
industry. Many of our studentsare also going to work while
they're in college and we wantthem to have those skills that
they've developed while they'rein high school to actually help
support them along the way. Andso one of the mechanisms that we
(09:53):
will use that is very much inline with LaKissa is what we
called work-based learning. Andso we really do try to focus on
how can we connect industry into the teachers, which is the
great thing what we love so muchabout that teacher externship
program, because that getsindustry a step closer to the
students in the classroom. Andso we can engage with students
(10:15):
through career fairs, we canengage and have our students
engaging with industry throughsite visits to different
industry locations, having guestspeakers come into the
classroom, the internships forour for students, and teachers
so that they connect. But Ithink the bottom line for us,
(10:35):
let's give them as manyopportunities at whatever level
to see what is out there, whatfits for them. And to graduate,
maybe a step ahead with eitherthat industry credential, or
some college credits, or thedual credit program, or a
mentorship or an industryconnection.
That sounds really interesting.
And again, just the connectionand the opportunity for young
(10:57):
adults to explore differentoptions. I mean, nobody's going
to know right away what theywould like to do. And honestly,
when people are making decisionsabout their career paths, I
think fewer and fewer people aremaking a decision about what
they'd like to do for the restof their lives. And they're
making decisions using adifferent set of criteria,
whether it's what I might beinterested in for the next five
years, what is available to meimmediately, but there's
(11:19):
different criteria that I thinkyoung adults are using and and
other adults as well whenthey're making those career
decisions. So LaKissa andCamille, when we look closer at
our young workers, specificallyin our area, about 25% come from
single parent families. Andthere's another two and a half
percent or so that aredisconnected from services. So
not connected with a schooldistrict or educational program,
(11:43):
not necessarily connected withan employment program or a
workforce provider. What's someof the realities for the young
people that you help? When itcomes to career exploration?
I can answer this actually, frompersonal experience, I was a
child that came out of a singleparent home, and honestly was
(12:03):
not aware of a lot ofopportunities out there. I did
have a school counselor whopulled me to the side one day
and said to me, you need to fillout this application, like,
Okay. I filled it out and gotinto a university and I was
going to that university. And soI think when you ask what are
the realities, for some of thesestudents, I think the reality is
(12:26):
that they don't have theassistance, and they don't have
the exposure, and that they needorganizations and companies who
are willing to pick them up andgive them those opportunities,
they need the school system. AndI know the school system has
programs like AVID (AdvancementVia Individual Determination)
for first generation collegestudents and transition programs
(12:48):
for students and, and so thereality is that those students
need all of us to come togetherand to make these possibilities
a reality for them.
I would say for me just apersonal example. I knew when I
was in high school, that mystrengths were math and science.
But I had absolutely no idea howto turn that into a career. I
(13:09):
was raised in a very small ruralcommunity. And I didn't really
understand or know what optionswere out there. And so my lens
and in working with programs, isto try to really make sure that
that students do know whatoptions are out there for them
to have a variety of programswithin our district, especially
in the CTE realm that are basedon labor market information.
(13:32):
Where we can provide as manyopportunities, we do have those
students who walk in the door,who they've known, they were
going to be an engineer sincethe second grade, because
everybody in our family is anengineer, and I know what it is,
and I love it. And then we haveother students who walk in the
door, and they know they don'twant to be an engineer, because
everybody in their family is,but they still don't know what
that looks like for them. Soagain, it's about providing as
(13:55):
many opportunities and for thatstudent that does know what they
want to do, what our what ourgoal is for them to graduate
with as many skills as possibleif they stay on that path. But
for that student who doesn't,let's expose them to as many
opportunities as we can, througha variety of programs of study,
through guest speakers, throughfield trips through whatever
(14:16):
kind of work based learningactivity we can do. And I can
tell you that our transitioncoordinators and our counselors
play such a key role in workingwith our students one on one,
and trying to help guide themand make those connections for
them. One of the primary rolesof our transition coordinators
and our counselors is to makesure that our students we know
(14:38):
where our students are goingwhen they leave us and that we
have a plan past high school andalso try to make ourselves
available so that if things arenot working out for them that
they still can come back andtalk to us. You know, it's not
like, you know, waving by atgraduation. You know, we still
want our students to feel likethey can come back if there's
some additional advice that theyneed.
