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
Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) past ESOL student/current employee Tea Demetrashvili, QCC president Dr. Luis G. Pedraja, Jeff Moineau, Process and Estimating Manager at WireFab Inc. & Andre Green, Executive Director at SkillWorks
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In this episode, All In podcast host Marc Goldberg interviews past ESOL student and current Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) employee Tea Demetrashvili, president of Quinsigamond Community College, Dr. Luis G Pedraja, Jeff Moineau, Process and Estimating Manager at WireFab Inc., an employer partner to the college, and Andre Green, the Executive Director at SkillWorks, a funder collaborative in Boston, Massachusetts that brings together philanthropy, government, community organizations and employers to improve workforce development across the state.
Tea describes how her experience taking ESOL classes in the Adult Community Learning Center at QCC helped her personally and professionally as a newcomer to the community. She elaborates on the care and support provided by faculty and staff and the services offered for students, which she is now able to reciprocate working in the ACLC department supporting other students.
Dr. Pedraja and Jeff both reflect on Tea’s interview and discuss the critical role that multilingual learners and workers play in the Worcester region to address workforce talent needs from different perspectives - as a college president and a business leader. Dr. Pedraja further discusses the college’s development of a strategic action plan for multilingual learners and why it has been a priority. Jeff highlights the company’s valuable partnership with QCC who provides workplace ESOL courses for WireFab multilingual workers.
Andre offers insights at the state level describing how immigrants and refugees can broaden the talent pool of skilled workers but need additional English language coursework. He shares how a broad coalition of organizations across Massachusetts were effectively able to advocate for legislation to increase state funding for vocational ESOL courses as an innovative workforce strategy.
Welcome to the Online Student Pathways Force Podcast focused on elevating community college student voices along with those of college executives, policymakers, and higher education advocates to help shape student-centered policies, programs, and partnerships. This is the host, Mark Goldberg, and it's an honor to speak with students and graduates who share their community college experiences, offer practical solutions to make college more accessible, and hear from college leaders and policymakers listening in and reacting to the students' recommendations that build on their solutions and calls to action. Season four of the podcast features students who began their college journeys enrolling in adult education courses that propelled them to pursue further education and career pathways at their respective college and beyond. This episode includes interviews with Thea Demetraj, current employee of and past adult education student at Quincygamen Community College, Dr. Luis G. Pedraha, president of Quincygamen Community College, Jeff Moino, Process and Estimating Manager at Wirefab, an employer partner to the college, and Andre Green, the Executive Director at Skillworks, a funder collaborative that brings together philanthropy, government, community organizations, and employers across the state of Massachusetts. Taya describes her experience taking ESO classes in the Adult Community Learning Center, as well as her job at the college supporting other multilingual learners in the same department now. Dr. Pedraha and Jeff discuss the important role multilingual learners play in the Woodster region to address workforce talent needs and how they enrich the community overall. Andre shares how a broad coalition of advocates across Massachusetts were able to help pass legislation to increase funding for vocational ESOL courses as an innovative workforce strategy. Thank you for listening in. I'd like to welcome my featured guest to the podcast today. Tea Demetrashvili is a past student at Quincygemen Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts. Welcome, Teya, to the All In Student Pathways Forward podcast.
SPEAKER_01Hi, Mark. Thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I really appreciate the opportunity to share my experiences and insights.
SPEAKER_04Thanks, Teya. And I wanted to start by asking you if you could talk about your background and how you found your way to Quincygaman Community College.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. I'm originally from the country of Georgia. I'm currently working as an enrollment specialist at QCC Adult Community Learning Center. I'm very passionate about education and helping others learn and grow. And I'm truly happy to be able to contribute, even in a small way, to helping learners from different countries who wish to register for OSL classes in order to improve their English skills. I graduated from Tbilisi State University of Foreign Languages and Culture and taught English to Georgian students before coming to the United States. At first, it was challenging to adjust to a life in such a vast country as the United States. Soon I started banking classes in Boston. I obtained the certificate, but I could not apply for a job because my son was born and I had to take care of my family. I contemplated for days and nights what measures I could take to improve my communication skills and practice English with native speakers. So I first became acquainted with Queen Sigamond Community College when I was doing research about possible colleges. And at that point in my life, I was actively looking for opportunities to improve my English while also gaining practical skills that could help me become more competitive in the job market. After enrolling, I realized that this program offered me more than just language instructions. The courses were designed to prepare students for real life situations, including workplace communication, resume writing, and interview preparation. What I appreciated most was the practical focus of courses. Everything we learned could be applied immediately. And in many ways, QCC served as a bridge between my past experience and my future career, helping me transition into a more stable and rewarding professional path. I would like to add a few things about my workplace. My job is to prepare and organize all assignments and registration materials, administer students' assessments, and maintain the accuracy of program data, students' files and data entry in accordance with the institutional policies and regulations. I also attend the staff meetings regularly that take place monthly.
SPEAKER_04Thank you, Teya, for sharing so much of your personal story. It's really inspiring to hear how you've been able to apply your skills at the college and work in the department supporting other multilingual learners. And having worked in adult education departments at different colleges, I know with the WIOA Title II grant, there is significant tracking of data and huge importance of accuracy and integrity with the data and supporting student progression. And I would imagine for many new students, if they're connecting with you as someone who is a relatively newcomer to the community, that may reduce some of their anxiety or nerves getting to connect with someone else who had taken classes in the same department in the past. So I'm sure the connection you make with other students really makes a difference for new students because that's always intimidating for any new student at the college, but in particular for students who may be coming in looking to improve their English language skills who may be new to the community.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04So I wanted to ask you, Tea, what's been the biggest highlight of your experience at Quincygamond, either as a student or as an employee?
SPEAKER_01The biggest highlight of my experience was definitely the personal transformation I went through during my time at QCC. When I first started, I felt unsure of myself and hesitant to speak in English, especially in front of the others. I was constantly worried about making mistakes or being misunderstood. However, the supportive and inclusive environment at the college encouraged me to gradually step out of my comfort zone. One special memorable moment was when I had to give a presentation in class. Preparing for it was challenging, but it pushed me to organize my thoughts, practice my speaking skills, and overcome my fear of public speaking. When I finally delivered the presentation, I felt a strong sense of achievement. It may seem like a small step, but for me, it represented a major breakthrough. That moment made me realize how far I had come and motivated me to continue improving. It was not just an academic success, but a personal victory that boosted my confidence in all areas of my life.
