The following was written for the Pittsburgh Business Times by JFCS CDC Director Sarah Welch.
Welch’s Viewpoint: We need to realign talent, opportunity
Sarah Welch, director, JFCS Career Development Center
JFCS CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTER
By Sarah Welch
Feb 28, 2020, 8:05am EST
Near the end of 2019, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development asked over 1,000 leaders across southwestern Pennsylvania to prioritize issues that greatly affect Pittsburgh residents now and should be a focus in the future.
Of the six listed, the need for concerted efforts around building a robust workforce and education system was viewed as a leading priority.
While this may seem illogical in some ways, I was not surprised; the work we do every day at JFCS Career Development Center proves that if we create opportunities for equal-access avenues to education and training, and career pathways that provide a living wage, regional growth and development will be a natural byproduct.
In early February, Pittsburgh’s workforce and education experts from JFCS Career Development Center, Literacy Pittsburgh and Partner4Work joined with state and national leaders to advocate on Capitol Hill for better education and workforce programs to ensure that we have the tools needed to build a robust economy.
To create sustainable education and workforce systems, service providers must create programming that is inclusive, fiscally responsible and responsive to the ever-changing needs of the economy.
Right now, the U.S. economy is strong, with just 4 percent unemployment. However, that figure does not take into consideration individuals who are not counted on the unemployment rolls, such as those who are underemployed, working multiple jobs or participating in the gig economy.
History has taught us that economies are creatures of cycle; eventually we will see an economy that struggles, and Pittsburgh must plan for when that happens.
As a unified force, we went to Capitol Hill and met with representatives from the legislative offices of Pat Toomey, Mike Doyle, Conor Lamb and Guy Reschenthaler about the needs of our community, based on what we see every day in our work and what we hear from the people we serve.
Three of the issues we discussed with representatives were:
- Now is not the time to shrink funding for high-quality workforce development and education programs that are vital to helping Americans access and remain in the middle class.
- Our region needs continued and amplified support of local employers to work with nonprofits to create programming that trains job seekers for hard-to-fill positions.
- If Congress does decide to pass an infrastructure bill, it needs to recognize the importance of providing high-quality training to individuals who will be rebuilding America.
Coming together, as a team invested in the future of Pittsburgh’s economic success, we were able to showcase a unified voice for students, job seekers and the local employers we serve.
Currently, we see a misalignment of talent and opportunity. If we work together as service providers and business leaders and partner with our local, state and federal elected officials, we can develop and support training and workforce initiatives that will have longstanding positive impacts on Pittsburgh and our region.