[Senate Hearing 117-390]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                      S. Hrg. 117-390

                      SUPPORTING QUALITY WORKFORCE
                       DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
                       AND INNOVATION TO ADDRESS
                         BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                                 OF THE

                    COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,
                          LABOR, AND PENSIONS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                                   ON

 EXAMINING SUPPORTING QUALITY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND 
              INNOVATION TO ADDRESS BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT

                               __________

                           FEBRUARY 15, 2022

                               __________

 Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                                Pensions

[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

        Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
        
                              __________

                                
                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE                    
48-901 PDF                  WASHINGTON : 2023                    
          
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          COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS

                    PATTY MURRAY, Washington, Chair
BERNIE SANDERS (I), Vermont          RICHARD BURR, North Carolina, 
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania       Ranking Member
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin             RAND PAUL, M.D., Kentucky
CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut   SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
TIM KAINE, Virginia                  BILL CASSIDY, M.D., Louisiana
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
TINA SMITH, Minnesota                MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  ROGER MARSHALL, M.D., Kansas
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            TIM SCOTT, South Carolina
JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado          MITT ROMNEY, Utah
                                     TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
                                     JERRY MORAN, Kansas

                     Evan T. Schatz, Staff Director
               David P. Cleary, Republican Staff Director
                  John Righter, Deputy Staff Director
                           
                           C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                               STATEMENTS

                       TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2022

                                                                   Page

                           Committee Members

Murray, Hon. Patty, Chair, Committee on Health, Education, Labor, 
  and Pensions, Opening statement................................     1
Burr, Hon. Richard, Ranking Member, a U.S. Senator from the State 
  of North Carolina, Opening statement...........................     3

                               Witnesses

Mack, Melinda, Executive Director, New York Association of 
  Training and Employment Professionals, Albany, NY..............     6
    Prepared statement...........................................     7
    Summary statement............................................    11
Watts, Ashli, President & CEO, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, 
  Frankfort, KY..................................................    12
    Prepared statement...........................................    13
    Summary statement............................................    16
Beard, Peter, Senior Vice President for Regional Workforce 
  Development, Greater Houston Partnership, Houston, TX..........    17
    Prepared statement...........................................    18
    Summary statement............................................    22
Sherard-Freeman, Nicole, Group Executive, Jobs, Economy & Detroit 
  at Work, City of Detroit, Detroit, MI..........................    22
    Prepared statement...........................................    24
    Summary statement............................................    28

 
                      SUPPORTING QUALITY WORKFORCE
                       DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
                       AND INNOVATION TO ADDRESS
                         BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT

                              ----------                              


                       Tuesday, February 15, 2022

                                       U.S. Senate,
       Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in 
room 216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Patty Murray, Chair 
of the Committee, presiding.
    Present: Senators Murray [presiding], Casey, Murphy, Kaine, 
Hassan, Smith, Rosen, Hickenlooper, Burr, Cassidy, Braun, 
Marshall, and Tuberville.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MURRAY

    The Chair. Good morning. The Senate Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions Committee will please come to order. Today 
we are holding a hearing on supporting our workforce and 
addressing systemic barriers to employment. I will have an 
opening statement, followed by Senator Burr, and then we will 
introduce our witnesses.
    After the witnesses give their testimony, Senators will 
each have 5 minutes for a round of questions. And while we were 
again unable to have this hearing fully opened to the public or 
media for in-person attendance, live video with closed 
captioning is available on our Committee website at 
help.senate.gov.
    If you are in need of any other accommodations, you can 
reach out to the Committee or the Office of Congressional 
Accessibility Services. We continue to see a high number of new 
COVID cases, so we are having this hearing in a larger room 
where we can be socially distanced, limiting the number of 
people who are in the room, and accommodating both some of our 
Committee Members and witnesses through video as we have done 
previously, and taking additional measures such as wearing 
masks. As always, I really do appreciate the work from the 
staff, of the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Architect of the Capitol, 
and our Committee Clerk and his staff to make this hearing as 
safe as possible.
    Our Nation has made great progress rebuilding our economy 
from the COVID-19 crisis. We have seen the highest economic 
growth in nearly four decades, added a record 6 million jobs 
last year, and saw the biggest annual improvement in employment 
since we started collecting data. But our work is not done, and 
that is especially clear when we look at how unequal this 
crisis and the recovery so far have been and how that has 
compounded the inequities that existed before the pandemic.
    The unemployment rate for Black workers is still twice the 
rate for white workers, and Black and Latino workers were both 
nearly twice as likely as white workers to report losing income 
last month. Meanwhile, women have accounted for almost two-
thirds of jobs lost during this pandemic, and we heard last 
week about the challenges people with disabilities face in the 
workplace and the need to make sure they can get competitive 
integrated job opportunities, gain financial independence, and 
participate more fully in our communities. These inequities are 
holding our Country back.
    We can't build back stronger when our economy leaves out 
people who are ready and willing to take on good jobs. We can't 
build back fairer when people who want to learn new skills and 
seek better jobs continue to face discrimination because of 
their race or their age or their income or their disability, or 
because their primary language is not English. And we can't 
build an economy that works for working families when a single 
parent cannot afford childcare so they can go to a job or 
participate in a workforce development program, or when workers 
who can't afford to invest in new skills and get the jobs they 
want simply because they can't afford textbooks or 
transportation or tuition, or to even take time off from their 
current job to take a class at a local community college or 
pursue their higher education goals.
    Of course, these barriers don't just hold back working 
families. They hold back businesses who are looking for workers 
to take on good paying jobs, and then our economy as a whole. 
As we recover from this pandemic, we have to do so much better 
than simply returning to a normal that wasn't working for 
working families. If we want to rebuild an economy that works 
for everyone, we need to tear down the systemic barriers that 
stand between so many people and the opportunities they need to 
gain new skills, get better jobs, and support their families.
    That is why our Nation's workforce development programs are 
so important. High quality, work based learning, registered 
apprenticeships, and other workforce development programs can 
help people grow in their careers or develop new skills and 
start a new career. And when workforce development programs 
provide assistance with transportation and housing and 
childcare, help getting work gear like uniforms and tools, 
accommodations for people with disabilities, and other support 
to help people overcome barriers, they ensure that everyone can 
access the opportunities that will help them succeed.
    In a national survey of workforce development program 
administrators, nearly all of them said supportive services 
were important for program retention and completion. In fact, 
program administrators who reported they were able to meet 
these needs, saw four out of five participants complete their 
programs. For those who couldn't meet these needs, reported 
completion rates of less than one in three. Those numbers make 
clear how transformative workers centered practices and support 
can be.
    I have seen in my home State of Washington what happens 
when people have access to workforce development programs that 
understand and tackle the barriers between them and a high 
quality job. When Ali lost his job during the pandemic, the 
African community housing and development in South Seattle 
helped him get financial aid, enroll in classes at Highline 
Community College, get a part time job at an airline, and set 
him out on a new high quality career path in aviation.
    When Rosa Linda, who is a single parent in Yakima, wanted 
to improve her credentials and increase her pay, the public 
workforce system helped her enroll in Yakima Valley College, 
work on her resume writing and job interview skills, and then 
get a new, better paying job in teaching. She no longer 
worries, she says, about putting food on the table and was 
excited to be able to afford holiday gifts for her family this 
year. And across Washington State, the Aerospace Joint 
Apprenticeship Committee offers registered apprenticeship and 
pre-apprenticeship programs, including to young people who have 
been impacted by the justice system.
    These programs give young people who often have no work 
history the opportunity and support to build the real world 
experience and skills and industry connections they need to set 
out on new, high quality careers.
    Not only have I heard so many other stories from Washington 
State about the importance of these programs, I have seen it 
firsthand. When I was growing up, my family was able to make it 
through very hard times because my mom was provided the support 
and opportunity to go back to school, get training, and 
ultimately get a paying--higher paying job that allowed her and 
our family to succeed. That made a huge difference for all of 
us.
    Many families today have had the rug completely pulled out 
from under them by this pandemic, and I want to make sure they 
have the same opportunities that my mom did. So I look forward 
to hearing from our witnesses today about what we can do to 
continue tearing down barriers and building back our Country 
stronger and fairer. And I am proud to say we do have a 
bipartisan track record on workforce issues, like when we 
passed the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act in 2014 and 
when we reauthorized the Perkins Career and Technical Education 
Act in 2018.
    I know this remains a priority for everyone on this 
Committee. So I hope we can continue to make progress, both by 
strengthening programs that help workers overcome barriers, and 
also by addressing some of the systemic issues that create 
barriers in the first place, like racism, sexism, ageism, and 
other forms of discrimination, poverty, barriers to workers 
organizing and collective bargaining, inadequate accommodations 
for people with disabilities, and a lack of paid leave, child 
care and other policies that help makes things a little easier 
on working families. With that, I will turn it over to Senator 
Burr for his opening remarks.

                   OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BURR

    Senator Burr. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am glad we are 
having this hearing today. I want to welcome our witnesses for 
being here to testify. I am glad to see we have some who would 
join us in the hearing room. Madam Chair, with the District of 
Columbia changing their COVID guidelines effective today, where 
they no longer require proof of vaccination to enter a 
building, and with their proposed February 28th of the 
elimination of an indoor mask mandate, I do hope that the 
Committee will return to our regular in-person hearings very 
soon.
    We are here to talk about America's workforce. This is an 
important topic. We are in a period of great economic 
uncertainty. The pandemic has changed a lot of the ways that we 
live and work. Thanks to extravagant spending in Washington, 
American families are facing 40 year high inflation rates and 
paychecks are increasingly stretched to put food on the table, 
gas in the car. Plain and simple, this is a tax on working 
class. Looking forward to the discussion today to hear more 
about the ways that we can support pathways to good paying 
jobs.
    With all the changes to our economy, now more than ever it 
is time for us to think about innovative solutions. Everyone is 
here--everyone here is interested in finding ways to reduce 
barriers to employment. But the Biden administration seems to 
be creating their own barriers to employment. Look no further 
than the partisan nominee at the Department of Labor, David 
Weil, is the president's pick to lead the Wage and Hour 
Division. This is a nominee with a track record of stifling 
innovation and opposing growth opportunities.
    His nomination is a threat to the gig economy, independent 
contracting, and the franchise model for businesses of which 
many or minority and women owned. I can't imagine the threat of 
putting this type of leadership at the Department of Labor, and 
it instills--and the lack of confidence that it instills in 
employers. This Administration also seems to be creating 
barriers to new training opportunities. Something we should all 
be able to agree on is the importance of high quality workforce 
training and education.
    This includes apprenticeships. Instead of focusing on how 
to expand the apprenticeship models, building on what works, 
the Department of Labor is actually working on eliminating a 
pathway. Industry recognized apprenticeships are a promising 
way to expand the earn and learn model in new industries and to 
reach new population of workers. Instead of building on this 
innovative idea or working with Republicans on how to improve 
it, this Administration has paused the recognition process.
    If we are going to address barriers to employment, we 
should be using all the tools in our toolbox, not just the 
tools that labor unions find acceptable. The White House also 
wants to put up roadblocks for people who want to work. As 
businesses were adjusting to the pandemic, the president issued 
a vaccine mandate. Make no mistake, I encourage every American 
who is eligible to get vaccinated and to get boosted against 
COVID. But amid labor shortages, supply chain issues, an 
already strained workforce, this mandate is the last thing we 
needed.
    The sweeping new requirement far exceeded OSHA's legal 
authority, and the Supreme Court was right to block it. We have 
to find solutions to keep people in their jobs, schools and 
businesses open. I also think we can all agree that Americans 
can't work or go to school if they don't have safe and reliable 
childcare for their families. Instead of seeking workable 
bipartisan solutions, my friends on the other side of the aisle 
insisted to do it themselves in a reckless partisan spending 
bill.
    Only in Washington would the answers be to create even more 
complicated and just disjointed programs, rather than to do the 
simple thing, fund a program that works and that has had 
bipartisan support for decades. Talking about the childcare 
development block grants. Barbara Mikulski and I led the 
reauthorization of this program in a bill that overwhelmingly 
passed the Senate in the House with bipartisan support. We can 
do this again. It doesn't need to be partisan, it needs to be 
smart. If we are going to find workable and lasting solutions, 
we have got to find them together.
    Today's topic has long been an area with support from both 
sides of the aisle. I am looking forward to the hearing from--
hearing from our witnesses today about how they are providing 
access to opportunity to workers in their communities. This 
work doesn't happen in silos. Collaboration among stakeholders 
is absolutely crucial. This includes business education 
providers, workers, and Government.
    This collaboration is not always easy. I expect some of the 
barriers that we identified today will come with well-informed 
Federal policy. Well-intentioned Federal policy, excuse me. We 
have an opportunity to think outside the box and find ways to 
better support the innovative strategies we see at the state 
and local levels. Madam Chair, I hope we are smart enough to 
listen today. I thank the Chair.
    The Chair. Thank you, Senator Burr. I will now introduce 
today's witnesses. And our first witness is Melinda Mack, the 
Executive Director of the New York Association of Training and 
Employment Professionals, a nationally recognized association 
focused on poverty, education, job training, and economic 
workforce development in New York. Thank you for joining us 
today, Ms. Mack. Look forward to your testimony. Our next 
witness is Ashley Watts. Ms. Watts is the President and CEO of 
the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
    The Chamber is the largest business association in the 
state, representing 3,800 businesses which employ over half of 
the state's workforce. Ms. Watts, appreciate you joining us 
today to share your time and expertise. We will also be hearing 
from Peter Beard, the Senior Vice President for Regional 
Workforce Development for the Greater Houston Partnership. Mr. 
Beard leads the partnership's upscale Houston initiative, a 
business led effort that engages more than 200 employers, 
educational institutes, community based organizations in the 
workforce system.
    Mr. Beard, thank you so much for joining us today. Look 
forward to your testimony. Finally, we are also joined by 
Nicole Sherard-Freeman, the Group Executive for Jobs, Economy 
and Detroit at Work for the city of Detroit. In this role, she 
tackles both the city's economic and workforce development 
functions to attract and retain businesses and provide pathways 
for workers' success in the job market. Ms. Sherard-Freeman, 
grateful to have you with us. Look forward to your insights 
today.
    We will begin with Ms. Mack for your opening statement.

    STATEMENT OF MELINDA MACK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW YORK 
 ASSOCIATION OF TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROFESSIONALS, ALBANY, 
                               NY

    Ms. Mack. Good morning, Chair Murray and Ranking Member 
Burr, the Members of the Senate HELP Committee. My name is 
Linda Mack. I am the Executive Director of New York Association 
of Training and Employment Professionals, which is New York's 
Workforce Development Association. We were founded in the late 
1970's and we represent every county in the state, and our 
membership includes local workforce boards, career centers, as 
well as union training funds, community colleges, youth and 
adult literacy, education, job training, and employment service 
providers.
    Collectively, our members serve over a million New Yorkers 
each year. COVID-19 has laid bare that the labor market, as it 
has been designed, does not benefit all people equally. While 
many New Yorkers have lost their jobs, the glaring 
disproportionate negative impacts on people of color and 
individuals working in low wage work is unambiguous.
    But even as the labor market recovers, labor market 
participation is still lagging. And as the great resignation 
has made headlines, many workers are unable to take higher 
paying jobs due to the lack of access for foundational skills 
and technical skills or additional supports like childcare and 
transportation.
    As reported by our partners at the United Way of New York, 
our state--in our state, about 45 percent of working households 
are living at or beneath the basic cost of living, putting them 
one flat tire away from not being able to put food on the 
table. The inability to meet basic needs means that these 
individuals do not have the resources to pay for or to step out 
of work, to take a training course at a community college, or 
to pay for that childcare that they would need in order to be 
able to complete.
    It also means that in classroom, or on the job requirements 
of an apprenticeship are beyond their grasp. It doesn't have to 
be this way. For example, the local workforce board in 
Chautauqua has been engaging a number of long term unemployed 
individuals, including those who struggle to access family 
sustaining jobs. They are currently working to provide paid, on 
the job training through the Workforce Innovation Opportunity 
Act, or WIOA, and advanced manufacturing, allowing earning and 
learning to occur simultaneously. It is a benefit to the 
individual and a benefit to the employer.
    This, coupled with wraparound supports from the local 
career center, and individualized job coaching will ensure 
participants can handle any hurdles that come their way and 
also so that they can stay in training and then on the job. If 
I am boiling it down to what Congress can do to help to ensure 
this is an equitable economic recovery, I would share the 
following. First, our Nation must invest in workforce 
development at the scale and scope of the need.
    The Federal funding through WIOA is a catalyst for public 
and private investment, regional coordination through the local 
workforce boards, and workforce system alignment across the 
country and certainly in our state, where half a million New 
Yorkers engage in the American job centers each year. This is 
not about college or no college. It is about having the skills 
you need for a good paying job for today and for tomorrow. 
Second, understand the impact and value of wraparound support 
services.
    Services like childcare, transportation, access to current 
navigation, resume writing, and case management are often the 
difference between a worker succeeding and a training program 
and being able to keep a job. Third, support industry or sector 
partnerships to include increasing employment opportunities for 
workers. In the North Country, Schluter Systems has struggled 
to attract and retain workers at all levels. Their CEO has 
shared the industry 4.0 now requires the company to attract 
talent at a higher skill level while upskilling their existing 
workforce.
    In the last 2 years, three machine shops have closed, 
forcing a company to find new ways to expand in-house 
knowledge. To that end, Schluter Systems is currently working 
with the North Country Workforce Board and Regional Economic 
Development Partners and education partners as an active 
participant in building the solution, by creating a youth 
oriented work experience called the Authentic STEM program.
    Modeled after the German Youth Apprenticeship Program, this 
company believes it will be an essential model for their 
ability to generate a pipeline of local workers for their 
company and supply chain. And finally, support learning on the 
job, including high quality workplace learning for youth and 
adults, registered apprenticeship, and incumbent worker 
training. This is particularly important for disadvantaged 
individuals with immediate financial needs.
    The Center for Employment Opportunities, who works with 
those returning home from incarceration, has identified a daily 
wage in coaching as stabilizing factors for participants 
success. By way of example, at the Buffalo site, CEO has 
partnered with a window manufacturer to employ participants in 
transitional jobs. Their participants utilize hand tools to 
build windows and frames and develop soft skills, and the 
employer works with these recruits and now has a dedicated 
source to hire full time workers into good union paying jobs.
    In conclusion, a sustained economic prosperity for all 
Americans is a priority. Focusing on getting people the skills 
they need to do a good job or to get into a good job could not 
come at a more opportune time. Local workforce boards and their 
partners are at the front lines of creating hope, but they are 
also driving the solutions for a better future.
    I described a bit of what is being done here on the ground. 
Now imagine what the impact could be if we doubled down on this 
effort on America's economic competitiveness. Thank you for 
this opportunity to discuss these issues. I look forward to 
your questions.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Mack follows:]
                   prepared statement of melinda mack
    Chair Murray and Ranking Member Burr, and Members of the Senate 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee, thank you for the 
opportunity to share with you my experience working through the public 
workforce and postsecondary education systems to address workers' need 
and business demand.

