InFocus featuring Secretary Lauren Jones (Youth & Apprenticeships)

From the 22 News Plus Studio, this is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Barry. Hello, everyone, and welcome to this edition of In Focus. I'm your host, Patrick Barry. We're here in the 22 News Plus Studios. You hear it almost every single day here on 22 News and any other news source that you may be watching, listening, or reading. It's all about employment, making sure people have jobs or are being trained for the right jobs. I am so excited today to be joined across the desk by our very own Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, Secretary Lauren Jones. Ms. Jones, thank you so very much for joining me here in the studio today for such an important conversation. Because as I stated, jobs and workforce, it's always in the news. Whether a person in their late 50s, a person in their 20s graduating college, or a person 17, 18, leaving high school, it's all about finding good employment for that person to lead a successful life. I know on the state level, there are a couple of initiatives and I wanna start with the first one, which is about youth employment. Talk to me about the initiative and then what some of the goals are. Well, thank you, Patrick, for having me back and certainly for talking about this really important topic. Employment is top of mind for any family, household, employer, worker, if you're in this region or any region of the Commonwealth, which is exactly why Governor Healey and our administration are very focused on making sure we're investing in opportunities to grow jobs here and in other regions across the state. We also know there are some headwinds that we're navigating, national policy impacting local communities that we're in here in Massachusetts. But as we navigate those headwinds, we don't wanna lose sight of the opportunities to build our future workforce, which includes our young people, individuals who are in our high schools, those that may have graduated from high school in their 18 to 22, 24-year-old age bracket, trying to figure out their path beyond high school. We wanna make sure that we invest time and attention to provide that first job, second job, maybe even third job opportunity for our young people because that provides soft skill development, technical skills, on-the-job training, hands-on learning that can really help to set someone up for success, both in their first career or first job, rather, in high school, all the way through a meaningful career right here in Massachusetts. Is this being developed and being talked about because of the migration out of the state of a lot of the older working class people? Because, and I hear all over my communities, I live in Westfield, so Westfield State, you've got UMass, you've got a lot of colleges in this area. We lose those graduating college students to other parts of the country. So was this created to kind of keep that student as well as the graduating high school student here with good-paying, meaningful employment? Well, first, we appreciate our higher education institutions here in this region and across the Commonwealth. And many of our UMass graduates, whether UMass Amherst or any of the other UMass campuses, actually help to be part of our future workforce. We want to make sure that we connect with them. They gain experience as well, they're studying here. And as we see, many of those UMass graduates end up being part of our future workforce, which we very much want to continue to appreciate and we certainly value as part of our workforce. But we also know that there are individuals that are growing up right here in Massachusetts. Often that includes our UMass students, students that study here, just as well as students that study at STIC or Holyoke Community College. Individuals that go to high school right here in Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, we want to make sure that we're investing in their early experiences so that they can feel connected to the business community, the greater regional economy here and know of the types of opportunities that can be here for them, whether they're pursuing vocational or other opportunities in the high school, or looking to continue on into one of the great institutions right here or immediately into employment opportunities upon graduating. Are you working with industries, business owners to talk about the needs of their businesses and not just mayors and select board members or whomever, but the actual beat on the ground, the business owners say, this is what I need. I need the state now to help me cultivate that. Yeah, we're doing a few things to support the needs of employers and specifically thinking about pathways for young people. One, there is a standing investment in youth employment, longstanding investment called YouthWorks. It's a state line item, so we appreciate the support with the state legislature to continue to advance this line item. That supports youth jobs, whether it's in the summer or year round and really tied to the community, creating opportunities at community-based organizations. Think seasonal employment at summer camps, right? Two, I know there was a great example of a young student that I met that worked at the Holyoke Media Center down in Holyoke. Great opportunities to support the local needs here. And that line item has been so impactful and we really appreciate and support YouthWorks. This year, we're investing $14.4 million that will provide 3,800 young people for summer and year round employment, as an example. But we know there's so much more that can be done to support youth employment, so we've expanded and launched