9 Convergence of Education and Workforce Policy with Guest Dr. Jeff McCord - a podcast by ACT Workforce

Dr. Jeff McCord has unique insight following a decades-long career of straddling the worlds of business and education. After 20 years in the private sector working for Fortune 300 companies and then as Vice President at Northeast State Community College in Tennessee, he has seen a pressing need for educators and business leaders to communicate in order to improve workforce development at the regional and national levels.   In his current role as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, McCord stresses the need for practical execution in creating partnerships for the health of the workforce. In this episode of Ready for Work, McCord talks with ACT’s Jasen Jones about the importance of understanding all voices with a stake in the workforce and sharing a common language. “Educators might not understand that business and industry have educational systems within their walls,” McCord says, “so how do we as educators integrate into those systems so we can have opportunities and cut down on misunderstandings between those two systems?” McCord also sees skilled and technical jobs as key to workforce prosperity. “For 30 years, we disparaged those jobs and disabled the infrastructure for those jobs,” he says. Communities need to work on rebuilding a skills pipeline consisting of industry veterans who know the skills needed for those jobs and who can prepare the incoming generation for success. “We have a business issue that can have positive social impact if we can solve it,” McCord says. This episode covers:   The importance of aligning education and workforce   Tips on rebuilding the workforce for 21st-century demands   Success stories from workforce development partnerships in Northeast Tennessee   Why apprenticeships can drive individual and national prosperity   A preview of Dr. McCord’s presentation at the upcoming ACT Workforce Summit

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