    My name is Melinda Mack. I am the Executive Director of the New 
York Association of Training & Employment Professionals. \1\ Founded in 
the late 1970's, our association represents every county in the State, 
and includes federally funded local workforce boards, union training 
funds, community colleges, literacy, education, job training, and 
employment service providers. Collectively, our members serve over a 
million New Yorkers each year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\  https://www.nyatep.org/
#::text=NYATEP%20increases%20the%20knowledge%2Dbase-
enhance%20the%20delivery%20of%20services.

    Before COVID-19 the debate that rallied elected officials and 
educators was the ``Future of Work'', automation, and its impact on 
jobs. However, COVID-19 has laid bare what has been true all along--the 
labor market, as it has been designed, does not benefit all people 
equally. We saw mass unemployment rivaling the Great Depression, and 
while many New Yorkers have lost their jobs, the glaring 
disproportionate negative impacts for people of color and individuals 
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working in low wage jobs is unambiguous.

    As you know over 3.3 million people have filed for unemployment 
insurance nationally, the highest number since the government began 
tracking in 1967, and five times the prior record set in 1982. However, 
according to the JOLTS data, even as the labor market recovers, labor 
force participation is still lagging. New York's labor force 
participation was around 61 percent pre-pandemic and is now hovering 
around 59.8 percent. The New York Times reported last month that a 
record number of Americans were quitting their jobs, primarily 
concentrated in low-wage sectors, such as hospitality and food 
services, making employers desperate to hire and raising wages to 
attract more workers.

    At the same time, workers lack access to foundational and technical 
skills in our talent pool. In our state 40 percent of people have a 
high school diploma or less. The COVID-19 crisis has underscored the 
need to immediately address worker hardships, and the need to support 
the transition back to employment.

    Millions of New Yorkers have lost their paychecks and savings, and 
therefore are calculating the costs of childcare, technology, 
transportation, etc. which need to be in place to return to work and 
keep the job. As reported by our partners at the United Way, in New 
York 45 percent of households are living at or beneath the basic cost 
of living, putting them one flat tire away from not being able to put 
food on the table. Nearly 1.5 million working households in New York 
were unable to meet their most basic needs in 2019. To make ends meet, 
a single parent in the Bronx with a baby and a preschooler needs to 
earn about $95,000--three times the minimum wage in New York City. And 
while a similar family could get by on much less in Syracuse, the 
$58,000 a year they'd need is still double the minimum wage in Onondaga 
County.

    The inability to meet basic needs means these families do not have 
resources to pay for a training course at a community college or to pay 
for extra childcare during class time. It means the in-classroom and on 
the job requirements of a registered apprenticeship are beyond their 
grasp, despite the strong outcomes for workers and businesses from this 
model. And it means public policy is not doing enough for families 
around the country to enable them to fill good jobs for which 
businesses are hiring.

    As we learned during the last Recession, even as the economy 
improves, it doesn't improve for everyone equally. As reported by 
Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce in, 
America's Divided Recovery: College Haves and Have-Nots, 2016, people 
with a high school diploma or less did not rebound following the last 
recession. Workers with a bachelor's degree or higher gained over 8.4 
million jobs in the recovery, whereas those with a high school diploma 
or less gained a mere 80,000.

    The crisis also had a disproportionate impact on women and workers 
of color in New York. Lessons from past economic downturns show that 
Black and Hispanics/Latino workers, and women are likely to experience 
greater job losses and recover wages and assets more slowly. Data from 
early 2021 indicated similar trends maybe happening in the COVID-19 
recovery. Additionally, the Schuyler Center has reported that over the 
past year, more than 1,200 child care providers have closed 
permanently, pushing child care into a crisis leading to more women, in 
particular women of color, stepping out of employment to care for 
children.

    Taken together, this means tens of thousands of New Yorkers need 
access to training and the supports necessary to succeed in that 
training to ensure our recovery from the pandemic is equitable.

    The good news is the public workforce, adult education and career 
and technical education systems are poised to help people successfully 
train for and find new jobs. Nationally, and in New York, workforce 
development does not have a one size fits all, however. Our system has 
extensive reach, and in New York alone, under the Workforce Innovation 
and Opportunity Act Title I service program, the system serves over 
224,000 Adults; 677,000 Dislocated Workers; and 6,300 Youth in PY20.

    An equitable recovery will mean not just serving these workers, 
though, it will mean addressing the varied barriers that prevent them 
from finding good jobs today. Those most impacted by the COVID-19 
Recession have been lower-income people of color and immigrants. 
Structural racism has shaped labor market policies, including skills 
policies, that contributed to those inequities before and during the 
pandemic. Skills and re-employment policies should purposefully improve 
both opportunities and outcomes for workers of color coming out of this 
recession.

    Effective models and workforce strategies that can serve as a model 
for congressional action to address workers need and business demand:

    Invest in workforce development at the scope and scale necessary to 
meet worker need and business demand.

    The Federal funding through the Workforce Innovation and 
Opportunity Act, also known as WIOA, is the catalyst for public and 
private investment, regional coordination, and workforce system 
alignment across the country, and certainly in our state, where a half 
million New Yorkers engage the American Job Centers each year.

    Local workforce boards must actively match the right resources to 
the right talent by working with partners to address barriers that 
prevent individuals from being able to access and succeed in good jobs.

    Over the past two decades, public investment in WIOA has declined 
by 40 percent. \2\ This means going into the pandemic our public 
workforce system already lacked necessary resources. To date, Congress 
has not invested meaningfully in workforce as part of any economic 
stimulus package. \3\
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    \2\  https://nationalskillscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/
12/Funding-Cuts-Fact-Sheet-March2019.pdf.
    \3\  https://nationalskillscoalition.org/blog/future-of-work/
congress-is-on-the-verge-of-making-historic-investments-in-workforce/.

    Our international peers have, though. According to a report from 
the Council for Economic Advisors, the United States would need to 
invest $80 billion annually just to reach the median of that spent on 
these programs by other industrial countries. \4\ Instead, we rank 
below every other international peer in investment in workforce, 
exceeding only that made by Mexico.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\  https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/
07/Addressing-Americas-Reskilling-Challenge.pdf.

    New York has suffered the long-term trend of disinvestment in 
workforce development through falling Federal appropriations. Twenty 
years ago, Congress appropriated $4.86 billion, and as of 2020 that 
funding has dropped to $2.79 billion, nearly half of what it was in 
2001. Notwithstanding, adhoc infusions of Federal funding as a result 
of a natural disaster or recession are no substitute for a long-term, 
statewide strategy to invest in and grow New York's skilled workforce. 
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    This underinvestment means workers can't access training and it 
means our public workforce system doesn't have the resources necessary 
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to help people be successful in that training.

    Invest in and prioritize wrap around support services so workers 
can succeed in both training programs and in a new job.

    For workers who have been out of a job or underemployed, job 
training is a critical part of their pathway to a good job. In order to 
ensure workers have success in this training, however, the public 
workforce system must provide access to wrap-around support services 
like childcare, transportation.

    In our state 40 percent of people have a high school diploma or 
less and many more lack the additional supports like childcare and 
transportation needed to move out of low-wage work. Right now, local 
areas can invest in strategies like support services, but lack of 
adequate funding often makes it impossible.

    Strategies like childcare, transportation, access to career 
navigation and case management and continued access to benefits 
provided under other human resource programs like Temporary Assistance 
for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 
(SNAP) are often the difference between a worker succeeding in a 
training program that leads to a good job and them being unable to 
compete.

    In pilot programs launched by the New York City Human Resources 
Administration, public assistance recipients are connected to private 
sector and public sector subsidized employment and receive work 
readiness, job training and wrap-around work supports. The participants 
earn wages over the course of 6 months, with no negative impact to 
their benefits. Around half of the participants, who would have 
otherwise remained unemployed, have connected to unsubsidized work.

    Federal support to cover the costs of childcare continue to be 
necessary in our state, both to address childcare needs and to focus on 
alleviating the need for childcare workers.

    Support sector-based training models and industry or sector 
partnerships to bring businesses of all size together with education 
providers and increase employment opportunities for workers.

    Over the past 2 years, businesses have had to be nimble and 
responsive to changes across industries. Under WIOA, states are 
required to support local industry or sector partnerships, but there is 
no dedicated money to help them do this. These partnerships bring 
together education providers, local businesses, labor and labor 
management partnerships, community-based organizations and 
organizations that serve workers with barriers to employment. The most 
sophisticated also engage organizations that work with communities of 
color or others who have been disproportionately impacted by the 
current crisis and the impact of systemic racism and previous policy 
decisions.

    In a state like New York, a lack of Federal investment in these 
partnerships means that we are limited in our ability to convene 
businesses with education partners, meaning fewer workers have the 
benefit of that collaboration.

    Just as the impacts of the pandemic have been felt differently 
between different sectors, and even on different size businesses within 
each sector, our workforce responses need to be just as industry 
specific. As we develop forward looking workforce strategies, policies 
should invest in and empower sector partnerships that are driven by 
industry stakeholders, including smaller businesses that are often the 
primary employer in local communities. These partnerships, in addition 
to addressing local training needs, should also support the diversity 
and inclusion efforts of local employers.

    Again, where we are able to, though, we can see it work.

    In the rural region of the Southern Tier there is an extreme 
shortage of machinists. This same area also has unemployment that 
exceeds the levels in other part of our state and workers consistently 
face difficulty finding childcare. In response to business demand, the 
local workforce board, the regional adult education provider and a 
state funded workforce intermediary partnered with four local 
businesses to design an accelerated machining training program. The 
program invested Federal WIOA funding to provide individualized case 
management to ensure workers could navigate the program and access 
public resources to support childcare needs. WIOA funds were available 
for workforce readiness training through the American Job Centers; 
contextualized adult basic education to accelerate skill acquisition 
and address literacy and numeracy deficiencies; all while deeply 
engaging the employers in curriculum development and program design. 
The partnership has grown to 14 employers, and at a minimal cost of 
around $5,500 per participant and has returned more than $800,000 in 
wages back to the regional economy. To date, more than [xx] workers 
have been employed with businesses in this partnership and succeeded in 
jobs with family sustaining wages.

    Congress should also take steps to make sure that sector-based 
training models are accessible to workers who have been 
disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, including workers of color, 
immigrants, and women. Public investments in sector partnerships should 
include resources, technical assistance, and policy guidance that 
support advancing racial equity and inclusion in local companies.

    Support learning on the job, including work-based learning, 
apprenticeship, and incumbent worker training.

    Work-based learning that combines instruction at a worksite during 
paid employment with classroom education, and that culminates in an 
industry-recognized credential ensures workers obtain skills and 
credentials while earning a wage. Registered apprenticeship is a great 
example of this model, with strong wage and employment outcomes for 
workers and improved retention and engagement outcomes for industry. 
This is especially important for disadvantaged individuals with 
immediate financial needs.

    In the Adirondacks of New York, international company Schluter 
Systems has struggled to attract and retain workers at all levels. 
Their Chief Operating Officer shared with me recently that Industry 4.0 
and the ``internet of things'' is causing a huge shift in the skills 
necessary at all levels, so not only has it become a challenge to 
attract people to manufacturing, now they must attract talent with a 
higher skill level at the same time as up-skilling their existing 
workforce. He shared that in the last 2 years, three machine shops have 
closed down, forcing the company to find ways to expand in-house 
knowledge. To solve this problem, Schluter Systems is currently working 
with the North County Workforce Board and regional education partners 
as an ``active participant in building the solution'' by creating a 
youth-oriented, work experience program called The Authentic STEM 
program. Modeled after the German youth apprenticeship, Schluter 
believes it will be an excellent sectoral model to generate a pipeline 
of local workers for Schluter and their supply chain, with experience 
working on real industrial problems, strong communication and problem 
solving skills. The programs will co-invest funding from industry and 
WIOA to support career exploration for middle schoolers and real world 
work experience for high school-aged students.

    In conclusion, if sustained economic prosperity for America and all 
U.S. workers is a priority, focusing on getting people the skills they 
need for a good job could not come at a more opportune time. Local 
workforce boards and their partners including employers, postsecondary 
institutions, nonprofits and career and technical education programs, 
are at the front lines creating solutions, and they are creating hope 
for a better future. I've described a snapshot of what is being done on 
the ground, now imagine what the impact would be on America's economic 
competitiveness if we could double down on these efforts. Thank you for 
the opportunity to discuss these issues today. Please consider us a 
resource if we can be of any help.
                                 ______
                                 
                  [summary statement of melinda mack]
    My name is Melinda Mack. I am the Executive Director of the New 
York Association of Training and Employment Professionals. \1\ 
Collectively, our members serve over a million New Yorkers each year.
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#::text=NYATEP%20increases%20the%20knowledge%2Dbase-
enhance%20the%20delivery%20of%20services.

    Over the past 2 years, millions of New Yorkers have lost their 
paychecks and savings, and therefore are calculating the costs of 
childcare, technology, transportation, etc. which need to be in place 
to return to work and keep the job. As reported by our partners at the 
United Way, in New York 45 percent of households are living at or 
beneath the basic cost of living, putting them one flat tire away from 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
not being able to put food on the table.

    As we learned during the last Recession, even as the economy 
improves, it doesn't improve for everyone equally. Workers with a 
bachelor's degree or higher gained over 8.4 million jobs in the 
recovery, whereas those with a high school diploma or less gained a 
mere 80,000.

    The crisis also had a disproportionate impact on women and workers 
of color in New York. Lessons from past economic downturns show that 
Black and Hispanics/Latino workers, and women are likely to experience 
greater job losses and recover wages and assets more slowly.

    Our public workforce system is poised to address worker and 
business needs, but Federal policy and investments are critical to 
ensuring the system can best serve all workers, especially those with 
barriers to employment.

    Effective models and workforce strategies that can serve as a model 
for congressional action to address workers need and business demand:

          Invest in workforce development at the scope and 
        scale necessary to meet worker need and business demand

          Invest in and prioritize wrap around support services 
        so workers can succeed in both training programs and in a new 
        job

          Support sector-based training models and industry or 
        sector partnerships to bring businesses of all size together 
        with education providers and increase employment opportunities 
        for workers

          Support learning on the job, including work-based 
        learning, apprenticeship, and incumbent worker training
                                 ______
                                 
    The Chair. Thank you very much. Ms. Watts.

