All In: Student Pathways Forward
This podcast focuses on elevating community college student voices to shape inclusive higher education and workforce development policies, practice and partnerships that create economic mobility.
All In: Student Pathways Forward
Season Finale - Panel discussion with Oregon leaders who shaped state Benefits Navigator policy -- Venus Barnes, Elizabeth Guzman Arroyo, Dan Haun, Emma Kallaway & Kate Kinder
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In the season finale of the All In: Student Pathways Forward podcast, host Marc Goldberg facilitates a panel discussion with leaders in Oregon who were instrumental in landmark legislation that funds Benefits Navigators at all 24 public community college and universities to help students access benefits and resources that will support them to complete college and gain careers with economic mobility. The panelists include: Venus Barnes, Organizer-Community Food Justice at Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, Elizabeth Guzman Arroyo, Statewide Pathways to Opportunity and Community College STEP Consortia Director, Dan Haun, Director of Self Sufficiency Programs at the Oregon Department of Human Services, Emma Kallaway, former Government Relations Director at Portland Community College and Kate Kinder, State Strategies Director at the National Skills Coalition.
These colleagues share their reflections on what led to the passage of Oregon House Bill 2835 highlighting the role student voices and broad-based coalition had in compelling policymakers to pass this inclusive, student-centered policy. Panelists also describe the implementation of the Benefits Navigators bill to date and related wins from Oregon's 2022 short legislative session.
Welcome to the All-in-Student Pathways Board podcast focused on elevating student voices from Oregon community colleges to shape inclusive policies, practice, and partnerships. This is the host, Mark Goldberg, and it's an honor to speak with students across our state who share their community college experiences, offer salient and practical solutions to make colleges more student-centered, and hear from college leaders and policymakers listening in and reacting to the students' recommendations, building on their solutions and calls to action. This finale episode for season one of the podcast will take a different format and be just one conversation with a number of colleagues who helped shape a new policy change in Oregon to address basic needs of security facing our students. That has been a central theme of this season in hearing from students who have spoken courageously about it. It's a great way to wrap up this season of the podcast. So it seems fitting to wrap up season one of the All-In Student Pathways Forward podcast with a panel discussion with key leaders across Oregon who moved important state policy to help address student basic needs in security. What I want to do is introduce and welcome the guests for this panel discussion. I'll start with Elizabeth Guzman Arroyo, who's the statewide director of STEP and Pathways to Opportunity at Portland Community College. Welcome, Elizabeth.
SPEAKER_05Thank you, Mark. Thank you so much for having me here today. I'm excited for this conversation.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thanks for joining us. I'd like to welcome Dan Hahn, who's the Director for Self-Sufficiency Programs at the Oregon Department of Human Services. Welcome, Dan.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Mark. It's great to be here today. Looking forward to being a part of the conversation I've been listening to all season.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. Thanks for finding the time for this conversation. After Dan, I also have Venus Barnes, who's the organizer for community food justice at Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. Welcome, Venus.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Mark. I'm excited to be here with all of you and enjoy this conversation.
SPEAKER_00Great. Thanks, Venus. And following Venus, have Kate Kinder, who's the State Strategies Director at the National Skills Coalition and former Dean of Career Pathways at Portland Community College. Welcome, Kate.
SPEAKER_06Thanks, Mark. Excited for this conversation.
SPEAKER_00And last but not least, we have Emma Callaway, who is a senior consultant at Kinetic West and also the former government relations director at Portland Community College. Welcome, Emma.
SPEAKER_05Thanks, Mark.
SPEAKER_00So it really is thrilling to have all of you on and know that each of you played a key role and continues to in this collaborative and collective work of supporting community college students. And I want to start with talking about the passage of House Bill 2835 in the 2021 legislative session, which provided funding for a benefits navigator position for each of the 17 community colleges and six public universities in Oregon. I thought it would be helpful to capture this story and all of your perspectives on it from your different leadership roles for the podcast. And so with that, I figured it would be good to start with Kate as the past dean of Career Pathways at PCC. This bill was really connected to past statewide work in Oregon, supporting the Community College Career Pathways Initiative, the Oregon STEP, which is a SNAP training and employment program, the Pathways to Opportunity Coalition that you led statewide for a number of years, along with the support from the National Skills Coalition through SkillSpan and the Supportive Services Academy. Could you talk a little bit more about how it is connected to all of this previous work?
SPEAKER_06So this bill passage is really based on years of collaborative work across the state in Oregon through career pathways, an alliance that has been meeting together for over 20 years, pathways to opportunity and steps. And so these initiatives that have really been focused on advancing economic mobility and racial equity across the state through increasing college access and completion at all 17 of Oregon's community colleges. And I think where we came from with this work was looking at the realization that an inclusive economy requires more than intentional outreach for students of color, adult learners, parenting students, immigrants, and justice impacted. Although that's a critical element increasing access. And then it also requires more than building high-quality careers, pathways programs, CPE programs. It requires more than partnership. And to realize that equity and opportunity requires understanding the realities of students in your state. And so really looking at the cost for preventing too many from enrolling and completing. And I think the focus then in this work was looking at how do we connect more students to support services? How do we connect students to the resources and benefits that they need that address those affordability gaps that address basic needs and security? How do we look at that and really recognize the racial wealth gaps, the barriers, the result of systemic inequities and not individuals? And then really understanding the complexity of the students' life. So looking at all of that, but also that need for navigators. So how do we have navigators who can thread together all these elements that students need, that learners need to access the college to get the skills that they need to get into a good job? And make those accessible and reduce the stigma that threw me so much of the benefit and resource access. So this bill grew out of that collective work between partners, between partners from General Oregon, between Oregon Department of Human Services, between community colleges, and it really focused on bringing together partners and finding solutions. And so our support through National Skills Coalition, through Skillspan, which is a 20-state network of super advancing policy, agenda towards an inclusive economy, and the Support of Services Academy gave us faith to develop a shared policy solution. And the National Skills Coalition supported us with advocacy strategies, with network building strategies, and really those communication efforts that were key in shifting narratives and building the support to pass this legislation. But built on years of collective and collaborative work that also really centered the voices and experiences of our students.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Kate. And it is helpful to see how this work and this bill and the collaborative efforts were an extension of many years of work in supporting students and better understanding students' needs and the resources, the supports that could assist students. And then with all the collaborative partners being part of that. And just one thing I wanted to clarify, I think in that question I talked about House Bill 2835 and providing a benefits navigator for all 17 community colleges and said six public universities, actually seven public universities across the state. And with that, just want to turn to you, Emma, and ask as the past government relations director at PCC, with such great expertise and policy work, wondered what the key elements were of getting this bill passed, especially in a legislative session where there were very limited funds available.
