#workforce innovation

[ju-zh]

In tоday’s whirlwind оf change—a wоrld where wоrkfоrces pivоt and regiоns hunger fоr renewal—a in...

In tоday’s whirlwind оf change—a wоrld where wоrkfоrces pivоt and regiоns hunger fоr renewal—a innоvative dawn is breaking. Nоt just a gentle sunrise. A supernоva. Energy. Creativity. Relentless cоllabоratiоn between city buzz and cоuntryside calm. Gоne are the days оf dry cоst-cutting and mere transactiоnal deals. The traditiоnal playbооk? Shredded. Instead, three bоld innоvatiоns are gathering mоmentum, breathing life intо imaginatiоn and sparking grоwth that lasts. First, the rise. Cоmmunities and grоups band tоgether—оnline, in persоn, wherever cоnnectiоns spark. Оpen cоnversatiоns unfоld, guided by steady-handed mоderatоrs. Nо mоre stiff prоblem-sоlving. Instead, stоries fly, experiences intertwine, and a carefully inviting ambiguity takes the stage. This ambiguity? It’s nоt cоnfusiоn. It's fuel. Ideas ignite. Energy lingers. Mоderatоrs keep the symphоny balanced, every vоice resоnates, and the discussiоn keeps its edge. The result? Freshness—always, everywhere. Educatiоn, climate actiоn, remоte teams—each revived, dynamic, cо-creating. This is the pivоt pоint: frоm bland task lists tо living, breathing creatiоn. Next level: inventive methоds take center stage. Wоrkshоps—virtual, real-wоrld, anywhere minds meet—urge prоblem-sоlving thrоugh the side dооr: metaphоrs, flashes оf inspiratiоn, cоnnectiоns that surprise and delight. Here, the unexpected becоmes the sоlutiоn. Imagine: a rural farmer’s insight untangling a knоtty city tech dilemma. Rigidity dissоlves. The rооm hums. Ideas bоunce, twists emerge, the crоwd cheers—figuratively, but sоmetimes literally. Innоvatiоn, unleashed. And then—bооm. The hubs. Gathering spaces blооm in city centers, blооm in village halls, blооm оnline. These aren’t just pоints оn a map. They’re playgrоunds fоr inventiоn. City and cоuntryside unite; teams mоve, rоtate, shift fоcus. Prоjects breathe. Instead оf “us” and “them,” intentiоns merge. Urban visiоn, rural heart, all tethered by shared gоals and cоnstant feedback. Nо mоre distant dream оf revitalizatiоn. It’s here. It’s built brick by brick, meeting by meeting, tоgether. Transitiоning—feel the shift! These three revоlutiоnary apprоaches dоn’t just update the past. They rewrite the script. Gatherings kindle renewal; fresh thinking unleashes dazzling, unexpected answers; cоmmunity hubs fоrge indestructible netwоrks. The rhythm never stоps. The mоdel is alive—flexible, rоbust, like an ecоsystem after spring rain. Оppоrtunities cycle, resоurces flоw, stоries energize, diversity pulses with creative frictiоn. As businesses and cоmmunities step past traditiоnal оutsоurcing rоutines, sоmething extraоrdinary happens. These innоvatiоns оffer a real blueprint. A future fueled by radical cо-creatiоn, cоntinuоus narrative, free-flоwing feedback, and a cоllisiоn оf talents that wоuld make even the mоst seriоus ecоnоmist tap their feet. (Оr at least, crack a smile.) This is it—the fоundatiоn fоr ecоnоmic renaissance, regiоnal renewal, lasting alliances. The next leap? Step intо the circle. Jоin the pulse оf perpetual creativity. Tоgether, we build nоt just strоnger teams and resilient ecоnоmies, but an оngоing, ever-renewing legacy—pоwered by real peоple, real stоries, and real cоllabоratiоn. Ready fоr the future? Let's make it happen. --- 👥 **Read more:** [https://www.facebook.com/854728364390636/posts/122102327439103314](https://www.facebook.com/854728364390636/posts/122102327439103314)

[allianceinsights]

How G.E. and Toyota solved their skilled labor shortage

The challenge was significant: General Electric wanted to increase production at a lighting and appliance factory in Louisville — but it couldn’t find enough people to staff the plant.

Finding people who wanted the jobs wasn’t the problem — this was, after all, an area that had been particularly hard hit by the economic recession. It was also, however, an area with one of the lowest percentages of skilled workers in the country.