(14:59):
I think that's great. And one ofthe things I heard was this idea
of exposure, there's no shortageof opportunities. And one of the
key things we can do to helpyoung adults in identifying what
their career goals or their nextjob goal would be is to offer
that opportunity of exposure todifferent different options,
different occupations in thecommunity, maybe different
(15:20):
employers in the community. Andso what I think is really
interesting about this is thisisn't just an issue that we're
looking at in our rural capitalnine county area, this is
actually something the state ofTexas has addressed. And so
there is 60 by 30, Texas HigherEducation Plan that has come out
recently. And some of the goalsin this plan say that at least
(15:43):
60% of Texans aged 25 to 34 willhave a certificate or degree all
graduates from Texas publicinstitutions of higher education
will have completed programswith identified marketable
skills. At least 550,000students will complete a
Certificate associate'sbachelor's, or master's from an
institution of higher educationin Texas and undergraduate
(16:04):
student loan debt will notexceed 60% of the first year
wages for graduates of Texaspublic institutions. Now, that's
a lot of information. And whilethis, this plan is moving Texas
in the right direction, our datahas shown that a degree isn't
always enough. Sometimesstudents will need to match
their credentials to the needsof employers, the role of the
higher education helpingstudents and employers
(16:26):
coordinate their efforts isessential. So it's not just the
idea of having a certificationor a credential, it's being able
to match that to employers inthe community so that we can
ensure that our young adults areon career pathways and are
really able to continue topromote and progress in this
career. So in saying that, I'dlike to put this question out to
(16:46):
everybody, what can we do tobetter align certifications and
credentials with the needs ofthe industries in our area?
So you know, I think one of thebest things we can do, from from
my perspective as a WorkforceBoard is to bring people to the
table and bring educators andemployers to the table. And
everyone sit down and talk aboutwhat from the employers
perspective, what do they need,from the educational
(17:07):
perspective, they talk aboutwhat what kind of resources they
have, and what kind ofeducational opportunities they
can provide. And I thinklistening to the employers helps
the educators kind of fine tuneand hone in on the skills they
need to be teaching so that theemployers are able to get from
those kind of programs, thestudents with the right skill
sets to come work in theiroperations,
I will add to that as well.
Being a parent and very involvedin the community. The one thing
(17:30):
I'll say is education of theparents as well. One thing that
I've seen is that a lot ofparents push careers on their
children, mostly because youknow, you go into a four year
university and being a doctorsounds great, being a lawyer
sounds great. But if parentswere educated on what some of
these other opportunities areout there, you know, what are
(17:52):
the exact needs of the industry?
And what are the salaryopportunities that come with
those. Specifically like some ofthe trades, I just think parents
aren't as educated on it. And sothey push their children towards
the greys and other areas, whichmay not be a good fit for their
child.
One of the things I've seen overthe last few years is really the
(18:13):
tri agency partnership betweenthe Higher Ed Coordinating
Board, Texas WorkforceCommission, and the Texas
Education Agency really comingtogether around this effort. And
in alignment. I know that we'vebeen had the opportunity for
quite a few programs of studyand kind of a revamp that's very
much been aligned to high scale,high demand, high wage jobs
(18:36):
within the state or within ourlocal region. And so that has
really helped us in aligning ourprograms to that demand here
within our community. The otherthing that's that's really
important, Paul, I'll echo whatyou said about bringing all the
employers because within thoseprograms of study bringing our
employers and both at the statelevel and at the local level to
(18:58):
help us with the differentcredentials, because credentials
for us have been identified, youknow, through through industry
but being able to bring thoselocal employers in to look at
the different options and how wemight embed those within our
programs is really essential forus.
You know, I think it's importantto refresh that over time
because those credentials getestablished and the skill sets
(19:21):
that are taught to attain thosecredentials are set but the the
work the employers do inindustry do continues to evolve.
So the curriculum and thecredentials have to evolve over
time to keep pace with what theemployers need. So we can't we
can't still be shoeing horseshere. We need the mechanics and
be able to fix the automobiles,not the horse and buggy anymore,
and we just have to keep keepevolving and keep learning and
(19:42):
keep doing new things.
So I've I've heard us talk aboutbeing able to align employers
and higher education and schooldistricts to kind of be on the
same page when we talk aboutaligning certifications and
credentials to meet the needs ofindustry, but I think also
there's a young adult voice. Andso LaKissa and Camille, I'd like
(20:05):
to hear what kind of things areyou hearing from students and
from their parents when it comesto looking at careers? Or
looking at education past highschool? What kind of worries do
they have? What what are theyconcerned about?