SPEAKER_04I think about a lot of things when it comes to what made this bill possible. First and foremost, I have spent the last 10 years as a lobbyist. So it's my job to communicate directly with elected officials about the needs of Portland community college, community colleges broadly, and our students. That is a very small role within the large amount of effort it took to pass this piece of legislation. So I came up with a couple of key elements that I want to highlight. So first of all, start start with whatever size coalition that you have. This small coalition brought two partners to the table early on. Then each of us went out and found other people to come to the table and join this work. And that started far before you even brought in the lobbyist, right? Before I even was in the picture, many of the folks around this panel and around the state were thinking about solutions for these issues. Then I think there are some very key elements that made passing this legislation possible from a lobbyist perspective. First and foremost, proving momentum. So building that coalition and showing it off, putting all the logos of all the organizations that supported the work, validating it. I mean, that's really important to elected officials. Then I think winning publicly early on is really important to keep momentum. So we had an incredible first hearing. We had more people to testify at that hearing than minutes were allowed. They gave us, I think, one or two extensions. And that to me is an example of winning publicly early. My next one on my list is don't give up at the first no. So many of us don't probably like to think about this, but we were told many times early in the process there isn't money for this, it's a short session, there's limited dollars, because we heard that over and over again. We stayed true, and I would give credit to people who retold their stories, explained their own trauma, talked about the need for these benefits and these navigators over and over again. Like getting past no is part of passing policy. Then I think keep your plan B quiet. We had a lot of different options and other directions we could have taken this work. We believed in the singular solution. We made small tweaks to it along the way, but we didn't just give up at the first no and say, oh, well, what about this lesser option? Our communities deserved this bill. We stayed steadfast to that. So we kept our plan B quiet. I do think it's important to hire at least a budget watchdog or a lobbyist to take you all the way through over the finish line. That partnership between community organizing, expertise, research, and a lobbyist is key. And then my last one is really write down how and why you won or lost. This group of people sat down and said, why did it work? How can we do this again for communities? If we had lost, we had a lot of different ways to try again. So yeah, those are my big ones. Start, prove momentum, win early, don't give up, keep your plan B quiet, but always have a plan B. Make sure you have a lobbyist to carry you across the finish line and write down why and how you lost.
SPEAKER_00That's an amazing list. Thank you, Emma. And there's so much in those recommendations and keys to success. And I think in writing it down, even if it's a loss, and I feel like we've had some of those misses in the past. And I would imagine some of the success was built on the lessons learned in previous sessions. And as you talked about the first hearing when we flooded the Capitol, I think into the evening, the last person that gave testimony is the voice you're hearing now. And I could see how tired the legislators were, but I think to your point, we had students, we had faculty, we had advocates, we had partners, and they heard it, right? They had to. And my joke of thanking them for giving me 15 minutes didn't really land well, but it was uh funny. Or those who are still around. But appreciate your insights there. And want to shift to uh Dan, and from your role as the director of self-sufficiency programs at Oregon Department of Human Services, why was this bill important from a human services lens? And then more broadly, why has the Department of Human Services been so interested in community college training, education, and supporting students?
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Mark, and I want to thank you for giving me 15 minutes for this answer. I really appreciate it. No, Mark, I think you know, one of the big reasons we were really excited about this bill and about benefits navigators is really everything Emma and Kate have talked about up until now. And that is that kind of idea it takes a community, it takes a lot of resources, a lot of people at a table for something positive to happen. And I think for someone living in poverty, for a student struggling to go to school with just the expense of school, it takes a lot of benefits for someone to be successful. It takes access to a lot of things to make someone feel comfortable with taking the risk and going out there and achieving something like education or taking on something like a career pathway, getting that certification or that credential. And it takes a lot to support someone in that position as they take on that really brave step, if you will, to go to community college. When you look at the reality, as Kate talked about, of our students, of individuals on college campuses, we know that they need access to a lot of those things. And we also know that if you're going to be really good at getting all of those things and navigating all of those things, that in itself is a full job. So if we leave students out there, if we leave participants out there by themselves to do this, it's going to take a lot of time. And they're probably not going to find everything that they need to be truly successful. So these benefit navigators really pull everything together for the individual student on campus so that they have access to all of those things that they may be eligible for. And why that becomes so important to the Department of Human Services, to the self-sufficiency program, is that we know that folks in entry-level jobs, folks living in poverty, folks in the service industry, the hospitality industry don't make the kind of money they need to make the impact in their lives that they want to make, to really get to that economic mobility that they want to achieve. And so one of the ways to do that, obviously, for an individual is to give them the opportunity to achieve the skills that are recognized by the community as valuable by employers. One of the places that that can happen, obviously, is the community college, is career pathways. And so it becomes really important to the Department of Human Services as we look at the overall well-being of an individual and we look at our goal of really helping them achieve. It's ironic, but one of the things I don't like is the word self-sufficiency because I don't believe anybody's self-sufficient. As we just talked about the need for community to support each other, but to get someone to the point where they're not reliant on public benefits. If that's our goal, then we need to put our money and we need to put our opportunities where our mouth is. And those opportunities are at community colleges where people can get those skills, get those credentials. It's our job, I think, to, like I said, get them the opportunity, build the supports around them, and then let the person who is totally capable of this thrive. So that's one of the reasons why we think something like the Benefits Navigator program is so amazing, why we think Pathways is so amazing, why we've built out the STEP program is just getting those opportunities to people to create the place where they can thrive.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Dan. And thinking about our economy, that it is a skills-based economy and those career pathways programs and community college training is, I think, the most dynamic way for individuals to build those skills, not the only way, but the most streamlined, the most affordable. And with that, the additional support of a benefits navigator who can assist students in maximizing these resources is critical. Want to come to Venus. And as the organizer for community food justice at Partners for a Hunger Free Oregon, which is an anti-poverty organization, and thinking about what Emma said before with that coalition, want to ask you why Partners for a Hunger Free Oregon has been focused on community college students or higher education students across Oregon and how the organization was able to advocate for this key legislation funding benefits navigators.
