Shalin Jyotishi, Founder and Managing Director of New America’s Future of Work and Innovation Economy Initiative: New Opportunities in the Innovation Economy

One of one of the most significant attempts to spur economic growth and U.S. global competitiveness since the space race was made a few years ago through the CHIPS and Science Act, but many people in workforce development, economic development and higher education aren’t aware of the new opportunities flowing from it. Our guest on this episode of WorkforceRx, Shalin Jyotishi, launched the Future of Work and Innovation Economy Initiative at New America to help create that awareness and help localities prepare to take advantage of those opportunities. “We’re focused on building the capacity of higher education and workforce institutions to be better positioned to respond to economic development and industrial policy investments coming into their communities, especially around the innovation economy and emerging technologies,” he tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. One key example is that the CHIPS Act expanded the mission of the National Science Foundation to include supporting the translation of research into technologies, companies and, ultimately, jobs with an eye on regional equity. “The objective here is to make sure that the entire country is able to come along for the ride and not just the traditional tech hotspots like Silicon Valley and Boston,” Jyotishi explains. Tune in to find out which states are early winners in this expansion of opportunity and what else has been set in motion in the attempt to align federal investment with tech innovation to renew the American middle class.

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Joe E. Ross, President of Reach University: Turning Jobs Into Degrees

For those who can’t afford to leave their job to earn a degree, there’s a relatively new ‘learn and earn’ model that essentially turns a job into a degree program. It’s called the apprenticeship degree, and we’re going to learn all about it on today’s episode of WorkforceRx from Joe Ross, president of Reach University, which is dedicated to growing this approach. As Ross tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, Reach’s first area of focus is K-12 schools where it can offer classroom aides, cafeteria workers and other staff without bachelor’s degrees a pathway to the teaching profession. A typical student might do online seminars twice per week in addition to working fulltime. Not only will this help with the teacher shortage, Ross says, it also increases diversity. “Paraeducators are much more likely to look like the students they serve in a given community than the teachers.” Find out how the programs are funded, how liberal arts courses can be integrated into the workplace experience and what models Reach is developing for the behavioral health sector as this innovation becomes more popular.

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John Colborn, Executive Director of Apprenticeships for America: Raising the Visibility of Apprenticeships

“Anyone who feels like they want to go to college should be able to go, but having just one choice for every young person entering the labor market seems like a mistake,” says John Colborn, executive director of Apprenticeships for America. Opening a second pathway of apprenticeship would not only serve those for whom college is not a viable option, Colborn argues, but it would also help employers who need workers with hard skills that are often not acquired through degree programs. Colborn is particularly excited about an emerging third path that blends apprenticeships and degree programs that’s being used to grow the ranks of nurses, engineers and teachers. “What schools are doing is putting paraprofessionals already working in the school into a teaching role and at the same time enabling them to get the four-year credential that’s necessary to become a full -fledged teacher.” While Colborn hopes this “flex” of the apprenticeship model will boost the country’s low utilization of apprenticeships compared to other industrialized nations, significant growth won’t occur until there is much more federal funding, and different models of funding, than currently exist. Join Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan on this episode of WorkforceRx for an exploration of what those models can be, and the role that states and other actors can play to boost the visibility of a proven option for supplying the workforce the US economy needs.

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Stephen Handel, ECMC Foundation: Redesigning Higher Ed for A Changing Student Body

Boosting completion rates at higher education institutions in the US has been a hot topic for years, with particular concern given to the relatively low 43% rate for community colleges. We’re going to take a look at solutions to that problem today with Dr. Steve Handel, director of strategy for Post -Secondary Education Transformation at ECMC Foundation. “Part of the work we would like to do is figure out ways to improve that completion rate, particularly for students who we might not predict initially would have the wherewithal to complete a degree. How do we change the structures that were built for a different set of constituencies in a different age,” Handel tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. Key steps include addressing obstacles for working adults and adult students with children and improving the transfer process between community colleges and a four-year institutions. A bigger lift might be changing financial incentives so that colleges focus more on completion than the number of students admitted. “Colleges and universities, like all organizations, are going to pivot to the ways that sustain their institutions,” he says. Tune in for an informative scan of other ideas including expanded use of online education, integrating work experiences into degree programs, addressing the high cost of education, and doing a better job of communicating just how essential post-secondary learning is to social and economic mobility.

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Jennifer Lundblad, President and CEO of Stratis Health: Co-Designing Healthcare Quality Improvement

Because Medicare is the largest payer for healthcare services in the U.S., there are continuous efforts throughout the country to control costs and improve quality in the program. We’re going to focus on one of those efforts today, and take a look at what’s involved in improving healthcare quality in general, with Jennifer Lundblad, president and CEO of Stratis Health, a Minnesota nonprofit that works with clinicians, organizations, and communities towards that end. “We, and our peers who do this work across the country, are sort of the boots on the ground quality improvers. We’re trusted because we’re local, we’ve had long -standing relationships, and we’re really valued for the change agent expertise we bring.” Creating peer-to-peer learning and action networks and offering various forms of technical assistance serve the goal of building the capacity of organizations to do ongoing quality improvement work on their own. In terms of what would strengthen the field, Lundblad believes greater use of implementation science could help spread best practices, and co-design could make quality programs more relevant and effective. “Co-design brings to the fore the voices and experiences of those who are traditionally not part of a quality improvement process. It’s an emerging approach that will allow us to design things in the right way from the start.” Join Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan for an encouraging exploration of the often invisible but critically important work of quality improvement in healthcare.