Some of what we hear isfinancial. Can you... How are we
going to pay for education? Ithink people do not want, you
know, to graduate with a largedebt, we do educate based on the
(20:29):
recommendation of the 60% ofyour first year salary as far as
debt and some things like that.
That's one of the things that weprobably hear the most about
from parents, and is really thecost of higher ed. And are there
other ways? Is there a way thatwe can work our way through Is
there a way that we can get inwith a company who's willing to
train us. Some of thosedifferent options parents are
(20:50):
really looking for,I would actually echo that.
That's definitely the big thingthat we're hearing is, college
is so expensive, and we'reunable to pay for it. And we
don't want to graduate with alarge amount of debt. So what
are the options there? If I hadto pick a second thing that I'm
hearing most from parents is, ismy child prepared to go off to
(21:13):
college? Are prepared to evenenter the workforce? Because
they have been dealing with apandemic for the past three
years. And so there's, you know,social issues, you know,
learning issues that havehappened over the past three
years. And so there's a lot ofconcern about really being ready
as compared to students fromfrom the past.
(21:34):
Some of the efforts WorkforceSolutions rural Capital Area is
doing is the work coming fromour K through 12 career
exploration team. They'recurrently working with all 36
independent school districtsacross our region to help host
career days, allowing students avocational experience through
immersive virtual realitysimulations. Paul, do you want
(21:56):
to talk a little bit more aboutthe virtual reality program?
Sure, we had a tremendousopportunity and with resources
made available to us through theTexas Workforce Commission to
allow us to purchase 25 virtualreality headsets. And we have
staff that use those thoseresources to take them out to a
school that number 25 was wasdecided on, because that should
(22:16):
accommodate a classroom full ofstudents. So we can take those
virtual reality headsets out toa classroom and immerse those
students in all kinds ofoccupations that they may never
have an opportunity toparticipate in, and get, you
know, get a glimpse into whatit's like to be a carpenter or
an electrician, or a plumber, orwelder or a nurse or, you know,
on and on and on to really seewhat what a day in the life is
(22:39):
like in that kind of industry orin that occupation. And from
that point, it gives them anopportunity to kind of step into
an internship or a some kind ofmore immersive activity but but
without having to travel andleave your desk you could really
get get a hands on experience ofkind of what that's like and
decide if you like it. Thestudents who say they want to go
into healthcare, and they taketraining for six months, and the
(23:02):
first time they go in the field.
finally understand they don'tlike the sight of blood. That's,
you know, that's not a good useof that six months for them. So
let's let's help them get on apath more quickly. And we're
ready to give them experiencesthat did they would never have
an opportunity to try. Were itnot for some of this kind of new
technology.
LaKissa and Camille, based onyour work with students, what
can organizations like ours doto have more effective school
(23:26):
visits and more effective visitswith youth and young adults?
I actually love the the virtualreality thing. I think the same
daughter that I talked aboutpreviously, when she was in the
medical field, went into theoffice one time saw blood and
just had a whole panic attack.
So that I think that's a great agreat thing that you're doing.
(23:47):
The only other thing that I canthink of is you know, direct
exposure. So a day in the lifeof is a great idea. So maybe
taking the students and havingthem follow a nurse for a day,
follow an engineer for a dayfollow an attorney for a day, I
went into college as anaccounting major. And I always
said if I had 20 minutes tospend with an accountant, before
(24:10):
I got off to college, I wouldhave changed my mind. And so a
day in the life of I think is avery, very effective way to
expose students and to let themactually see what happens in
that profession.
I would echo that and of the thehelp that you give us by
bringing industry partners tothe table so we can connect with
(24:31):
them at the Career days and thecareer fairs with the with the
virtual goggles. Also, you'vegiven us connections for
different internships andexternships. So for me is
continuing to convene the folkswho are working in the school
system with industry with othercommunity partners. Not always
just industry but other peoplewho are assisting with youth in
(24:53):
a variety of ways. So continuingto be that partner who brings us
all together, I think isincredibly important.
I like that idea too, we kind oftouched on it earlier of teacher
externships as a way to bringthe occupation into focus and
really help students understand.