SPEAKER_03Yes, thank you, Mark, for that question. Our values really lie in the work that we do, centering our community members who have lived experience and creating opportunities to address systemic real change around hunger in Oregon. And we don't just see feeding our neighbors as addressing the issue. We really are looking and striving for liberation. We are looking for these systems to be addressed and looked at and analyzed, like Dan was saying, really honoring the lived experience of folks who are going through this. I know for myself, it predates when I actually became an organizer at Hunger Free Oregon. Students actually came to this organization and voiced their concerns and their struggles around navigating college and needing help. And I just remember when I was at PCC, I was a struggling student myself. And unfortunately, I I quit and I thought it was me. I thought it was a deficiency in me. And then when I was asked to join AmeriCorps and come back and serve in my community again, all I heard over and over students struggling the same way that I did. And I was kind of overwhelmed with the amount of stories that I heard with the similar experiences. And we know that students who are food insecure can easily become housing insecure. They kind of go hand in hand. And this is why the overall basic needs and addressings of students is so important because we just need that additional extra help in order to address the real problem. And we really value collectivism, integrity, and equity. And just working with our partners, DHS, you know, lawmakers, we've really made something, I hope, that can create real systems change.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Venus, for sharing that perspective from Partners for Hunger Free Oregon, but your own journey, and I think as you were talking about systems as well, and the issues that many students are facing that you heard too with food insecurity and housing insecurity. Having partners for Hunger Free Oregon growing with all of us in this work was really powerful and important. So appreciate that collaboration. And want to come to Elizabeth and ask you as the statewide director of STEP and Pathways to Opportunity and the individual who's leading the benefits navigator implementation work with the 17 community colleges, the seven public universities. Could you talk a little bit more about the community of practice and how that's an important aspect of this legislation?
SPEAKER_05Definitely, Mark. So the community of practice includes representatives, whether it be administrators or folks at the different colleges and universities who are responsible for the implementation of House Bill 2835 and developing this benefit navigator program. It also includes the benefit navigators themselves. So I wanted to provide that context before answering the question specifically. So the community of practice is pretty vital for the ongoing improvement and enhancements of implementing House Bill 2835. Now that we have the benefit navigators on board at each one of the colleges and universities, this same kind of route modality continues to function. So as our benefit navigators are working with students, there are great successes, of course, that happen, right? And being able to connect students to those resources that they're expressing need in. But there's also challenges. And so as those challenges emerge, it's important for our benefit navigators across the state to have a community of practice to be able to bring those challenges into the space and troubleshoot together across the state so that it's our community of practice who's taking on that labor rather than our students when they're experiencing those challenges. I'll also say that the community of practice allows us to develop some streamlined approaches and information sharing. So one example of a streamlined approach is what sort of intake process do we do with students in order to help identify what are some resources that they could benefit from. We're also able to use that data to identify are there enough resources? So one thing that has emerged already in these first few months of implementation is that we have a lot of students who are experiencing housing insecurity or houselessness, but there aren't enough resources to connect them to stable and reliable housing. So now we're able to use that information that we're gathering across the states to talk to legislators, to talk to policymakers, to talk to social service agencies and find solutions. I'll also say that the community of practice provides ongoing professional development for all of us across the state and also provides ongoing technical assistance and consultation. An example of that is right now we're actually undergoing a 10-week series with an outside trainer who's helping us become grounded and informed around the historical context and the contemporary context of basic needs and security. What are those root causes? How do we ourselves contribute to them as institutions or as a society? And what can we do to change that narrative so that we're also addressing the root causes while simultaneously addressing the experiences that our students are having here today and mitigating those barriers that they're experiencing?
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Elizabeth. And there is a lot that you cover there. If other states and any listeners are thinking about similar legislation, that the way you described it, it sounds like that community of practice built-in is really critical. From the very beginning, even before the benefits navigators were hired, it allowed leaders at the institutions to share job descriptions and org charts and how to recruit and hire for these positions. Then when the benefits navigators have been hired for them to come together to share what they're hearing from students, to have their peers to work off of, to learn from, to share. Our resources, an intake process, then as you talked about the demographic data to look at larger trends, to then be able to share that with legislators and policymakers, and then the whole element of professional development. Oregon is both a large state and a small state, but we do come together well and collaborate. And this is a great example of that, just in what, seven, eight, nine months? It's incredible. And I want to come back to Emma and ask you in gaining support from legislators for the Benefits Navigator bill. What value did you see in elevating community college student voices? And what strategies do you think were most effective in getting these students' voices heard by legislators, particularly in deepening their understanding of the realities that today's students are facing, including an unprecedented number of students experiencing basic needs insecurity?
SPEAKER_04Thanks, Mark. Big question. I think first and foremost, there's an old labor union grassroots racial justice organizing phrase, nothing about us without us. That felt very resident to me here. You can't make great policy without really understanding the impact. You can't lobby a legislator and say to them the impact is going to be great and wonderful without people to prove that to them. So first and foremost, I think ethically, nothing about us without us. And then strategically, student voices to me made really all the difference in the work. When I think about student stories that I heard, the bravery of students and the courage they had to share their stories over and over again. If listeners are not familiar with a legislative process, remember that it's almost six months to prepare and actively be sharing stories in advance of a legislative session. And then it's another six months when you're kind of in the thick of negotiating a piece of legislation or a bill. So that's a long time to ask someone to repeat their story. We had some advocates probably told their story 10, 20, 30 times in that year. So I really do credit the win to people having bravery and courage to share their experience. I would say that strategically, students and maybe people who hope to be students or would benefit from this work are very important constituents. So if you are a voter and you're speaking to your legislator directly, your House of Representatives member, your state senator, you're a constituent. And that is an incredibly valuable relationship, right? A legislator wants to, in their heart of hearts, whether you're a Republican, Democrat, Green Party, or independent, people run for office because they believe that they can serve those around them. And I think that that's true across the board. So the constituent relationship is like this magic moment where a legislator gets to experience, oh, this would help someone that I went out and got this job on behalf of. Great. So there's a real power in that. I also think that student voices and people impacted by the issue can push on a lobbyist who often is not personally impacted by that issue in this moment in time. Although I personally could definitely have used a benefits navigator in college and certainly felt the empathy working with students. But a person impacted by the issue often will push on a lobbyist to keep going. And there's an energy exchange that happens where a lobbyist starts to hear no a lot. Our job is to be in the building, away from these, away from people who are impacted by the issues. And lobbyists have a natural human fatigue that happens when they're hitting a wall all the time. So a person impacted by the issue, or in this case, a large number of people impacted by an issue, get a lobbyist to keep going, which I think we often forget that that's a very powerful role for someone to play. And then I think that student stories bring truth and they color in a black and white policy. So legislation in and of itself is very dry to read. It does not have people first language, it doesn't talk about the communities and the way we live in our lives. And because of that, you have to bring color and life to a piece of policy. And who better to do that than someone that can say, I know this to be true because yesterday I needed this and this bill and this benefit navigator would have been the person I would have gone to. And there was no one. Do you really want me to keep walking to empty rooms where no one's there to help me? This is the person I think we need to hire. That's the kind of color we're talking about, especially in a world that is often very black and white. So I think strategies like this podcast, right? This is another way to tell stories. And it was incredibly effective during the session and has helped to really elevate these issues since then. People going to virtual meetings, right? We did this during the height of the pandemic. People wrote individual letters that were very meaningful. Handwritten letters actually go a pretty long way in a world that's very tech heavy. So I think my big answer is ethically, always nothing about us without us. And strategically, student stories are the muscle that moves all of this at the end of the day. And we see over and over again in the Capitol great ideas die because, you know, a small group of lobbyists thinks they have a good idea. And that's rarely whatever wins. What wins is a group of people, a group of citizens who say, this is important to me.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Emma. Uh, appreciate your perspective there and really grounding in that nothing about us without us and making sure that policy is shaped and driven by those that are impacted. And then also that metaphor of students bringing color to the issue. You stated a lot there. To me, what's really profound is just understanding and remembering the bravery and courage that it takes for students to retell stories, especially when there may be trauma. I want to shift back to the program side and ask Kate, since you've overseen programs for many years at PCC that were focused on advancing racial economic equity by supporting working IPOC adult education and parenting students to complete college and connect to quality jobs. Can you speak to the importance of moving beyond the programmatic shifts that happen or focus on on the program side to policy solutions? And in that, how have you centered student voices in this work? And how's that helped with the case making for the staffing and support service investments that have been critical to support students holistically?
