 Welcome back everyone. If you kindly take your seats we'd like to begin our panel discussion, so if you kindly take your seats Welcome back to the Ents Center for the Arts at UCCS. My name is David Siegel and I'm the executive director here at the Ents Center It's time for the second part of today's event with our panel on workforce development the linchpin to sustainable economic development Remember that you can submit your questions at any time through meeting pulse Using the QR code on the back of your program Kimberly the floor is yours. Thank you David. We've fixed the technology. So we are receiving your questions So please use that QR code as we go through the rest of the afternoon Thank you everybody for being here. We want to thank our panelists and I'm going to have them begin Just by introducing us tell us who you are your position the organization You're with where you hail from and then what word or phrase data point or piece of information stood out for you from Tatiana's presentation this afternoon and Ron if I can have you kick us off we'll go this way and then we'll popcorn the rest of the day Sure. Thanks Kimberly Ron Fitch. I work at UC health I serve as the president of the Pugspeak Regional Hospital up in Teller County and then the Grandview Hospital Just down the street here on North Nevada And then I would say you know the thing that jumped out at me Maybe two things one was just the increased gap in the workforce that we're seeing And then really a thing we can do better I think in town is really capitalized on that low-hanging fruit Tatiana mentioned As a retired military member, that's definitely something we can do is to bring more of those veterans into the workforce All right, I'm Catherine Keegan I'm the director for the office of the future of work at the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment very long title And I live in Denver and work statewide Overseeing our state apprenticeship agency in our state's digital equity planning. I Would say that the data point that stood out to me quite a bit was the 11.1 million of unutilized labor in our markets Good afternoon. I'm Kimlyn hairs. I am from Charlotte So flew in this morning to be with you all happy to be here I'm with Bank of America and I am the chief operating officer for our charitable foundation And I also lead the bank's racial equality Commitment to advance economic mobility for communities of color And what stood out to me was the data-driven approach Tatiana that you kept going back to It's key in the work that we lead at Bank of America and I think it's going to be key to a solving these issues around workforce I'm Joe Garcia I'm the chancellor of the community college system that includes about 13 colleges and 38 locations around the state including Community College of Roar. Thank you. Dr. Mordecai for those words And of course we have dr. Lance Bolton from Pikes Peak State College here The thing that really struck me is again the emphasis on workforce and making sure that education our Programming meets workforce needs and that's something we're very focused on but frankly, we've got a long way to go Thank you so much. So now Just want to ask each of you will just go voluntarily person by person And if you're excited to answer this question great, and if you'd like to take a pause also fine But what excites you about what you heard today? What excites you? I think what excites me is a wrecking is a recognition that our future workforce is going to be increasingly reliant on our Minority populations that we have not always served well through our education system I was like to say that our current workforce all of you are getting grayer, but our future workforce Our future workforce is getting browner. We need to think about that Thank you. Who else what excited me was just the conversation right bringing attention to the gaps in Colorado Springs and all of the potential solutions to solve those so I think just having an opportunity to convene and Bring those issues to light is exciting until we do that. We can't solve so excited to be here and have the conversation Yeah, and I would I would say my data point that stood out to me is also what excites me because of exactly what Joe said to the Untapped potential that we haven't been maximizing that has had access to the opportunities in our economy We have so much opportunity to maximize the federal funding that's coming down the state funding to really come up with creative solutions that we Haven't had the opportunity to do before and haven't focused on I Should have jumped in there quicker because opportunity was also going to be what I was going to say There's some challenges ahead when you look at the data, but there's a lot of great entities We have a great we live in a great place and there's a lot of opportunity I think to capitalize on some of the things that are out there programs and people coming here and military and things like that so flip it over I was like to say flip the burger and As you were listening to what Tatiana was sharing this afternoon. What gave you concern or gave you pause? I'll start again I think one of the things that really concerned me that affects us locally is that gap when we look at wages and housing prices You know as the parent of four adult children you who I had all love I'd love to have all of them living here in Colorado Springs But it is unfortunate that you know, it's both good and bad. We've seen rising wages Rising housing prices, but the gap is getting wider So it's more difficult for the people. We really need school teachers police officers Firefighters social workers. They can't afford to live here Yeah, I want to jump in there except something that stood out to me as well And something I think a lot about when we look at pre-pandemic levels of wages We know that there is a huge proliferation of low-wage work across the US and across Colorado There was a 2017 study from the Brookings Institute that had 46 percent of the workers in Colorado Springs 40 to 47 percent of the workers in Colorado that were working a low-wage job. I think what's striking about that is The feasibility of transitioning out of low-wage work and how actually challenging that is Another study from the same institution was looking at how likely someone is to leave low-wage work if they're in a low-wage job And they found that for every four years you're in a low-wage job Your likelihood of transitioning out decreases by half and by the tenth year in a low-wage job Your likelihood of ever having a high-paying job is less than one percent And so as we look at all of this opportunity and thinking about skills people Learn and earn and in low-wage jobs how we actually bring them into higher-paying jobs How we reduce the number of low-wage jobs in our market think is our challenge and opportunity ahead Thank you. I would say the Getting back involved more with K through 12 and just really educating kids on what those opportunities are what the Certifications are not everybody has to go to college. I think that's been talked about quite a bit recently But really exposing them to what some of those other careers are Thank you so as Tatiana mentioned From her vantage point a through line in the presentation was making sense of the data and really thinking not just about the immediacy of this current moment that we're in Acknowledging it but also really thinking about the long term. So The lens for this part of our conversation is really going to be thinking not just about the short term But really about the long term and investments that we might be able to make now to really change the ecosystem so Ron and Kimlyn, this is primarily directed at you, but Joe and Catherine, please feel free to weigh in From your vantage point and your experience and considering the data that have been presented today What is your organization doing to address medium and long term? Workforce development. So we'd love to just hear about examples of your lived experience within your companies And how you're addressing the medium and long term. I'm happy to start Ron So a couple of things I I could I could talk all day about all the great work I feel that my firm is doing at Bank of America, but We're taking a really two-pronged approach to how we look at solving this issue We have to first take an introspective look at our own practices internally and how we staff and promote employees So that's key one of the things that we've committed to is