 STATEMENT OF ASHLI WATTS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, KENTUCKY CHAMBER 
                   OF COMMERCE, FRANKFORT, KY

    Ms. Watts. Good morning, Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, 
and Members of the Committee. I am honored to be with you here 
today to discuss workforce, an issue every state is facing, and 
specifically how we can remove barriers. Almost 2 years after 
the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to help from 
Congress, including PPP loans, Federal relief packages, and a 
historic bipartisan infrastructure bill, our economy is on its 
way to recovery. However, we will not be able to ensure a full 
recovery until we have an active, engaged workforce.
    As President of the Kentucky Chamber, the Commonwealth's 
largest business association, the No. 1 issue I hear about from 
businesses of all sizes, of all sectors are their struggles 
with workforce and finding employees. We often say we have too 
many people without jobs and too many jobs without people, and 
how do we make these two things match. And then the days of a 
somewhat divisive political climate, it is refreshing to be 
able to say that this issue really sees no side of the aisle, 
and we have worked with leaders from both parties toward 
solutions.
    For the last several years, the Kentucky Chamber has been 
creating programs to provide employer led initiatives to 
develop, expand, and strengthen our workforce to support 
Kentucky's economy. I would briefly like to tell you about a 
few of these programs relevant to this Committee and topic. 
Like many states, in Kentucky we have struggled with high 
substance use disorder numbers as well as high levels of 
incarceration.
    However, the Chamber and the business leaders understand a 
key to reducing recidivism is meaningful employment. With 
funding from both state government as well as private entities, 
the Chamber started our workforce recovery program, focused on 
engaging the business community as part of the solution to this 
epidemic by reducing the stigma and increasing second chance 
employment opportunities across Kentucky.
    This program has built an employer network of over 1,200 
employers and recruited almost 28,000 second chance 
opportunities statewide. Through this program, we also launched 
the Kentucky Transformation Employment Program last year. This 
program provides a pathway for businesses and employers to help 
more Kentuckians reach long term recovery while supporting 
second chance employment. Employers who choose to enroll in 
this program receive protections from civil action regarding 
negligent hiring and hiring because of an employee's substance 
use disorder through Kentucky statutes.
    To date, 22 businesses have signed up for this program, 
which impacts more than 5,000 Kentucky employees. Another 
barrier those coming out of incarceration phase is something as 
simple as a lack of a proper state issued I.D. We realize that 
many Kentuckians were coming out of incarceration and leaving 
to reenter society, and the only form of identification they 
had was their mug shot.
    As you can imagine, this is not the form of ID one would 
want to have when trying to secure housing assistance or 
looking for a job. The Chamber, in partnership with the Just 
Trust, has started a pilot project in Kentucky to give those 
coming out of incarceration a state issued ID to help with 
their successful reentry. We are hopeful State Government will 
fund this program for all inmates in the future.
    We know creating workforce opportunities starts at an early 
age. Knowing this, the Chamber launched a statewide initiative, 
Bus to Business, several years ago, focused on connecting K 
through 12 students across the state to career pathways and 
businesses in their communities. This program has been able to 
engage over 210 schools and over 110 businesses across 
Kentucky, impacting over 42,000 Kentucky students.
    Students have the opportunity to tour companies, complete 
hands on work based learning opportunities, and speak directly 
to employers about career pathways available in their 
organizations. And the last program I want to highlight is the 
first workforce program the Chamber started to help create 
workforce pipelines for key industries.
    Over 4 years ago, in partnership with the Kentucky Cabinet 
for Education and Workforce Development, Kentucky launched a 
statewide implementation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 
Foundation program, Talent Pipeline Management. Over the last 4 
years, this program has been talent solutions for five of 
Kentucky's key industry sectors, engaged almost 300 employers, 
and connected more than 3,000 Kentuckians to jobs, training, or 
workplace learning opportunities.
    In fact, this program has proven so successful, we have 
expanded our portfolio to include Kentucky's signature 
industries, equine and distilling, because you can't have 
Kentucky without bourbon and horses. As an example of the 
innovative solutions our equine employers are building, they 
have worked with the Blackburn Correctional Facility to create 
and implement the Workforce Readiness and Reentry Program, 
where inmates gain vocational and job skill training before 
connecting with career opportunities.
    Following in the equine industry's footsteps, the Kentucky 
Distillers Association partnered with the Chamber to start a 
pilot project in 2021, which currently engages 15 distilling 
companies. Members of the Committee, as you know and I am sure 
you hear from your constituents, workforce is a multi-faceted 
problem that must have multifaceted solutions to remove 
barriers and create opportunities for everyone.
    Thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit about 
how collaborative partnerships in Kentucky are benefiting all 
of our citizens' workforce and economy.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Watts follows:]
                   prepared statement of ashli watts
    Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and Members of the Committee. I 
am honored to be here with you today to discuss an issue that every 
state is facing and that is workforce. Almost 2 years after the 
beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to help from Congress 
including PPP loans, Federal relief packages, and a historic bipartisan 
infrastructure bill, our economy is well on its way to recovery. 
However, we will not be able to ensure a full recovery until we have an 
active, engaged workforce.

    Workforce has been a topic of concern for business leaders and 
policymakers for years, but interest in the issue has surged in the 
past 12 to 16 months. Driving this surge has been the collapse in 
employment that took place with the onset of the pandemic in Spring of 
2020 followed by the nationwide struggle to find workers to help 
rebuild the U.S. economy. In April 2020, 23 million Americans were 
unemployed and the national unemployment rate soared to 14.8 percent 
(16.9 percent in Kentucky). One year later, surveys of employers showed 
a record number of businesses struggling to find workers, while the 
U.S. saw an unprecedented 9.2 million job openings.

    No wonder workforce has been such a topic of interest lately. 
Something is amiss. The truth is that something has been amiss for a 
long time. As President of the Kentucky Chamber, the Commonwealth's 
largest business association, the No. 1 issue I hear from businesses 
across the state, of all sizes and sectors, are their struggles with 
workforce and finding employees. We often say ``we have too many people 
without jobs and too many jobs without people and how do we make these 
two issues match?''

    The pandemic and economic recovery have accelerated preexisting 
trends and magnified our weak points. This is especially the case in 
Kentucky, where the data tells us that since 2000 more and more 
Kentuckians have not been participating in the workforce. In fact, 
fewer adults in Kentucky participate in the workforce than in almost 
any other state in the Nation. Perhaps what is more concerning is that 
even once Kentucky fully restores its workforce to pre-pandemic 
levels--which is not a certainty--we will likely still be far behind 
the Nation and surrounding states. Kentucky's workforce challenges are 
exceptional, but they did not suddenly emerge in the age of COVID-19. 
Rather, they have been building and holding back our economy for at 
least two decades. There is no one singular cause of these challenges. 
Instead, the causes are many, and the solutions must be, as well.

    I am pleased to be able to briefly highlight a few of the unique 
programs the Kentucky Chamber has spearheaded in collaboration with 
many partners to address the workforce issue and specifically how we 
remove barriers. And in the days of a somewhat divisive political 
climate, it is refreshing to be able to say that this issue really sees 
no side of the aisle, and we have worked with leaders from both parties 
toward solutions.

    For the last several years, the Kentucky Chamber has been creating 
programs to provide employer-led initiatives to develop, expand, and 
strengthen our workforce to support Kentucky's economy. I would briefly 
like to tell you about a few of these programs that are relevant to 
this Committee and topic.

    In Kentucky we have struggled with high substance use disorder 
numbers, as well as high levels of incarceration. However, the Chamber 
and business leaders understand a key to reducing recidivism is 
meaningful employment. With funding from both state government as well 
as private entities, the Chamber started our Workforce Recovery Program 
focusing on engaging the business community as part of the solution to 
this epidemic by reducing stigma and increasing second-chance 
employment opportunities across Kentucky. This program has built an 
employer network of over 1,200 employers and recruited almost 28,000 
fair chance job opportunities statewide!

    Through this program we launched the Kentucky Transformation 
Employment Program (KTEP) in September 2021. KTEP provides a pathway 
for businesses and employers to help more Kentuckians reach long-term 
recovery while supporting second chance employment. Employers who 
choose to enroll in the program receive protections from civil action 
regarding negligent hiring and hiring because of an employee's 
substance use disorder through KRS 222.215. To date, 22 Kentucky 
businesses have signed up for KTEP, which impacts more than 5,000 
Kentucky employees.

    Another barrier those coming out of incarceration face is something 
as simple as a lack of a proper state-issued ID. We realized that many 
Kentuckians coming out of incarceration are leaving to reenter society 
and the only form of identification they have is their mug shot. As you 
can imagine, this is not the form of ID one would want to use to secure 
housing, assistance or look for a job. The Chamber, in partnership with 
the Just Trust, has started a pilot project in Kentucky to give those 
coming out of incarceration a state-issued ID to help with their 
successful reentry. We are hopeful state government will fund this 
program for all inmates in the future.

    In March 2020, when we saw unemployment numbers skyrocket due to 
the pandemic, we launched a website to highlight the many open 
positions in all areas of the state. We would never have imagined this 
campaign would have resulted in 55,000 webpage visits and over 100,000 
jobs posted by employers in a little over a year. Given this momentum, 
we launched Kentucky Talent Hub in October 2021 to create a more 
dynamic online experience for employers, job seekers, and workforce 
development professionals.

    This online platform provides a space for employers to post 
opportunities and directly engage with applicants and job seekers. 
Employers across all industries post opportunities of any kind, 
including full-time, part-time, fair chance, freelance, and internship 
positions. Additionally, workforce and education partners can post 
events and resources to engage employers, job seekers, and anyone 
looking for new professional experiences and training, and highlights 
second chance employers. Since launching Kentucky Talent Hub in October 
2021, we have almost 1,000 users and close to 1,500 job opportunities 
posted.

    We know that creating workforce opportunities start at an early 
age. Knowing this, the Chamber launched a statewide initiative focused 
on connecting students across the state to learn more about career 
pathways and businesses in their communities. In partnership with the 
Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) and the 
Kentucky Society for Human Resource Management (KYSHRM), nearly 35,000 
students have engaged in this program within the 2021-2022 school year. 
Since the program's launch in 2019, Bus to Business has engaged over 
210 schools and over 110 businesses across Kentucky, impacting over 
42,000 students. Students have the opportunity to tour companies, 
complete hands-on work-based learning activities, and speak directly 
with employers about career pathways available in their organizations.

    The last program I want to highlight is the first workforce program 
the Chamber started to help create workforce pipelines for key 
industries. Over 4 years ago, in partnership with the Kentucky Cabinet 
for Education and Workforce Development, Kentucky was selected as one 
of three states in the Nation to pilot a statewide implementation of 
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's program, Talent Pipeline 
Management (TPM). TPM is an effort to mobilize the business community 
to close the skills gap by applying lessons learned from supply chain 
management to move employers into the role of ``end customers,'' 
projecting talent needs and aligning those with education and workforce 
development systems. Over the past 4 years, the Foundation's Talent 
Pipeline Management program has built talent solutions for five of 
Kentucky's key industry sectors, engaged almost 300 employers, and 
connected more than 3,000 Kentuckians to jobs, training, or work-based 
learning opportunities.

    One thing about this program that I want to point out is that it is 
funded through Federal workforce dollars, and the partnership between 
state government and the Chamber was originally approved by a 
Republican Governor. Before our grant came up for renewal we had a 
Democratic Governor, but the success of the program was so clear, the 
funding has continued and the partnership has strengthened and grown.

    In fact, this program has proven so successful, we have expanded 
our portfolio to include Kentucky's signature industries, Equine and 
Distilling. You can't have Kentucky without horses and bourbon, right? 
These signature industries are systematically leveraging TPM to solve 
their workforce challenges by getting direct input from employers on 
what critical positions they need to fill and what training or 
education is required.

    The equine collaborative has engaged forty-six employers and built 
programs and solutions for various industry sub-sectors. As an example 
of the innovative solutions employers are building, they have worked 
with Blackburn Correctional Facility to create and implement the 
Workforce Readiness and Reentry Program, where inmates gain vocational 
and job skill training before connecting with career opportunities. The 
TPM work in the Equine industry has also led to a registered 
apprenticeship program, the development of career pathway documents for 
various sectors, and a vocational program for individuals in recovery.

    Following in the equine industry's footsteps, the Kentucky 
Distillers' Association (KDA) connected with the TPM team to start a 
pilot project in 2021. This statewide effort has engaged 15 distilling 
companies and shows a projected need of 536 open jobs through 2025. 
Kentucky's Distilling Industry shows a projected growth of 74 percent, 
which does not include normal attrition. Maintenance specialists, tour 
guides/brand Ambassadors, and machine operators are the industry's 
greatest need. This collaborative is poised to co-engineer solutions 
with education and workforce partners around the state. Through the 
success of this work, the KDA and the Kentucky Chamber Foundation have 
partnered to create a new position in the Kentucky TPM system, 
dedicated to the distilling industry and modeled off the successful 
TPM efforts with the equine industry.

    Members of the Committee, as you can see, workforce is a multi-
faceted problem that must have a multi-faceted solution to remove 
barriers and create opportunities.

    Thank you for the opportunity to share a little about how 
collaborative partnerships in Kentucky are benefiting all of our 
citizens, workforce and economy.
                                 ______
                                 
                   [summary statement of ashli watts]
    Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and Members of the Committee. I 
am honored to be here with you today to discuss an issue that every 
state is facing and that is workforce. Almost 2 years after the 
beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to help from Congress 
including PPP loans, Federal relief packages, and a historic bipartisan 
infrastructure bill, our economy is well on its way to recovery. 
However, we will not be able to ensure a full recovery until we remove 
barriers to have an active, engaged workforce.

    I'm pleased to be able to briefly highlight a few of the unique 
programs the Kentucky Chamber has spearheaded in collaboration with 
many partners to address workforce challenges and specifically to 
remove barriers to workforce participation. And in the days of a 
somewhat divisive political climate, I am pleased to say this issue 
really sees no side of the aisle and we have worked with leaders from 
both parties toward solutions.

    For the last several years, the Kentucky Chamber has been creating 
programs to provide employer-led initiatives to develop, expand, and 
strengthen our workforce to support Kentucky's economy. I would briefly 
like to tell you about a few of these programs that are relevant to 
this Committee and topic.

          The Workforce Recovery Program focuses on engaging 
        the business community as part of the solution to this epidemic 
        by reducing stigma and increasing second-chance employment 
        opportunities across Kentucky. This program has built an 
        employer network of over 1,200 employers and recruited almost 
        28,000 fair chance job opportunities statewide!

          The Kentucky Transformation Employment Program (KTEP) 
        was launched in September 2021. KTEP provides a pathway for 
        businesses and employers to help more Kentuckians reach long-
        term recovery while supporting second chance employment. 
        Employers who choose to enroll in the program receive 
        protections from civil action regarding negligent hiring and 
        hiring related to an employee's substance use disorder through 
        state statute. To date, 22 Kentucky businesses have signed up 
        for KTEP, which impacts more than 5,000 Kentucky employees.

          Proper Identification is another barrier faced by 
        those coming out of incarceration. We realized many Kentuckians 
        coming out of incarceration reenter society and the only form 
        of identification they have is their mug shot. The Chamber, in 
        partnership with the Just Trust, has started a pilot project in 
        Kentucky to give those coming out of incarceration a state 
        issued ID to help with their successful reentry.

          Bus 2 Business has engaged over 210 schools and over 
        110 businesses across Kentucky, impacting over 42,000 students. 
        Students have the opportunity to tour companies, complete 
        hands-on work-based learning activities, and speak directly 
        with employers about career pathways available in their 
        organizations.

          Talent Pipeline Management builds talent solutions 
        for Kentucky's key industry sectors, and has engaged almost 300 
        employers, and connected more than 3,000 Kentuckians to jobs, 
        training, or work-based learning opportunities. In fact, this 
        program has proven so successful, we have expanded our 
        portfolio to include Kentucky's signature industries, Equine 
        and Distilling.
                                 ______
                                 
    The Chair. Thank you very much. Mr. Beard.