SPEAKER_06Sure, thank you, Mark. When thinking about the shift from program to policy, Emma just really spoke to the need of having students involved in driving and shaping that policy. Venus really spoke to the need of really looking at the system versus that individual and helping to understand and shift that narrative. Elizabeth talked about looking at the root causes, right? So all of that speaks to why we need to be doing policy work. The way I always thought about it is at a certain point it felt like we kept spinning our tails. We kept doing the work over and over, but we're working within a broken framework and system. And so if you don't eventually move to changing the framework and the system, there's only so much you can do within that to transform opportunity. What are those solutions that are systemically going to change things? And I think students are who need to be centered in that, who need to drive it. And I found all of the good program design work I ever did, all the good policy work, started with listening to students because they can very clearly speak to the issue and they can very clearly speak to the solution and they ask questions that need to be asked. Listening to their voices and creating a coalition and collective to their voices, not the one-off story, right? If you really create a structure where students can be in community and have a coalition of voices, is really powerful to shifting that narrative that we've been talking about. I think within higher ed, within workforce, there's this tendency to move towards the success story and see that pervasive myth of meritocracy or the bootstrap success story, right? If you just go and you get your scholarship and you'll succeed, it's great. And I think there tends to be a focus on that versus looking at the system that needs to really be transformed. And so having students tell their stories, supporting them to do that, supporting them through the trauma and doing it in an empowering way where they're with one another and they can shift the system is really helpful in changing that narrative. Because it comes really hard if you're hearing the same story from thousands of students to think that's all the result of an individual choice. It's the result of a collective and systemic and historic system that we are collectively maintaining or disrupting in the effort that happened through Houseville 2835, is you'd hear students in very rural Oregon and students in Portland, and they'd be on part of the same hearing, speaking to the same challenges. And that was a really great way to illustrate the solutions that are needed. So I think just looking at that from all levels, listen to what's not working, listen to what's triggering, make changes to the trauma and form so that it empowers students, and then work the way up. Why are we doing things this way? Why is there not funding for this? Why can we not grade funding this way? Why can a student not access benefits? Why are they not eligible for SNAP? Why is there not enough housing? Continue to ask those questions. The passage of this bill is proof that it can't happen with nonstop nodes. I think Emma gently framed that with his constant like why would we pay for people? I think there is this myth. Why would you pay for people to do this work? As if people could magically navigate all the benefits. That was a big hurdle get over. And so I think you keep working through that because the reality that policy has created these really stark inequities in our state and in our country. And policy is going to be a really tolerable solution out of that. But it's going to be more of the same unless we are shifting who we are listening to to both, determine the policy, the solutions, and also keep us accountable to the implementation. And that's why I think that's really important to have students there through the get-go because they're like, wait a minute, we talked about this. This is not what's in the policy. Okay, we'll get it back. And then the policy pass is like, nope, wait a minute, this is what it's supposed to be doing, this is not what it's doing. So it's that holistic approach to really transforming opportunity and change in the community.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Kate. And I think as you talked about the power of multiple student voices from different backgrounds, and you use the example of geography, but I think also in terms of age and gender, and those who were parents and those who were immigrants and students of color and students with very different backgrounds that were part of this coalition that shared their experiences and that adds to that reality of recognizing it's the systems, it's not the individuals, as you said. I want to come back to Venus and ask you to talk a little bit more about how Partners for Hunger Free Oregon has been able to integrate student voices into your advocacy work.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely, Mark. You know, when I was at PCC and I'm hearing all the stories and I became really overwhelmed. And then when my term was up, I was offered a job at Hunger Free Oregon. And I had the privilege and honor to go back to ask the students through some listening sessions and listening circles. And we just uh gathered maybe like 10 or 12 intimate spaces and went through a few questions with real intentions to get at what is it that students really need? And when we started these listening circles, we thought we were set out to, you know, listen to the students as we're trying to shape policy. But then I found that it became like a narrative campaign as well. I was finding myself explaining to people what a student is, what kind of life they had, like all the things that go behind navigating today at college. And before the great housing market crashing prior to that, I think people really had the idea that students like 18 years old, they live their parent, or they live in a dorm or a house with like 10 other students and they eat top ramen. And maybe that was the case 20, 30 years ago. That is not the case absolutely at all. And when that tragedy happened economically in our country, it really hit all of us. There's people that thought they were going to retire and had to come back to school. There are families that got broken up, and now we have single parents that are trying to juggle whether or not they can not only make ends meet, but get their kids back and forth to wherever. And very rarely do people talk about that experience outside of the walls of campus and trying to explain to the public why this is so important kind of felt like a twilight zone to me a little bit. Oh, well, I ate Tom Brahmin, so what's the big deal? Or they're just young kids, anyways, we all had to do it. Or the narrative around tuition and people graduating, especially BIPOC, that are graduating in debt and unable to repay it back. Or they accrued this debt and then they have to quit because, like myself, there was no one there to help navigate these very confusing systems. And boy oh boy, what would it have been? What would it have looked like if someone could have just said, don't give up today to me. I can help you with this. There's money that I can help you with, or there's transportation. I have bus tickets, just as simple as bus tickets to help a student come back to class is life changing. And I would tell some of the student leaders that we had trained for SNAP information. I would get a student that would say, This term I've only helped maybe 12 students. And this is at the beginning. And I say, even if it's just one, that could be the next person that could change and have a ripple effect that we have no idea that we can imagine. So we really stay very closely connected to our student leaders. We're trying to make sure that we're listening directly from people that have these lived experiences. And I do know I would be very frustrated with some of the either state or federal policies that intentionally deliberately leave out our DACA students or our students with their immigration statuses. And we need to do more. And that means we need to do a lot more listening, have a lot more empathy and humble ourselves of either stepping aside or sitting down and handing over power because that's really what's going to make the change is recognizing our privilege and our power and being willing to share that or give that up for sure.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Venus, and appreciate you calling out DACA and Dreamer students and ensuring that their voices are front and center and heard. And also just in the work that Partners has done to hear from students and been able to raise awareness, as Emma talked about, with legislators who may have very different lived experiences in a way that a community-based organization is facilitating that conversation outside the hierarchy of the community college or the university, and then also to continue to pull in those student leaders.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so Mark, I'd say that there are four key aspects of implementation so far today. I talked a little bit earlier about the structural development, but then there's also outreach, awareness building of public benefit programs as well as other resource programs, and ensuring that student voice is centered throughout the implementation and throughout the ongoing operations and enhancement approaches of this program. So for structural development, there's several different ways that colleges or universities could approach integrating this program onto their campuses. One model has been a small case management approach where the benefit navigator is doing one-on-one support to a student and identifying barriers and resources that could help mitigate those barriers, such as applying for SNAP or applying for TANF or housing vouchers or child care access or funds for books, things of that sort. Or another model could be a peer program where the benefit navigator is also working with a cluster of peer navigators and training those peer navigators around those resources and benefit programs. And then the peers do peer-to-peer coaching and benefit navigation. At times that can be a model that is more approachable by a student. Since the students might feel more comfortable talking to a peer, a peer might have more access to students like in the classroom or through other co-curricular programs. And then another model that has emerged is a cross-training model where the benefit navigator has more of a content expertise around resources and public benefits, and then is able to cross-train other colleagues across the institution so that they're able to help students access those resources as well. And then another component of the implementation has been