a minimum wage of 25 by 2025 Which goes back to the point that we spoke about here just a second ago That folks cannot even afford housing rental housing because of the need to make $28,000 an hour To afford rental in in Colorado Springs And so we have to look at our own processes to make sure that our own employees can afford housing afford Food etc. So we're doing that first The second piece that we're doing internally is another commitment around 10,000 hiring 10,000 individuals from LMI communities over three years We made this commitment several years ago and we exceeded it so quickly that we've re-upped So again, 10,000 individuals from LMI communities will be hired at Bank of America over the next three years Externally, we're looking at our workforce Non-profit partners. We are going deeper in our commitments from a philanthropic perspective. How can we invest more? As well as creating these executive leadership councils in various markets across the nation And what I mean by that is who else is at the table bringing in additional corporate partners Understanding that Bank of America is not the only Hiring corporation in a particular market But who else has gaps and needs in their hiring and so we form these Coalitions and several markets across the nation and we are sitting together these corporations and really laying out What are our gaps and opportunities for staffing and then backing into that with local community colleges local HSIs, HBCUs, tribal colleges and saying here are our gaps How do we work together to augment your curriculum so that you can ensure that your students are career ready when they exit your programs? So those are two approaches that we're taking. Thank you, Ron. How about for you? Sure at UC health as we look to improve lives Through big ways and small through human connection. We need people to do that So we're primary overwhelmingly a people business for sure to take care of patients And so if we have 6000 employees and we look at the job board today, we have seven or just over 700 openings 250 of those are nurses and then another hundred and fifty or so or part-time positions Nursing was high on that list up there that Tatiana showed us earlier. And so We'll kind of break this down into three areas one what we're doing internally What we're doing with our education partners in town here and then what we're doing with our innovation center at the system level And so Internally, you know a lot of there's not a lot of opportunity for schools to produce some Fields that we need radiology would be one so a couple years ago. We stood up our own radiology school here in town We run two cohorts a year through to fill out x-ray cte and MRI Positions which has become increasingly important as we continue to grow with the community And then we've looked internally where some of our more technical nursing shortages are in the operating room or the calf lab As examples and we've up skilled nurses from the bedside and put them through about a four to five month training program So that they could then go into the operating room or the calf level We're having a little bit of shortages or more challenges finding staff And then the program that was alluded to earlier It's just getting started. We launched it in February It's called the send and so we partnered with the guild organization out at Denver I really did take entry-level employees and then up skill them through guidance counseling and Subsidizing the registration To say go from patient registration staff member to become a nurse or you could go from being sterile processing Department technician to working in the operating room. So the guild will help guide you there We'll subsidize that education and we work with the educational partners that guild brings to the table To get staff from an entry-level position to a more sustainable career with the organization So far that has worked out pretty good when we looked at the numbers recently Where this is across our system, which has about 26,000 employees across the state We've had 7,000 applicants for that program and then about just over 2,000 have applied for The funding to move forward in a different career field So you could look at that as those are the early adopters kind of waiting to see how it works out And then we would expect some more growth as we move forward in the year and the program starts to produce the graduates into some of these more Needed vacancies that we had our nursing leadership is exceptionally creative and so When we look at nursing shortages, what is taking the nurse's time? And so technology is great until it's not and it doesn't work And so as we increase monitors and telemetry and nurse call and upgrade all these systems and cameras to tie back To the virtual health center sometimes things need to be readjusted or fixed and that was taking a lot of nurses time So we created a patient technology technician For the nurse then to have there to aid them in fixing some of these issues so they can focus on Patient care and really operate at the top of their scope of practice We'll take a junior in nursing school and we'll bring them in For some shifts where they can operate just above a certified nursing assistant But just below the capability of nurse So now the nurse is managing more of a team on the floor and really providing that care and focus To the patient which is in our number one goal And then we've built in career ladders to some of these positions So if you were a lab technician or you're a surgical technologist and maybe that's all you want to do for retention We're building in career ladders so that you could become a tech to or then to a tech one And then to like a supervisor where we didn't have that before so it gives someone the opportunity to stay in their field Maybe move up with a little bit more responsibility and then the compensation that comes with it So those are all some of the things that we're doing internally, you know with our education partners here in town I really just want to thank Lance and Venkat who are I know are both here today But they're really able to turn on a dime for this community and to produce programs for the workforce challenges that we need And nursing is a great example So both have nursing programs that we've been engaging with over the last couple years We just graduated our largest cohort of a hundred and five nurses last month well July And then we're onboarding another class about that size for the next cohort this year So that helps get after the problem and we really have to thank you know the folks that are there But that nursing education is those educators in the universities and the state college are getting older So they have to be replaced. They have to come from somewhere So we're looking at precepting things that we can do Can we shift people out to help with the teaching and things like that to keep everything flowing to fill these vacancies? This was a problem before the pandemic and it just was escalated during it Pueblo Community College also has a great program for respiratory therapists So that's another great thing that we're able to leverage in our respiratory therapy team is pretty engaged with them as well And then for innovation we look at our virtual health center And there's been a lot of discussion over the last couple years But you can get a virtual appointment, you know for urgent care with your primary care doc but our virtual health center also engages inside the hospital and so we have you know nurses and Physicians up at the virtual health center in Aurora to really tap into the ICU as an example And so they're using artificial intelligence and algorithms to really help take the weight off of the nurses so that they could provide patient care But if they get alerted to a change in a patient status or their vitals or something like else that needs their attention They're called immediately from the virtual health center so they can reach a focus or we can get some other team members over there and they've been able to increase the number of patients that they started with two years ago as they've improved the Sensitivity and the confidence in those algorithms through the use of AI by about fourfold So that has just been an incredible feat that the virtual health center has really taken Particularly in the ICU to help those nurses at and then they just rolled out another one for You know normal medicine patient beds where if they see that a patient's vitals