SPEAKER_04That's such a great example. It's a good reminder of the types of natural and important activities that happen in an ESOL classroom, preparing students for the workplace. Thank you for sharing that specific memory. It sounds like it was a powerful one for you.
SPEAKER_01Of course. Thank you as well.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So since you work with multilingual learners all the time at the college in the ACLC department, I wanted to ask you if you could describe any challenges you see with other learners that are enrolling in ESOL classes at the college, or even from your own experience when you enrolled in classes.
SPEAKER_01Like many adult learners, one of the biggest challenges I see is balancing multiple responsibilities at the same time. Managing work, family obligations, and academic commitments require a lot of discipline and time management. Another challenge was adapting to academic English. While they can communicate in everyday situations, sometimes they struggle to express their ideas clearly or keep up with the pace of the class. I believe many multilingual learners experience similar difficulties, particularly when they are also adjusting to a new cultural and educational environment. However, these challenges also help us grow. They taught us resilience, patience, and the importance of asking for help when needed.
SPEAKER_04I appreciate you talking about that and not just the challenge, but the opportunities through those challenges of growth, learning additional skills and patience and perseverance. Thank you for thinking about those challenges and sharing from your own experience and that of other multilingual learners at the college that you work with. And on a related note, I wanted to ask you, Teya, was there anyone at the college at QCC through the Adult Community Learning Center ESOL program that was most helpful to you in navigating these college systems to enroll and progress in your studies and your career? And if so, how were they most helpful?
SPEAKER_01Yes, I was fortunate to have the support of several dedicated individuals during my time at QCC. My ESOL instructors were not only knowledgeable but also very patient and encouraging. My professors created a classroom environment where students felt safe to make mistakes and learn from them without fear of judgment. I would like to say thank you to our program director, Kimberly White, who played an important role in my development. She gave me the opportunity to be a part of the amazing team, and I am super grateful for her support. What stood out to me the most was their genuine interest in my success. They did not just provide information, they also took the time to understand my background, my challenges, and my aspirations. That level of personal support made a huge difference in my overall experience.
SPEAKER_04That's fantastic. It just shows the power of connection with faculty, feeling like you belong and that there is a genuine interest from instructors and the program director supporting you in your academic and career goals and also understanding who you are as an individual. Yes. Thank you for sharing that. So for this season, the All In podcast is featuring students who started at their college by enrolling in adult education courses. I wanted to ask you, Teya, could you talk about the value of the ACLC ESOL experience at QCC for you on a personal and professional level? And how about for other students that you work with in the ACLC program?
SPEAKER_01The ASOL experience at QCC was incredibly valuable, both personally and professionally. On a personal level, it helped me build confidence and independence. I became more comfortable expressing myself in different situations, whether it was speaking with classmates, interacting with professionals, or handling everyday tasks. From a professional perspective, strong communication skills are essential in almost any field, and the program helped me develop those skills in a practical and meaningful way. It also introduced me to important concepts related to workplace culture, communication styles, and professional expectations in the United States. For many students, including myself, the ESOL program is more than just language learning. It's a foundation for future success. The program provides the tools and support needed to pursue further education and better career opportunities.
SPEAKER_04I appreciate you sharing that. So there are the language skills that are important, but it's also the workplace culture for newcomers. I know you're describing your own experience, but I feel like you could take your description and multiply that by hundreds or thousands of students who gained the same skills from enrolling in these adult education courses at QCC and at other institutions. Thank you so much for sharing that reflection of the benefits. On a similar note, I wanted to ask you what programs, student supports, andor resources do you think are most important to assist multilingual learners in continuing their studies at QCC to work towards a meaningful college credential and career path with economic mobility?
SPEAKER_01In my opinion, a combination of academic, emotional, and career support is essential for students' success. Tutoring services are important as they provide extra help for students who may be struggling with certain subjects or language skills. Academic advising is another key and important resource as it helps students stay on track and make informed decisions about their education. Without proper guidance, it can be easy to feel lost or overwhelmed. And career services are equally important because they connect education with real-world opportunities. Workshops on resume writing, networking, and interview skills can significantly improve a student's chances of finding a good job after graduation.
SPEAKER_04Those are all such important supports for students. Thank you for touching on all of those. I think it reinforces, particularly for multilingual learners, how valuable these college services are to students. So I wanted to ask you too, Teya, what more do you think faculty, academic advisors, career coaches, and other college staff working with multilingual learners can do to help them in achieving their educational and career goals?
SPEAKER_01Faculty and staff can further support multilingual learners by adopting a more personalized and empathetic approach. Each student has a unique cultural and ethic background and a set of challenges as well. So it's important to take the time to understand their individual needs. Professors can help by using clear and accessible language, providing detailed feedback and encouraging active participation in class. Advisors and support staff can offer more one-on-one guidance and check in with students regularly to monitor their progress. And creating a sense of community is also important. When students feel supported and connected, they are more likely to stay motivated and succeed.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because you mentioned the value to students of understanding each student's unique background. And you said needs, and there are unique needs. I also feel like there are unique strengths that all students bring to their college experience. And the more that both faculty and staff understand the students' background to help them map out what that path is and really propel them into whatever their academic and career goals are here in the community. I wanted to ask what recommendations or advice would you give to other multilingual students at QCC or other community colleges based on your own experience?
SPEAKER_01My advice would be to be patient and persistent. Learning a new language and adapting to a new educational system is not easy, and progress can sometimes feel slow. However, every small step forward is important. I would also encourage students to take full advantage of the resources available to them, whether it's tutoring, workshops, or support services. Don't be afraid to ask questions or seek help. Most importantly, believe in yourself. Confidence plays a huge role in success. And even if you make mistakes, they are simply opportunities to learn and improve.