Because when the teacher hasthat real world experience, and
they can bring that back intothe classroom, I think it helps
(25:14):
students get a betterexpectation of what that
particular career occupationwould be. So Paul, what do you
think, has been the biggestchallenge for workforce boards
when it comes to meeting theneeds between families,
employers, local leaders? Andwhat kind of things have we done
to respond to that?
(25:34):
So you know, I think one of ourbiggest challenges is awareness
of the Workforce Board and theand the work and the work that
we do in the community, we callmarketing the M word, we're not
supposed to really do it basedon a lot of our funding, we try
to spread awareness to everyfree opportunity we can we do a
lot of work through socialmedia, you know, just a lot of
going out and talking to talkingto schools, talking to
(25:55):
employers, talking to industryassociations, trying to get the
message out about who we are,what we do, and what kind of
resources we can bring to helpsome of those groups together.
Like employers and educators,I've talked to parents do some
educational opportunities withstudents about what careers look
like and how they can use theresources that are available to
find those career pathways, andthen walk those career pathways
(26:16):
and enter, enter that world ofwork in whichever, whichever way
they choose to do so. I thinkthe other thing that is a big
challenge is getting through tokids on what it really costs to,
to live in the real world. Ihave a 14 year old granddaughter
who plays video games and one ofthose video games, she has built
herself a giant mansion, it'sbeautiful. I've seen it. She
(26:39):
drives a really nice car, Iasked her what she did for a
living and she delivers pizza,she makes $200,000 a week
delivering pizza. So some of theinformation out there for kids
is just not real. And how dothey know the difference between
what's real and what's not,there's a great app out there
called Reality Check that letsyou as a as a student, or just
any individual go through andsay I want to, you know, I want
(27:01):
to live in this neighborhoodwant to drive this kind of car,
I want to do all these differentthings. And it breaks down for
you what those things reallycost in that area. And then you
start comparing that todifferent occupations. And you
see that if I want, if I want tomake $200,000 a week, delivering
pizzas probably not going to bethe occupation you're going to
choose. But it really gives youan indication, if you you think
(27:23):
in my head, I want to be afireman. This is what that job
pays. And if you have differentkinds of dreams about how you
want to live those dreams andthat reality may not match up.
So using that kind ofinformation to help people
explore, you know, what, what doyou think is really pay? And
how, how can I get the skills Ineed to do those kinds of
things? And then is that goingto provide me with the lifestyle
(27:43):
that I think I want? I thinkthat's great information for
kids to have. And it's one ofour challenges is getting that
information out to everybody.
So I'm gonna add live here,because this also kind of
reminds me of the careerlattices that are available on
our website. So you know,honestly, I think probably one
of the conversations that wehave with young adults as
(28:03):
they're preparing to transitionout of high school is, you may
not be able to achieve thesalary that you need on day one.
But what we can do is helpprepare you for a career pathway
that's going to get you aprogression into a profession
that will pay the salary thatPaul was referring to through
the Reality Check app that wouldbe important or that somebody
(28:25):
identifies that they need. Andso, you know, just kind of
thinking about using the careerlattices as tools for
exploration, it kind of showsthe young adult, the entry level
positions that will allow themto advance into their career or
different occupations, and thento transition between different
occupations. Because again, it'snot, it's not likely that a
(28:46):
young adult is going to stay inone career for the rest of their
lives. But it allows thattransition to show what skills
are needed to go from occupationto occupation, and to be able to
progress in the employment worldin the professional world, and
also through wage increases. Ithink that's something that's
really interesting as well, thatwe've been able to bring
together. And we've we did thatthrough the intersection and
(29:08):
conversation of employers andeducation, and economic
development, looking at labormarket information to develop
what those pathways look like.
So before we go, I'd like tolook ahead, going about the
state's 60 by 30, date of 2030,which is only seven years from
now, what are some of thesuccess points that each of you
would like to see from our youthworkforce?
(29:32):
From my perspective, I thinkit's important that we continue
to see growth in those post highschool credentials, we have to
ensure that that every studentthat leaves school has a plan.
Breaks my heart to see studentsgraduate, and you know, they're
not going to college. They'renot going into the military.