change or something doesn't look quite right They can call a rapid response and then we'll have a team respond to that patient's room While they may have been taking care of another patient just doing basic tasks for patient care So those are some of the things that we're doing to address Workforce challenges today now the community still growing you know, and so are we with it to be able to serve and provide that care So in partnership with Norwood, we have a medical office building going up Their office building we're going to fill it out with clinics up on the corner of Interquest and Voyager And then some land that we own out on powers We have a pretty large structure going up out there too, which will be another medical office building with a surgery center You know and that's going to require upwards of probably 400 more staff members as they open in the next year Plus some other future growth that we're looking at on our north campus Over the course of the next couple years Thank you. Tatiana. Yeah, I just want to say that I think this is a perfect example another example of All of the above right because you're looking at community colleges and Programming you're looking at communities of color. You're looking at future work and automation and robotics and other efficiencies health care Which you know has some of the most acute shortages and I could say that from a long-term perspective We have to think of this as a continuum. It's it's not only all these players, but how do they connect together? So for instance, are we getting into the middle schools and high schools and really truly educating comprehensively about these High-demand occupations and skills and how much you make and how you can access that training You know Dakota promise is is something incredible that we have with Harrison school district where any any High school graduate with a 2.5 GPA or higher has free Community college through at Pikes Peak State College now and that's potentially going to expand so All of that but then also the next step. Okay. Well, what about the programs? What is the data showing as I talked about and then also? What about internships and getting the high schoolers and some of the the you know college or university attendants actual? You know experience and exposure right to some of these employers and then you know In communities of color and and all of this and I think that the smart communities kind of like we do with housing and urban planning Are doing this comprehensively and kind of coming up with almost like a strategic plan You know which which sounds like kind of bureaucratic But you I think you kind of have to do it that way in order to make sure that all of the dots are being connected So I just want to build off of that as you all were talking I was thinking from an institutional standpoint big healthcare systems big corporations have perhaps both a much more potentially obvious need And potentially more either infrastructure or resources and I want to kind of go back to Jim's question and just hear from your perspective How might these? Ideas that you all are experiencing really apply to small business or to Really the continuum of business types that a region like the pikes peak Really relies on for economic vitality. So we just love to hear a little bit about how are we how might we? cross-pollinate these ideas or how might they translate to different industries or different sizes of businesses Well, certainly what we see is that a lot of the smaller Employers in terms of the number of employees they have are really relying on us because they face the same shortages That the large businesses face but they generally have lower wages and less ability to market those opportunities So they want to work with us, but they're constrained by resources just as we are We know there are a lot of small let's say nursing homes that need more CNAs or Our ends we want to be able to provide those and yet It's challenging for us to do that a lot of small construction businesses that are really pinched for workers We have our time producing one of the things that we know at the two-year colleges Generally is that the programs that are growing the fastest or we call in the career and technical education fields not the academic transfer fields and those fields are the ones that are frankly much more expensive to offer and Generally, we charge the same tuition But think about a welding lab or an automotive lab or a HVAC Classroom the instructors are harder to find the equipment's more expensive the labs are more expensive And the class sizes have to be smaller and yet we're getting pushed to offer more of that We usually rely on the general education programs to cross subsidize the others But there's a shrinking demand for those That means we they have to charge more intuition or get more state support or more support from the employers Who are looking for workers in those fields and becomes a resource challenge and one of the things that you talk about so much is Resources the resources drive what we're able to do what we need to do. I think it's a resource issue, but I also think it's a education marketing Making folks aware issue. I just think I think about the work that we do at Bank of America There's so many opportunities and I'll be the first to say that we could do a better job and making sure that Communities are more aware of those resources that are available. So when we think about the work that we do through nonprofit partners and workforce There's so many Programs that have been created, but how do we make sure that the folks that can benefit from those programs are aware? another piece is that So we have the philanthropy piece, but we also go deep in equity So we have invested and I hate to give numbers, but up with a 350 million Just in the past year to venture capital funds who will in turn invest into small businesses But we need to make sure that communities know that those dollars are available to those small businesses So I do think it's a resource issue, but I think we can all do a better job of making sure we are communicating and Marketing those opportunities to the communities that need them the most and I would say yeah the examples we hear of The public-private partnerships in order to make those resources really work and bring different streams of funding whether it's different Federal funding that we're trying to bring to bear at the local level along with philanthropic investment and investment from the employers That's where we've seen Some really exciting models and impact. I would also say for small businesses We've also really believe in intermediate intermediary models where chambers nonprofits the workforce centers others can play this role of helping facilitate either funding or career coaching connections So that the small businesses can participate in these opportunities and don't have to take on the administrative burden in the same way So we're I think doubling down quite a bit on the idea of how do we build more intermediaries? How do we build regional talent collaboratives with some of the the ARPA investments in this at the state level? So I think that's one of the ways that we we try to make it more accessible for different sizes of businesses as well I was just gonna highlight some of the local resources We have to here because I think Tracy Marquez's workforce center does a phenomenal job, you know here in the region And then I have the the honor to serve on the chamber board too And so just in short order our new chamber CEO Janna who's I'm sure is here You know and her team launched a pretty in a short turnaround a Internship support program if you would where the housing is provided a much lower You know rate and we looked at some of the interns that we get to the hospital And you ask them well, you know, where did you find a place to live? You know Craigslist's you know $800 in somebody's basement, but you know that could be a little bit Different than maybe going to Colorado College and getting a dorm room for the summer or something like that So you know that program will expand next year and really grow and be more beneficial and add value back to the chamber members Other things to add before we move to our next thing Tatiana. I actually have a small I have a question For small businesses, you know, especially during the pandemic a lot of jobs that could be automated were accelerated, right? They became automated much more quickly a lot in leisure