SPEAKER_04I couldn't agree more. And I think your advice is really powerful and a reminder to be patient and persistent and remembering that it takes what, I think five to seven years to fully learn a language.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04I appreciate you reflecting on a question.
SPEAKER_01Of course.
SPEAKER_04So how do you think, Teya, that colleges can listen to students better to develop policies and programs that put them in the best position to succeed in college and beyond?
SPEAKER_01So colleges can improve their communication with students by creating more structured opportunities for feedback, such as surveys, discussion panels, and regular meetings. However, it's not enough just to collect feedback. Colleges also need to take meaningful action based on the feedback they collect. When students see that their voices are heard and that their suggestions lead to real changes, they feel more valued and engaged in the community. Transparency is also important. Colleges should communicate clearly about what changes are being made and why. Building a strong connection between students and administration can lead to more effective programs and a better overall experience.
SPEAKER_04All of that makes great sense. I wanted to zoom out a little bit and ask you a big question. How, Tea, has your experience at Quincygaman Community College been impactful in your life?
SPEAKER_01My experience at QCC has had a profound impact on my life. It not only helped me improve my English and academic skills, but also changed my mindset and increased my confidence. Before attending QCC, I often felt uncertain about my future and limited in my opportunities, but now I feel more empowered and optimistic. I have a clearer vision of my goals and a stronger belief in my ability to achieve them. Overall, it has been a transformative experience that has positively influenced both my personal and professional life.
SPEAKER_04That's wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing that. It's really inspiring to hear that, and I just wanted to express my gratitude to you for spending time talking about your experience as a student at QCC, as a newcomer to the community, and also as a staff member working with other multilingual learners and seeing for you how that experience has really shaped your career. I've learned a great deal from our conversation and have appreciated this discussion and everything that you've shared. I think it really is valuable to hear from students. And I just wanted to ask if there's anything else you'd like to share about your QCC experience for this conversation.
SPEAKER_01Yes, definitely. I would just like to emphasize how grateful I am for the opportunities I had at QCC. It's more than just an educational institution. QCC is a supportive community that truly invests in its student success. I had a great opportunity to attend the CoAB 2025 national conference that was held in Dallas last April. It offered professional development, networking opportunities, exposure to the latest innovations, student and leadership development, and many more. So for anyone considering joining, I would strongly encourage them to take that step. It may seem challenging at first, but with the right support and determination, it can lead to personal growth and new opportunities.
SPEAKER_04What a great way to end in encouraging other students to take that first step, that it's possible and there are supports there for students. I could only imagine how much QCC wants to keep you at the college and supporting other students because of your own passion and lived experience as a past student. And I love that QCC was able to send you to the CoEd conference. That's such an incredible network of adult education professionals and students across. the country. Thank you Teo for this great conversation.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much and I appreciate your time. And thank you again.
SPEAKER_04I'd like to welcome my next guest to the podcast today, Dr. Luis G. Padraha, the president of Quincygaman Community College, and Jeff Moino, Process and Estimating Manager for Wirefab Inc., an employer partner to the college. So welcome Dr. Padraha and welcome Jeff to the All in Student Pathways Forward Podcast. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Appreciate you both spending the time having this conversation. I look forward to it. And I wanted to start with you, Dr. Padraha, and ask if you could share more info about Quinsigamon Community College for any listeners not familiar with the institution and a bit more about the region that the college serves.
SPEAKER_02Certainly Quinn Sigamon Community College is located in Worcester, Massachusetts, in what we call the heart of the Commonwealth, because we're pretty much in the center of the state and serve the Greater Worcester County and some of the adjoining regions. So we have a wide service area. The college has been around since 1963 and has developed over a hundred different programs and certificates available. Some of them are transfer oriented for students who want to go on to further their career and profession. Others are focused on more short-term careers, including middle skills jobs and other types of professions that they can go from technical areas to computing and a lot in healthcare. We have about close to 9,000 students making us one of the largest community colleges in Massachusetts and one of the largest colleges in the Worcester area. And Worcester is the second largest city in New England, not even just Massachusetts. Sometimes hard to believe and it's a thriving community with a lot of medical professionals, hospital here. There's a lot of biomanufacturing that occurs as well as some other manufacturing industries in the area that we serve. So we partner with the healthcare professionals and healthcare the hospitals in the region as well as the biomanufacturers and other the industries as we prepare most of the people that work and live here in central Massachusetts. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_04That's really helpful background Dr. Pedraha and I hadn't realized that Worcester is the second largest city and cosmopolitan area in New England until colleagues at QCC mentioned that to me. And I appreciate also the description of some of the big industries and types of programs that the college offers to provide that pipeline into the workforce. And I think that's a great segue then to you Jeff and wanted to ask you if you could provide similar background information on Wirefab Inc. And also if you could elaborate a little bit more on how the partnership with QCC has helped address the company's workforce hiring andor training needs.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely so yeah Wirefab was founded right here in Worcester Massachusetts in 1955. Obviously Worcester has a very deep manufacturing history over the years over the decades we've seen a lot of changes in both manufacturing technology and the overall business landscape one thing that has remained constant at Wirefab is our commitment to continuous improvement whether that means investing in advanced equipment improving our processes or supporting our employees and our workforce workforce development is definitely one of the most I'll say challenging issues facing a lot of manufacturers today. Like many companies we've experienced the growing challenge of attracting and retaining skilled talent. We believe that our employees are the foundation of our success so investing in them is really just as important as investing in machinery or new technology. I'd say even decades ago we started working with temporary staffing agencies to help us manage the fluctuations in our workload and through those partnerships we discovered that there's many talented individuals out there who have both strong technical abilities and a real desire to work and succeed. One of the biggest challenges we've identified over those years is language barriers. You know there's a lot of cases where employees have all the technical skills and the work ethic needed to succeed but the communication challenges make it much more difficult for them to fully demonstrate their capabilities and advance professionally. QCC has been extremely helpful from the start with helping us secure the grants, select the best courses for the employees, as well as scheduling the courses to accommodate both employee and wirefab's needs. That's not always easy because you have eight students all with different schedules we have to make sure that we interfere as little as possible with our workflow. So it's a little tricky but QCC really did work with us on that. Their experience with us really did make the entire process easy for us. So you know we're very grateful for that connection and they're right down the road. So it really is a good situation.
