Fred Dedrick's blog

I attended an extraordinary event last week in Mobile, Alabama called Worlds of Opportunity. This annual career expo for almost 10,000 eighth graders in southwest Alabama was sponsored by the NFWS collaborative, Southwest Alabama Workforce Development Council (SAWDC).

Mr. President, there has been a lot of advice and suggestions given by economists, academics, and think tanks about improving the economy and creating jobs in America.  Many of these are good ideas, but some would take years to get even some of the 25 million unemployed Americans back to work.

A common refrain heard in discussions regarding the nation’s job shortage is that there are millions of job openings, but employers cannot find workers with the right skills to fill them.  With 25 million Americans looking for full time work how is that possible?

The Social Innovation Fund supports high-performing organizations developing innovative solutions to social problems. Earlier this year, the National Fund was among the very first organizations selected to receive a grant through the Social Innovation Fund, highlighting the importance of our work and the potential it offers for identifying and bringing innovative workforce solutions to scale.

Here’s something we may not always think about: how scary a new training and career advancement program can be for incumbent employees. Watch the three-minute video clip below. It’s from an interview with Timothy Meade, a mental health worker at Temple University Episcopal (part of Temple University Health System) and a participant in the District 1199c Training and Upgrading Fund.