 STATEMENT OF PETER BEARD, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR REGIONAL 
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, GREATER HOUSTON PARTNERSHIP, HOUSTON, TX

    Mr. Beard. Thank you, Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, 
and Members of the Committee for the opportunity to testify at 
today's hearing. This is an important and critical topic to the 
long term growth and competitiveness of the United States, and 
to the economic prosperity and mobility of its citizens. Good 
morning.
    My name is Peter Beard. I serve as the Senior Vice 
President of Workforce Development at the Greater Houston 
Partnership, where I lead its Upskill Houston initiatives and 
Houston Back on Track, which are all employer-led based on the 
same model Kentucky uses, which is the Chamber Foundation's 
Talent Pipeline Management.
    With 900 members and a board of directors of business and 
civic leaders, the Greater Houston Partnership serves as the 
Houston region's Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development 
Organization, focused on a mission of ensuring Houston's place 
as a great global city. Similar to the supply chain disruptions 
reported in the news every day, Houston and many communities 
across the United States are confronting significant 
disruptions and fundamental shifts of their talent pipelines 
that provide the skilled talent our employers and businesses 
require to grow and compete globally.
    Regional economies like Houston are experiencing a 
fundamental shift as they become technology enabled, innovation 
based economies. These shifts are accelerating three key trends 
impacting the skills individuals will need to compete for 21st 
century jobs. First, skills are becoming obsolete more quickly.
    Second, employers now require higher levels of digital and 
technology skills across industries and functions. Third, there 
is a premium on soft and non-cognitive skills essential for 
baseline success in the workplace. These trends will require 
ongoing upskilling and reskilling of the existing workforce by 
more adaptable and agile approaches that will not likely be met 
by traditional education and workforce systems. In my written 
testimony, I provided some details related to several themes.
    First, it is important to develop an understanding of the 
existing skills and capabilities of individuals in order to 
support their upskilling into quality jobs and occupational 
pathways. I described in detail how Houston is using a data 
driven model with the Texas Workforce Solutions Vocational 
Rehabilitation Services to assess the inherent and innate 
capabilities existing workers possess, and then to identify 
correlations and the presence of similar capabilities in 
opportunity populations.
    In the pilot study, about 10 percent of the VRS clients 
tested were found to be good statistical fits for customer 
service roles, breaking down barriers. Second, employers will 
need to strengthen and support skills-based hiring and 
education and provide workers with clear occupational and 
skills pathways to navigate the changing skills requirements 
our industries are confronting.
    In Houston, our industrial construction industry developed 
competency maps for critical industrial crafts that describe 
skill sets for each level from helper to journeyman, and then 
they map the skills to the relevant modules in the national 
career construction curriculum and develop performance 
verifications to ensure individuals can professionally perform 
the relevant tasks and activities.
    Community colleges, community based organizations, and 
workforce career offices will need to coordinate and align and 
integrate their services to support individuals and increase 
their workforce outcomes. The Workforce Connector Program in 
the Texas Gulf Coast is a partnership between United Way of 
Greater Houston and Gulf Coast Workforce Solutions, and 
provides co-location of wraparound services, career coaching 
and navigation, and cross referrals between the two systems.
    The shift in the skills needs of employers is accelerating, 
and we will require lifelong learning and skills development to 
enhance occupational mobility and economic prosperity. It will 
be important to optimize the supports and services individuals 
and adult learners require to improve their economic mobility 
and prosperity through better jobs. Improved coordination, 
alignment, innovation, and performance across the multiple 
regional systems will be necessary.
    At its core, this will require strong employer leadership 
and engagement, and the presence of robust, accurate, and 
timely labor market data and information. Agile and innovative 
solutions will be necessary to strengthen the virtuous cycle of 
economic growth and prosperity. Thank you for the opportunity 
today to provide this testimony. I will be happy to answer any 
questions you may have.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Beard follows:]
                   prepared statement of peter beard
    Thank you, Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and Members of the 
Committee for the invitation and opportunity to testify on this 
important topic that is critical to the long-term economic growth and 
competitiveness of the United States and to the economic mobility and 
prosperity of many of its citizens.

    Good morning. My name is Peter Beard and I serve as the Senior Vice 
President for Workforce Development at the Greater Houston Partnership 
where I lead its UpSkill Houston and Houston Back on Track initiatives. 
With 900 members and a board of business and civic leaders, the Greater 
Houston Partnership serves as the Houston region's chamber of commerce 
and economic development organization focused on a mission of ensuring 
Houston's place as a great global city. The Partnership has long 
championed Houston's growth through economic development efforts aimed 
at attracting leading global companies to Houston, creating jobs and 
contributing to the region's GDP.

    The Greater Houston Partnership created the UpSkill Houston as an 
employer-led, jobs-first initiative to address the skills gap challenge 
Houston (and every regional economy in the United States) faces with a 
changing industry base, an increasingly diverse population, and a 
fundamental shift in our regional economy (e.g., the energy 
transition). The skills gap exists when too many employers can't find 
diverse workers with the skills needed for success in the workplace, 
when and where the employers need them; and when too many people lack 
the skills, education, and credentials they need to compete for good 
21st century jobs and to share in the economic prosperity of the 
region. UpSkill Houston focuses on the good occupations in the region 
that require education and skills beyond high school and less than a 
four-year college degree--``middle-skill'' occupations.

    In this morning's testimony, I will be focusing on four themes:

        (1) Developing baselines of existing skills and capabilities to 
        support upskilling into quality jobs or occupational pathways.

        (2) Strengthening skills-based hiring and education.

        (3) Ensuring effective transitions into employers' workforces.

        (4) Supporting quality life-long learning that enhances 
        occupational mobility and economic prosperity.

    As context for my testimony, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic 
has accelerated the fundamental shift that has been taking place in 
regional economies to technology-enabled, innovation-based economies. 
In light of the pace of change and associated economic uncertainty, the 
following trends described below will likely continue to create 
additional challenges and skills gaps that we will need to be address 
through strong alignment, innovation and agility:

          Skills are becoming obsolete more quickly; and will 
        require routine on-the-job upskilling and reskilling of the 
        existing workforce.

          Digitization and automation technologies are 
        affecting all jobs--creating new ones, augmenting certain 
        roles, and automating others--and will require workers to have 
        higher levels of digital and technology skills across 
        industries and functions.

          Employers are placing higher premiums on the soft/
        non-cognitive skills that are essential for baseline success in 
        the workplace.

    The foundation for addressing these challenges is the presence of 
robust, accurate, and timely labor market data and information. Strong 
engagement and leadership from employers and business leaders have been 
essential for ensuring Houston's employers have access to the skilled 
talent they need to compete and grow. In our work, we utilize the U.S. 
Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) 
framework and tools to ensure that employers truly lead the work. The 
framework provides consistency in the approach and creates the 
foundation to scale across a large region and provides essential data 
and information to drive action and performance.

    The Greater Houston Partnership and UpSkill Houston fundamentally 
believe that quality education and skills development creates a 
virtuous cycle of economic growth and opportunity for the Houston 
region and requires strong employer leadership and engagement. To 
strengthen this virtuous cycle will require coordination, alignment, 
innovation and performance across multiple regional systems (i.e., 
education, higher education, workforce and community-based social 
services sector).
        Developing Baselines of Existing Skills and Capabilities
    Effective career coaching, counseling and advising are emerging as 
essential supports needed to assist workers with navigating the 
changing career pathways in today's technology-enabled, innovation-
based economy. Employers increasingly are segmenting critical skills 
into three broad categories: (1) Essential/Soft Skills, (2) Digital 
Skills, and (3) Technical/Job-Related Skills. Counselors and employers 
need to know what abilities, skills and personality dispositions are 
present in job candidates to guide them to occupations leveraging these 
innate abilities. In some cases, these can be inferred by previous 
positions which can be used to identify adjacent occupations with 
greater career mobility and opportunity. \1\ ``Next mile'' skills 
training can then be identified to assist an individual in 
transitioning into that new pathway.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\  Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has developed it 
Occupational Mobility Explorer to identify opportunities for workers to 
transfer their skills from one occupation to a similar--but higher-
paying--occupation in the same labor market.

    In Houston, we are using a tool developed by Fast Forward Works 
(``FFW'') to aggregate data related to inherent and innate capabilities 
existing workers possess and then to identify correlations and the 
presence of similar capabilities in opportunity populations that would 
suggest individuals might be successful in occupational roles. \2\ When 
career counselors and navigators understand the presence of these 
capabilities, they can assist individuals in exploring potential career 
choices that can increase sustainability and success.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\  The Fast Forward Works assessment platform contains 
psychometric instruments validated over decades of use in the academic 
literature to assess and measure cognitive abilities (e.g., critical 
thinking, pattern recognition, time sharing, etc.) and personality 
characteristics (e.g., conflict resolution, self-efficacy, self-
actualization, risk avoidance, etc.).

    Fast Forward Works (``FFW'') has conducted occupational studies 
with employers in the trucking industry looking for ``safe'' truck 
drivers and in the customer service sector seeking to identify ``good'' 
customer service representatives. By developing customized assessments 
of key aptitudes, FFW has been able to develop a quantitative model 
found to be predictive of ``safe'' truck drivers and ``good'' customer 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
service representatives.

    In Houston, we combined the occupational studies with assessments 
conducted with 100 clients who have various disabilities including 
autism and anxiety disorders, as well as learning and physical 
disabilities. FFW is working with Texas Workforce Solutions-Vocational 
Rehabilitation Services (``VRS'') to test the feasibility of assessing 
VRS clients in the comfort of their own homes using a 1-hour FFW cloud-
based assessment measuring their cognitive abilities and aptitudes to 
identify meaningful employment opportunities. Traditionally, it has 
been necessary for them to go to a psychologist's office to take 
various assessments which is costly to the state and is burdensome to 
the clients.

    Using data from the occupational study for customer service 
representatives, FFW found that about 10 percent of the VRS clients 
tested would be good statistical fits for customer service roles. 
Quantitatively understanding and verifying the cognitive and 
personality characteristics of job candidates can potentially bring 
massive efficiencies to employers' hiring and talent acquisition 
efforts, resulting in improved success rates for these clients. This 
approach also de-risks the hiring of these job candidates to the 
benefit of both employers and candidates.

    As we increase the inventory of occupational studies analyzing high 
demand jobs, Houston will have the foundation to scale this work in an 
efficient and objective way and connect unconventional job candidates 
to employers in need of quality candidates.
            Strengthening Skills-Based Hiring and Education
    Employers are moving to skills-based hiring with proficiency 
assessments (and away from the pedigree of a college degree). Several 
examples include: Memorial Hermann Health (removing high school diploma 
requirements for entry-level positions) and Houston's industrial 
construction contractors (using industry developed competency maps and 
skills verification).
    While data and information from state and Federal agencies (e.g., 
education agency, higher education commission, and workforce board) are 
important starting points, aggregated, collective and real-time 
information and data from employers are what educational institutions, 
community-based organizations, and workforce development agencies 
require to strengthen education programs. Employers have direct access 
to and knowledge about this critical information and, when aggregated 
for an industry, can benefit education, community and workforce 
institutions:

           How many and what types of workers they need and 
        when and where employers need them.

           What skills and competencies workers need to possess 
        to be successful in the workplace.

           From where their best talent comes (e.g., 
        internally, educational institutions, military, staffing 
        agencies, community-based organizations, etc.).

    With three critical pieces of information, employers can partner in 
new and more effective ways with education, workforce programs, and 
community-based organizations. With this valuable information, these 
organizations can develop and improve their programs to ensure students 
and adult learners develop the skills and competencies employers need 
in their workers to be successful. This strengthens the role of the 
talent providers and developers as they add critical value to learners 
and workers along a value chain that can start with career awareness 
and progress to employer upskilling and retention efforts. The State of 
Texas, along with six other states, will be a part of pilot project 
with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to improve the quality and 
detail of state labor market information collected through enhanced 
Unemployment Insurance reporting. This Jobs and Employment Data 
Exchange (JEDx) project will streamline and improve how employers 
report data to government agencies; produces better longitudinal data 
about jobs and employment to power new workforce analytics while 
protecting privacy; and empower individuals with data and trusted 
records to verify work history as well as their eligibility for 
government benefits.

    Houston's industrial construction contractors have significantly 
advanced their efforts in skills-based hiring and education by 
developing competency maps that describe the skills and abilities craft 
professionals need to develop in order to move to the next level their 
careers, from entry-level helper to top-level journeyman. The industry 
collaborated to describe the skill sets for each level, mapped the 
skills to the relevant modules in the national construction curriculum 
(NCCER or National Center for Construction Education and Research), and 
developed performance verifications to ensure individuals have skills 
proficiency and can perform the relevant tasks and activities. The 
competency maps also provide the career pathways for individuals to 
advance in their careers and provide mobility of workers across 
employers.
       Ensuring Effective Transitions Into Employers' Workforces
    Against a backdrop of limited resources, we confront the reality of 
a significant challenge to support underserved populations as they 
prepare for and obtain the skills for good occupations. Many times, 
this requires that individuals have access to and receive the necessary 
wraparound supports and services (i.e., transportation, childcare, 
employment preparation, etc.) in order to ensure success. The effective 
transition into an employer's workforce is a critical to long-term 
success for many individuals.

    Community-based, social service organizations not only provide the 
wraparound services, but build longer term relationships with their 
clients and provide ongoing supports for employment success once client 
enter the workforce. UpSkill Houston works closely with United Way of 
Greater Houston to support its community partners in partnering with 
employers to address barriers or breakdowns when they arise. During 
Summer 2021, UpSkill Houston conducted user research to understand the 
barriers and challenges of individuals and underserved populations 
impacted the pandemic. Four personas were developed and have assisted 
community-based organizations and employers adapt their programs and 
hiring requirements to be responsive to those barriers. This work 
ensures there is risk sharing that can avoid a bad outcome and support 
success.

    United Way has also collaborated with the Gulf Coast workforce 
board to establish the Workforce Connector program that creates the 
opportunity for cross-referrals between workforce career offices and 
community-based, social service organizations to ensure a more 
comprehensive suites of services and supports are available to a 
client. The program also highlights how more effective coordination, 
alignment and integration between community colleges (i.e., career and 
student services), community-based organizations (i.e., wraparound 
services and supports, ongoing relationships), and workforce career 
offices can optimize the supports individuals are receiving.
Supporting Quality Life-Long Learning to Enhance Occupational Mobility 
                        and Economic Prosperity
    As I noted previously, skills are becoming obsolete more quickly; 
and will require routine on-the-job upskilling and reskilling of the 
existing workforce. The associated pace of change and economic 
uncertainty, however, will likely make it more challenging to solve 
talent shortages through the traditional education and workforce 
systems and will require more adaptable and agile approaches and these 
trends are having implications today. More importantly, workers will 
now be expected to be lifelong learners.

    Many of Houston's commercial and industrial construction firms 
(Turner Industries, S&B Engineers and Constructors, Marek Bros., TD 
Industries and Trio Electric) have created internal skills development 
programs which are closely aligned and coordinated with their business 
needs and to strengthen retention. Upskilling appears to be more 
effective when provided in the context of an individual's current 
employment because the additional skills are generally context 
specific.

    It is important to note that we continue to see an increasing 
number of employers strengthening their upskilling and reskilling 
efforts for front-line workers through expanded use of tuition and 
educational benefits. Several examples of this trend include Waste 
Management's (headquartered in Houston) Your Tomorrow program, AT&T's 
Future Ready program, Walmart's Live Better U and Walmart Academy. 
Guild Education has emerged as an important partner for companies 
seeking to use their tuition and education benefit programs to more 
strategically upskill and reskill their existing workforces. We believe 
these trends will only accelerate and clearly impact adult learners, 
students and educational institutions.
                               Conclusion
    Technology-enabled, innovation-based economies are accelerating the 
shift in the skills needs of employers at an accelerating pace. The 
Houston region requires strong employer leadership and engagement to 
drive the innovation necessary to strengthen the virtuous cycle of 
economic growth and prosperity. With improved coordination, alignment, 
innovation and performance across multiple regional systems that 
develop our region's and the Nation's talent, we are optimizing the 
supports and services individuals and adult learners require to improve 
their economic mobility and prosperity through better jobs.

    Thank you for the opportunity to provide this testimony.
                                 ______
                                 
                   [summary statement of peter beard]
    As the fundamental shift from regional economies to technology-
enabled, innovation-based economies continues, the following trends 
will likely create additional challenges and skills gaps we will need 
to be address through strong alignment, innovation and agility.

          Skills are becoming obsolete more quickly; and will 
        require routine on-the-job upskilling and reskilling of the 
        existing workforce.

          Digitization and automation technologies are 
        affecting all jobs--creating new ones, augmenting certain 
        roles, and automating others--and will require workers to have 
        higher levels of digital and technology skills across 
        industries and functions.

          Employers are placing higher premiums on the soft/
        non-cognitive skills that are essential for baseline success in 
        the workplace.

    The Greater Houston Partnership and UpSkill Houston believe 
fundamentally that quality education and skills development creates a 
virtuous cycle of economic growth and opportunity for the Houston 
region which requires strong employer leadership and engagement. The 
foundation for addressing these challenges is the presence of robust, 
accurate, and timely labor market data and information.

    Four themes strengthen this virtuous cycle through coordination, 
alignment, innovation, and performance across multiple regional 
systems.

        (1) Developing baselines of existing skills and capabilities to 
        support upskilling into quality jobs or occupational pathways: 
        Quantitatively understanding and verifying the cognitive and 
        personality characteristics of job candidates can potentially 
        bring massive efficiencies to employers' hiring and talent 
        acquisition efforts, resulting in highly improved success 
        rates.

        (2) Strengthening skills-based hiring and education: Houston's 
        industrial construction industry developed competency maps for 
        critical industrial crafts that describe skill sets for each 
        level, mapped the skills to the relevant modules in the 
        national construction curriculum, and developed performance 
        verifications to ensure individuals have skills proficiency and 
        can perform the relevant tasks and activities.

        (3) Ensuring effective transitions into employers' workforces: 
        Effective coordination, alignment and integration between 
        community colleges, community-based organizations, and 
        workforce career offices can optimize the supports individuals 
        are receiving and increase workforce outcomes.

        (4) Supporting quality life-long learning that enhances 
        occupational mobility and economic prosperity: The pace of 
        change and economic uncertainty makes it challenging to solve 
        talent shortages through the traditional education and 
        workforce systems, and requires adaptable and agile approaches.
                                 ______
                                 
    The Chair. Thank you very much.
    Ms. Sherard-Freeman. You want to turn on your mic.

