In this month’s State of the Union Address, President Biden made the case to“connect students to career opportunities starting in high school and provide two years of community college, some of the best career training in America, in addition to being a pathway to a four-year degree. Let’s offer every American the path to a good career whether they go to college or not.” In other words, the President made the case for career readiness for ALL, the mission of the Coalition for Career Development Center.
Our Condition of Career Readiness in the United States report demonstrates gaping inequities in career preparation. In light of the President’s address and in recognition of CTE month we are sharing in our newsletter a CTE call to action and highlighting a giant in CTE leadership, our own Board member Kimberly Green, Executive Director of Advance CTE.
What are our next steps to ensure career readiness for all?
One, we need a Career Readiness Infrastructure, a term coined by our VP for Research Scott Solberg. Infrastructure literally means the foundation upon which the structure of an economy is built. As the President’s Infrastructure investment promises to create 15 million jobs, we want to provide more accessible on-ramps to careers in those fields and many more.
The Coalition has named Five Pillars to build that infrastructure. This month, we launched working policy groups for each Pillar:
Career Planning, chaired by Julie Lammers, Senior Vice President of American Student Assistance,
Career Advising, chaired by Sharon Givens, President-Elect of the National Career Development Association,
Work-based learning, chaired by Paul Perkins, Amatrol President and Board Chair for Indiana Chamber of Commerce, and Dave Wilcox, President and CEO of Global Skills XChange,
Career Tech, chaired by Xello Founder and CEO Matt McQuillen and Tallo Founder and CEO Casey Welch and
Accountability, chaired by our Vice Chair of the Board of Directors and South Central College President Dr. Annette Parker, and Dr. Scott Solberg.
We are grateful for robust participation from the committees; we had 75% participation from our Board of Directors, and 25% participation each from our Advisory Board and our 50 State Career Leaders Network. Our next meeting will be on March 10 and lead to the development of recommendations that will be announced at our upcoming Summit on November 1 and 2, 2023.
Two, we need a Universal Design for Career Readiness, which I have coined as a new paradigm for next-level career development and mobility regardless of geography, group, background, or age. My next set of blogs will outline draft principles for a Universal Design for Career Readiness and implications for education and workforce development. I am asking for readers within and outside of our Coalition to form input and critical analysis as I subject my draft to collective input and debate. Thank you for working with us and staying engaged as we build together a new paradigm for how all of us can be supported from cradle to career.
Thank you for your leadership, and happy holidays!
Eva Mitchell
Chief Executive Officer