outreach. So making sure that there's awareness building for students, for staff, faculty, including community members around the Benefit Navigator program and this being a resource that could be accessed, being something that's integral to our colleges and universities, there's a lot of awareness that we have around basic needs and security that our students or our prospective students are facing or potentially could be facing. And then in terms of building awareness of the public benefits and resources themselves, that's also for our benefit navigators ourselves. So making sure that we're well informed of all of the resources and public benefits that are available. I think the common benefit programs that are known are, for example, food assistance through SNAP or child care assistance or housing vouchers, potentially like Oregon Health Plan. But there's a lot of other benefit programs that we should be well informed on to make sure that we're able to connect our students to those programs and help them get access to those resources as well. And there's also policy changes that happen with public benefits, right? And so with the pandemic, there have been some exemptions that have been put in place in terms of requirements for eligibility for some benefit programs. However, those exemptions might be removed at some point or they might change or be expanded upon. And so there's an ongoing learning and awareness needing around those policy changes that impact student eligibility for benefits and resources. And then I mentioned around a really key element being we need to ensure that student voice is centered throughout the process. So we've also been working on making sure that there are student feedback channels built into the structure of our benefit navigator program. So students are able to provide feedback on what worked in terms of accessing a benefit navigator. What were some challenges? What didn't work? Were their needs met, if not for what reason? So that we're able to take in that feedback and improve upon the structure development and the implementation of this program. Venus earlier touched around identifying our limitations. And I'd say that that's been probably one of the most important lessons learned so far, being informed of what are our limitations in terms of connecting students to resources and why those limitations exist, right? So this is knowledge that has existed before this benefit program, but I think it's certainly highlighted in terms of the experiences of college students. Sometimes you can be lightly beyond the income limitations for receiving a public benefit, but still experience basic needs and security. And you can't access public benefits if you are beyond that income limitation. In that case, what do we do? What are other resources through community-based organizations that we could refer students to, or other resources that we can create in-house through the colleges and universities to make sure that students are still getting the needed financial resources or other resources so that they're able to make sure that there's a solid, stable foundation for basic needs and can focus and prioritize their education.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Elizabeth. And I think to that last point, it's remarkable when colleges and community partners are able to not just braid all this funding, but do it behind the scenes so the student doesn't even have to think about it, know about it, just that they've got support. And with any changes that happen, like you said, with income limitations, family work, any of that, it doesn't change their momentum and doesn't take them away from their studies. To me, as you described the student voice being a part of the implementation, to me, the fact that student input Was baked into this legislation was really a dynamic strategy. Having students at the table ongoing, sharing their perspective of what's working, what they need, and what recommendations they have is incredible. And I think is a way to implement this so it's designed for success. So with that, wanted to ask you, Dan, if you could describe how the Department of Human Services has been involved in the implementation of the Benefits Navigator bill and also talk more about an additional federal grant, Inclusive Career Advancement Program, ICAP, the grant that you really spearheaded statewide this year to create better access and similar holistic support into community college career pathways programs for Oregonians with disabilities, with intentional outreach being made to communities historically marginalized.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely, Mark. Thanks. You know, when we talk about the benefits navigators, one of the biggest roles, frankly, in rolling this out and getting it moving for the Department of Human Services is making information about our programs known. So really helping benefits navigators learn about all the programs we offer. So within self-sufficiency, obviously the SNAP program, the TANF program, the employment-related daycare program that is moving over the Department of Early Learning and Care. And obviously our Medicaid programs. But beyond that, what does EPD do, which is our program within the Department of Human Services that serves older adults and individuals with disabilities? What about our intellectual and developmental disability programs? All of these programs that have eligibility requirements that our benefits navigators need to know about. And as they work with the student, maybe the student needs the service as a way to get them through college, or maybe it's their children, maybe it's someone in their family that could help as they get access to these programs alleviate some of that anxiety and stress on the family so that once again the student can focus on school. And then the other big thing that the Department of Human Services really feels a responsibility to do for the benefits navigators is the training component of navigating our new one eligibility system. We undertook a project five, six years ago to streamline our eligibility process and put applications for all of our major programs in one place, in the one system. And while the goal behind that was to make things easier for individuals to access multiple programs that the Department of Human Services offers, but it's not an easy program and it is a huge change. So really helping the benefits navigators understand the program, understand how to navigate that computer program so that they can in turn teach students to navigate the program and become comfortable with accessing that one system. So access obviously a big part of what we're interested in here at the Department of Human Services. And that's where that ICAP program comes in. And you summarized ICAP nicely in that it really is building on the successes of career pathways, building on the successes of the STEP program, but looking at a population for whom there is yet another barrier to being successful in the community college. There is another part of access that is often denied for them because of a functional limitation related to a disability. And so, yep, sure enough, I'm kind of channeling Venus here. And what I imagine someone saying, well, just go to disability services, they'll take care of it. And that's just not true. Individuals with disabilities are often taught that they cannot be successful. And so the goal of the ICAP program is really to partner the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services and the Department of Human Services with the community college infrastructure that already exists around the things that we've been talking about today, about the STEP program, the pathways program, access to benefits counselors, additional holistic wraparound services that can make someone with a disability successful at the community college, because everybody deserves access to careers and education and training that people are interested in hiring the skills that those get you, right? I mean, that's the whole point of career pathways. It's the whole point of really looking at the community you live in, understanding the economic needs of that community, understanding the employer's needs, the employers' desires, and really matching it up with people who can do the job. And so this ICAP program is an awesome opportunity that Keith Ozels, the Director of Vocational Rehabilitation, went out and got from Rehab Services Administration, which is part of the Federal Department of Education, to really create a model that can be duplicated around the country for individuals with disabilities to access higher education. And, you know, one of the things that's so fascinating about this is we'll be reporting out on how this does as we roll it out this year. And as we roll it out this year, we're rolling out all of the benefits, navigators, and other things. And I think what we're going to see is how all of those pieces truly fit together to make students with disabilities successful. Just like it's making individuals who are in poverty successful, just like it's making underserved populations successful. It's really is the bringing together of all of those supports, of all of those people interested in the student success, being able to build those things around the student so the student can focus on being a student, getting those skills so that they can get a career. And so I'm really excited about that opportunity within the Department of Human Services. I think vocational rehabilitation is going to really see a jump in individuals with disabilities getting access to community colleges. And that's really exciting to me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what an outstanding opportunity. And from my recollection, it was a federal grant that was relatively competitive. And I think going back to earlier with the benefits navigator, as you listed all these different supports and resources that just the Oregon Department of Human Services has alone, and that training of benefits navigators and building awareness of the multitude of resources and supports that are available and then the one eligibility system, it's really valuable to have you as a key partner in the implementation of the Benefits Navigator because all the resources that are available. Want to come back to you, Kate, and know that you're in a relatively new role at the National Skills Coalition supporting state strategies, and wanted to ask you from your lens at the national level now supporting states, but from your experience in Oregon with Pathways to Opportunity and all of this work, the Benefits Navigator Bill, what coalition advocacy and policy strategies could other states replicate to pass similar legislation as the Benefits Navigator Bill?