  STATEMENT OF NICOLE SHERARD-FREEMAN, GROUP EXECUTIVE, JOBS, 
    ECONOMY & DETROIT AT WORK, CITY OF DETROIT, DETROIT, MI

    Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Thank you. Greetings Chair Murray, 
Ranking Member Burr, and all other Members of this Committee. 
It is my honor to be with you today. I lead economic 
development and workforce development on the ground in Detroit. 
And to answer the questions you have asked, I am going to begin 
with a short story.
    In 2018, Mayor Mike Duggan pitched the late Sergio 
Marchionne, who was then CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automotive, now 
Stellantis, on a once in a lifetime idea. FCA needed 215 acres 
of land for a new assembly plant for the new Jeep Grand 
Cherokee, a $2.5 billion investment that would be the first of 
its kind in 40 years. To win the business, Detroit had 60 days 
to assemble the land and get the Community and City Council to 
approve the deal.
    In return, the Mayor had only one major ask, that FCA would 
give Detroiters the first chance at the 5,000 jobs the project 
would bring to the city after, of course, the union satisfied 
all of its union obligations. In Stellantis' report to the 
community in December 2021, the company reported hiring more 
than 5,200 Detroiters from a pool of more than 16,000 Detroit 
at Work, job ready candidates.
    Union membership increased by more than 5,000. Gross wages 
paid to employees in Detroit increased by 44 percent. And 
income taxes collected in the city of Detroit increased by 34 
percent. The project had its challenges, but the experience 
offered exceptional learnings. First, economic conditions in 
Detroit, good or bad, highlight two challenges we all know, 
childcare and transportation.
    In Detroit, there are only 23,000 available childcare seats 
for 55,000 children under the age of five, and the average cost 
of childcare for just one child in Detroit exceeds the median 
annual cost of rent. Southeast Michigan also has a unique set 
of transportation challenges. The average metro Detroiter can 
access 2 million jobs in a 1-hour drive, but only 65,000 jobs 
in a 1-hour public transit trip. Across the state, the 
locations of people who are living in poverty are mismatched to 
the locations of good jobs.
    There are also other barriers to economic mobility. First, 
the irrefutable impact of intergenerational poverty. In 
addressing America's reskilling challenge, a July 2018 report 
from the Council of Economic Advisers, the authors cite 
situational poverty factors, which are potentially strong 
deterrents to pursuing retraining. We believe that report and 
can add to it from our experience that when you live in 
situational poverty for too long, intergenerational poverty 
becomes inescapable.
    Second, job readiness expectations are rapidly changing, 
and too many workers lack access to the knowledge economy. 
These conditions have sidelined thousands of workers in 
Detroit, and low labor force participation rates are sub-
optimizing our Nation's economy. So what can we do about it? 
Here are four solutions from the ground in Detroit. First, the 
Community Health Corps, a model built to disaggregate and solve 
for the most immediate and egregious issues facing Detroit's 
least resourced residents.
    This program is essential to increasing labor force 
participation, because through it, we help people get back on 
their feet so they can get back into the economy. We have 
served more than 1,300 households in the past 13 months, and 
490 participants are already well on their way to their own 
economic self-sufficiency goals. The second initiative is a new 
model for work readiness driven by employers need.
    Now in the Stellantis example, Detroit had one goal, and 
that was to understand what was keeping our employer client 
awake at night and solve for it. Detroit at Work turned those 
employer insights into a workshop that we delivered with our 
community based partners more than 975 times across the city, 
in churches and recreation centers, and in our one stops known 
as Detroit at work career centers.
    The company said that the Detroit at Work models saved 
their H.R. department more than $2.1 million in costs. The 
third learning is about adult basic education. More than 200 
Detroiters washed out of Stellatis' hiring process because they 
didn't have a high school diploma, and Mayor Mike Duggan's 
response was to create Learn to Earn, where Detroiters earn a 
stipend to complete their high school diploma.
    Now, critics argue that paying adults to finish a basic 
credential shouldn't be necessary. Frontline practitioners 
would argue that incentivizing adults who have real financial 
obligations and significant time constraints is a model worth 
trying. Getting residents off the sidelines and back into the 
workforce is essential to Michigan's economy.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. Sherard Freeman follows:]
              prepared statement of nicole sherard-freeman
    Greetings Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and all other Members 
of this Committee. It is my honor to be with you today. I'm Nicole 
Sherard-Freeman, Group Executive for Jobs, Economy and Detroit at Work 
in the city of Detroit. I lead economic development, workforce 
development, and serve as the executive director of Detroit's Workforce 
Investment Board under the leadership of Mayor Mike Duggan.

    You invited me here today to talk about the barriers job-seekers 
and would-be job-seekers are facing on the ground, to tell you how 
we're solving those issues in Detroit, and to ask for your help where 
we need it. To do that, I have to begin by telling you a short story 
that illustrates what's possible at the intersection of workforce 
development and economic development with the right partnerships.

    In 2018, Mayor Mike Duggan pitched the late Sergio Marchionne, 
then-president and CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automotive--now known as 
Stellantis--on a once-in-a-lifetime idea. FCA was in search of 215 
acres of land to build a new assembly plant for the new Jeep Grand 
Cherokee--a $2.5 billion dollar investment that would be the first of 
its kind in 40 years. To seal the deal, Detroit had 60 days to assemble 
the land, gain community and City Council approvals, complete the sale, 
and ensure the City's capacity to handle the related approval 
processes. In exchange, the Mayor had only one major ask: that FCA 
would give Detroiters the first chance at the 5,000 union jobs the new 
campus would bring to Detroit, after satisfying all of the company's 
union obligations.

    In Stellantis' (formerly FCA's) report to the community in December 
2021, the company reported that since July 2019, they have hired more 
than 5500 Detroiters from a pool of more than 16,000 Detroit at Work, 
job-ready candidates (including into company jobs across the Metro 
Detroit area). Union membership increased by more than 5,000. Gross 
wages paid to employees increased from $573M in 2020 to $827M in 2021--
an increase of 44 percent. Income taxes collected in the city of 
Detroit increased from $10.6M in 2020 to $14.2M in 2021--an increase of 
34 percent. \1\ While neither the company nor the City and its 
residents would say this project has been without its challenges, the 
experience informs a good deal of what I'll share today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\  Stellantis. Neighborhood Advisory Council Update. December 15, 
2021. https://stellantis4detroit.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-
NAC-Update-Stellantis-Presentation--FINAL.pdf.

    Any significant change in economic conditions--the infusion of a 
$2.5B investment, or the fallout from a global pandemic, for example--
offers important lessons to any student of the circumstance. Changing 
economic conditions in Detroit--for the better and for the worse--have 
brought into sharp contrast two challenges we already knew Detroiters 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
and many Michiganders were facing: childcare and transportation.

    In Detroit, there are only 23,000 available childcare seats for 
55,000 children under 5 years old. \2\ Beyond the availability of 
seats, childcare is often prohibitively expensive, as the average cost 
of sending one child to childcare in Michigan exceeds the median annual 
cost of rent. \3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\  https://hopestartsheredetroit.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/
HSH-Full-Framework--2017--web.pdf.
    \3\  Ibid.

    While Detroit is home to the Nation's Big 3 automakers, Southeast 
Michigan has a unique set of transportation challenges. First, many 
Detroiters commute out of the city for work and must depend on a 
personal vehicle to do so. Public transit is often not a viable option, 
as the average metro-Detroiter can access 2 million jobs in a 1-hour 
drive but only 65,000 jobs in a one-hour public transit trip. \4\ While 
commuting by car is often a necessity, it's also expensive. 
Transportation costs the average Detroit household more than 20 percent 
of their annual income. \5\ This high cost results in many Detroiters 
going without personal transportation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\  University of Minnesota Accessibility Observatory. https://
access.umn.edu/.
    \5\  Center for Neighborhood Technology. H+T Index. https://
htaindex.cnt.org/.

    Economic conditions in Detroit have also laid bare three other 
barriers impacting far more than just our current employment levels. 
First, The Council of Economic Advisers report Addressing America's 
Reskilling Challenge (July 2018) cites ``managing both education and 
covering household expenses'' as a potentially ``strong deterrent'' to 
pursuing retraining. \6\ Our frontline experience builds on that 
observation. Situational poverty, or poverty created by short-term 
conditions, is often created by illness, death of a primary 
breadwinner, or long-term layoff. By contrast, intergenerational 
poverty is the resulting outcome of extended situational poverty that 
is passed on to the next generation. Its chief characteristics include 
hopelessness, persistent failure to succeed through conventional or 
traditional means, and little to no awareness of or access to resources 
to the people or systems necessary to change one's circumstances. \7\ 
Live in situational poverty for too long, and intergenerational poverty 
becomes inescapable. Moreover, changing expectations for job and career 
readiness in many of our largest and fastest growing sectors, and the 
lack of access too many workers have to the knowledge economy and the 
future of work are a strategic threat to the competitiveness of our 
city, state and region. These dynamics have sidelined thousands of 
workers in Detroit--resulting in low labor force participation rates 
that suboptimize our economy. \8\ While scoping our challenges is, of 
course, an important first step, we take that question one step further 
in Detroit. We regularly ask ourselves, what if we combined our 
knowledge of the barriers our residents face with expert insights into 
the future of work? And then, what if we iterated on a set of solutions 
that were informed by resident, grassroots, faith-based, and community-
based organizations so that we could improve our trendlines on the 
metrics that deliver value? What I'll highlight today are four 
solutions, how they fit together to solve for the larger challenges we 
face, and how we measure those strategies against the results the 
Mayor, the Mayor's Workforce Development Board (Detroit's Workforce 
Investment Board), our State of Michigan Labor and Economic Opportunity 
partners and elected officials demand, and our taxpayers deserve.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\  https://www.luminafoundation.org/resource/addressing-americas-
reskilling-challenge/rapidly.
    \7\  https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdhhs/MCCA-2014-2015-
Generational-Poverty-Report-515073-7.pdf.
    \8\  https://www.crainsdetroit.com/sponsored-content/why-
increasing-labor-force-participation-essential-michigans-economy.

    Best practices for addressing workers' barriers to employment 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congress can support to scale success we've had in Detroit.

    Community Health Corps: Addressing wrap around needs of Detroit's 
most disconnected residents and connecting them with work.

    Community Health Corps, created by Mayor Duggan and Deputy Mayor 
and former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Conrad Mallett, is a model is 
built to disaggregate and solve for some of the most immediate and 
egregious issues facing Detroit's most disconnected residents. From 
unsafe housing conditions and food insecurity to access to behavioral 
and physical health services, Detroit's Community Health Corps is a 30-
person team working to connect Detroit's vast network of existing 
programs and community service providers in an operational 
infrastructure that will help us make one taxpayer dollar work like 
five dollars. This program is essential to increasing labor force 
participation because many of the challenges our most disconnected 
residents face don't exist because we lack solutions. These challenges 
exist because access to solutions across multiple agencies with 
complex, disconnected, laborious bureaucracies is a barrier. If you've 
ever tried to help a family member work through an application for a 
legitimately earned public benefit following a house fire with a 
fatality, as I have, you know the challenges firsthand. With CARES and 
ARPA funding as support, Community Health Corp is delivering a team of 
front-line, door-knocking State of Michigan certified community health 
workers who are getting into and staying in the trenches with Detroit's 
most disconnected residents. We've served 1316 households in the past 
13 months, with 490 having completed their economic self-sufficiency 
goals. \9\ We're not the first community to try this approach, but 
here's what's different in Detroit: Within the appropriate legislative 
guidelines, Mayor Duggan seated this program inside our workforce 
agency, Detroit at Work. Why? Because intergenerational poverty is 
complex. If our model delivers essential human services without 
hardwiring participants with concrete ways to improve their skills, get 
a job, and get firm footing onto the path toward the middle class, then 
we're not improving economic mobility; we're just creating false hope 
that economic stability and mobility are possible. As long as they're 
doing their part, our resident taxpayers should rightfully expect 
better than that from their government officials.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\  Community Health Corps. city of Detroit. December 2021 Program 
Update.

    Innovative work-readiness programs and industry partnerships with 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
local employers.

    The second initiative born of the FCA experience is a new model for 
work-readiness and employer partnerships. From the early days of the 
Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Labor and Economic 
Opportunity division's $5.8M investment in the project, the Detroit 
team has had one aim: Understand what's keeping our employer-client 
awake at night and, wherever possible, solve for the issues before they 
ever show up on the manufacturing facility floor. Our client told us 
three things: (1) new workers don't have access to the information 
necessary to understand the working conditions and physical demands of 
a day-in-the-life of a production worker; (2) the communication and 
problem-solving methods in today's manufacturing environment are not 
the same as those that existed in your grandfather's plant; and, (3) if 
you set expectations for the work, and new employees get through the 
first few weeks, the job, career opportunities, and union wages and 
benefits can offer the kind of financial stability that helps rebuild 
families and communities. Our job at Detroit at Work was to distill 
those observations into a work and career readiness workshop that would 
quickly get Detroiters `on the list' for priority hiring when the Mack 
Engine Plant opened. That's what we promised, and Detroit at Work and 
its community-based partners delivered more than 1000 work-readiness 
workshops across the City in churches, recreation centers, and our 
American Job Center One-Stops--also known as Detroit at Work Career 
Centers. More than 37,000 Detroiters expressed interest, more than 
16,000 took the steps necessary to pre-qualify themselves through our 
Detroit at Work program, and more than 5500--or roughly one out of 
three applicants were hired. The company says the Detroit at Work 
marketing and vetting campaign helped them save $2.1M in H.R. costs. In 
combination with the State of Michigan's Labor and Economic Opportunity 
investment of $5.8M, this $7.9M investment in talent created a new 
model for employer relationships in the City. In Detroit, we believe 
public workforce systems owe employers and job-seekers significant 
returns on their investments.

    Reshaping adult basic education to enable credential attainment and 
support partcipants' basic needs.

    While not a surprise, the third learning has led us to begin 
reshaping adult basic education in the City. More than 200 Detroiters 
washed-out of the Stellantis hiring process because they didn't have a 
high school diploma. We have no data on the number of Detroiters who 
never applied because they did not wish to be embarrassed by their lack 
of the credential. Mayor Duggan's response was to create Learn to Earn, 
a program to support Detroiters with a stipend of up to $200 per week 
for up to 6-months to complete their high school diploma or GED. 
Critics argue that paying adults to finish a basic credential shouldn't 
be necessary. Front-line practitioners argue that incentivizing adults 
who have real financial obligations and significant time constraints is 
a model worth trying. \10\ To date, more than 480 Detroiters have 
enrolled and are making progress toward skills gains and diploma 
completion. In Detroit, this number is more than two times the number 
of students who enrolled prior to the establishment of the incentive 
model. \11\ In Detroit, we believe that by adjusting the incentive 
model for students and exploring incentives for teachers, we have a 
shot at further modifying the behaviors of participants and outcomes of 
the program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\  Karolina Ramos. Poverty Solutions. Behavioral Economics of 
Education Incentives: Lessons for the Learn to Earn Program. November 
2021.
    \11\  Learn to Earn Program Update. City of Detroit. July 2021.

    Leverage Federal investment and strong outcomes of work-based 
learning to broaden the impact of local and state funding.
    Last, there are more than 11,000 Detroiters who were not selected 
as an FCA hire. This pool of talent (along with more than 30,000 more 
in our data base who are Detroit at Work customers who are not 
interested in auto manufacturing jobs) are ready to take steps toward 
their next opportunity. Using American Rescue Plan Act funding, we've 
built a plan to take advantage of their motivation and skills called 
Skills for Life. Essentially, three internal City departments have 
piloted a program through which Detroiters work 3 days per week earning 
$15 per hour removing commercial blight remediation and leading other 
city beautification projects while spending 2 days per week earning a 
credential and $15 per hour that will lead to a middle-class job at the 
end of the program. We believe this combination of meaningful and 
necessary work to beautify the City while earning pay and a credential 
is a pathway to a middle class career. More importantly, it's a way for 
Detroiters to practice lifelong learning. Skills for Life is an 
opportunity for residents to build their professional adaptability 
skills--one of the most sought-after traits for employees in the 
knowledge economy, \12\ and establish critical thinking, advanced 
problem-solving in advanced technology environments (including highly 
automated and artificial intelligence [AI] enabled workplaces), 
mobilizing systems and teamwork effectiveness, digital fluency and 
citizenship, and understanding digital systems. These competencies are 
among the 56 foundational skills that will help citizens thrive in the 
future of work. \13\ While the Skills for Life program launched in 
November 2021, early results are promising. More than 200 residents are 
interested, 100 have applied, 38 enrolled, 3 graduated, and 39 are 
expected to begin in the next 4 weeks. While this is no cause for a 
victory lap, we see positive trends we will continue to track, evaluate 
and use to inform future program adjustments.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \12\  https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/future-workforce/
missing-middle-skills-human-ai-collaboration.
    \13\  https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/
our-insights/defining-the-skills-citizens-will-need-in-the-future-
world-of-work.

