On Thursday, October 13, Apprentice Learning (AL) had the honor of presenting Redefining Success: Preparing Youth and Transforming Employers for Tomorrow’s Workforce – a panel discussion hosted at Foley Hoag, LLP in Boston. Panelists included (featured above from left to right) Juan Fernando Lopera, Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, Beth Israel Lahey, Trinh Nguyen, Chief of Worker Empowerment and Director of the Office for Workforce Development (OWD), City of Boston, Helen Russell, Executive Director of Apprentice Learning, Eva Mitchell, Chief Program Officer, Coalition for Career Development Center, and moderated by Shirley Leung, Columnist and Associate Editor at the Boston Globe.
Panelists were joined by two AL alums, Ben Perez and Edgar Santana Baez, 11th graders from Dearborn STEM Academy. The multiple perspectives offered from city government, private industry, public-private partnerships, and youth gave audience members inspiration and innovative solutions for strengthening Boston’s career pipeline, especially those whose access has been limited.
Important questions that panelists tackled included: how do we prepare young people for the changing workforce? What skills are needed to access and succeed in our region’s leading industries? And, how should employers evolve to become the inclusive workplaces that will attract the next—and more diverse—generation?
In response to the question of how employers should evolve, Juan Fernando Lopera from Beth Israel Lahey noted, “We need to rethink how we hire and retain, rethink the traditional path and the pipeline for younger workers to come into the workforce. Rethink the credentials needed for an entry-level job.”
Panelists agreed that while young people are more and more opting to forego college in favor of credentials that lead to high-paying jobs, it’s important to encourage young workers to continue on their path to postsecondary education. Trinh Nguyen of the Office of Workforce Development shared, “When we are working with young people, we need to make sure there is a ramp to postsecondary education because when we looked at the career life trajectory of a young person and we looked at the economic loss of that young person if they didn’t have a postsecondary education, you’re looking at at least a 1.1 million dollar loss for that young person over the career trajectory when they retire at 60 or 65 and that’s a lot.”
Panelists not only discussed the changing workforce, but also described the changing needs of young workers seeking to enter into the workplace. Eva Mitchell from the Coalition of Career Development Center out of the City of Boston, said, “Many, especially the younger workforce, don’t only want a paycheck, they want to feel like they are working for an organization that has a sense of purpose. That’s values based, that is standing up on issues of racial justice and social justice. The younger workforce more so wants to see that we are doing more to address those issues.”
Ms. Mitchell went on to share, “You have many changes during your career. Every single year it seems we have to learn new skills. Let’s start now. Let’s start it in middle school. Thank you Apprentice Learning for recognizing that because middle school is when one shapes their identity. That means a career identity as well. It’s hard when you become an adult and you haven’t explored that. You have just been looking for a job. A job is not sustainable. A career, a purpose, a mission, what gives you joy and energy, that’s what’s sustainable.”
Watch the full panel here:
Photo Credits: Stefanie Belnavis of The Diahann Project (@thediahannproject)
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