SPEAKER_04Thank you. It's just phenomenal to hear how valuable that partnership has been in improving the skills productivity engagement of employees and to be able to do that with a college and see those results. And I think coming back to you Dr. Padraha I know that QCC like many other community colleges partners with regional businesses in a multitude of ways to advance regional economic prosperity. And I think we just heard a great example from Jeff here with Wirefab. But I also wanted to ask if you could elaborate on a few other examples that have promoted career pathways and advancement opportunities for learners and workers, particularly for multilingual learners and workers.
SPEAKER_02Certainly I mean we do partner with industry quite a bit. I've always believed that our job is not just to teach students for the jobs of today but for the jobs of tomorrow. And I think it's critical that we work in partnership with industry to understand how the industry and their needs are evolving and industry is changing quickly. And I think this type of partnerships help instruct people already in the workforce who need to advance like the example from Wirefab. And we've done that for multiple industries for the biotech industry we have done some most recently one of the things that we're doing as apprenticeship programs that require partnerships with some of the industries we've partnered with several hospitals and other providers of healthcare in the region medical assisting apprenticeship and also a new program on practical nursing apprenticeships and we're hoping to develop more in similar areas. The other part that we've done is develop programs more targeted to English language learners some of them in partnership with particular industry sectors. I myself am an English language learner I came to the United States when I was eight didn't speak a word of English and know the struggles that I faced trying to adjust and learn a new language. I can't even imagine for adult learners people who came here from other countries maybe already professionals to adjust to industry. So we developed a few years ago a couple of IBES programs. Those are ones that combine in this case English as the second language opportunities with technical certifications. So we've done some in pharmacy tech for instance and some of that was done in partnership with like CBS Pharmacies but we also provided other programs. We've done some for people that wanted to be lab techs. And those kind of programs that combine the English as a second language with the lingo that you need in the particular field are ideal because the students are learning not just the language but learning the language that they're going to need for the workforce. And I think that's critical we can do a lot of those partnerships and benefit a lot of students that way because they do come with skill sets and they're working unfortunately in areas that might not be up to the level of what they can perform. So it benefits the student but also benefits our industries here that need workers, skilled workers and they certainly have that level of skill.
SPEAKER_04Thank you for sharing those examples and I think the IBES model you described has research behind it that shows the positive outcomes for both the student and the employer and it accelerates that pathway right so it's not a traditional model of someone needing to advance in multiple levels of traditional academic English language skills to then be able to take a workforce CTE course towards a career goal. So I appreciate you elaborating on those examples. I also just wanted to say I appreciate you sharing your own personal journey as an immigrant yourself and non-native English speaker in building those skills. Jeff I wanted to come back to you and you touched on this a little bit but wanted to ask further from the perspective of an important business leader in the Worcester community how do you see multilingual learners and newcomers to the region adding value and supporting employer talent needs?
SPEAKER_00Sure. I think in my opinion multilingual learners and newcomers play a critical role in strengthening both our workforce and the overall Worcester community manufacturing like many industries today is facing an ongoing challenge when it comes to finding and developing skilled talent and retaining skilled talent. And a lot of those newcomers can bring a strong work ethic, you know diverse experiences, adaptability, and a real eagerness to build a long-term career and contribute to their communities as well. At Wirefab, you know, we've seen firsthand the value these employees bring to our organization many of them come in with excellent technical abilities and a strong desire to succeed. In some cases the primary obstacle is again just simply that language barrier it's not talent it's not capability it's not desire to work. When companies invest in these language development and workforce training programs those barriers can be significantly reduced which allows employees to fully contribute their skills and continue growing professionally there's also a tremendous value in having a workforce with diverse backgrounds and perspectives it strengthens collaboration encourages new ideas and it helps create a more inclusive and innovative workplace culture supporting multilingual learners and newcomers help strengthen the local economy of Worcester as a whole as well partnerships between businesses, educational institutions and community organizations are especially important in creating opportunities for success. You know these programs that combine language education along with technical training they not only help employees advance their careers but it also helps the companies address that critical workforce need in a sustainable way. Ultimately investing in multilingual learners and newcomers is not just the right thing to do from a community standpoint. It's also a smart long-term business strategy and it's really proven that way for us for some time. It's a real win-win no matter how you look at it.
SPEAKER_04That's so helpful and particularly from your perspective as a business leader and seeing firsthand as you described the positive impact for the business for the workers and the broader community in a multitude of ways. And as you talked about in the manufacturing sector that has had and will continue to have a shortage of skilled workers unless there's some new innovative strategies that broaden that talent pipeline. Thanks for answering that question and wanted to come back to you Dr. Pedraha and I wanted to ask you if you could talk about the college's recent efforts to develop a multilingual learner strategic action plan and why this is a priority for the college.
SPEAKER_02Certainly well it's always been one of my priorities since I started as president nine years ago being a multilanguage learner myself. I appreciated the challenges that people bring. I even have family members a cousin who was a doctor in Cuba but when he came here although he had all the skill sets he couldn't practice because of language barrier. So eventually he pretty much had to start from scratch and build up so I've always wanted to create plans for helping multilanguage learners succeed. And Worcester is a gateway city over 25% are identified Hispanic or Latino according to the last census the population here has been growing there's about another 25% in general that were foreign born in the Worcester population and almost 40% speak a language other than English at home. As a matter of fact one time I heard this statistic that was surprising that about 70 different languages are spoken in the public schools if you can imagine that at first I thought 17 I said no no no it's like 70. I was very surprised at that so we need to do this partially because of the community we serve. In addition to that 27% of our degree seeking students identify as Spanish, Latino and 5% as Asian. And then there's a whole set of others are in there and those numbers and now include the 2000 students we serve in our adult community learning center ESOL program. There's a lot of different ESOL programs but to coordinate and to create pathways into a career needs some work. It needs a strategy and if you look at the um labor statistics for our region unemployment rate is 4.7 which is considered low but based on the needs of our industry high wage high demand occupations have critical shortages nurses industrial machinery mechanics computer and info system managers bookkeeping accounting auditing clerks medical and health service general operation managers you can see a whole wide array you have to bridge that gap you got to get people that might have the skill sets trained to fit the needs of our employees here. So that's why we're committed to address directly this critical workforce challenges and one of the key elements of doing that is to work with our industry partners and with the ESO program to create something that's there. Our commitment is to try to get the students trained as professionals in their fields the fields that they already have the credentials or some skill sets from their home countries. They already come with knowledge and skills and abilities that can translate to the workforce culture the hard workers and I think that's important. And 75% of our students are part-time they're working adults about 44% are eligible which are low-income students. They can better their lives through education but the language skills is often a barrier and if we can bridge those two given the education they need as well as prepare them to be able to learn the language skills that they can then use to enter the workforce or further careers is going to be a win-win for the students for the industries that we serve and for the whole community at large yeah thank you that makes a lot of sense all that census data you highlighted really tells a story of the community and who can help address the workforce shortages with the proper training and support.