    We believe that taken together, the measures above will help 
increase Detroit's labor force participation. Mayor Mike Duggan and 
City Council's vision is to create opportunity for all Detroiters. As 
noted in a recent editorial by former Michigan Lt. Governor Brian 
Calley, \14\ and as echoed by my Workforce Board co-chairs Cindy Pasky, 
President and CEO of global staffing agency Strategic Staffing 
Solutions, and David Meador, Chief Administrative Officer of DTE 
Energy, one of Michigan's largest utilities, getting residents off the 
sidelines and back into the workforce is essential to Michigan's 
economy and Detroit's readiness for continued industry investments. 
While Detroit's labor force participation rate has been steadily rising 
over the last year, to just 1,353 fewer residents employed or looking 
for work in December 2021 than pre-pandemic March 2020, too many 
Detroiters remain disconnected from work. \15\ Improving economic self-
sufficiency, and advancing economic mobility for residents into good, 
middle-class jobs and careers--while centering equity in the strategy--
are among Mayor Mike Duggan's top priorities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \14\  https://www.crainsdetroit.com/sponsored-content/why-
increasing-labor-force-participation-essential-michigans-economy.
    \15\  Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment 
Statistics.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               Conclusion
    One silver lining in our current crisis has been the funding to put 
real muscle behind understanding and creating resident-informed 
solutions to what we're facing. With the help of Workforce Innovation 
and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding and our partnership with the State 
of Michigan's Labor and Economic Opportunity division, CARES funding in 
mid-2019, and now American Rescue Plan Act funding, Detroit stood up 
these first-of-their-kind initiatives to tackle some of our most 
intractable challenges, while creating pathways to economic stability 
and mobility. We believe that, in Detroit, our residents don't need 
more programs. What we need is funding and permissions to braid funding 
across the Department of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), 
Department of Education (DOE) and others into solutions that deliver a 
greater return on investment for taxpayers. As importantly, we need 
investments to continue readying industrial land and sites so that 
Detroit and Michigan can strengthen the local and regional economy, and 
can compete to bring more industry and investments to the US.

    Many thanks to this committee for the privilege of sharing 
Detroit's learnings. If of interest to this body, Detroit would welcome 
the chance to provide further testimony about what is working, what is 
not, and what Mayor Duggan and his administration are doing about it in 
the City with support from Senator Debbie Stabenow and Senator Gary 
Peters, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her administration, local 
legislators including City Council and the Detroit Delegation, the 
business community and faith based leaders, and most importantly--the 
residents of the city of Detroit.
                                 ______
                                 
             [summary statement of nicole sherard-freeman]
    I. HELP Committee Greetings.

    II. Stellantis (formerly FCA) and Detroit--A brief on-the-ground 
case study of how economic development and workforce development come 
together to produce unprecedented opportunities and outcomes in 
employment and economic outcomes for the city of Detroit.

    III. What Detroit has learned from significant changes in its 
economic conditions. Two known barriers (childcare, transportation) and 
new insights into long-term issues: the irrefutable impact of 
intergenerational poverty, changing expectations for job and career 
readiness in many of our largest and fastest growing sectors; and the 
lack of access too many workers have to the knowledge economy and the 
future of work.

    IV. Detroit's response: Best practices for addressing workers' 
barriers to employment that Congress can support to help scale the 
success we've had in Detroit.

        (a) Community Health Corp: Addressing wrap around needs of 
        Detroit's most disconnected residents in a model that connects 
        them to work

        (b) Detroit at Work: Innovative work readiness programs and 
        industry partnerships with local employers

        (c) Reshaping adult basic education to enable credential 
        attainment and support participant's basic needs.

        (d) Leveraging Federal investment and strong outcomes from 
        work-based learning to broaden the impact of local and state 
        funding, and ready residents for lifelong learning and the 
        future of work.