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Vinz Koller, Senior Strategist for Capacity Building at Social Policy Research Associates: The Future of Learning is Work

One of the oldest forms of training, apprenticeship, has new relevance in the age of AI according to today’s WorkforceRx guest Vinz Koller, a nationally influential voice on the subject and self-described apprenticeship evangelist. Why? Because the pace of change brought about by AI and other technologies has accelerated to a point where predictions about what specific skills workers in most fields will need even a year from now have questionable value. “The model of apprenticeship is particularly appropriate because in my view, apprenticeship is a look into the future. You are actually in the workplace. You don’t have to predict what things will be like in ten years. The workplace will evolve and you will evolve with it,” Koller tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. In his role as senior strategist for Capacity Building at Social Policy Research Associates, Koller works with local communities, states, and the US government to determine how to make work-based learning more accessible to more people. On the learner/worker side, a welcome step would be enabling apprentices to earn an associate-level degree upon completion of their training. For employers, key needs include regulatory changes to make hosting apprentices easier and help with setting-up and tracking programs. The aim, he says, is to turn more employers into “co-producers of talent” instead of just consumers of it. This expansive conversation also covers the multi-faceted return on investment for employers, the need for high school recruitment programs, and the role apprenticeships could play in reducing student debt.

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Dr. David Ferreira, Provost of Charter Oak State College: Turning Employee Tuition Benefit On Its Head

EP72 WorkforceRx Dr David Ferreira

Although most US employers offer some form of tuition assistance, it’s estimated that less than 5% of employees use the benefit. There are several reasons for this, but according to Dr. David Ferreira, provost of Charter Oak State College, paying the upfront cost of tuition is high on the list. “Fifty-seven percent of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings account. They cannot commit to an upfront tuition cost especially if they’re living paycheck to paycheck,” he tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. Inspired by an idea outlined in Van’s book WorkforceRx: Agile and Inclusive Strategies for Employers, Educators and Workers in Unsettled Times, Ferreira and colleagues decided to turn the traditional tuition reimbursement model on its head and adopt a disbursement model instead in which employers pay the upfront cost and get reimbursed through a federal tax credit for employee tuition benefits. He calls it a ‘win-win-win’ approach. “There’s no money out of pocket for the employee, there’s no cost on the employer side because they’ll be reimbursed, and Charter Oak is going to get more students.” In working to sign-up employers as the new Charter Invest program rolls out, Ferreira is also highlighting that it will help companies with the important goals of employee retention and diversifying their workforce. Get all the details, learn about the program’s ‘all you can eat’ design, and find out how employers are reacting to the idea in this eye-opening conversation.

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Lupe Alonzo-Diaz, Physicians for a Healthy California: The Doctor Shortage Is About More Than Numbers

EP71 WorkforceRx Podcast Lupe Alonzo

Like all states, California is facing a shortage of physicians — in its case a gap of 10,500 by the end of the decade — but today’s WorkforceRx guest says the definition of shortage needs to go beyond just numbers to include their practice location and cultural diversity. “Oftentimes, we don’t have enough access to physicians in particular areas or to culturally dynamic physicians,” says Lupe Alonzo-Diaz, president and CEO of Physicians for a Healthy California. As she explains to Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, PHC tackles the issue by expanding physician training opportunities in underserved areas and by incentivizing early career physicians and dentists to accept Medicaid patients through loan forgiveness. “Those physicians come from geographically underserved communities. They also speak a second language and they’re committed to staying in those communities after they finish their service obligation.” This engaging conversation also explores addressing social determinants of health, trends in team-based care and previews a new report on how physicians who are women of color fared during the pandemic. “Women physicians of color are such a key core component to how we deliver culturally dynamic quality care and we need them to stay in their profession and continue to advance.”

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Sameer Gadkaree, President & CEO of The Institute for College Access and Success:  Creating Paths To Debt-Free College

EP63 WorkforceRx Podcast Sameer Gadkaree

“We’re asking students effectively to take a bet on themselves and what we have seen in recent years is the growing problem of debt that doesn’t pay off for them,” says Sameer Gadkaree, President & CEO of The Institute for College Access and Success. Among the 44 million Americans affected, the debt load is $30,000 for the average borrower, including those who did not complete their certificate program or degree. As Gadkaree points out to Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan, risk in the higher education system has gradually been shifted over several decades to students and their families. A big part of the solution, he says, is building debt-free paths to college by stitching together existing local, state and federal programs and supplementing financial support as needed. But the answer also needs to include a variety of tools to help students to completion such as advising, social supports and making sure they are receiving food assistance and other benefits for which they qualify. Gadkaree cites several programs across the country that are doubling graduation rates by taking this approach, and hopes that others working on these daunting challenges will pause to celebrate successes and look at the larger trends. “I think there’s a growing awareness of the harms of student debt, the challenges that it creates for our borrowers and that we really need to change if we’re going to achieve greater racial equity and economic mobility.”

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