SPEAKER_06That's a great question. I think, in lieu of being able to hire this whole team, because I think this really was a really dynamic collaborative effort that got it passed. I think follow Emma's playbook that she outlined at the beginning. That's why this worked. And then the other piece I will say from both my current role of National Skills Coalition and then my prior role at Portland Community College, really see that approach to change worked, right? So at NFC, we really focus on building broad-based networks and coalitions. So that was very much at play in Oregon with our Pathways to Opportunity and Skills Ban Coalition. We had folks of different levels from different organizations from different parts of the state from different positions and students. So really a broad array of voices that were really critical, looking at advancing policies. We were focused on transforming our practices and our programs and building out these partnerships, but there was an awareness amongst the coalition that we needed policy to support and push that change. And then focusing on shifting the narrative and communications. I think one of the last Pathways Opportunity coalition summits, a faculty member from another college remarked that they had never considered that policy impacted what they did or that they should have any part of policy, or that their students should be. And so after attending these summits, then the coalitions really realized that policy impacted everything they did with students in the classroom every day, and that their students need to take an active part in taking that. So I think that's the value in having a coalition. And then I think lastly, what was really powerful in doing this is you need policy folks, you need advocates, and you need those doing the work and impacted by the work. And I think sometimes policy work tends to focus too much on the lobbyists and the policy work and not those who are impacted who know it or who are doing the work. And I think that was what was really tremendous in this work is as we were in the final stage, Emma and I met a lot. And it was kind of that counterbalance of like, this is what the language is saying. Does this work with how this will play out? What will this mean budgetarily? And we'd meet with partners from the pre-Oregon team all the time. Does this work with what you're hearing from the students from listening sessions? We think about what is the staff who are doing the work, the faculty are doing work, does this work? So I think that is a critical element in doing good policy work, is it needs to be those who have expertise in living it or who have done the work and that the policy is just designed in absence of that. So I think those are the key components. I think the advocacy strategy was really genius that partners from Group for Oregon and Emma crafted. And I think it's important to know Oregon's a really purple state. People tend to assume that this is a very liberal state, and so this could only work on the West Coast. There's a lot to work with in Oregon and lots of different perspectives. And so I think knowing how to stay really value-based and true to the narrative, but shift to the audience was really key. And I think we were able to do that collectively.
SPEAKER_04Before you move on, Mark, just really wanted to echo that this is Emma. You know, I've spent a long time being a lobbyist, and this project was probably one of my favorite, kind of ever being an advocate because there was someone like Partners Photography Oregon, there was an expert like Kate Kinder, there was somebody in the agency, you know, Dan saying, I don't have an opinion about whether the policy passes or not, but I can tell you this is what happens if it would, right? All of those different voices I think I talk to Kate probably every day, you know, because legislators feel like they can change one word and maybe we could get another couple of votes on the bill, but then that changes the impact of what it would look like on the ground. There's so many moving parts in creating legislation that a coalition with people impacted by the work, people who have created these programs on the ground over and over again, who know what works and knows what doesn't. And then a small part of the team that can think about what is the legislation gonna do. That to me is the right balance. That creates good legislation and policy. And I think it's clear that the implementation is going well, that there's momentum, right? All of that is because the coalition was right from the beginning. And I just really wanted to highlight, underline, bold everything Kate was saying.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for adding to that, Emma and Kate, for your thoughts and insights there. And it was still so impressive to see all of these organizations and individual leaders shape this policy with so much communication and collaboration and back and forth. Thank you both for sharing your thoughts there. And I think it's a good segue into the next question. I'm going to come back to you, Elizabeth, as the Oregon legislature has wrapped up the short session in 2022. Know that our legislature passed a bill, Future Ready Oregon 2022. Significant investment in workforce training and education. And wanted to ask you how it can assist college students while also integrating with the benefits navigator work and the larger Pathways to Opportunity Initiative and STEP grant.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so Future Ready Oregon essentially is a one-time funding bill that provides additional resources for workforce development agencies to create equity in terms of access and completion for Oregonians. And so, as a part of that bill, there's a significant amount of dollars that go to community-based organizations, to workforce development boards, and to community colleges amongst other agencies to create training and education programs to make sure that Oregonians have access to training education in alignment with economic needs here in Oregon and available employment. So it's really focused around economic mobility at its core. In terms of how Future Ready Oregon could potentially work or be integrated with the Benefit Navigator program, Pathways to Opportunity, with STAP and other programs of that sort, it's really working in partnership and cross-grading resources and funding. And so Future Ready Oregon has funding for career pathways, which we've touched on here and there throughout this podcast episode. And so it's roughly under $15 million. That's a significant increase in the level of investment for career pathways. Mark, you or Kate will know these figures better than I, but I believe it was under 2 million, maybe under 1.5 million investments in a biennium in previous years. So two years, right? So that's what, roughly $750,000 or a million dollars per year in investment for career pathways. That's a very small amount given that there are 17 community colleges across the state and need to split that money. With that 15 million initial investments, that allows the community colleges to increase the structure of career pathways and ultimately the effectiveness of career pathways. Originally, it was going to be one-time funding through this bill, but we were fortunate enough to now actually have recurring funding of $10 million every biennium after Future Ready Oregon. And so that is a significant growth for career pathways, a significant investment in workforce development and opportunities for Oregonians that really lead towards economic mobility. It's an anti-poverty initiative, essentially. So that paired with programs like STEP, where folks get at holistic career coaching, one-on-one career coaching to help students understand how to navigate the post-secondary environment. It could be super confusing, especially for first-generation college students. I was a first-generation college student myself. And it is super confusing to understand what courses do I need to take? What programs are my options? How do they connect to available employment or career interests that I have? What are additional resources that could help pay for my tuition or help pay for my books or child care access that I have needs for? Same thing with the Benefit Navigator program, right? Additional resources and support there. And so really being able to pair the workforce development program through, for example, career pathways with additional wraparound holistic support services and comprehensive career coaching. It's being able to braid these various different programs to work in cohesion with one another so that students have all of the available resources and supports that they may need to enter into post-secondary education and to complete post-secondary education and ultimately access economic mobility through career and job placement.