and hospitality Manufacturing and so forth because we don't have enough workers. I worry about small businesses You know a medium or large business. It's easier for them to have the capital funds to be able to automate What about smaller businesses and you must deal with this in the office of the future of work? Yeah, I think it comes up quite a bit And it's a place where we have a lot more work to do because the idea of in the potential of digital transformation to Reduce the amount of human labor needed in areas where we do have these shortages and critical shortages I think is kind of the the journey ahead in areas where we can have more investments So I've seen it, you know with energized Colorado. They really focused on coaching and digital transformation for small businesses We're looking into other sort of investment strategies so that we can help provide some of that initial capital or coaching to see what? Automation technology what apps what e-commerce tools actually would be most useful for small businesses And I think our small business administration is also doing a lot of this work to kind of coach individuals businesses through that but huge potential and A lot of gaps right now. I think in what sort of services we have and how that's coordinated I'm thinking about that. I you know kind of of two minds here with my next question So I'm gonna start with At the policy level and and just see what you all might suggest in terms of Important changes at the state or federal level that could either positively or negatively affect workforce development Especially for local communities and what I'm thinking about is sometimes, you know policies or decisions are made that we think are going to be great, but Ultimately have a lot of negative downside or their blind spots So just what are you seeing on the horizon that you think are would be smart decisions or smart changes that could? Positively or on the other hand bad decisions that could adversely affect workforce development Certainly things that help control college costs We know college is too expensive whether you're at a community college or at a university and yet We also need to caution all of you to not say college is too expensive Or it's not worth it or it's no longer relevant all the data demonstrates very clearly that people who get a college Credential and doesn't have to be a bachelor's degree can be associates degree It can be a trade certificate But those folks who get one are much more likely to be employed with a livable wage own a home Contribute to their community But we need to make sure that it is affordable and it is becoming increasingly less so for a lot of reasons I'll give you an example. I was asked to Talk about the student loan issue and a lot of you have very strong feelings probably about whether or not we should be forgiving any debt, but I looked back at the tuition costs when I went to University of Colorado Beginning before many of you were born beginning in 1975 in state tuition was 574 dollars now the Minimum wage was two dollars and ten cents and it's easy to calculate how many hours I needed to work to pay for a year's worth of tuition and there's about 300 over 300 hours, but when you look now now minimum wage has gone up well above $12 an hour But the in-state tuition at University of Colorado is $12,500 and you'd have to work more than a thousand hours And if you had to pay the non-resident rate, you'd have to work over 3,000 hours that year in order just to cover your tuition and fees We need to recognize that we need to invest more into higher education to reduce the burden on students So that they can do what we need them to do which is pursue an education and gain the skills They need so that they can become productive contributors to our economy Yeah, I would say we've seen a huge amount of investment at the federal level and policy change that we're really excited about We have a federal administration that really is working to grow registered apprenticeships And I think often the narrative around apprenticeships is as an alternative to college and what we see is that it's actually a really powerful way To help people earn credentials as they're earning a paycheck So it's not an either or but the community college system institutions of higher ed and other Education providers and employers can play a role in that education and related instruction That's a part of an apprenticeship program And so we see it as a really intentional model to design the talent development that businesses need and create that Opportunity for someone not to have to pay for education as they're As they're learning and they're providing that immediate benefit to employers So I think those models and the investment from the at the federal level and promotion of registered apprenticeships as a Way of the future is really powerful and exciting I would say in terms of things that are concerning like Like at the state level we have a lot of agencies that are siloed and are trying to do really good work and invest funds we have Many federal agencies that have funding that is related to workforce development that operate entirely differently And so I would say one of my concerns is how do we make sure that as much money for Colorado comes to Colorado? And we don't miss opportunities from the infrastructure bill that can be used for workforce development from Other legislation that's passed because you know, it was a different agency that was looking at it So we're trying to make sure we're paying attention and Connecting the dots so that we're drawing down as much investment as possible I would also say we've seen sort of historic investments in them digital upskilling digit with the digital equity act So talking about automation and the need for individuals to build their digital skills That's part of work right now That's part of work of the future the half-life of a tech skill is about five years So all of us need to be learning all the time It's dark out there, but if you can raise your hand if you had to learn a digital skill in the last six months I'm gonna assume a lot of hands are up. Yeah They're up So I think we have a lot of narratives that are can be dangerous around who has digital skills who needs digital skills And how those are changing and when you are you know, sort of digitally literate when the reality is in order to Maximize the potential of technology and to really shape the workplace in a way. That's most efficient We all need to be building our digital skills all the time And so we're seeing historic investment in that and I think what keeps me up as night at night Is making sure that we make the most of the investment and not waste it And I'm just gonna say really quickly Joe back to your point on how critical having a four-year degree even a two-year degree is but especially so for communities of color and I think it's important to understand the barriers and challenges that some communities of color Face in getting that two-year and four-year degree and how do we augment that back to the point of apprenticeships? internships again working with non-profit workforce leaders to say it's a two-way conversation can our employees volunteer to organization as well as have your constituents come into Bank of America and Shadow right do an apprenticeship do an internship so that we can build that relationship to give students Access and have them have the experience before they decide on the career program I just wanted to double-click on the fact that I think in apprenticeships internships dual enrollment To help with cost of college is critical as we support our communities of color with getting these advanced degrees That's so important and we all talk about the importance of being doing career-connected learning where Students are learning they're taking classes But they have an opportunity to engage with an employer and to learn some skills and frankly to develop some social capital That particularly students of color don't come in with but we need employers to help us do that And I know it's some ways an extra burden for all of you when as employers when you do that But it's a way to build your future. You need to help build that workforce because again our Students of color they come in often with of course greater financial aid Sometimes greater academic needs greater student support needs Costs more to help them be successful and where do they tend to go to the community colleges the regional comprehensive