They don't know what they wantto do and they don't know how to
obtain the skills that theyneed. So we want to make sure
we're getting people connectedto those kinds of opportunities
(29:54):
and the information that theyneed to make those kinds of
decisions before they leave highschool because once they leave
it's that's when people becomedisconnected when they, when
they leave one institution thatthey've been in, and they don't
have a plan to go somewhereelse. A lot of times people get
lost, they start off on a jobthat that feels good feels,
okay, they're making $18, $19 anhour, maybe. But there's not a
(30:16):
lot of career growth in, in thatfield, and they, they make
enough money to buy a car andget an apartment, and then
they're not going to make muchmore money than, than that for
the rest of their lives. If theystay in that field and don't,
don't continue to to evolve,then they're stuck with a car
payment and rent, and how dothey stop and go back and get
the skills that they need? Soyou know, I think it's important
(30:37):
that that everybody have a plan,and they understand what they're
working on what they're workingtowards, of course, everything
changes. And Sometimes lifehappens to people and things,
things happen that you didn'tplan for. And that's, that's one
of the reasons why it'simportant. I think that as a
community, we're connected to,to those resources into to each
other so that we can make thoseresources available and help
(30:59):
apply those things where they'reneeded to help people overcome
some of those barriers.
What about other success points?
So for me, let me just give anexample of what I think Paul was
really talking about. Last year,we had a young lady who
graduated from our healthscience program, she graduated
with a certified medicalassistant, clinical certified
medical assistant, she had herOSHA 10 medical card, along with
(31:23):
CPR and First Aid, she was hiredupon graduation offered a bonus
to work at one of our localhospitals where she was able her
plans when she left as they hadpromised to work with her
schedule so that she couldcontinue working towards her
nursing degree at AustinCommunity College. They were
going to work with her schedule,so that she could do that she
(31:44):
was also going to be able to tapinto employer reimbursement. So
for me, you know, making surethat we have the right
credential because she was shewas hired as a patient care
technician, which is directlyapplicable to the certification
that she had. But it also speaksto what you were talking about
earlier, Diane with the latticestaking that knowing that
credential, being able to buildon it being able to deal with
(32:07):
some of the debt through someemployer assistance, staying
here locally with AustinCommunity College, keeping her
cost down some of those kinds ofthings. But she's taking and she
is working that that ladder allthe way up. That's the start
that we really in theconnections that we want to see
with our students as much aspossible. Now we know that not
everybody is going to stay herelocally. But if we can still get
(32:30):
them in an internship, wherewhen they're coming back over
their winter break, or they'recoming back over summer break in
different times where maybe theycan still be connecting into
that industry. That's the thingsthat we would like to see as
those connections and howthey're progressing.
For me, what I would say isbased upon what I've seen, in
(32:51):
the youth that we're dealingwith, and talking to the
parents, I echo what Camillesays and Paul say about, let's
make sure that we that ourstudents understand that going
to a community college isdefinitely an option to get you,
you know, those stepping stonesto where you need to be. I think
that our students, given whatthey've been through for the
(33:11):
last three years, I honestlyfeel like it's going to be very
beneficial for a lot of them tostay closer to home and get that
foundation that they need beforebranching out. But the other
thing I would say in terms ofsuccess coins, is I would like
to see us intentionally focus onthose underserved students who
(33:32):
don't have the exposure. And I'mtalking about the students who
are in AVID the students who arefirst generation, the students
who are in foster care. I thinkthat those are the students that
we definitely definitely have tobe intentional about in these
few in this next coming years.
Because it's going to beextremely easy for them to be
left behind. You know, given theway that things have been over
(33:54):
the past few years.
I'm really glad you brought thatup. I think that is such an
important point, we're talkingabout trying to bring
connections between differentsections of the community
between higher education,between schools in secondary
education and the workforce. Andit's so much easier to do that
(34:15):
when is when a student has thesupport of family or other role
models in their circle. But forsome who do not or have lost
that it's really important tobuild that connection as well.
And to be able to provide thoseresources in a manner that is
easily digestible andunderstandable for those young
adults who maybe have not hadthe exposure or the experience
(34:38):
that others have had. So thankyou so much for bringing that
point up. I think that was agreat point.
