Economic Mobility and the Future of Work in Houston

Economic mobility is often connected to the idea of the American Dream. It is the ability for each generation to build a better future than the one before it. But today, that future is not guaranteed for many families.

In this episode of the Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast Podcast, Executive Director Juliet Stipeche discusses why economic mobility matters, how opportunity has changed across generations, and how the Gulf Coast Workforce Board is working with regional partners to create a more responsive and effective workforce system.

Through collaboration with organizations including United Way of Greater Houston, Greater Houston Partnership, Good Reason Houston, Greater Houston Community Foundation, Rice University’s Kinder Institute, and others, Workforce Solutions is helping use data, partnerships, and policy to connect more people with resources, upskilling opportunities, and high growth career pathways.

Houston is a resource rich region, but navigating those resources can be challenging. This conversation explores how stronger systems, shared data, and intentional partnerships can help more Houstonians access the opportunities they need to succeed.

Learn more about Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast at:
 www.wrksolutions.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hi, I'm Juliet Stepech. I'm the Executive Director of the Gulf Coast Workforce Board, and welcome to our Workforce Solutions podcast. Today I'd like to talk to you a little bit about economic mobility. It's something that you might be hearing more and more about, and it's essentially what some folks might describe as the American dream. And so we've been looking at some statistics recently, and a person born in the 1940s had a 90% chance of doing better than their parents. Today, if a child was born in 1980, the statistic now says that they have a 50-50 chance of doing better than their parents. That's essentially a coin flip. And so we don't want the American dream to be a coin flip. So we at the Gulf Coast Workforce Board are looking at this and trying to design a much more effective, responsive system so that way we can work with partners in our community intentionally to make sure that they are aware of the great resources, systems, and opportunities that exist in their own backyard. Part of the Gulf Coast Workforce Board's strategic plan is to focus on ensuring that we serve as a strong resource to enhance people's lives. That means economic mobility. And we're very lucky because we have been able to join a consortium of partners in this city, including the United Way of Greater Houston, the Greater Houston Partnership, Good Reason Houston, the Greater Houston Community Foundation, and of course the Gulf Coast Workforce Board. And we're also joined by the researchers at Rice University's Kinder Institute. This dynamic group of people are working together to design different types of opportunities for us to use data and information to be able to inform policy decisions and best practices. So that way we're working together as a coalition to braid resources, share data, but much more intentionally work on designing policies and systems that make sense for Houstonians, especially those that are looking for upskilling opportunities, targeted high skills, high growth careers, and making life easier. We know that this city is resource rich, but oftentimes systems poor. And so this is an effort for us to work together that we're really, really excited about. Please know that we're going to be sharing this information with you via our Workforce Solutions Gulf Coast podcast, as well as on our website wwwrksolutions.com. We look forward to continuing to share information, best practices, and more resources and information so that way you and your family can succeed in this region's dynamic economy.