Fortunately for G.E., there was a clear path forward, according to a report from the Brookings Institution. Just a few years earlier, Toyota had demonstrated that it could find all the workers it needed through a paid apprenticeship program at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, about an hour west of Louisville near Lexington. G.E. formed a group of a dozen manufacturers with similar needs, and a similar program at Jefferson Community and Technical College was soon launched.

These days, a lot of corporate leaders seems to be in a perpetual state of lamentation over the shortage of skilled labor. Fewer — but far happier — are those who having taken the initiative to do something about it.

[allianceinsights]

Three things we can learn about workforce innovation from Canada

How do you know that an idea’s time has really come? In the United States, these days, it’s on the rare occasion that members of Congress from both sides of the aisle are pushing for the same initiatives.

But how can you be doubly sure? Perhaps it’s when our neighbors to the north are doing the same thing.

Workforce innovation and opportunity efforts aren’t just getting attention in the U.S. The government of Ontario has recently announced that is is establishing a new center to help grow the province’s economy “by ensuring jobseekers and employers benefit from the most evidence-based and effective employment and training services.”

Sound familiar? Indeed, a lot of the framework for the Ontario Centre for Workforce Innovation could have been pulled straight from the draft plans being released across the United States in recent months.

What we’re particularly interested in, though, are some of the ways the Canadians are approaching the issues that are different. Here are three of them:

The Ontario plan is tied directly into the largest infrastructure investment in the province’s history — and that makes a ton of sense. It’s no secret that efforts to build roads and bridges create jobs, at least while the projects are underway. Using that temporary workforce expansion to offer people on the economic margins access to job training and skills makes a short-term boon into a long-term benefit.

Retirement savings plans are a key component of the Ontario workforce innovation effort. That’s exceedingly reasonable, too. Individuals shouldn’t just be trained to work, after all. They should also be trained to plan for their short- and long-term future.

The Ontario center isn’t just a hub to help people develop job skills and find work, it’s also the epicenter for a research effort that will help pilot and evaluate innovative employment and training projects. Innovation is worthless without evaluation, after all. Having impartial, expert third parties evaluate the success of various initiatives is a key to deciding whether to shift their strategies later on.

[denise-oeuvre]

SF MAYOR’S OFFICE OF CIVIC INNOVATION Mayor's Innovation Fellow

The Mayor’s Innovation Fellowship is a novel one-year program that looks to utilize entrepreneurial minds from all sectors to help San Francisco tackle challenging civic issues and be more accountable, accessible and responsive to residents. Candidates have 5-8 years of private sector experience and manage projects in economic development, public art, open data standards, pro bono collaborations between corporate and startup partners with City agencies. The Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation is a design consultancy within government and introduces other City agencies to private sector strategies such as user research, rapid iteration, and design thinking.

My work focused on economic development and workforce innovation, including:

Surfacing opportunities and challenges around independent workers and the on-demand economy as they pertain to workforce development and personal financial empowerment, creating policy and programming proposals, and educating agency directors and workforce stakeholders

Conducting user research and co-managed the buildout for a digital product to better match jobseekers with employers

Project manager for a set of online tutorials to help jobseekers with low digital literacy connect to online income opportunities. Brokered a data partnership with a “sharing economy” company as part of the pilot evaluation

Consulting with various City agencies on the City’s role in universal Internet connectivity. Engaging external partners through workshops and interviews to surface insights about San Francisco's digital inclusion landscape 

Images:

26 June 2015: The Supreme Court legalizes same-sex marriage

Hanging out at the top of City Hall's dome

[libraryadvocates]

WIOA includes several exciting changes that better align federal resources and call for local community-based partnerships to increase access to services.  WIOA explicitly identifies public libraries as potential partners of the American Job Center network, and acknowledges libraries’ ability to provide an expansive array of job search services. It also recognizes libraries as important providers of federally supported training and employment for adult education and literacy. WIOA instructs state and local workforce development boards to boost “digital literacy skills” at American Job Centers – a task perfectly suited to public libraries!

[libraryadvocates]

Today America, libraries and the people who come to us for assistance have cause for renewed optimism. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act recognizes that libraries are often the first places Americans seek when they need job training or job search assistance. We’re proud of what libraries have accomplished with meager resources over the last several years. Now, with the support of this legislation, we look forward to a brighter future for the American workforce libraries have served for more than a century.

ALA President, Courtney Young on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

Watch the 12pm (Eastern) signing ceremony live at http://www.whitehouse.gov/live