    V. Conclusion: Opportunities and Asks
                                 ______
                                 
    The Chair. Thank you very much to all of our witnesses for 
excellent testimony. We will now begin around a 5-minute 
questions, and I ask all of our colleagues to again keep track 
of the clock, stay within those 5 minutes.
    Ms. Mack and Ms. Sherard-Freeman, I will start with both of 
you. Too many young people face really significant challenges 
in accessing high quality jobs, especially in in-demand fields. 
Barriers like lack of access to childcare, transportation, high 
quality education often really undercut workers earning low 
wages, workers of color, or formerly incarcerated individuals, 
workers with disabilities and many others. We need a system 
that really helps workers overcome those barriers.
    Ms. Mack and Ms. Sherard-Freeman, let me ask both of you, 
and I will start with Ms. Mack, what are the top things that 
workforce systems working with their partners need to do to 
support people facing multiple barriers to employment?
    Ms. Mack. Sure, thank you for the question. I think what 
happens on the ground is a recognition that partnership is 
crucial and critical. And so what we see, many programs are 
working across their community based partners in conjunction 
with their Government partners to make sure that there are 
adequate wraparound supports for individuals who are going 
through programs.
    By way of example, I was speaking with an adult literacy 
program yesterday in the Capital region, and they were sharing 
a story about a woman named Maria, who had a IEP, so an 
individual education plan because she had a learning disability 
and was at a third or fourth grade reading level when she 
entered into their literacy program, and ultimately needed 
employment.
    They were able to connect her to a part time job at a 
department store while providing the additional wraparound 
supports transportation, childcare, housing support to be able 
to continue to finish that high school diploma and ultimately 
get into a post-secondary career through vocational 
rehabilitation.
    Again, I think part of what the secret sauce is for 
workforce development is on the ground. The workforce boards 
and their partners know each other really well, and when they 
work together, that is when we see success not only for 
employers, but for the individuals as well.
    The Chair. Thank you. Ms. Sherard-Freeman.
    Ms. Sherard-Freeman. I will build on Ms. Mack's responds by 
adding that the other crucial component to partnerships is 
actually getting the voice of the participant into the center 
of the discussion.
    Now, some would call that centering worker voice. What we 
see it as on the ground is getting the voice of the people who 
have those struggles into the conversation, into the room. I 
will tell you the story briefly of Rhonda Liz Carter, who was 
hired by FCA.
    She had been trying to get into the company since she was 
18. It took the Detroit at Work program to translate employer 
insights into really what Ms. Carter needed to know to be a 
successful candidate.
    It had been decades, and the Detroit at Work program on the 
ground, building solutions around what participants tell us 
their barriers are, was really the answer to her challenges.
    The Chair. Thank you. Every year, more than 600,000 people 
transition from state and Federal prison back into their 
communities. High quality jobs really is one of the most 
effective ways we know to reduce recidivism and ensure formerly 
incarcerated people have a path to stability and success.
    But unfortunately, the unemployment rate for formerly 
incarcerated people is nearly five times higher than the 
overall unemployment rate. So we really need better policies 
and systems in place to support the transition back into the 
workforce for those individuals.
    Ms. Mack, I will turn back to you. How are the workforce 
system and community based organizations in New York working to 
support people as they transition back into their communities 
and into pathways that lead to high quality paying jobs?
    Ms. Mack. Sure, thank you. Again, going back to the example 
I provided in the testimony. Having a place for someone to land 
when they leave incarceration is crucial.
    That is why Center for Employment Opportunities and the 
Osborne Association are such important assets in our state, 
because they work directly with the jail system and probation 
to make sure that individuals sort of land in a program that 
can, again, address their specific needs, whether it be 
housing, that child support, sort of other sort of debts that 
they have accrued, but also to be able to address some of the 
soft skills that are necessary so that they can transition 
through just transitional employment into a good paying job.
    It allows employers to try them out. But that also allows 
individuals to get that immediate wage, which again, they have 
indicated as absolutely crucial to the ability of people to 
sort of stay out of jail.
    The Chair. Thank you very much, and I will turn to Senator 
Burr. My time has expired.
    Senator Burr. Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Watts, why is it 
important for the private sector to be involved in the second 
chance hiring policies, and why did the Kentucky Chamber 
embrace that initiative?
    Ms. Watts. Thank you for that question. The Kentucky 
Chamber Several years ago, we have been advocating for policies 
specifically around felony expungement. And many people said, 
why is the Kentucky Chamber, the group of the employers in 
Kentucky, really advocating for not knowing what someone's 
background was?
    Really, it was because of opportunity and because of 
workforce and making sure that people really could, once they 
pay their debt to society, come out and be active citizens, be 
good taxpayers, be involved in the community. And that is what 
we wanted to see. And so I think it is important for employers 
to really lean in on this issue because it is not just saying I 
am a second chance employer.
    There is a lot more that goes into it, and that is what our 
programs provide. It is looking at their H.R. manuals, it is 
training their employees. It is talking about maybe it is not 
the first chance, and you are out, maybe it is two or three 
chances and making sure they have the proper support system 
around them and recovery, but really leaning in and making sure 
that we are aware of the struggles these people are facing.
    Even something as simple as giving them an ID when they are 
coming out of incarceration. We are wanting them to come back 
and reenter into society and put their best foot forward. But 
yet, when they have their mug shot to show for a job interview, 
that is not really putting their best foot forward. So we are 
literally thinking of every step that we can to help these 
people reintegrate back in society. And we often say, we don't 
want them to just get a job, we want them to get meaningful 
employment.
    We want them to get training, something that they are 
passionate about, so they can really build that life on there. 
And that is what we have seen being successful in Kentucky.
    Senator Burr. Well, thank you for that work. Mr. Beard, 
employers are embracing skills based hiring rather than 
focusing more on the traditional credentials. How have Houston 
employers adapted to this practice and what more can be done?
    Mr. Beard. Thank you, Senator Burr--excuse me. First, we 
are seeing folks remove the credential requirement. Memorial 
Hermann, one of our largest health care systems, has removed 
its high school diploma requirement. And similar to Ms. Watts's 
point, it will show up in the interviewing process, whether 
folks have the skills and abilities for the roles that they are 
describing.
    We are also understanding and seen as we described in the 
construction industry, that the skills are more important than 
the credential. So sending a signal that you can leave high 
school and come into the workforce and within a couple of years 
be in a very, very good job.
    Then I think the future trend is we are also seeing other 
employers, for example, Chevron, who is moving to a skills 
based hiring approach, and they are going to use Houston as 
their pilot site to bring that. And when you think about 
Chevron in terms of not only the work that it does in kind of 
the middle skill space, but also in the high skilled space.
    We expect that we will continue to see that role, because 
at the end of the day, the skill, not the credential, is what 
is there.
    Senator Burr. Thank you for that. Ms. Sherard-Freeman, 
workforce systems have two major customers, job seekers and 
employers. I want you to sort of expand on what you have said 
about the importance your office puts on engaging both of these 
groups in the employment process.
    Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Thank you for the question, Ranking 
Member Burr. So we believe that unless we are driving solutions 
with the employer's needs in mind, our solutions will be 
insufficient. We also believe that unless we center our 
solutions around what workers really need, job seekers and 
would be job seekers, our solutions will be insufficient. And 
so we found ways on the ground in Detroit really to bring both 
of those perspectives into focus and keep them in focus.
    Senator Burr. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    The Chair. Senator Casey.
    Senator Casey. Thank you, Chair Murray. I wanted to start 
by noting a piece of legislation that both Senator Cassidy and 
I are working on, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and I am 
grateful for Senator Cassidy's partnership on this bill and the 
commitment shown by Chair Murray and Ranking Member Burr to 
advancing this important legislation. And its policies like 
this that obviously will help make high quality employment 
accessible to those who face very steep barriers.
    I want to thank Bill Cassidy for that and thank the Chair 
and Ranking Member. I wanted to start with a question about 
what is known as the sub-minimum wage. People with disabilities 
are better able to achieve financial independence, we know, and 
to spend more time engaging in their communities when they 
transition to competitive employment and work in integrated 
environments, workplaces that hire both people with 
disabilities and people without disabilities.
    I have introduced the transformation to Competitive 
Integrated Employment Act, which would end the sub--end the 
sub-minimum wage and provide support to businesses in order 
that they have the support they need to do just that. Senator 
Daines has worked with me on this bill, and I appreciate his 
help.
    We know that the labor force participation rate for people 
with disabilities is almost 38 percent, according to the 
Department of Labor. That is half, half the rate for people 
with disabilities. In addition, the poverty rate for people 
with--for adults with disabilities between the ages of 16 and 
64 is 26 percent. So a high, or I should say a low labor force 
participation rate and a very high poverty rate.
    Mr. Beard and others who may want to weigh in, how do we 
make sure that people with disabilities can obtain employment 
that is my first question. And then second, what are your 
recommendations for increasing employment for those with 
disabilities?
    Mr. Beard. Thank you, Senator. The example I gave is really 
trying to knock down those barriers, which is understanding 
what skills and capabilities an individual has, and then 
mapping it to a place where they can easily upskill into that 
role.
    That is one example. And then we have another example in 
Houston with a nonprofit organization that has partnered with 
many of the vendors at our main sports venues, where they train 
individuals to serve pizza and other things and make them that 
initial wage that is much more competitive.
    Those are the examples, but it is going to require 
employers understanding that the skills individuals have can be 
used in the workplace. And to your point, the diversity that 
enriches the workplace as well.
    Senator Casey. Thank you, and unless there is anyone else 
who may want to weigh in on that, I will have a second question 
for Ms. Mack. This is, with relationship to, or I should say 
with regard to questions about low level criminal records. We 
know that more than one in three adults have some form of 
criminal record, which keeps them from participating in many 
facets of everyday life as background checks become more 
commonplace.
    Although many of these individuals successfully complete 
their sentence, many are still constrained by low level and 
non-violent criminal records. I have introduced legislation 
with Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa, the so-called Clean Slate 
Act, which would automatically seal low-level nonviolent 
Federal offenses after the individual completes their sentence.
    Ms. Mack, here is the question, when you consider this 
issue, in your experience, how can criminal records impact an 
individual's ability to obtain education and training or access 
high quality employment even after, after they have completed 
their sentence?
    Ms. Mack. Sure, thank you for that question. We know that 
in some instances, many people don't even know that they have a 
criminal record. And especially with young adults. We actually 
have an entire organization in the city of New York that just 
works on helping adults understand whether or not they have 
something of a record and how they can get that sealed or 
expunged, if necessary.
    I think as was described before, one of the biggest 
barriers as we sort of now use automated processes to screen 
resumes and often these types of offenses will screen people 
right out before they are even getting a shot to sort of 
explain what happened or what the instances were that sort of 
got them in the situation in the first place.
    But in addition to that, I think folks often forget that 
the skills and abilities of individuals are what we need to be 
paying attention to and not necessarily what has happened in 
their past. And so, I mean, personally, I believe that would be 
a huge help to many New Yorkers. And I know in our state, our 
state legislature is taking strides to think about ways to do 
that as well. So, thank you for that.
    Senator Casey. Thanks very much, Ms. Mack. Thank you, Chair 
Murray.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    Senator Cassidy.
    Senator Cassidy. Thank you very much. Thanks to all the 
witnesses. I think there is a common theme that I am hearing 
from you, which is you kind of meet the worker where she or he 
is, and meeting them there, you work with the employer. Let me 
just go right back to Bob Casey. I think that is the purpose of 
our Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
    There is an article I have seen from a woman in an article 
from the Cincinnati Enquirer, so obviously applies to Kentucky, 
of someone in Kentucky, a police officer who is pregnant, and 
she couldn't get the lighter duty that was available in her 
late pregnancy, even though it was available because of rigid 
work laws. And so if we are going to like increase opportunity 
for people, there has to be a certain flexibility. It has to be 
meeting the worker where she is, or he is in a case of not 
related to pregnancy.
    Bob, thanks very much for doing that, and hopefully our 
preaching on the issue will get it passed, so thank you. And 
then also related to that, which all of you seem to speak to, 
but nobody speaks to you directly. I want to make a pitch for 
something else I am working on with Senator Warren, the College 
Transparency Act, which would allow an individual when she or 
he is deciding where to go to school, to have easily accessible 
and understanding information as to how much she or he would 
have to borrow in order to complete a curriculum in that major 
at that school and what their earning potential would be 
afterwards.
    I say that because commonly I see billboards of pretty and 
handsome young men and women going to some university, so as 
to, kind of online training or whatever. I know they are 
borrowing a heck of a lot of money, but I can look at the 
professions that they are promoting, and they are not going to 
make enough to pay back those loans. And if they draw down 
their Pell, they are going to--it is going to be a huge 
opportunity cost.
    Instead of being able to apply all this money to a course 
of study that would really give them a career for the future, 
they are going to end up earning something at minimum wage plus 
tips, hoping that ends up meeting needs.
    Again, that is our College Transparency Act. And just so I 
know that I am not kind of assuming that you would agree, Ms. 
Sherard-Freeman, let me just ask. I am from Baton Rouge. We 
have, unfortunately, a lot of poor folks. I am glad we have our 
folks, but I am sorry that they are poor, and you spoke to them 
so well.
    I almost feel like this is a bait and switch. You spoke 
about helping people get through their high school. Here we 
have something to help them get through their college. But 
oftentimes the money ends up wasted because they choose a 
curriculum which is not going to be profitable for them. Any 
thoughts on that in general, and perhaps particularly on the 
goal of something like the College Transparency Act?
    Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Well, thank you so much for the 
question. Yes, we believe that the kind of transparency that 
you are describing is essential to really fixing the issue that 
we have all talked about today and that is getting people off 
the sidelines and back into the workforce.
    That presumes getting them back into positions in the 
workforce that will provide for both economic stability and 
economic mobility. People can't make good decisions without 
good data. And I think what you are talking about is improving 
the quality of data available to Americans.
    Senator Cassidy. Yes, ma'am. And Mr. Beard, I once went to 
a place in South Louisiana and the guy said, I need a master 
welder, I don't need a sociologist. But if I got a master 
welder, the guy is going to make $80,000 a year before we get 
to overtime. And so again, this is all about competitiveness.
    How do we make it competitive for that individual to get a 
better job, but also, how do we, in the aggregate, make our 
Country more competitive, providing jobs for those people? Any 
thoughts about the transparency required so someone would 
choose that would be better for their future, earning potential 
as opposed to that would seem to attract them on a billboard?
    Mr. Beard. We would wholeheartedly agree, Senator. First, 
we think about it as credentials of value, which means our 
credential has an intended purpose and you can finance it the 
way you were describing, that it isn't an undue burden once you 
leave. And so that requires the information that is there.
    The State of Texas is partnering with the U.S. Chamber 
Foundation as part of its job employment data exchange to get 
the kind of data that would be necessary for that transparency 
to show someone who had completed a degree, what they are 
making using enhanced unemployment insurance reporting.
    In addition, we think performance based approaches 
strengthen that approach, and you can see it done in multiple 
different ways. In terms of here in Texas, there is the Texas 
State Technical College that basically is funded because it is 
out-workforce outcomes are the basis for the appropriation from 
the Legislature.
    Finally, the U.S. Chamber Foundation is also working on 
talent finance to begin to align employment outcomes, employer 
interest, and education to actually produce those outcomes.
    Senator Cassidy. Yes, that is a--thank you all. Again, I 
just feel like each of you is meeting the worker where she or 
he is. And I just learned in my experience, I am a doctor, you 
have got to meet the patient, you have got to meet the 
individual where they are, not where you expect them to be.
    Thank you for that and thank you for--I am going to take it 
as a ringing endorsement for my College Transparency Act. Thank 
you all. I yield back.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    Senator Kaine.
    Senator Kaine. Thank you, Chair Murray and Ranking Member 
Burr. This is a great panel on an important topic, so I have a 
plea and two questions. So my plea is this, I am speaking to 
you as representative of the entire Nation's workforce 
development professionals. Many of you use the phrase soft 
skills. I hate that phrase because it sounds too soft.
    When I talk to my employers, they really want technical 
skills, but in some ways, even more. They are looking for 
creativity, problem solving, teamwork, communication, show up 
and be mission focused and stay till the work is done. And they 
almost have a harder time finding that than the technical 
skills.
    They can sometimes train for the technical skills, but it 
is hard to create that. So I always use success skills are 
survival skills rather than soft skills, because I think it 
sort of elevates it to the importance and deserves. So that is 
my plea.
    Now my question. Ms. Mack, in your testimony, I just want 
to read a quote from your testimony here. Your written 
testimony. You talk about the barriers that folks have, 
``workers lack access to foundational and technical skills and 
do not have resources to pay for training courses while also 
supporting their families.
    This means public policy is not doing enough for families 
around the country to enable them to fill good jobs for which 
businesses are hiring.'' Senator Portman and I have had a long 
time bill called the Jobs Act, which would enable Pell Grants 
to be used for high quality, short term career, and technical 
education offered at community colleges and other institutions.
    There are 49 Senators, including many on this Committee, 
who are co-sponsors of the bill. I want to thank my Chair and 
Ranking Member because when we were debating the USICA bill, 
the Senate version of our competitiveness bill, they helped me 
sort of with a shoestring catch. We became the last amendment 
that was cleared for a manager's package, meaning unanimous 
support in the Senate.
    The manager's package didn't work out then. But last week 
the House passed their version of this bill, the COMPETES Act, 
and it became the last amendment that was added on a floor vote 
that was strongly bipartisan.
    My question would be, if we allowed those who are Pell 
Grant eligible to use Pell Grants for high quality career and 
technical education, how would this solve or address some of 
the workplace barriers we are talking about?
    Ms. Watts. I can address that first. Thank you, Senator. 
And in Kentucky, we agree we think soft skills is too soft. We 
call it the central skills. And so we have actually put that 
curriculum in K through 12 education through statute several 
years ago.
    But we very much in Kentucky are facing almost the exact 
same thing. We have a scholarship fund program funded through 
our Kentucky lottery system, and currently you can only use it 
at a traditional 4 year college or a community technical 
college. We are trying to revamp that at a state level with the 
Legislature this year to be able to use that scholarship money 
for those skills trainings.
    For those welding schools, the pipefitter jobs, those 
things that we do need a credential or certificate for, to not 
just make it about a traditional 4 year or 2 year community 
technical college degree. So we in Kentucky very much agree 
with that premise.
    Senator Kaine. Let me ask Ms. Mack since I quoted her, and 
then I have a second question and I will see if Ms. Sherard-
Freeman and Mr. Beard would want to address. Ms. Mack.
    Ms. Mack. No, we also completely agree. Short term probably 
would be a huge support, especially to our community colleges. 
And I think the key is, as you describe, is high quality. So 
making sure that it is going to industries and sectors, into 
programs that are resulting in good wages and employment 
afterwards.
    Similar to Kentucky, New York is also taking sort of a 
stance around short term TAP, which is our temporary funding 
that sort of goes to support low income students in New York 
State. And so this combination of the part time TAP, and part 
time Pell could be an incredible boon for our low-income 
students across New York State.
    Senator Kaine. Thank you, Ms. Mack. So my second question 
is this, and I will address it to Ms. Sherard-Freeman and Mr. 
Beard. Probably because of the way the title of this hearing is 
set up, and a little bit because of jurisdictional issues in 
the Senate, I was interested we had a discussion about 
workforce and not a single one of you mentioned immigration.
    When we talk about immigration, it appears we almost always 
talk about the border. But when I talk to my employers, my Ag 
employers or my construction industry or my oystermen and 
watermen on the Chesapeake Bay, they are often talking to me 
about TPS or work visas. How much of our Nation's workforce 
needs need to incorporate smart immigration policy?
    Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Thank you for the question, Senator. 
So we believe smart immigration policy is essential to helping 
rebuild America's workforce. Detroit is on the receiving end 
right now of Afghan refugees.
    We have approximately 200 housed in a hotel while we work 
to find permanent housing, and one of the first things we are 
doing is being sure that those refugees have the documentation 
and the resources they need to quickly connect with jobs that 
will lead to economic stability, support their housing, and 
ultimately help them be important parts of the community fabric 
in Detroit.
    We did the same thing with Syrian refugees. It is the 
Mayor's practice, and we believe it is good business.
    Senator Kaine. Chair Murray, could I ask Mr. Beard if he 
would answer that question?
    The Chair. Absolutely.
    Senator Kaine. Thank you.
    Mr. Beard. Senator, we would obviously be very supportive 
of a skills based immigration policy. We think that there is a 
shadow economy that is hurting many employers because they 
can't access workers that are here in the country, so we have 
got to find a solution to that. It is not an easy one, 
obviously.
    But I know our employers are concerned about it because 
there are skilled skills and they can employ people with the 
skills necessary for the demand in an industrial and commercial 
construction sector that is thriving in Houston. So we would 
support it.
    Senator Kaine. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Murray.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    Senator Hassan.
    Senator Hassan. Well, thank you, Chair Murray and our 
Ranking Member Burr. I thank you to all the witnesses. And I 
just want to thank my colleagues, Senator Casey, for his 
discussion on the subminimum wage, something I am eager to work 
with him on, and proud that New Hampshire was the first state 
to eliminate sub-minimum wages. And also a thank you to my 
colleague, Senator Kaine. I am a co-sponsor of the Jobs Act and 
we just got to keep working to get that done.
    I want to start with a question to both Ms. Sherard-Freeman 
and Ms. Mack. When I was Governor of New Hampshire, now as a 
Senator, I have supported career pathway programs which combine 
work, education, and support services to expand opportunities 
for workers who have fallen out of the labor force or need to 
make progress in their careers.
    Through these programs, businesses partner with higher 
education institutions so that workers receive on the job 
training, while also earning recognized educational credentials 
to help advance in their careers.
    This Congress I reintroduced the Gateway to Careers Act for 
Senators Young, Kaine, and Collins, a bipartisan bill to expand 
career pathways, as well as to provide wraparound support for 
workers who face barriers such as transportation or childcare 
costs.
    I will start with you, Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Could you speak 
to how career pathways programs help workers to reenter or 
remain in the workforce? And then we will go to Ms. Mack.
    Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Thank you very much for the question, 
Senator. We believe that career pathways, the kinds of supports 
and the way you have structured them are essential to not only 
helping residents get on their feet toward the end of economic 
stability, but that they are essential to ensuring economic 
mobility.
    Stability without mobility is a dead end, and we believe 
that the career pathways work that you have described is 
exactly what we need.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you very much. Ms. Mack.
    Ms. Mack. Ma'am, I am going to second what my colleague in 
Detroit shared. I think this is the way you do workforce 
development effectively through career pathways and sector 
based strategies.
    It is a true partnership between workers and employers. And 
I think a great example of that is registered apprenticeship. 
And we are sort of seeing, that registered apprenticeship is 
growing and expanding. And in our state, we are also working to 
figure out ways to engage more young adults in registered 
apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs because it does come 
with those wraparound support. They are often paid training 
opportunities.
    In addition to that, there is a true career progression 
that we can watch and see and also communicate. So it is sort 
of the point before around transparency, you can communicate 
what the path looks like for individuals. And so I completely 
agree. I think career pathways is a way to do this work.
    Senator Hassan. Well, thank you. Ms. Mack, I have another 
question for you because I want to turn to some of the unique 
challenges facing workers in rural areas. Many workers who 
would like to remain in their local communities struggle to 
find the right training opportunities that align with 
businesses' needs, in many cases leaving them underemployed or 
forced to leave their communities for better job opportunities 
elsewhere.
    One way to address this is better alignment between 
business needs and local education and training opportunities, 
something that Senator Collins and I hope to address by passing 
the Success for Rural Students and Communities Act. Ms. Mack, 
how have you worked to improve opportunities for workers in 
rural communities in New York?
    Ms. Mack. Sure, and I think this is where local workforce 
are really crucial. And two of the examples that I provided, 
Chautauqua County and the North Country are both some of the 
rural parts of the state.
    What is crucial is being able to understand, as was 
described before, what the needs are of the individual. I think 
a lot of folks would assume it would be transportation or some 
would be childcare, but and often it is housing. There is a lot 
of constraints around housing in rural communities.
    Sort of working with employers, I think the local workforce 