SPEAKER_04So it makes a lot of sense and inspiring to see the college really lean into the strategic action plan. I appreciate that background and context and speaking of QCC multilingual learners and workers I wanted to see if you had the chance to listen to my interview with Tea Dimitrashvili, a past QCC ACLC ESOL student and current employee at the college and if so what your overall reactions were to her conversation and can start with you Jeff Sure yeah I did listen to it and I did really find it to be a very inspiring and powerful example of what can be achieved through patience, persistence, determination and just consistent hard work.
SPEAKER_00Teya's journey it really highlights how important it is to stay committed over time when that progress may feel like it's going slower, more gradual than you'd like it to. What was interesting she pointed out you never really stop and think about it that it really takes about five to seven years to learn a new language. It's a long time and I'm sure it can get frustrating at times. It's a reminder that meaningful career growth is often the result of steady effort and a willingness to just keep pushing forward through those challenges. What stood out the most is how her experience reflects the real impact of investing in personal development and education. As she shared in the interview the development of stronger communication skills is especially important. Not only does it improve day-to-day interactions in the workplace but it also plays a critical role in building confidence and independence. And when someone is able to communicate effectively they're much more likely to participate, to ask questions, to take the initiative and advocate for themselves in a professional setting. Over time those skills can contribute greatly to self-assurance and a stronger sense of autonomy, both of which are really essential for long-term career success. I think Teya's story is a great reminder that investing in communication and personal growth doesn't just improve job performance, it can fundamentally change a person's trajectory and expand what they believe is possible for themselves. Yeah it was a great example of you know just hard work and determination and how she made it work for herself.
SPEAKER_04Yeah thank you for sharing those thoughts and as you were reflecting on that Jeff it made me think about your comments earlier about your own manufacturing workplace environment and while Taya's in a different industry working at the college there's parallels there in terms of the dedication the commitment the value to an individual and their own confidence and engagement in a community Community, in addition to the benefit to the business. It's really helpful to hear your perspective on Teya's interview. And Dr. Padraha, I wanted to ask you the same reflection question.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think Jeff already covered a lot of the key points. I gotta say, I'm very proud of the work that we do, that she's a shining example of that. Interestingly enough, many years ago I did consulting for the Republic of Georgia where she came from, and actually with the university she attended there, Tibilcy State. So I'm glad that she found a home here at QCC. I think one of the things that stood out beyond her determination and the change in her and her ability to contribute to our community. In this case, we're the employers now, so we got a benefit of our own work. But the other thing that stood out is how much she spoke about the supportive community that she had here at QCC. And I think that's essential for English language learners or any students in today's environment. Community college create a very supportive environment for them to succeed. We provide a lot of resources from assistance with food and housing to career trainings, vicing, tutoring, mentoring, and all those things together create an ecosystem that allows the student to thrive. And for an English language learner that might feel isolated to have those connections, it really strengthens their ability to succeed and to be able to achieve the skill sets that are necessary to work in the industry. Communication is essential. You can't get a job, no matter how good you are at the schools, if you can't talk to your co-workers and you can't fill out forms and do other types of work. So it's essential, but I'm very proud of the work that we've done, and she's a shining example of what we do.
SPEAKER_04I was just thinking as you were talking, Dr. Pedraha, to have that at the college and feel that sense of community with faculty professors, with the staff like Tea and other students, I'm sure makes a huge difference. And then those resources available, I've seen historically at colleges where there were resources available to some students, but not necessarily all students because they were in a non-credit program or they were part-time or they were evening students or they were at a different location. And I know that's always a work in progress, how all students can access all these supports. But to hear that that really made a difference for Teya just illustrates, I think, the ways that QCC is built, the supports and the pathways for your multilingual learners to be successful. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, thank you both for sharing your thoughts on Tea's conversation. One last question. The focus of this podcast is on elevating the voices of learners and workers to shape more inclusive policies, programs, and partnerships. So I wanted to ask you both how the college and Wirefab listens to students and workers and how that improves systems, decision making, and even culture at your organizations. Sure.
SPEAKER_00So I think from Wirefab's perspective, you know, listening to our employees, it's really a core part of how we we operate and improve as a company. In a manufacturing environment, especially when it's evolving as quickly as ours is, the people doing the work every day often have the clearest insight into what is working and what isn't, what needs to change. We try to create opportunities for that feedback in both structured and a lot of informal ways, which includes regular supervisor check-ins, team-based communication, and just ongoing dialogue on the shop floor. We do pay close attention to patterns we see in training, onboarding, and just day-to-day operations. When employees can identify those challenges, whether it's related to training gaps, communication barriers, or process inefficiencies, we treat that input as actionable data, not just commentary. We really do try to listen to them. I think a good example of this is our workforce development work with QCC. As we implemented ESOL and the other technical training programs, we didn't design them without a lot of input from the employees we knew were going to be involved with them. We went around, we had many meetings, obviously worked closely with QCC to select the best courses. And we listened closely to participants throughout the whole process on what was helping, what wasn't, where additional support was needed. And that feedback directly shaped how those courses were delivered and how we supported employees outside of the classroom. I think one of the most important things we've learned is that listening to employees improves more than just individual programs and improves the overall culture. When those employees see that their input leads to real changes, that it's valued input, it really does build a lot of trust. Not only that, it also encourages more participation, better communication, and just a stronger sense of ownership to the work being done. From a decision-making standpoint, that feedback loop has really made us more responsive and more realistic in how we approach workforce development. We're not just designing systems we think will work. We're refining them as we go based on the lived experience of the people using them every single day. So ultimately, that partnership mindset between Wirefab, our employees, QCC, it really helps us build a stronger overall system. It also reinforces something just as important that every voice in the company has value in shaping where we go next. We also have an education program here at Wirefab. We actually have for several years where any one of our employees can decide to take a course at QCC, for example. And as long as they pass that course with a C or above, Wirefab will reimburse them in full for that course. So we push people, even after this program is complete, to go one step further and see if there are any other courses you're interested in, because a win for them is a win for us and overall win.