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Elizabeth, and appreciate your summary of that bill and the investment in community college students and programs like career pathways. And I had forgotten about that 10 million, that's huge. I just think back to when we had 1.6 million across 17 community colleges. We would have staff that were laid off every year because we didn't know if we would have funding for the next biennium. And you lose that momentum, you lose that expertise and those relationships that students have, the relationships across the campus, across these partner agencies. So that will make a huge difference and recognize that current pathways, these DACO credentials are an entry point to many students into the college and can then lead into a longer certificate or degree. And it is another complementary resource and funding stream that can be braided ongoing. From there, come back to you, Emma, and from your experience as an organizer and in government affairs. You've talked some about this, but just wanted to ask why coalitions are critical to passing legislation that advances equity and economic mobility, like the Benefits Navigator Bill and this recent Future Ready Oregon bill.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I believe that coalitions are the best way to make decisions and are one of the best ways to persuade decision makers, legislators, elected officials to recognize that legislators are real people. They are influenced by what they know and what they've heard before. And decision makers are often folks who have to choose to do the most good with the resources at hand. And so coalitions, I think, do the best job of persuading a very diverse group of people that our solution is worth investing in and that it will have long-term benefits and impact. So coalitions in and of themselves are proofmakers. And what I mean by coalitions are proofmakers is that different legislators trust different organizations. They trust different types of people who have been impacted by issues. They have had a lot of success working with one organization or another, and they'd like to continue that line of success for really reasonable human reasons, right? They have a short amount of time to do good. They've been elected to do something important and to improve the lives of people around them. And regardless of what party they're affiliated with, they have very clear opinions about how to do that. And so when you bring a broad group of people together, like the Benefits Navigator or the WorkAround Future Ready Oregon, you are saying, we know there's lots of different voices that you as elected officials need to hear from. And we're going to collect all of those for you together. We're going to do the work behind the scenes to come up with a single solution. In great coalitions like the ones we've had a chance to be a part of, legislators are kind of on the ground floor with us, thinking about and crafting solutions with us. That kind of partnership just accepts the reality of the complexity that is creating public policy and it is moving 90 legislators to take one action together. So I think coalitions are proofmakers. They are different voices and ears and communicators to different legislators. And they also allow for a lot of people together to address the crises that are in front of elected officials. And I think that's one of the things that we, in a good way, took advantage of with the Benefits Navigator bill and also this Futurati Oregon work, is that we keep going back to addressing solutions that elected officials already know are a problem, right? Some of the most difficult advocacy is when you're starting with a completely blank slate. You're going to an elected official and you're saying, this is a problem that exists. And their first answer to you is, really, I've never heard of that. To me, that's the fastest way I know a bill is gonna die. The best thing that we can always do is to say, do you know this problem that exists with student loan debt, with transportation issues, with food and housing issues? You know those things that keep coming up in all of your town halls, in all of your coffee conversations? Well, I have a solution to that problem. It is the idea that we should be serving students differently, that we should be thinking about their complex holistic realities. And I bet that by sitting in a town hall, you actually agree that that is in fact a problem. And what's better is that I have 50 people behind me that say, of all the solutions available to use this small amount of money, this is the right idea. Right? Like coalitions are meant to speak to truths and realities that already exist, and they're meant to talk to legislators through their experience of what they believe is a problem. So if you try to do all of that work with one organization or one person or one lobbyist, you're probably going to create solutions that are not as good. And you're probably going to keep losing because you don't have the kind of capacity it takes to really do a good job. Or you're working on solutions that are too small, frankly. Like how many times did we talk about, well, what if we just changed some of the regulations and we didn't go after any money or any new budget or any new staff positions and we just kept asking for peanuts? Like maybe that would be good. Well, sure, I could probably, as a lobbyist, try to win more bills like that, but I don't like working on bills like that. I like working on real solutions like the ones we were able to do here. And that means then I have to be an adult, work with a whole broad swath of people, not get to be the lobbyist that's like, I'm a champion, I'm doing this all by myself, right? That's how you create bad solutions, that's how you lose, that's how you don't do right by people who need your help. So coalitions are literally the antithesis of what I hate most. They're the opposite, they're the best parts, they're my favorite things, and I think we create better solutions and we're more likely to win. I feel very strongly about this and think that I have been rightfully pushed by people impacted by issues to continue to be in coalition. And I would like to continue to voice that to any lobbyists that are listening that coalitions are worth the time and energy if you create them right from the beginning, give them space to grow and give voice and power to people that are not yourselves. That creates real wins. And I think that's what we did here.
SPEAKER_00Awesome. And since we're on audio here, but as we record, we're on video, I saw other panelists. So I think strong support and agreement from our colleagues on this panel. Just had two last questions here, and we'll divide them up. This episode will culminate our first season of the All in Student Pathways Forward podcast. And it's been a journey, and I would say, in hosting it, I have learned so much from students across the state. I've had the chance to chat with college presidents who've then reflected on their student stories and experiences and recommendations and then brought in some national policy folks. And I just wanted to ask a few of you, so Venus, Elizabeth, what your impressions have been of the podcast and if and how it's helped elevate student voices at all and potentially shaped more inclusive policies, practice, and partnerships. And no order here if anyone just wants to jump in.