that's Comprehensives that generally have fewer dollars to spend per student So we're investing the least in the students with the greatest needs and the students who we need the most To be successful. That's just something again I want folks to be really focused on how do we make sure that students who we did not traditionally serve well in higher education Can be served well now and when we look at achievement gaps We need not to say why is it that black or latino students underperform white students, but why do? institutions Underperform with respect to their students of color I think you know just to capitalize on that You know with the state and the Colorado Cares Act and then investment in that funding with two years, you know in the healthcare industry to really capitalize on that expose it to all of you know the students in town Because then we can tie it back to our send program So if you get one of those initial certifications, whether it's a certified nursing assistant or a medical assistant Pharmacy tech whatever the case may be you get that entry-level job And then we're gonna take you from there where you're getting on the job training You're getting exposure to the environment and then you're just gonna excel that much more In school when you're going back for those, you know higher-level certifications or your entry-level degrees and things like that I would also add to we know that people of color are more likely to be in those low-wage jobs They're more likely to be in jobs that have the highest potential for automation And I think those are the jobs that we often undervalue the skills that people learn from there I think when I had an entry-level job. I learned the hardest skills In customer service that I use every day and there's often not a way They're often undervalued in terms of oh well that they don't have a degree But they have four years or five years ten years of retail experience That's really important experience and how do we share the narrative of that and make sure that those skills are valued and skills are sort Of that currency that we're using I think the Colorado Department of Higher Education has done a lot of great work with the prior learning assessment so that people are able to get more and more credit towards a degree for work experience and for Experiential learning opportunities, but we have more work to do and I think it's on all of us to acknowledge where Those really hard to teach skills are learned and how we can value them differently when we're looking for for talent Cool. We have just a couple more minutes for this section. So Tatiana. Yeah, just really quickly I wanted to say you know what we're really talking about here, you know what wraparound services You know for people who need it the most and this can be you know childcare transportation You know some maybe some rudimentary skills that they didn't quite get during high school and so forth And I find it interesting because there is a startup UN Blair Actually, it's Blair Lee's son the the former prime minister of England young guy tech guy and he basically said You know, why are we putting so much onus on the students? Let's first of all Let's partner more with the employers. They understand what they need and in many cases, they're willing to help fund this Let's be basically a matchmaker and an eduverse. I believe is the name of his company and Let's provide mentors From day one until whenever that person says they don't need it anymore And that might be years and years down the road and some of them are volunteers and some of them are paid The graduation rates from these certification associate degree and four-year degree programs is amazing For the kids that go through that but also just a lot of them are and it's focused on communities of color But a lot of them are also just coming straight out of high school And they're doing some training while they are in this internship program and I couldn't believe it they are approaching 90 percent of You know two-year Still at the same company and now some other statistics are coming in It's it's really astounding and it goes back to what you're talking about just in terms of providing the support mechanisms that Individuals need. I know Kimberly wants us to move on but one quick thing. Okay It just made me think Tantiana about a program that we just rolled out at and Metropolitan State University in Denver is one of our schools that's taken part and we created these what we call dyads So we have a two-year institution a four-year institution and a corporate partner at the table We meet with the corporate partner again to understand what are the needs of your corporation and then we're working with those two institutions to matriculate students through the program to land and Guarantee jobs and this is specifically for H for Hispanic Latino students in the space of health care So we wanted to be really intentional about health and really intentional about supporting our Hispanic Latino students But wanted to give that example of exactly what you just laid out and how we drive this work forward It's exciting and it's a probably we could continue this conversation Well in to and through our happy hour and hopefully we will But we've got a few more before we wrap up our panel and then take a few questions from the audience and our tech is working So I've got a lot of good things. Thank you all for contributing. So many rich good questions As we conclude the formal part of our panel here today I'm going to ask each of you to just kind of reflect on a couple of questions What is the call to action that's really what we want to have as our takeaway for our region regarding workforce development So the first question I have for you is what advice would this panel give? To the folks gathered here today or who may be watching this once the recording is complete What advice would you give to business people? We've got community leaders here elected officials. There are even students here that could really Help to stimulate a much more robust workforce development ecosystem Happy to start and I thought I thought about this question a little bit this morning in more detail But I have three thoughts. I think the first is to Convene and collaborate we've said that those two words a lot today But it's understanding that not one of us private or public can do this work alone And so you have to create that coalition to understand really understand the needs of the community and of the students So I think the first thing the first call to action is to convene and collaborate The second is to allow data to drive the work and everything that we do We allow data to dictate what works for a particular community as we drive workforce development And so I think we've worked with some schools that said I've been doing Hospitality for ten years. I do not want to change hospitality But when you look at the data there aren't as many hospitality jobs in your community So you really have to look at data to say where do I need to adjust my curriculum to make to make sure I'm Ensuring institutional student success And then the last piece is being nimble back to the automation piece things are changing so quickly We all have to be nimble to the changing you changing needs of technology And the changing needs of our students base and how they learn and how they think about careers They're not gen X is a very and they're not baby boomers. They're not going to sit in the cube for 40 hours a week That's not how they want to give back to the community And so being nimble and ready to change as it relates to our students as well as the needs of our community and the growing business community I think it involves also a very important cultural shift and we've seen it now for years But we really need to accelerate it and it is the blurring of lines between different Institutions or rather stages of life. We used to think of you know K-12 you finish there Then you went to college and we didn't think about you and if we are college until you showed up or while we were recruiting you And for a lot of first-generation students low-income students that Transition between high school and college just wasn't happening Students said they wanted to go to college, but they didn't come from the kind of family that was taking them on a tour around the country to visit Colleges they kind of would show up at whatever college was closest by often a community college But often on the day classes