SPEAKER_04That's fantastic. And it really goes back to where you started as you described your first words of wire fab was about a culture of continuous improvement, which involves really listening to your employees and co-designing. And so I appreciate that. And wanted to ask you the same question, Dr. Pedraha, about student voice for the institution.
SPEAKER_02Certainly. For the students, we have the traditional ways of gathering information, surveys, evaluations, course evaluations, and other venus. We have a very active student government association that also has input. And we elect a student trustee assistant on our board that can help us understand a little bit about the student needs. And a few years ago, early on in my presidency, I started a group called Leadership, where I have members of my cabinet and senior executive leadership, as well as members of the faculty that meet together, but I've also added the student government association president, the student trustee into that mix so that everybody has a seat at the table. And then I don't like to just sit in my office and be one of those presidents that is detached from the institutions. So I've created a couple of venues. I have, you know, coffee with the president for faculty and staff. And then for the students, I do something that's uh quite popular for some as a pizza with the president. And if you feed them, they will come. So we provide some food, and it's just an open time for us to have conversations with the students. They can learn a little bit about me, then issue the college, they can ask questions. Sometimes it's very positive feedback, and it makes me feel proud of the work that we're doing. There are times that we discover things, uh, communications. They might not know that there are some services that are available to them, or they have my questions about construction that's going on on campus, or some of the hardships that are done. And uh usually my uh one of my assistants goes with me, takes notes, and we make sure there's follow-up because it's great to have the hearings, but if you don't have follow-up, it means nothing. So I've always tried to make sure that in all those instances, when we get the feedback, we do follow-up.
SPEAKER_04That's great. And really helpful to understand the different ways that you would engage students as well as faculty and staff. So parallel examples from two different industries, a lot to gain from that. Overall, I just wanted to thank you both for this conversation. It's been really informative to me. It's been inspiring, and really to have both of you together hearing your insights and expertise and perspective as the college president and Jeff as a local business leader in the value of the partnership between the college and the business, and also the role that multilingual learners, multilingual workers play in your large community to enrich the community to support economic prosperity. So I've really enjoyed the conversation. Thank you to you both for giving your time. And I just wanted to end and ask if there's anything else either of you would like to share for this conversation.
SPEAKER_00Thank you to you and the entire team at QCC again for all your help with this program. You really did make it easy from start to finish. We do have one more course left, and we're excited to finish that up. And you know, couldn't have done it without you, so we appreciate it. Well, thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Bart, for uh having this opportunity for us to talk about things that are quite important for education, for workforce, and I think for the future as well for communities.
SPEAKER_04My pleasure, and it's a great story to tell. Kudos to you all, and thank you again for giving your time and sharing your thoughts.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.
SPEAKER_04Thank you, Mark. Appreciate it. I'd like to welcome my next guest to the podcast today. Andre Green is the executive director at SkillWorks in Boston, Massachusetts. Welcome, Andre, to the All-In Student Pathways Forward podcast. Thank you for having me. Thanks for taking the time. And I wanted to start by asking you if you could provide a brief overview of SkillWorks and the organization's focus on improving workforce development across Massachusetts.
SPEAKER_03But how's that led by the Boston Foundation? And that's a really fancy way of saying we bring out our local funders to do joint grant making, research, advocacy, capacity building, assistant building in the workforce development sector here. In Boston, with a particular eye towards using workforce development to close long-standing racial economic gaps, which in Massachusetts oftentimes means supporting an immigrant community.
SPEAKER_04That's a helpful background. And I know having worked with funding collaboratives before, right? It's a model that can really leverage strengths across different organizations and parlay a lot of different investments and support for initiatives.
SPEAKER_03Sure, we do grant making and I won't ever deny the importance of getting money into the hands of the organizations. But we found that what really makes the difference and what makes us really a change maker is the fact that we bring together funders and providers and the business community and labor and all these groups that have an interest in the workforce to really come together and solve structural issues better for workers and certainly make Matthew's a better place to find, develop, and retain talent.
SPEAKER_04That's great. You referenced the focus on closing racial economic gaps and some of those disparities impact immigrant communities. And so I wanted to ask you how more specifically multilingual learners and workers fit into the priorities of Skillworks and as well how do community colleges connect.
