Workforce Development

Programs designed to build capacity of regions or communities by focusing on creating, sustaining, and retaining a viable workforce that can support current and future business and industry. As an essential part of economic development, programs are focused on identifying needs of employers and workers, building capacity of communities, identifying education gaps, and opportunities.

Audiences include business owners, managers, unemployed or under employed, local elected officials, economic development professionals, business organizations, local post-secondary, adult and private vocational schools, and apprenticeship programs.

Example program topics: career exploration and planning; job readiness instruction; industry-driven education, occupational skill development, vocational technical training, and job placement and retention services.

 


Use this 1-page outline as a self-study, or use it to guide a conversation with a mentee or student. Whether working in business, education, the non-profit or government sector, mid-career can bring exciting professional development and growth, as well as great internal worry and doubt… often at the same time.…


This 1-page guide can help you recognize potential in mentees or students, and to think about ways to deliberately communicate what you recognize. Observation might be the most important thing a mentor or teacher can do. Try to see in your mentee (or students) something that has not been seen…


Great questions can powerfully move people to act, to get unstuck, and to see potential. They help us shift perspective — a critical component for solution-finding, meaningful communication, and daily living. This 1-page outline provides 20 anytime mentoring questions that supplement the 40 conversation-starter questions found in The Encouraging Mentor,…


One of the most important things an organization can do is encourage its employees (or volunteers). Mentoring is a show of faith and an investment in people, your most valuable resource. But formal mentoring programs can be awkward. Alternatively, nonformal mentoring, grounded in adult learning theory and nonformal teaching practice,…


Future Opportunities for Rural Workforce and Rural Development (FORWARD) Sponsored by Ascendium Education Group, the FORWARD curriculum is designed to support Cooperative Extension Professionals (CEPs) working to address workforce development issues in rural communities. This project expands upon Cooperative Extension’s experience with youth engagement and career development to target non-traditional…