start not ready not knowing what it took to be successful in college We now are seeing more collaboration between the high schools and the colleges where students are taking college classes While they're in high school through concurrent enrollment and being better prepared We're seeing more high school teachers come to the college more college instructors go to the high school to share ideas But we also need to recognize that's the same issue with employers We can't wait you can't wait as employers for students to just graduate Walk across the stage get a degree and expect to show up and perform well in your offices at your companies You need to work with us before they graduate to make sure they are getting the Again social capital that they need getting the training they need to be good Employees not just good students and then you have to recognize that your employees are going to need to come back and Get more skilling over and over through the years because jobs are changing so fast So we've just got to collaborate more. I know we're seeing more and more of it We've got to keep our foot on the gas We've really got to emphasize that if we want each other and most importantly if we want our young people to be successful I'm just gonna add on it from a personal level and I've got three little kids And so I look at you know, how do we get parents more engaged in this topic too to really help provide that guidance at Home like Tatiana mentioned earlier about you know get the list of the you know Most needed jobs and things like that on their refrigerator But really help help them get a more engaged in school and things like that to make those choices as they go You know through the school system and then you know often to the career that they want to pursue Yeah, I was just gonna say follow the directions on Tatiana's slides that she laid out because I think that's the being data driven collaborating and figuring out what your actual Talent gaps are what skills specifically that you need in your roles and where you can build those whether that's in-house or in partnership with an institution of higher education And I think thinking really critically about those untapped talent pools that we've mentioned we've there are so many people that are underutilized in our labor market that are very high skilled and can Create a huge difference in an organization and they are disconnected from a lot of the systems that we Primarily recruit from and so thinking really creatively about those wraparound services and how you reach in and connect into different communities So that people with disabilities people of color new Americans are all able to actually find opportunity as An employer or as a at a non-profit organization or a service provider. I think it's the the real next step for us all Thank you. Yeah question. Oh, go ahead. Yeah, I was just gonna add I think that also Back to you know the wraparound services and doing sort of all of the above I think something that our community could focus on too is you know If you ask a lot of employers, they really do like the four-year degrees They say, oh, you know, these kids have critical thinking skills. They're good communicators They have good writing skills and and so forth and I'm talking primarily liberal arts because of course the more specialized ones are specialized, right But it's interesting because they also turn around and say well, but I need these Specific skills or I need this specific Certification and I don't think it has to be either or I I think what we could do is is Incorporate some of that skills-based training and even some certifications During a four-year liberal arts degree and that's something that I've coined the applied liberal arts Program, but I think it just makes a lot of sense because that way you can have someone who's maybe a political science major or a history major Who's gonna get great training during those four years? But maybe they have a proclivity towards health care and they also want to become a you know a nursing assistant or IT skills they like computers or whatever and they can actually get You know a certification that when they graduate They have a job and it's probably gonna be a livable wage job and they also have those four-year Degree skills, so that's one thing. I really quickly want to mention and then also back to my refrigerator list I do have a musician and political science major But they are also very aware So like the musician is also recording arts and production and those are very good technical jobs So again a little bit of both Let me just say one quick thing. You know we Ask educational institutions why they are not sending more students through the high-demand fields Like engineering or computer science as opposed to the liberal arts Have any of you had teenagers You know that slide you showed where your kids were looking pretty bored I know that was for dramatic effect, but I tried you know my dad told me be an engineer go to engineering school I did I hated it. I sucked at it. I found something else to do. I had no idea. I was ever gonna become a lawyer or an educator We need to recognize that people should have the ability to change direction And we need to have an educational system that supports that and prepares students for that Thank you Excellent stuff, and I know it's gonna line up nicely with some of our audience answer questions here in just a minute Last question for this panel in the formal part of our conversation What action or idea has this conversation triggered for each of you concerning your own work? What are you taking away from the conversation right now that might Have you re-examine or do something differently in your own work? Greater reliance on on the use of data. We really do need to be looking at workforce Demands and then figuring out how we tailor programs and interest students in those programs that we are graduating students who are prepared for a living wage job. I Think for me is back to Tatiana's point about rap services and rap opportunities I think we do a good job But it is beyond the philanthropic investments and how we support Corporations and nonprofit institutions. We do have a leader on loan programs So for example, if we don't fund an organization We can have an executive from Bank of America come to a nonprofit organization for 12 to 18 months and provide free Leadership within that organization So it is thinking about how we can go deeper in partnerships with institutions and nonprofit partners to provide those rap opportunities I would say Highlighting and figuring out how we can continue to highlight the stories of businesses that are taking the the both and of all of the above Approach to really crack the nut of these talent shortage issues and talent development issues to build Sustainable pipelines for their workforce. It's not one silver bullet But it's all of these different examples that might apply and be modified differently in different contexts But creating more of these stories And sharing those those best practices and opportunities that others can learn from I think is something we can do a lot better job of I'll go back to an earlier comment just about taking advantage of the Colorado Cares, you know act funding And then really we have two years to really capitalize on that here in the community And so how do we do that and connect it then with some of the internal programs that we have to then grow the workforce? Great. Thank you so much Let's give a round of applause and then we'll do our Q&A from the audience Thank you all so much Alright, so we've got some fantastic questions. I have curated a few of them for you Thank you all so much for sharing these we have about 15 minutes before happy hour So I'm going to start with this first question Which is how do businesses like a bank that need entry-level workers? Tellers and and this and the like compete with a workforce that is more that might be offering Or a workforce that is interested in in the more Maybe that might be perceived as not a job for me. So how do you? You know that how do you deal with these kind of retail functions and and maybe even Workers that are not interested in working in a physical space, but want to work from home So two quick points Max a lot Okay, great. So two quick points I think it is a misnomer that at Bank of America I'm just gonna use my company as an example that you have to have a four-year degree to work at the firm Over 80% of our jobs