On Tuesday, I had the opportunity to provide a 10-minute “PeliTalk” at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy’s Annual Solutions Summit regarding the national movement toward a “One Door Model” of workforce development reform. As I said during the talk, we do not have a “workforce system” in the United States—we have a near century of program upon program creation at the federal level designed to assist workers find jobs and careers.
Many of these programs were created to fix the failures of the ones that came before them—while utilizing a “one size fits all” mentality toward workforce development and job training. This has led to a glut of worthwhile efforts and a lack of needed results.
Pressures to help workers will only increase as technology and AI rapidly grow and evolve employer workplaces and job roles. The lack of a workforce system will only exacerbate frustrations and calls for accountability if we don’t have the resolve to innovate and reform our governance approaches.
Multiple states are calling for, and moving toward, a One Door Model premised on the success of Utah’s approach to consolidation and integration of programs and funding. This is being led by Louisiana, which has both the BOLD VISION and BOLD LEADERSHIP to meet the challenge.
I look forward to supporting Louisiana and other states as they attempt to shift the workforce governance paradigm. It is no longer an issue of “if,” but rather, “when.”
–Mason
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