I'd like to add a point to whatLaKissa said, so I think our
current economy really lendsitself right now to being it's
very advantageous for us toengage those underserved
populations right now becauseemployers are very open to
looking at people that have afew more barriers to employment
(34:59):
than that and might haveconsidered a couple of years ago
when when unemployment rateswere higher when they had a
wider selection of people topick from when they were trying
to make their hires. So I think,you know, given the low and very
low unemployment situation wehave right now, everybody in our
communities needs to be in theworkforce, we need everybody,
it's a really good opportunityto engage people, we haven't had
(35:20):
an opportunity to engage before,and to create pathways into some
of those communities and some ofthe some of the areas with
students with disabilities, allkinds of all kinds of things out
there that may not have had goodinroads into before, this is an
opportunity to make thoseinroads and to continue that
even when the current economicsituation is not as prevalent as
(35:41):
it is right now. But it's just areally good economic time to be
making those kind of choices.
So what other thoughts? Orideas? Or things Would you all
like to share as it relates tocareer exploration for youth and
getting youth connected todifferent opportunities? Is
there anything that you thinkthat we should discuss that we
haven't talked about today?
(36:02):
One thing that I'll add, it'ssomething that you really
started with, and, and that isaround soft skills, you know,
because the technical skills wecan teach, but the soft skills
are really what we keep hearingfrom industry over and over that
we need. We need people who cancommunicate, who can
collaborate, who can thinkoutside the box, who can work as
(36:24):
a team. And we continue to hearthat that's one of the most
important things and I think weall can do that in all of our
classes, you know, in the Kthrough 12. system. But that
that's one of the most essentialthings that we can do. So I do
appreciate you bringing that upearlier.
Yeah, in terms of soft skills,we are hearing the same thing. I
mean, we we give out surveys atthe end of our internships, and
that was the number one thing weheard from employers is the
(36:46):
communication skills need to beworked on. And so at Ladders 4
Leaders, we do what's calledLadders 4 Leaders University,
which is eight sessions that ourstudents have to go through
before they take on aninternship. And one of those
classes is Communications One OnOne, we did it in person this
(37:07):
year. And one of our volunteerssaid at the end of it, she said
those kids left this roomdifferent than they entered. So
when they walked in, their headswere down, you could barely hear
them say what their name is. Butby the time they walked out, I
mean, we had them walking aroundthe room, shaking hands with
people introducing themselves,looking people in the eye. And
(37:28):
so by the time they walk out,she's like, they were different
kids. And so just something thatsmall, I think makes a big
difference. In addition to that,I know I said that we focus on
internships. But I feel like anyexperience that a kid has helps
them build the soft skills. Andso I feel like a kid who even
works in retail, or a kid whoworks in a fast food restaurant,
(37:49):
you're learning customer serviceskills, you are having to
communicate with people, you arehaving to be efficient, and
you're having to utilizeorganizational skills. And so I
think that any experience that astudent could get as a youth is
beneficial to them in theirfuture.
Well, you know, we talked a lotabout career pathways, and
(38:10):
there's different, there'sdifferent paths for people post
high school, so I'm going tocollege, so choose other
options. But I think it's it'scritically important that we
celebrate students who pick thenon college options in the same
way as we celebrate the studentsthat pick the college options. I
think, you know, if you decide Iwant to be an apprentice and go
into plumbing, or electrical, orwhatever trade might be, we
(38:33):
should celebrate that just likewe celebrate somebody going off
to Harvard, or Yale orUniversity of Texas, because the
people going into thoseoccupations, they're fully
engaged in learning, just likethe students that go to college,
and they are not going to incurany debt. And they're going to
immediately begin to earn money,and build build a career. But
it's important that we celebratethat so that students and the
(38:54):
parents and the community atlarge gets gets the importance
of what what these kids aredoing, and why it's important.
And it's important that we wecelebrate and shout Hip Hip
Hooray for the kids that aregoing into trades or going into
advanced manufacturing orwherever, wherever they're going
as ones that are going to go tocollege.
Thank you LaKissa and Camilleand Paul, for joining me today.
(39:14):
I really appreciate theopportunity to have this
conversation. And I hope wecontinue to have conversations
like this again in the future.
You can learn more about LaKissaBright's work by going to her
website Ladders 4 Leaders DotOrg. We'll continue the
conversation on youth careerexploration and hear from local
employers in some upcomingepisodes. Thanks so much for
listening. The Future ReadyNextForce Podcast is produced in
(39:36):
Cedar Park and Round Rock,Texas. I'm your host Diane
Tackett. You can learn about ourprograms services and check out
labor market information bygoing to our website, Workforce
Solutions RCA Dot Com. And youcan listen to the show wherever
you find your podcasts.
The Future Ready NextForcePodcast.
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