SPEAKER_05I can jump in first, Mark. Well, I think that the podcast helps create awareness around the experiences of students and helps highlight the experiences of students, both from students directly, also from staff who work directly with students or administrators who've had an opportunity to create their own kind of assessments where they've gathered student voice, right? And then math shared through this podcast. What are those experiences for folks who may not have lived experiences themselves in post-secondary education or who have like relatives or close family or friends or who don't have access to students who have these experiences? I think that this is an example, a great example of how to integrate student voice into practice or policy formation and an ongoing improvement. I think about at the same time that House Bill 2835 was passing, there was another bill, House Bill 2590, which called for the formation of a task force led by a representative Alonso Leon, a task force that's doing right now listening sessions across the state, listening sessions with students directly, with staff and with administrators at colleges and universities to understand the experiences of students, of underrepresented students and post-secondary education, understand what those barriers are for students to access post-secondary education or to complete post-secondary education, so that then that task force could take that information and develop new bill initiatives that hopefully will be introduced in the legislative session in 2023. And so I think that this podcast is a great source of being able to gather that information from students and integrate student voice directly into the formation of initiatives.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Elizabeth.
SPEAKER_03Well, I'll just jump in and I guess I co-sign all of what Elizabeth just said. The main thing is awareness. I mean, I I think back on the beginning of this journey, I think the students were talking about this amongst ourselves. But it was quite surprising when I would go to different deans, or you get some professors that were given acquaintances and other professors that didn't care to do that at all. And it just ended up being this narrative campaign. And this podcast really is a gift to either other people in the state that could listen and understand this narrative that we're trying to convey, or other states. I get phone calls in my position from Texas, Kentucky, New York, all over the US. And they're asking me about my snap trainings, or you know, what is this bill that you guys have passed? If we can get this on a national, I guess, tongue, then we can start really moving real systems change that can affect not just our neighbor, but our whole community and society at large. It really has me thinking like, how do you build generational wealth? How do you build economic sound quality of life? And this is really just the beginning of the conversation. And I really appreciate this podcast for this because anyone can listen to it. Hopefully, if we can continue with free speech, holding that as a value. But anyone can listen to this, anyone can, you know, chime in and share. You don't have to be a college student, you don't have to be directly connected to Oregon. This is a very important subject because I believe that economic wealth or really freedom is what we should be pursuing and holding not only the institution, but your state, elected officials accountable, but ourselves accountable as well. That we are a community and that, like Emma said, you're not going to go very far without us.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Venus. Appreciate that. So I did want to wrap up by teasing the start of season two that will come soon for the All in Student Pathways Forward podcast and share that the focus will continue to be on elevating Oregon community college student voices, but shift a bit and concentrate on the topic of job quality. And so we'll hear from students who've completed their studies and have gained meaningful employment with a quality job. And considering the dramatic and accelerated changes in the job market over the past few years, this is a critical issue for colleges right now, even more critical. It's always been an issue. So I wanted to ask both Dan and Kate how do you see this topic of job quality being important in the fields of higher education, workforce training, and human services? And what questions do you think would be helpful to ask both students or graduates of the colleges and employer partners?
SPEAKER_01I'll jump in real quick, Kate. You know, one of the big things is we talk about the field of higher education and human services and why job quality is so important. And it simply comes down to relevance, I think. We really need to be listening to employers. You know, listening's been a big part of today. Uh, listening is a big part of a podcast. Listening's a big part of everything Venus and Emma are talking about. You got to listen to be relevant. That's true in education. And on the human services side, people don't come into human services because they want to condemn individuals to a life of poverty. We don't want people to continue to suffer from the things that historically they've had to suffer through. We entered the field of human services because we want to see people succeed. Getting on board with career pathways, getting on board with this concept of credentialing, of meeting the needs of the employee and the employer from a skills standpoint is really important. And we need to figure out ways to support that. And if we're going to support folks in careers, then once again, we got to put our services and our money where our mouth is. We have to make it easy and accessible for individuals to get the benefits they need so that they can focus their time, energy, and attention on getting the skills that are required to actually be in a career and succeed in a career. And Marcus, I think as you look at next season, you know, one of the things that I'm really interested from employers right now is quite frankly, how are you looking at acquiring that skilled workforce differently than you were five years ago, differently than you were 10 years ago? What's your responsibility as an employer in this? How are you communicating your needs to the people and the places that have the ability to meet those needs? And then how are you thinking about your employees differently? Because I think we know we've tapped certain uh labor pipelines to the point where we can't continue to get access to them. What additional skills pipelines are you looking at? What additional populations are you looking at? What are you doing to attract those employees who you need to do the work that you need done? And then I'm always interested in as we talk to individuals and career pathways, what made them choose that pathway in the first place? What was it about that job that really sang to them, that really created the passion in them to want to move forward and gain the skills in that field? So I will be quiet now and turn it over to Kate. Thanks, Dan.
SPEAKER_06I'm really excited that you're focusing on job quality in the next season because I think that's really critical to realizing the potential of this work that we're doing, right? So you want to create access to college, you want to support completion. And then we want people being able to move into good jobs. And so looking at how can community colleges, how can human service agencies, how can all providers in workforce development ecosystem work with employers to advance job quality is really critical so that workers are valued, so that they have agencies, so that they have wages and benefits, so that they aren't addressing basic needs and security, that they have the opportunity for upskilling, that they are able to have worker voice. So really looking at what is that potential and seeing it very much like this coalition work to task policy. It can be a coalition effort in advancing job quality. So it's not just on one entity, but really looking at how do you continue to center the students who are also workers in their careers and in their jobs so that it provides quality, that they're able to have a pension, that it provides meaning in their life, that they're able to be a parent, that they're able to support themselves and earn a living wage, and that's also recognizing that looks different for different people, what job quality means. And so, how do we really, as a collective community, work to advance that and value workers and especially those who during the pandemic are essential workers who haven't always been valued and whose skills aren't always valued and shifting that thinking. And I think we're at the right moment in time to do that. And community colleges have a really critical role in that, considering how many individuals they provide degrees and skills and credentials for to move into the workforce.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Kate. Appreciate your thoughts there, and just want to thank all of you for sharing your insights, your experience in this panel discussion. I think more importantly, just want to thank you all for your leadership, your collaborative approach to this work and your commitment to students. And I look forward to continue working in partnership with all of you into the future and continue to find ways to really center our student voices in this transformative work. So thank you, Emma, Elizabeth, Dan, Venus, and Kate for joining the podcast today. Thank you, Mark.
SPEAKER_05Thank you. Thank you, Mark.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's it for this episode and for the first season of the All In Student Pathways Board podcast. This is the host, Mark Goldberg, and I just want to thank you so much for listening in. I hope you found this episode along with the others this season to be informative and thought-provoking, and that you've shared them with practitioners, policymakers, and other community college student champions. If you haven't yet, I invite you to do so as our student voices are so critical to creating inclusive policies, practice, and partnerships. Stay tuned for season two that will release soon and focus on the important issue of job quality.