Behind Every Employer COABE

Priyanka Sharma, Vice President of World Education, joins Anson and Jeff at the 2024 Coalition on Adult Basic Education (COABE) National Conference to explore current trends at the intersection of trending digital technologies and adult education with a focus on impact of AI and the Digital Equity Act. Priyanka discusses how AI is reshaping education and the need for bridging the gap between tech-savvy education mavericks who are blazing the trail with AI and the large majority of educators who are still figuring it out. The conversation concludes with a thoughtful review of the Digital Equity Act's status and what states and communities can anticipate.

Looking for better new hires? Switch to skills-based hiring! In this episode, Chad Patton and Marlene Brostrom from West Michigan Works and HireReach, are joined by Kenyatta Brame from Cascade Engineering to discuss how they have figured out how to strengthen the hiring process through data driven evidence. With the skills-based hiring model job seekers benefit by being able to show what they know and can do, not just what they have on paper. Employers can get down to business by getting right to what they want. The right knowledge, skills and abilities in a candidate! No longer is the hiring process overly influenced by pumped up resumés, insufficient application data, and the inherent weaknesses and biases in job interviews!

In this episode, Kevin Mattran, training administrator for Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing, and Bryan Seck, executive director for Lincoln Literacy, sit down with us to discuss how Kawasaki Motors and Lincoln Literacy have partnered to fuel and drive economic expansion and career pathways in Nebraska. This workforce population is exceptionally diverse with 10% nonnative to the United States. Lincoln Literacy and Kawasaki partnered to develop a basic and intermediate level English class to help New Americans increase their understanding of safety, the workplace, and career pathways in the company. This episode provides outstanding examples of not just employer/education collaboration, but also of city leadership, economic development, immigrant integration, comprehensive corporate training pathways, and non-profit trailblazing. Kawasaki Motors has fueled this story of community transformation and has led the way in not only diversified manufacturing but also embracing and growing the strengths of a diversified workforce!

At the heart of our workforce are people teaching others how to succeed. In this episode of Behind Every Employer, the amazing Chef Jeff Henderson shares his remarkable story from being incarcerated to becoming one of the best chefs in the country. Jeff's rise through the culinary ranks is only topped by his passion to give those impacted by our justice system a chance to change their lives in a career pathway filled with food, hard work, and lots of love. Join Jeffrey Abramowitz and Anson Green as they get to know Chef Jeff and learn about the Chef Jeff Project and New Direction Programs that work to give others a second chance and find that pathway to culinary success.

In this episode, Mathew Jerlecki, director of learning at Lippert Components, Inc., discusses Lippert’s best-in-class upskilling model that positions the company for the future while building economic opportunity for team members. Using a scalable model, Lippert makes education and training easily accessible through collaboration with local resources, including colleges and universities. Programming is intentionally designed to minimize business interruption and accommodate team members’ busy schedules. Lippert’s learning programs have been so well received by team members that Lippert is expanding its model to additional national locations in 2024. 

What happens when you match Michigan’s largest employer with Western Michigan’s largest community-based organization dedicated to literacy? Kevin Vos, Vice President at Corewell Health, and Wendy Falb, Executive Director at the Literacy Center of West Michigan, sit down to discuss how their collaboration is transforming lives for entry-level workers and bringing bottom-line benefits to Corewell Health. Wendy and Kevin share the value this workplace literacy collaboration brings to their respective organizations and specific takeaways that stress the importance of program customization and executive leadership to create a true win-win for both organizations.