SPEAKER_03We recognize however you want to look at Massachusetts workforce picture and the challenges and opportunities of said workforce, you end up censoring foreign-born workers. As I mentioned, we are very focused on using workforce as a tool to lift long-standing racial inequities. And in reality, it's a workforce of color in Massachusetts, you're looking at a significantly foreign-born population. People talk a lot about our Latin community and that it's right and fair, but it's not just them. 40% of black Bostonians are foreign-born. So if you're talking about racial income gaps in Massachusetts, and we do, you're talking about foreign workers. Likewise, if you're trying to really solve the talent pipeline issues that our employers are facing, you've got to be looking at foreign-born workers. Massachusetts pretty famously shedding workers on net. Since 2020, Massachusetts workforce has shrunk by 0.2%, which does sound like a lot, but this assumption is always that the workforce has been growing. So any shrinkage is a real challenge for employers. But while we say that, and while we say there's 149,000 open jobs in Massachusetts at any time, we also know there are 140,000 foreign one workers who either are underemployed. So the challenges that employers are seeing and finding talent, the pool exists. They're just real barriers we need to address, as you'll discuss more probably later, most things is English, which means it's the other half of the situation. Community colleges are where that talent gets unlocked. Statewide, but especially once you leave like greater Boston, and you find that community colleges are a really large part of how we get any of our local trained workforce, right? And I think Massachusetts is famous for its wider colleges, and obviously they are a real asset to Masters' economy. But the reality is most of Massachusetts workers aren't getting trained in those institutions. So when we're thinking about our foreign-born workers, when we're thinking about our mid-skilled jobs, when we're thinking about the kind of work that is the backbone of Master's economy, we aren't developing those throughout really good partnerships with black community colleges, which is why when we're looking at expanding ASOL, we've been doing that in very close cooperation with Masters of Association Community Colleges, because we know that's gonna be the vector by which most of that training is going to end up happening.
SPEAKER_04It makes a lot of sense. And I know that when community colleges and other organizations supporting newcomers, they come with very diverse backgrounds in terms of, I mean, geography, native language, education level, work experience. And so there may be some individuals who haven't had the opportunity yet to have much of a professional career by age or circumstance, but there are also a lot of professionally trained immigrants as well who can support the workforce needs in a more accelerated way.
SPEAKER_03I think there's this widespread incorrect belief. Which both there's no such thing as a low-skilled job, um, but also doesn't understand who our immigrants are. 40% of the masters' immigrants masters with bachelor's degrees. There is so much talent in that community that doesn't need to be developed any more than any other talent needs to be developed. It just needs to be unlocked. And one of the reasons we started really focusing on how do we explain access to English is because when we talk to the community, when we work with both immigrant groups and job trainers, it becomes abundantly clear that the talent is there, but the ability for those people to use English in the practice of their jobs was a real barrier, but a solvable one.
SPEAKER_04Right. It's great to learn more about the skill works focus on immigrants and advocating for support as a workforce solutions. And I wanted to ask you if you could share more on the recent state legislation in Massachusetts that has done just that, it's allocated additional funding for vocational ESOL, contextualized ESOL. And I'm curious who were the coalition stakeholders and advocates, and how did this coalition come together to get this legislation passed?
SPEAKER_03As a good community foundation, we try to be in consequences with the community, right? And try to be positive community needs. So in 2023 and into 2024, we were seeing a real surge in migrants here in Massachusetts. And so many organizations were scaling up their efforts to support the migrants, not just in terms of housing, but making sure that they can get out of temporary housing into permanent housing, which requires you know work and other things like that. So the Caribbean Youth Club and a couple other local immigrant serving groups came to the foundation and said, hey, we're really trying to figure out how we can get the residents in our shelters stabilize. And the opposite involves how do we get them jobs. And so we decided we were going to convene some of our local job training agencies, job training providers, refugee serving government agencies, job trainers, all of the people who would be touching this problem, and looked together and say, like, what are the barriers that forborn workers are facing in getting that stabilization and what other things we can try to solve? We brought easily like 40 organizations together, and what really came to the topic was well, they could just get better access to English, particularly English and job reports to get them to jobs, we could really move the needle in this. Massachusetts has a wait list of 25,000 people trying to get English services. And so if we could just reduce that by 10,000, so we could we could roughly cut it in half. One, we would relieve a lot of pressure on our social services. And we did we realize that for an investment of $45 million is what we say it would cost to get 10,000 people, we would see long-term over 15 years $1.3 billion in new wages. And that's just talking about wages, and that's not talking about the fact that people who have higher wages have better health outcomes, their kids in better school, all those things are true. But just in terms of wages, we would see a $1.3 billion in new wages here in Massachusetts for initial investment of $45 million. In 2022, Massachusetts passed a constitutional amendment, which added a 4% surcharge on incomes billion dollars. And what we started seeing the first few years after that was passed was that the government had underestimated how much income would come from that. It turned out that we we were seeing revenues of one two billion dollars more on those revenue sources than the state originally thought we would be seeing. And so in January of 2025, the state released a proposal to spend extra money from fiscal year 2024. And we were able to bring together this coalition again of business groups, employers, job trainers, information services groups to push for and ultimately get $10 million in new ESL dollars, particularly around and spends in coordination with our labor department to focus on outcomes and job placement for these roughly 3,000 people who will get ESO training with job focused outcomes and that 10 million. We're looking at getting another 5 million this year for the same end. And so we're seeing initial 50 million dollar investment towards the ESOL, which we're really thrilled about. From the beginning, we were always thinking about the need to build an ecosystem. We've got this great first initial public investment. How do we build on that momentum? How do we use that momentum to build ecosystems? And honestly, we think there's a place here for our faculty. So we are trying to rally our phone-topic community, trying to raise funds or so as a person foundation to support programs that may need to add capacity, build partnerships, scale up existing pilots to really make that transition and really help build out an ecosystem that really centers vocational work. So that I think is part of our work going forward. Helping the state figure how they structure spending to make it easier for programs, working with community colleges. I think, especially with once. Leave Greater Boston really help tie together the pieces who maybe do how that work. So we're not recreating a wheel.
SPEAKER_04That's fantastic. It's interesting to learn about this policy when you know every state has its own politics, left, middle, right. And so every context is different. But I'm curious what lessons could you offer other states on this type of advocacy and policy work supporting newcomers and vocational ESOL as a workforce solution?
SPEAKER_03That's the thing, right? There's this narrative that immigrants are a drain on the system, which has never been true. American history is an economic thing. I think it's important that we push back on this narrative and explain that actually immigrants have always been our economic superpower. We bring in time and that when we do that, in the same way with any workers, when we give workers the opportunity to thrive, it's not charity. It's an investment that pays off in the long term, right? You know, when we're talking about the 1.3 billion new wages, that's a 29 times investment on initial investment. If you can put me somewhere in this talk where I can invest money right now and in 15 years make 29 times my initial investment, there'd be a run of the banks, right? But when you invest in people, it happens. States that figure out how to better bring that new wave of immigrants into their economies, states are gonna dominate the next 50 years. And I want to see one of those states. If you don't, I'm happy for maxists to take advantage of a mistake.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's such a good point. 29 times ROI, right? 45 million to 1.3 billion in wages. That's it's more than compelling.