do not require a four-year degree. I mean that's important to call out Secondly, I started at the firm 27 years ago as a bank teller and the bank has invested in Me and other employees. We I think we do a solid job at that of upskilling and re-skilling which is key It's not just hiring and that's the end of the relationship It's how do we continue to support our employee base to be promoted into that next opportunity? So hopefully I'm answering answering the question, but you do that by investing in your employees year-to-year And making sure they have every opportunity for professional development and growth to get to the next to the next thing Yeah, thank you Ron Really a chance to talk about it too much yet But maybe a great plug then for you know some of the military Communities that we have here. So one of the highest underemployed, you know segments of our population are military spouses And so is there a way then to engage? To engage them to get into the workforce and I don't Fort Carson has like 18 Career skills programs today There's not one in finance. So maybe that's an opportunity To get someone into a bank, you know that way as they're coming and transitioning out of the military So again that kind of matching up of what is the data saying where the opportunities and we don't just have Institutionalized programs, but we're really matching programs to what the reality is Yeah, thank you for that and there were a couple of questions just around that speaking of veterans and military spouses Just as an opportunity in this community. What what can we do to? Invite more engagement there was another question One of the things we're trying to do and Lance Bolton is really taking the lead on this We talked about PLA prior learning assessment. We know a lot of military folks who are here Separate from the military and want to stay here. They want a job They don't have an educational credential that lines up with the job. They want they don't have a lot of time They don't have a lot of money, but we are able to take those educational or those military training programs and Convert those into college credit and say coming to show us what you learn in the military We'll give you college credit It will take you much less time and less money then to complete a credential and go into the workforce So we need to all of our institutions need to do more of that. I know you CCS does that as well I think as an employer you have to be sensitive to the needs of a veteran that may not be the same as a traditional hire What we do is we create cohorts for our veterans that come into Bank of America So they are paired with like with other military individuals in the space and then they have a battle buddy We call it a battle buddy a one-on-one individual that's going to mentor and coach Through their time at the firm and they would also allow them to do rotational programs So they're not they're not married to one particular area until they find the right fit for them But it's staying close to them and making sure they feel supported and have what they need to be successful Thank you And we the last job I had in the army was to be the fork arson garrison commander So all the transition programs fell under my purview while I was there and they've grown And so I think when I left we had 14 or so and now they're up to 18 and Some don't work, you know, but all the 18 that are there are all started by companies for the most part So Microsoft was a huge Skill set on that list. They have a course was over at the catalyst campus. I still think it's there But that's a still a successful program. That's right here in town that places people nationally So maybe we should be taking a harder look at that one for needs here in our community That's one example But companies invest to put a 12 to 20 week program on the base then they get direct hires right into their workforce And all that takes is a little bit of coordination and some agreements and things like that Between the bases and an employer. I think we need more awareness on these programs that are out there We have internships where you can self design it for a company and a service member again It could be up to 20 weeks depending on how that unit leadership Will let you go for prior to exiting Your service commitment and then hiring our heroes is another great entity in town that offers 12 week fellowships for service members to Work for free while they're still in the military at a company to gain experience and then see if it's a good fit And they have a similar program for military spouses, too Which is more oriented towards hiring or so after six weeks if it's a good fit. Thank you I just like to add that this is sort of a crude crude measure, but remember in my slide I showed almost 85,000 Separated retired military in El Paso County because we're only number number two Do I think Hawaii in terms of people wanting to stay here? Yep, if you look at the VA's data, we will be the El Paso County will be the number one most populated Veteran County in the nation in about eight more years And you juxtapose those 85,000 to the 24,000 job openings It's kind of kind of interesting right just even if you look at the current data monthly 400 service members transition out of the service whether it's retirement or their service commitment was up every month Here in our community and so if you times you have generally will stay here or so housing is a challenge That's a factor for them when they make that decision, but even if it's half of that times that by 12 That's not an insignificant number for our workforce We didn't talk about this But many of you know that I my work is within the nonprofit sector coming alongside social sector leaders But Tatiana you touched on it. I'm just curious to know perspective on the Pre-k so the investment in early childhood education to enable workers to actually Migrate into into better paying jobs, etc So just some thoughts from your perspective maybe practices that you're seeing either at the state level or within the community college system Or your company. Yeah, I'll speak quickly locally back to my point earlier around the executive leadership councils that we've stood up across the nation the initial Council was in Charlotte and our CEO Brian Moynihan leads that that council and it's in partnership with about 20 other CEOs in Charlotte Mecklenburg County and their goal being to look at all the social issues in Mecklenburg County Specifically and how we can support that work. The first thing they did was establish free pre-k for all That was it free pre-k pre-k for everyone knowing how critical it is to the workforce Right and for economic mobility So just wanted to share that lens that by having that collaboration You had the influence and power and the resources to get get that done pretty quickly And I think that's a really important step and I'm glad more states are doing it But even before pre-k we've got to look at early childhood from infant care, you know up to those first year second year That's very expensive. It's hard to get many parents need it We've been asked to produce more ECE more early childhood workers And we have those programs at every one of our colleges But frankly, there's very little interest in those programs because they don't make any more than they would make if they went to work at McDonald's We've got to recognize that in some of these areas like early childhood frankly even school teachers or Some of our medical fields Professionals that the reason we don't have more and more students wanting to sign up for those programs is because we're not paying them A living wage and if we're not willing to pay more for early childhood workers and school teachers and nurses Well, we're gonna get what we get I just want to add that during the pandemic we lost a hundred and twenty four thousand child care workers across the United States And most of those have not come back for exactly the reason you say I Will say we're working on apprenticeships as a one tool to help with that talent shortage So we have early childhood education apprenticeships and we have intermediaries set up through the state that are Supporting those as well as apprenticeships for for teachers And this is a there was an announcement yesterday from the White House around how do we invest in that's pipe talent pipeline for for teachers So figuring out how we make it an earn-and-learn model So you're not having to stop working in order to build