boards are able to better coordinate those educational 
institutions to meet their needs in the timing and sort of the 
distance that might be required, but also, more importantly, 
sort of utilizing virtual services to support workers and 
employers as well.
    In Chautauqua, they are working directly with a group of 
manufacturers to sort of recruit and hire for their specific 
needs. And in North Country, they are designing a whole brand 
new program that is focused on recruiting young adults directly 
out of the K-12 system.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you. And that is a segway to a 
question for Ms. Sherard-Freeman, which is really about 
housing, because workers' difficulty in finding affordable 
housing can hurt their ability to remain in the workforce, 
makes it harder for businesses to attract workers that they 
need.
    One way to address this is obviously for communities to 
invest in safe and affordable workforce housing options. How 
does access to stable housing impact people's ability to find 
and retain employment? And have you worked to address this in 
Detroit?
    Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Oh, thank you so much for the 
question, Senator. In Detroit, we believe that economic 
mobility hinges on stable housing, and we have worked 
diligently to ensure that affordable housing is part of that 
equation.
    We really believe that affordable housing should be the 
basis for economic development in all neighborhood plans. 
Affordable housing as the basis for economic development, not 
simply a response to economic growth. If you wait for the point 
that it is a response to economic growth, it is too late.
    We are so very pleased to have the Choice HUD Award in 
Detroit, building on Ford Motor Company's $1 billion investment 
in Corktown. Affordable housing will be a significant part of 
that choice grant. We have a $30 million grant, and it blends 
together housing, affordable housing workforce, the wraparound 
support you have described. We believe it will be a model.
    Senator Hassan. Thank you very much, and thank you, Madam 
Chair, for letting me go over here.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    Senator Murphy.
    Senator Murphy. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you 
all for your testimony today. I remember looking at a really 
interesting data set, right on the back end of the Great 
Recession, when we had recovered most of our employment. And 
what it showed was that though over that period of time, a lot 
of people had become unemployed and then a lot of people had 
been reemployed, there had been this really fascinating shift 
in terms of age demographics.
    What had happened during that time was that older, the 
percentage of the older workers or the percentage of older 
Americans in the workforce had dramatically increased, whereas 
the percentage of younger Americans in the workforce had 
plummeted. You had essentially seen this shift of young people 
in the workforce coming out and older people going in.
    The sort of long term data here is pretty frightening, 
right between 2000 and 2018, workforce participation rates for 
those ages 16 to 19 fell from about one-half of the population 
to one-third. That is stunning in an 18-year period of time, 
and we know it just got worse during the pandemic because we 
saw again a bottoming out of summer job opportunities for 
teenagers.
    I wanted to focus just, and I will ask this to the panel 
and maybe directed initially to you, Mr. Beard, but then open 
it up to others. I want to talk about barriers to employment 
for teenagers and for young workers, because it is those early 
work experiences that set the platform for later success.
    We just have a stunningly fewer number of kids who are 
having this positive workforce experiences when they are 
teenagers. And if you have these barriers later on in life, 
they are just compounded by a lack of exposure to the workforce 
into job skills when you are in those early formative years.
    Are there specific things we need to be thinking about in 
order to overcome this pull out of the workforce of teenagers? 
Because it seems to me, given the data telling us something has 
happened very quickly to that population, we need to have a 
targeted policy to address those barriers.
    Mr. Beard. I think there are several things, Senator, and 
thank you for the question. The first is we need to start 
obviously in the school system and creating opportunity there. 
We have got some really good examples in Houston where our 
employers have partnered with the school districts and the 
community colleges to do pre-apprenticeship programs that then 
provide summer internships at $13, $14 an hour that create that 
culture.
    It also has the employers' responsibility of working with 
the school system to actually ensure, to Senator Kane's point, 
through developing the essential skills. I think the second one 
is Mayor Turner in Houston has advanced his Hire Houston Youth 
Program, which really engages the business community to provide 
summer--paid summer internships to youth in Houston.
    Then third, I think there are opportunities about how do we 
work with community based organizations to support students as 
they get ready to go into internships during their school 
years. But then at the other point is, how do we open up the 
funnel with employers once they have left the school districts 
to find pathways, which is a really difficult thing with 
opportunity youth because they have disconnected from the 
system? I will let others respond.
    Senator Murphy. Sure.
    Ms. Sherard-Freeman. If I might, Senator. We are in the 
seventh year in Detroit of Detroit's Young Talent, which is the 
city's summer youth employment program that the Mayor launched 
when he took office. Every year we place more than 8,000 young 
people into opportunities.
    We target 14 to 24 year olds, so certainly covering the 
opportunity youth that Mr. Beard is referencing. These are 
essential skills jobs. These are jobs working in our fire 
cadets and with our police department and with community based 
organizations.
    We think it is an essential way to ensure that the pipeline 
of talent of young people are engaged, and more importantly, 
have relationships with local employers so that over the long 
term, they have an opportunity baked in into their future.
    Senator Murphy. I thank you for these responses. This 
intentionality about making sure that young people have those 
experiences, which does often involve some amount of subsidy, I 
think is required in an economy where so many more older 
workers now need to stay in the workforce longer.
    You would love it if the private sector had the solution 
for these kids. But ultimately, with so many folks needing to 
stay in the workforce longer in order to make sure they have 
enough for retirement in order to make sure they have food on 
the table, we are going to have to be a little bit more 
intentional in the mechanisms by which we use, sometimes using 
subsidy to get those kids the skills they need early on. Thank 
you very much, Madam Chair.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    Senator Smith.
    Senator Smith. Thank you very much, Madam Chair and Ranking 
Member. And it is great to be a part of this panel and so 
exciting to see the interest in this issue. I want to just 
actually start by following-up on the questions that Senator 
Murphy was just asking. I will--maybe I will go to you, Ms. 
Mack, on this. I am thinking especially about youth workforce 
programs and especially pre-apprenticeships, about pre-
apprenticeships.
    In Minnesota, we have got a great example of this in a 
program called Youth Build, which is a very successful pre-
apprenticeship program. A lot of times, though, these strong 
programs they won't kick in until students are already at risk 
of falling off track, or they really can't get exposure to the 
programs until they are 16, and then by then, they are already 
sort of not really clear how their own talents are going to 
connect into the job opportunities that they have.
    I am wondering kind of how we think that some of these 
efforts might be reformed. I have a piece of legislation with 
Senator Graham and Senator Wyden and Senator Collins to 
introduce a bill called the Youth Workforce Readiness Act. And 
what it would do is to pull in afterschool providers to help 
connect youth with local employers through things like job 
shadowing or career exploration or internships, and of course, 
registered apprenticeships.
    Just another way of connecting young folks with what might 
be their first job to get at the challenges that Senator Murphy 
just explained so well. So maybe, Ms. Mack, could you just tell 
us a little bit more about what you think we need to be doing 
to connect young people sooner to career opportunities? If you 
agree with that, if you agree, it is a timing challenge as well 
as equality quality of opportunity challenge.
    Ms. Mack. Sure, absolutely. And I think in New York City in 
particular, again, the ecosystem of providers who do workforce 
development often are also engaged in sort of after school 
supportive housing. They run sort of a full service approach in 
terms of engaging New Yorkers. I think where we find the most 
success is where they are subsidized work based learning or 
workforce development opportunities or project based learning 
that is again coordinated with the K-12 system.
    I think for part of that, we would need to sort of extend--
expand under the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act, the 
waiver that is in place right now around a serving exclusively 
out-of-school youth. We have heard from our members there is 
interest in doing exactly what you are describing around making 
sure that more young adults who are currently in school have 
access to supportive programs and dropout prevention.
    But in addition to that, I think it is this need to be able 
to directly connect to a wage based employment. And so in our 
state, we have a summer employment program that has operated 
for about 30 years at this point. It is funded primarily 
through TANF. And in New York City alone, they serve about 
100,000 young adults each year with their sort of summer youth 
employment program.
    Again, I think the connection between K-12, but then also 
directly to work is crucial. So going back to Senator Kaine's 
comments before about success skills, I mean, I don't know 
about you, but I certainly learned a whole lot my first job 
about what I could and couldn't do at work. And I think that 
giving young adults that experience is probably the most 
essential thing we could do at this point.
    Senator Smith. Absolutely. My first job was getting up at 
6:30 in the morning to clean the Glazer at the donut shop where 
I worked, and I was 16 years old, and I learned a lot about 
like showing up was not an option. I learned a lot about a lot 
of things at that job that time. Ms. Sherard-Freeman, I wanted 
to just follow-up with you.
    I so appreciate you sharing your experience about the work 
that you are doing in Detroit, which is really impressive. I 
really especially appreciated your testimony about how, when 
people are facing challenges that keep them from working, it 
could be childcare or transportation or housing, I want to 
associate myself strongly with the questions that Senator 
Hassan was asking nothing else will work no matter what kind of 
great training opportunities or workforce opportunities they 
have if the other things in their life aren't working.
    Minnesota workforce development professionals are telling 
me that in the next bill reauthorization that they would really 
like to see some additional flexibility so that they can think 
about how to serve families as part of a two generation 
approach. For example, got a family member who wants to boost 
their training because another family member has become 
dislocated from their jobs.
    Or you have got a client who is working with both WIOA and 
TANF, and how can we make that two generation approach work 
better? So, Ms. Sherard-Freeman, can you just tell me what else 
you think we should be keeping in mind when it comes to best 
practices about taking this two generation approach?
    Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Thank you so much for the question. So 
the flexibility that you have just described, being able to 
blend and braid funding across WIOA and TANF, if we had that 
same degree of freedom to make every tax dollar work in the 
maximum--toward maximum value, being able to braid funding 
across not just the Department of Labor and Health and Human 
Services, but the Department of Education, and where there are 
other opportunities to reduce the silos so that we can make $1 
tax dollar work like $5, that is the kind of--those are the 
kinds of freedoms that we need to weave together funding.
    To make your point, our summer youth employment program in 
Detroit, Grow Detroit's Young Talent, is an $11.4 million 
program. And we are very fortunate to have roughly a quarter of 
a million, half a million dollars each year from our partners 
at the State of Michigan Labor and Economic Opportunity 
Division.
    The rest of it, we fundraise. We are very fortunate to have 
good, strong, philanthropic partners, but fundraising to the 
tune of about $10 million a year, we believe that is a place 
where legislation and Federal support should kick in for our 
young people before they become at risk.
    Senator Smith. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I know I am 
out of time, but I want to just note, I remember so clearly 
working at the state level and trying to figure out how to get 
flexibility in these very complicated workforce training 
programs. And I mean, I remember so many times the 
administrators saying of course, we would like to have more 
money, but what we really need is more flexibility so that we 
can make every dollar work in exactly the way that it could 
work if we had that flexibility. So, just thank you for that.
    The Chair. Thank you very much.
    Senator Braun.
    Senator Braun. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have been talking 
about workforce for such a long time. Senator Hickenlooper and 
I recently did a Subcommittee hearing on it. I am going to draw 
upon what was the biggest issue in my home State of Indiana 
pre-COVID was workforce. I would hear workforce, workforce, 
workforce, some rural broadband, depending on your county, and 
affordable housing.
    Now I am going to go back to when I first started paying 
attention to it was when I was CEO of my own company, when it 
was really starting to grow in the last 10 years of the 37 
years I was doing that and looked into my own school districts 
in my County. And I think the issue with workforce, everything 
I have heard today is tangential. I think the biggest issue 
with workforce is that we have almost stigmatized some of those 
pathways. And I will give you this little vignette to hear how 
shocked I was.
    Coming from the lowest unemployment county in the highest 
manufacturing per capita county in the State of Indiana, we as 
employers--mine was a logistics and distribution business, all 
the other companies were manufacturing. It was depressing to 
hear that in our own schools, of the 60,000 to 80,000 jobs that 
we had begging, they weren't for 4 year degrees. Maybe a little 
bit of STEM, but generally a better life skills training in 
high school. I took industrial arts when I went to high school, 
and that is probably something I remember more about than 
almost any other class.
    But almost all of those were gone, and it was AP--the only 
way you can be successful in life is getting a 4-year degree. 
Well, the market doesn't call for that. Parents have now had a 
recent graduate or two that has a degreed son or daughter back 
in the basement because it was an ill-advised degree with no 
market. Half the kids that get on that journey for a 4-year 
degree don't complete it.
    State Board of Education and all of the educational 
institutions within states, I think have oversold that. We ship 
twice as many degrees out of our state as we keep within 4 year 
degrees. I would love to see high school curriculum get back to 
the basics and start teaching some of these skills that we 
would all love to see there where we can even train. New 
employers have been too dependent on the system, too. Now they 
are getting with it.
    I would like to hear, Ms. Watts, Mr. Beard, what you think 
of what I have just said? How important is that to create 
incomes--close though it would be almost $1 billion in Indiana 
if we just did a better job at what I am talking about.
    Ms. Watts. Thank you, Senator, for that question. In 
Kentucky, your neighbor to the south, we too are a 
manufacturing and logistics hub, and so those careers are very 
important. And I think we have actually done quite a disservice 
the last several years when we would hear the rhetoric, college 
isn't for everyone.
    What we should have been saying is that something post high 
school is for everyone. Whether it is a degree, credentials, 
certificate, 2-year education, something after high school was 
for everyone. And so in Kentucky, we are actually even looking 
at using scholarship dollars for students to be able to go to 
those pathways that we will need in our logistics and our 
manufacturing sectors because we know those are the jobs that 
are needed right now. They are good paying jobs.
    They can usually have a year of training and get right into 
them. So we are completely aligned but I do think it is going 
to be an alignment between the business community and the 
education community as well.
    In Kentucky, our community and technical college system has 
really been at the forefront of making sure we have the 
students that are going to meet those needs of our employers in 
Kentucky.
    Senator Braun. Thank you. Mr. Beard.
    Mr. Beard. Senator, I would say amen first. Second, the 
initiative I specifically lead focuses on those particular 
occupations. 30 percent of those roles that require education 
and skills beyond high school and less than 4 years of college 
are what we need in Houston. And like Kentucky, we have a 
significant manufacturing sector a health care sector an 
automotive sector, transportation.
    All of those jobs, you can leave high school with a good 
career in technical education program and find a pathway. And I 
think it requires two things. One, the employer leadership to 
communicate that back into the school system and partner 
differently with the school districts and the community 
colleges.
    Second, we need to change the awareness and perception and 
narrative that is going on. And we did some focus group 
research to understand kind of the perceptions and 
misperceptions that families and parents have related to that 
all because of the 4-year narrative. And so we have to do a 
different job. Thank you.
    Senator Braun. Thank you. And real briefly, in closing, not 
to mention that higher education, post-secondary education has 
now eclipsed the increase in the cost of health care each year, 
and that would be the No. 2 issue in this country that has got 
to be addressed as well, where it is a fixed cost, just with 
different curriculum to do the things in high school that I 
think cure a lot of the problems we contend with after high 
school. Thank you.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    Senator Rosen.
    Senator Rosen. Well, thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking 
Member Burr for holding this important hearing today. I want to 
build upon what Senator Braun is talking about because we do 
have to scale and expand our workforce continually as jobs 
continue to grow and change and the needs change. But one area 
we really need to do that in, I believe, is our cyber 
workforce. Because right now there is nearly 600,000 job 
openings in cybersecurity in the U.S., more than 3,500 job 
openings in my home State of Nevada alone, according to Cyber 
Seek and the Federal Government cybersecurity jobs map.
    As these jobs go unfilled, cyber-attacks against our 
schools, our health care systems, our critical infrastructure 
sectors, well they are just increasing in frequency and 
severity, including in Nevada. So to address the skills gap, I 
recently introduced the bipartisan Cyber Ready Workforce Act 
with Senator Blackburn, a bill that would direct the Department 
of Labor to award grants to workforce intermediaries to 
increase access to registered apprenticeship programs in 
cybersecurity that would lead to industry recognized 
certification.
    The certification will prepare Americans for these in-
demand jobs that are going to help protect our critical 
infrastructure and our data systems. And this will also help 
support and fund wraparound support services for cybersecurity 
apprentices, including and assisting with cost of 
transportation, housing, and childcare services. So Ms. Mack, 
how do you think expanding and improving upon proven models 
like registered apprenticeship programs help us address and 
fulfill some of the long term cyber workforce shortages that we 
are creating?
    Ms. Mack. I will tell you that one of the most successful 
apprenticeship programs we have in New York State is related to 
cyber security, and it comes out of a partnership with local 
community college near Utica and the local workforce board.
    It has become a direct pipeline for candidates, primarily 
refugees, who live in that community to get into cybersecurity. 
And so it has been a proven pathway. It has been incredibly 
successful.
    Most of the folks end up going and working for the 
Government. And I think again, if the more we could do to scale 
and expand that statewide, become a model that everyone looks 
to in our state, and is hoping to sort of spread across the 
state. So I think it is exactly what we need to do.
    Senator Rosen. How important do you think those wraparound 
services are for apprenticeship programs if we want to remove 
those equity and access barriers for student housing, perhaps, 
or especially for women, perhaps childcare?
    Ms. Mack. They are the difference maker between whether or 
not people can participate in training and, or keep a job. And 
so again, I think that the wraparound supports are crucial, and 
ultimately, as they shared, I think that they can ultimately 
make the difference about whether or not someone's going to be 
able to make it through that program.
    Senator Rosen. Thank you. I appreciate that. I want to move 
on to the pandemic's impact on Nevada's travel and tourism 
workers, of course it is tourism all across the country, but 
particularly important in Nevada. And because workers in the 
travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors, they really are the 
backbone for us in Nevada and our economy. They make our state 
a global destination, from everything from vacations, of 
course, to conventions, outdoor tourism.
    But unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a 
devastating and disproportionate impact on the workers in my 
state, with roughly 63,000 jobs in tourism and hospitality, 
they still have not returned nearly 2 years after many 
businesses closed in March 2020.
    Ms. Mack and then Ms. Sherard-Freeman, in the short time I 
have left, what lessons did we learn a decade ago from the 
Great Recession about how to address worker displacement in the 
travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors? How can we apply 
those lessons today? What should the Federal Government be 
doing to help potentiate getting people into--back to the job 
they want or into a new job? Ms. Mack, you can go first.
    Ms. Mack. Yes, I will go quickly that this is a huge issue, 
of course, in your state as well, with New York City's economy 
relying pretty heavily on tourism and hospitality. I think one 
of the challenges we found is the need to be able to prop-up 
those small businesses to be able to ensure that individuals 
can go back to work, there are places to go back to work.
    But in addition to that, again addressing those barriers to 
employment and the wraparound supports, in order for someone to 
be able to step out of employment and then go into a training 
to be able to advance to the next career.
    We have worked really closely with Restaurant Opportunities 
Center, and they have so many stories about workers who are 
concerned about not having the right wraparound supports to be 
able to, again, go into that training to advance their next 
career.
    Senator Rosen. I only have a few seconds left, so Ms. 
Sherard-Freeman, I will let you respond on the record, we will 
submit our questions for the record in order to let my 
colleagues who are behind me ask questions. Thank you so much.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    Senator Hickenlooper.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank all of 
you. This is the kind of hearing that I think the Senate really 
benefits from. As Senator Braun mentioned earlier, we convened 
a meeting with the Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee 
last week on health care workforce.
    We talked about a lot of the challenges facing that 
workforce. But I think that the--as the 21st economy continues 
to evolve, upskilling and reskilling opportunities are going to 
expand and grow in number, not diminish. It is going to be in a 
variety of industries, not just health care.
    I will start, Mr. Beard, with you. So you have discussed a 
little bit of how the upscale Houston initiative is making 
progress. Maybe a little more on that in addressing the skills 
gap. But how does it--how do could we begin thinking about it 
as a model for the rest of the country? In other words, what 
elements do you think are easily translatable into a scale, a 
national scale?
    Mr. Beard. Thank you, Senator. So a couple of things. One, 
I think the model and the approach that the U.S. Chamber 
Foundation developed with talent pipeline management that 
engages employers to talk about the pipelines they need to 
develop is critically important.
    That an employer, no matter whether they are in Indiana or 
Kentucky or Texas, are getting a similar experience in terms of 
engagement, because it takes that kind of engagement to then 
bring in the community based organizations that provide the 
wraparound services and career navigation.
    But also, I think to this point that we have been talking 
about, we need to find a way to align the various services in a 
very different way so that it allows for co-location across 
referrals across systems because right now it is siloed. You go 
to the workforce system, you deal with a community based 
organization, you go to the Career Services Office of the 
Community College, and we need to find different ways to 
optimize those resources to provide those supports.
    Then I think finally, how do we continue to incent 
employers, particularly on the education and upskilling piece 
of this to support education benefits for the front line 
workers, because we know similar to the conversation about 
hospitality or Amazon or any of those other employers, that 
those jobs have opportunities, but how do employers support 
folks upskilling into other roles that are adjacent and that 
are important to them. Because they don't want those workers in 
those roles permanently, they want to kind of flow them 
through.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Alright. Absolutely. Ms. Mack, and I 
appreciate the background, work hard, be nice to all people. I 
made a pledge and followed through when I first became Mayor of 
Denver in 2003 that I would visit every public school in Denver 
in my first 4 years. No one told me there were 161 schools.
    But I rapidly within about 40 schools I figured I had 
something to say to kids and it was always, I came--ended up 
with work hard, be nice, never quit. So you should put your 
little never quit down there on the bottom. Obviously, we need 
to invest in students and workers if we are going to be 
prepared for this 21st century challenge.
    I think increasing access to apprenticeships, making sure 
that multiple working pathways are available, that is critical 
to the success both for the workforce but also for employers.
    As a Subcommittee Chair and often with Senator Braun, I am, 
or I should say we are focused on expanding opportunities for 
apprenticeships and especially youth apprenticeships.
    How can we be doing a better job, and I think this is a 
problem we have all faced, and you, many of you, a couple of 
you have touched on this, but not only reaching the students, 
but their parents, because so much of what they think is cool 
or is acceptable is filtered through their conversations with 
their parents. So in terms of promoting opportunities and 
apprenticeship, how could we do a better job of reaching out to 
parents?
    Ms. Mack. I think it is parents and young adults. And so 
across our state, there are a number of events that have now 
popped up, sponsored by local workforce systems, to get young 
adults from schools and their parents to come out for a day to 
meet with businesses, to try out some of the equipment, and to 
learn about careers.
    I think those have proven super successful in our ability 
to help people understand that these are pathways to good jobs. 
But also it doesn't mean that this is a terminal end, and your 
career stops here. That there are still opportunities to go on 
to post-secondary following training and an apprenticeship 
program.
    Again, I think that ultimately more career exposure is 
necessary and making sure that we are getting to young adults 
and getting to parents because most people don't even know what 
companies exist in their region. And so this ability to sort of 
show, actually physically show them facilities makes a huge 
difference.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Great. Now somehow I am out of time. 
I am not sure exactly how that happened, but I have other 
questions I will put forward. I really am excited by the work 
that all of you are doing, and I think there has got to be a 
way we can synthesize this and orchestrate it in a way that 
really does help our workforce, but also our business community 
at the same time. Thank you.
    The Chair. Thank you. I believe that is all of our Senators 
who had questions today. Senator Burr, no closing remarks. Let 
me just thank all of our witnesses for really an important 
conversation, and all of our Senators who were here today to 
ask very thoughtful questions.
    I think we all are very focused on this and working to make 
sure that everybody can participate in our economy to the best 
of their ability. So Ms. Mack, Ms. Watts, Mr. Beard, Ms. 
Sherard-Freeman, thank you so much for sharing your time and 
your expertise.
    For any Senators who do wish to ask additional questions, 
questions for the record will be due in 10 business days, March 
2nd at 5 p.m. And with that, the Committee stands adjourned.

    [Whereupon, at 11:41 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

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