SPEAKER_03We know that the best social solution we have to most of our problems is better wages and better jobs for workers.
SPEAKER_04Right. And when businesses are considering relocating, either moving out or moving in or expanding, one of the first questions is where are we gonna find workers? Are there skilled workers? And so this type of investment, I would assume, is also a compelling case to be able to articulate to businesses that may be thinking about relocating to Massachusetts. So where are we gonna be able to find workers?
SPEAKER_03The business company has been very eager to see the state invest in meaningful vocational ESL for that very reason. Talent has always been Massachusetts' competitive edge. And if the biggest barrier to taking advantage of, again, a largely scaled workforce is English education, it's almost a no-brainer. It's bringing in more short-term. We found in the studies that vocational ASOL workers make over 7,000. But that just means either one, it's already been paid back in new wages, right? And as much as it's just shown, if your neighbors are making more money, that trickles upward for everybody. I think that's one of the things you also need to get by. It's not us or them. We all do better when we all do better.
SPEAKER_04Totally. And I think just staying on this theme and topic of multilingual learners, uh, wanted to ask you if you could share more about how Skillworks centers the voices of learners and workers to help shape better policies, programs, and partnerships across the workforce development field.
SPEAKER_03We're always thinking deeply about how we're making sure that the groups we work with, the initiatives we fund, the research we do, really both supports and centers what is actually happening for the constituency we support or for. I think if you ask my association and bean and I, we both oftentimes say that our actual jobs is to put all of the weird privilege of 135-year-old community foundation at the service of the people who don't get to be in a room for it. It is not a coincidence that this work started because frontline workers in the Caribbean immigrant community came to us and said, Hey, we're having a challenge here. What can we do? Right? You know, especially in this moment, we think we can say things and we can do things that the most structurally afflicted can't say and do in rooms that they can't be in. But we are constantly talking with our networks to make sure that the things we say and do in those rooms reflect our best efforts to understand what they would say and do if they could.
SPEAKER_04That makes a lot of sense, particularly at this moment in time. And it sounds like a skillworks is constantly engaging with the community, with immigrant refugee communities to understand evolving needs. And I think that legislation, as you said, is the perfect example. So that's helpful to understand that. You mentioned this just as far as the initial investment of 10 million and then the ask of five million in this year's legislative session. But I'm curious how this coalition advocacy work supporting vocational ESOL education and training across the state will continue forward in the next few years.
SPEAKER_03Key to that is one, expanding the pie. We still have wait lists. We know that we still need to be offering more ESOL. We're going to be continuing to advocate to expand the system. According to DESI, 70% of ESOL learners are there to either get a job or get a better job. So there's that piece. There's a need for better coordination. We need to make a system that is easier for constituents to get the ESOL they need, easier for employers to tap into it again as far as being able to find the talent that we know we have, and to create better coordination so that the ESOL you get isn't limited because you have to toss the wrong person, right? We know that to do that, we're gonna need to work more closely with community colleges, help them develop those systems, help them tap better into existing systems. We need to create systems which the various agencies are that are all funding this work have shared goals, shared outcomes, etc. And we need to be able to better support workers getting that training. So we're very excited about the initial investments, and we know we need to do more work to turn a series of interventions and series of tactics into a strategy. So I think that's gonna be a bigger focus in the years to come. We're not saying reform in lieu of money, we're saying reform on top of money.
SPEAKER_04Well, and that better coordination you described, it brings me back to Quinn Sigaman Community College with Teya, and then the interview that precedes this conversation with both the president of QCC and then a business leader that both spoke about the importance of multilingual learners, but from the college's standpoint, having developed a strategic action plan for multilingual learners so that there is really strong coordination, clear pathways, supports across the institution, recognizing again, newcomers, immigrants, refugees come in with very diverse and distinct backgrounds and how to leverage the credentials, the expertise, the work experience that they bring, and to accelerate those pathways into the workforce as opposed to starting over. But that strategic action plan has a focus on coordinating those efforts. So the entire QCC community, along with partners, has a deepened understanding of the different pathways the supports to assist multilingual learners in achieving their academic and career goals. And that's just one institution.
SPEAKER_03I do believe one of the I'm gonna say next front, but probably like also has to be done concurrently and really barrier lifting is the creation process. Last year the governor signed a position pathway act, which created systems to make it easier to perform more medical doctors to get into and do residencies here in Massachusetts so they could expect the process for processing doctors, which is what we'll see great. And we recognize there are probably and definitely other fields where we could do things around credentialing to make it easier for foreign-trained workers to do the work they are trained and qualified to do.
SPEAKER_04Yep. Well, that's exciting to hear and inspiring to learn about what that will look like in the future moving forward, building on the research, the engagement, the advocacy, the legislation that's passed to continue to support immigrants and refugees across the state. And I appreciate you sharing so much, Andre, from your role and leadership with Skillworks and with the Boston Foundation and that broader coalition and the ways that this coalition has garnered additional investments and support. And so I just wanted to thank you for taking the time and ask you if there's anything else that you would like to share for this conversation.
SPEAKER_03If anyone is trying to do similar work, that when you frame these things as asset-based solutions, you can build a broader coalition. You can have strange red fellows. I think anytime we are able to get the business community and like labor unions to both agree, hey, this isn't worth making. And as you pointed out in your questions, the more you can center the actual experiences of the communities, the better.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, because they're the most impacted by these systems. Thank you again for taking the time. Thank you for having me. Well, that will do it for this episode of the All In Student Pathways Board Podcast. We'll be back soon with a season four finale episode that includes a panel discussion with two previous podcast guests from season one, Lynn Hamblin and Baker Alkurawi, both GED graduates from community colleges in Oregon, as well as Aaron Bobornick, the initiatives director at CoAid. This is the host, Mark Goldberg. Thanks for listening in and being all in on student success.