In our final episode of State of Our Workforce in 2024 we close out our series on the Anthropology of Work. We are joined by National Fund Chief Program Officer Michelle Rafferty to reflect on a year filled with milestones and progress. Michelle recounts key achievements from 2024 and shares an inspiring vision for the future of workforce equity.

On this episode of State of Our Workforce we continue our series on the Anthropology of Work. In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we explore the systemic barriers Native American workers face and the strategies needed to build a more inclusive workforce.

We are excited to be joined by Natasha Hale, Project Lead for Workforce Grantmaking in Native Nations and Communities at Workforce Matters, who will share insights into the cultural, economic, and historical contexts shaping Native workforce inclusion today. Explore what it means to close the equity gap, creating pathways to opportunity and resilience for Indigenous communities across the nation.

Supporting Native Workforce Development: A Guide for Funders

This is the third of three conversations we hosted LIVE from the National Fund's premier, biennial convening, SHIFT Toward an Equitable Future.

A large part of our work at the National Fund is identifying ways in which we use our national platform to drive regional change on issues such as occupational segregation.

As part of that work, we identified career navigation as one such lever. We believe that it must be addressed at a systems level because the impact of occupational segregation goes beyond the worker. It impacts every facet of the workforce ecosystem from companies, education, human welfare, generational wealth opportunities, cities, towns and states because we know that inequities in our systems costs us in a myriad ways. So, we decided to take a deep dive into career navigation to identify opportunities to better support equitable opportunities for all. Today we'll be talking with some of our amazing collaborators who participated in this work.

In this conversation, Michelle Wilson and special guest host Juvilee Hernandez talk to a couple of employers and an educator. They occupy a really unique space in the workforce ecosystem and were also named as mentors by our participants during our research. We were excited to be joined by: Clifton Phelps, co-owner of JCP Construction, a Black-owned construction company in Milwaukee; Anita Andrews-Hutchinson, the co-founder of a network of Black-led early learning centers in Chicago; and Dave Mullins, the Director of the Business and Industry Institute at Hutchinson Community College, who also works in a very unique space as a community college educator who dedicates time with justice-involved individuals.

This is the second of three conversations we hosted LIVE from the National Fund's premier, biennial convening, SHIFT Toward an Equitable Future.

A large part of our work at the National Fund is identifying ways in which we use our national platform to drive regional change on issues such as occupational segregation.

As part of that work, we identified career navigation as one such lever. We believe that it must be addressed at a systems level because the impact of occupational segregation goes beyond the worker. It impacts every facet of the workforce ecosystem from companies, education, human welfare, generational wealth opportunities, cities, towns and states because we know that inequities in our systems costs us in a myriad ways. So, we decided to take a deep dive into career navigation to identify opportunities to better support equitable opportunities for all. Today we'll be talking with some of our amazing collaborators who participated in this work.

This conversation focuses on mid-career professionals who were forced to make unexpected shifts. We met these folks last summer during our Career Navigation interviews. We were excited to be joined by: Brianna Rogers, Initiative Officer at ReWork the Bay; Andrew Shepherd, Senior Pipeline Technician at Northern Natural Gas; Tracy Carson, Project Manager at JCP Construction; and Shay Rainey, Project Manager at AYR Wellness.

This is the first of three conversations we hosted LIVE from the National Fund's premier, biennial convening, SHIFT Toward an Equitable Future.

A large part of our work at the National Fund is identifying ways in which we use our national platform to drive regional change on issues such as occupational segregation.

As part of that work, we identified career navigation as one such lever. We believe that it must be addressed at a systems level because the impact of occupational segregation goes beyond the worker. It impacts every facet of the workforce ecosystem from companies, education, human welfare, generational wealth opportunities, cities, towns and states because we know that inequities in our systems costs us in a myriad ways. So, we decided to take a deep dive into career navigation to identify opportunities to better support equitable opportunities for all. Today we'll be talking with some of our amazing collaborators who participated in this work.

This conversation focuses on young people who are just starting out in their careers. We met these folks last summer during our Career Navigation interviews. We were excited to be joined by: Juvilee Hernandez from Chicago where she is a youth organizer at Northwest Center; Reginald Bridges is also from Chicago, and he's an assistant kindergarten teacher with It Takes a Village early learning center; and Kayla White, an IT worker in Birmingham, who is also currently working as an intern with AlabamaWorks!.

Join us for the next episode of State of Our Workforce where we will continue our series on the Anthropology of Work. The National Fund will host its premier, biennial convening SHIFT Toward an Equitable Future in Memphis, TN, September 24-26. We are so excited to dig deeper on workforce equity, systems change, job quality, and more.

We are excited to be joined by Hollie Marston, Network Director at the National Fund, to talk about what you can expect at SHIFT this year. Hollie and the National Fund team have been hard at work putting together a learning agenda that will help us amplify voices that need to be heard, activate new solutions to persistent problems, and accelerate change needed to achieve an equitable workforce. Plus, we'll have a very special announcement about September's State of Our Workforce.

Tune in to learn about SHIFT and more!

On this episode of State of Our Workforce, we continue our series on the Anthropology of Work and celebrate Pride Month. We dig into how employers can create safe, equitable environments for LGBTQ+ employees and allow people to thrive authentically.

We are excited to be joined by Janell Thomas, founder of My CoLab Partners, who shared her insights on building and sustaining inclusive workplaces. Take advantage of this opportunity to learn how to support LGBTQ+ workers and ensure your workplace is a space where everyone can thrive.

Learn more about My CoLab Partners here: https://www.mycolabpartners.com/

We are excited to continue our conversation about the Anthropology of Work on State of Our Workforce. This month, in recognition of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we are so excited to be joined by Josie Howard, CEO of We Are Oceania for a conversation about her organization's work to empower the Micronesian population in Hawai'i.

Join us as we delve into the complexities of Micronesian employment in Hawai'i's diverse cultural landscape. Learn about some of the transformative initiatives spearheaded by We Are Oceania aimed at empowering Micronesian communities while preserving their rich heritage. Discover how these efforts are shaping a more inclusive and prosperous future for Micronesian migrants in the melting pot of cultures in the Aloha State.

Learn more about We Are Oceania at their website: https://www.weareoceania.org/