those skills and then and then enter the workforce So we're we're seeing some success there, but yeah, totally plus one to what Joseph said Great. Oh, yeah, one other quick thing. I just want to say is Back to the the Tabor question earlier Really want to go there? Yeah, I know Actually the person who who said something during that came up to me. She's very nice and we agreed You know, you can't just throw money at things But you can be very strategic with the money you have and that's I think part of the reason that I feel the way that I do in terms of let's look at these things as Investments so if we're going to you know say, okay, we're not going to give these these refunds as an example In the future Well, let's look at the things like early childhood education that you know are not only the right thing to do And we know that there are good outcomes for the kids and the families and so forth But again, they become taxpayers these these women who have left the workforce become taxpayers You're much more likely to have stable finances within a home Which is also better outcomes for the children and so forth So I think there's a lot of positive ripple effects in terms of utilizing those dollars effectively Thank you. We are just about at our time So I'm going to do my best Chelsea to give you a quick synthesis of the key takeaways And she's going to pop them on the screen and then I'm going to pass it back to David Siegel I love this idea of being strategic with the money that we have right really wise investments You've also all of you have talked about the importance of Convening coalition building and collaborating. I love the idea that you've suggested of these coalitions Kimmel and that have come around Yep, grow workforce through veteran populations and communities of color Employer engagement with K-12 and higher ed you nailed it. You guys can read it. I don't need to say anything else Thank you Chelsea. That was fantastic This will be on the website in a couple of days the UCCS economic forum. Yeah, great So I think we are concluded again big round of applause for our panel. Thank you all so very much David it's back to you Thank you, Kimberly as our region grows and becomes more influential in the state's economic vitality We're pleased to share a few words from governor polis Polis and it's really an honor to close out this year's exciting economic forum Colorado is proud of our thriving economy and we're working hard to ensure that everyone in our state can really feel that success Over the last few years through the COVID-19 pandemic into Colorado's very strong economic recovery We're trying to be as strategic as possible with our fiscal and our economic decisions And that wouldn't have been possible without solid economic data that we base our decisions in planning On our the data is not just important for me as governor It's also critical for all businesses across Colorado local governments and so many more who rely on it That's why supporting the individuals and organizations that produce and disseminate rigorous unbiased Information is so important because access to good data is the foundation of informing good decisions I want to thank the uccs economic forum doctor Tatiana Bailey and her associates Rebecca wilder All of you for doing your part in providing community opportunities to learn more about our economy and what makes it tick Tatiana is a member of one of my advisory committees, which is made up of Leading economists and I really appreciate her work on behalf of the state of Colorado Collaborating with our state's economists as well I want to thank all of you for participating in the University of Colorado Colorado Springs economic forum for all the work you do to make sure that we have an even more prosperous Colorado Wow Do you remember all the facts that we learned and we went through I know I will be digesting For a long time over a beverage in the networking event But thank you for so much information and great conversation And I'm proud to really report as I was looking through all of the data that uccs students graduate with below the national average of average debt and Tell students do even better. So I'm proud to report that on behalf of campus Thank you So as as we all know This is Tatiana's last economic forum event as she and Rebecca wilder leave the College of Business next month I'd like to take a moment to thank Tatiana for her dedication to the forum over the last eight years She arrived well before I did and I know has really grown the work of the forum and its impact on our community She's made measurable impact on the forum through her research Presentations and of course her work for our annual events and partnerships She's been an economic leader and expert offering insight into the local state and national economies Her contributions have informed business and government decisions for Colorado Spring leaders in powerful and impactful ways The economic forum has been fortunate to have Tatiana at the helm and we wish Tatiana the very best in her future endeavors On behalf of uccs the College of Business and our economic forum partners. We want to say once again. Thank you Thank you So now I have some exciting Announcement to make as we think about the future of the economic forum and I know Tatiana and I have already had conversations of how we're going to collaborate Both on the work of the forum and the important workforce development that work that she's going to be doing So I'm really excited to announce that we have named an interim faculty director of the ucc economic forum Dr. Joe Craig here he is So I promised Joe that he wouldn't have to speak today So I'm going to just introduce him But I wanted everybody to see the face of the economic forum as we transition to a new director and hopefully We cannot collaborate on what this next chapter brings Joe is a tenured professor in the Department of Economics Earned his master's in doctorate in economics from UC Boulder. We won't hold that against him He joined the economics department at uccs in 2012 as an assistant professor becoming an associate professor in 2019 and Recently becoming to take care of the department in 2021 Dr. Craig is a specialist in applied economics and analytics with publications Ranging from cyclical capital hangovers to the effects of market Restructuring restructuring and even how what you wear can affect how much students learn which I think is Fascinating to chat with Joe about We're thrilled to be bringing Joe to the economic forum as interim faculty director His chair of the economics department He'll bring a wealth of knowledge to the economic forum and we're excited for the work that he will do in the coming months We're grateful for his willingness to serve in this position while we search for a permanent director. Thank you Joe This past year Tatiana successfully launched the economic forum fellowship program And I was so proud to meet the students and have them come today Part of our efforts will be in bringing students to be a part of the work of the economic forum is doing and in fact Joe had class today during this time. So many of his students are also in the audience So let's welcome them to the forum So thank you for joining me in welcoming Joe to this important role at the UCCS for both the College of Business and the community As we begin this new chapter, we have the opportunity to work together to establish our vision for the economic forum I'd like to invite each of our partners to join me next month with Joe at a breakfast at UCCS downtown to have a lively Conversation about the future of the forum You'll have an opportunity to meet and speak with Joe and we'll have a lively Discussion about how we can work together to create opportunities for our community members our business Government leader leaders our students and the programs that you all rely on as part of the forum If you're unable to join for breakfast Invitations will be forthcoming. I invite you to always connect with me. I'm available. You know where to find me and Don't hesitate to reach out. I'd welcome the opportunity to chance to talk about the ways we can partner together The event will be held October 11th from 7 30 to 9 30 And we'll be sending you more details shortly lastly Not to worry save the date The 27th annual economic forum is scheduled for September 7th next year right here So we look forward to continuing this wonderful event and we'll plan to see you next year. Thank you