the YES Initiative, which is Youth Employment and Skills. And think about ways that we can have that front door experience so that we're connecting with employers, we're connecting young people and really lifting up the opportunities. And through this new initiative, it includes more opportunities beyond YouthWorks. So we have YouthWorks building off of the state line item. We also teamed up in the past year to support a pilot, engaging over 500 employers, including nearly 50 new employers that are saying yes to employment opportunities for young people, yes to summer jobs, yes to afterschool opportunities. And we wanna lean into that. We know across state government, it can be hard to navigate, but there's so many other programs. And under this YES umbrella, this front door for Youth Employment and Skills, we've got our youth pilot that has partnered with local mayors like Mayor Sarno, Mayor Garcia to open up this connection to new employers that are saying we need more opportunities to connect young people and we wanna team up. We've got the YouthWorks Initiative. And I was just talking with the MassLife Science Center recently, and they've got a high school program that supports internships too. And so this now all falls under our YES Initiative and helps to, I think, promote the opportunity to connect young people to jobs, but also keeps that door very much open so we're responding and being adaptive to what employers are looking for. Fantastic. We are up on our first commercial break. Stay with us because when we come back, there's another program being offered to help people find great jobs. Stay with us. We're back in a moment. This is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry. Welcome back, everyone, to this edition of In Focus. I'm your host, Patrick Berry. I'm very fortunate to have across the desk from me today the Massachusetts Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, Lauren Jones. Ms. Jones, thank you again for joining me. In the first half of this conversation, we talked about youth employment opportunities, setting the young people in our communities up for future life success. Because I think we know once, and I consider me and all my friends, we all had jobs, whether it was picking tobacco or working at a golf course, whatever, waitressing, busboying, whatever it was, they taught you responsibility, taught you money management. There were so many life skills you learn from getting a job as a teenager. So I applaud the state for recognizing that and trying to create more of that. But there are other programs out there. Maybe it's for a guy my age, where maybe all of a sudden, I want to learn to be an electrician or something in the healthcare industry. It's an apprenticeship program, which I didn't realize the state offered, for lack of a better description, help in that. Absolutely. Tell me more about the apprenticeship program. So we believe that registered apprenticeship provides this even playing field. Whether you have some experience or you're looking to start in a new career, registered apprenticeship provides that technical training with the on-the-job training, with industry-recognized credentials that help someone, whether they are going to be an electrician, pipe fitter, plumber, any of the construction trades that you probably are more familiar with as an apprenticeship journey. But we've also expanded, taking that model that we know works to then create opportunities in healthcare, life sciences, financial services, and beyond. And that could be, think lab technicians in the life sciences or medical assistants and phlebotomists in healthcare. And it's really an amazing opportunity that opens great doors for good wages, meaningful careers, and really an investment in our talent right here in our backyard that's looking for a way in. You know, it's interesting looking at that world. You think of my kids, you know, or any, if you're a parent or grandparent, responsible for younger kids, you want to steer them towards jobs that won't disappear, quite frankly, right? So when you look at, to your point, those construction, you know, I can't see a robot or AI putting a roof on my house, fixing the plumbing on my toilet. Those are just jobs that will always, I think will always be there, at least in my lifetime. And even if there is innovation, there's gotta be people powering that and- And I think healthcare, certainly you see robotic surgeries, right? We actually just stood up earlier this year, our first registered apprenticeship program in healthcare tied to an AI-related skill. And it's in partnership with Northeastern University and Beth Israel, but it demonstrates, here's a healthcare leader that already does innovation and was thinking, how can we build on our innovation hub and the work that we do? And so basically it was like a business analyst, IT business analyst-type role that now is embedding AI-related skills to continue to adapt for the needs at Beth Israel. And I met the first apprentice in this experience, and he's going to also gain a bachelor's degree from Northeastern in this path, and also a great opportunity where a hospital is investing in their workforce, just like you would think about tuition reimbursement, right? And so huge way of thinking differently, but also with what employers are looking for today. It's interesting, I've become friends through this program with a couple of gentlemen who are, one of them owns a precision manufacturing, the other one manages a facility, and I threw out to them the fear of artificial intelligence taking those jobs. And each one of them, unprompted, had said to me, it's a benefit, it's actually creating jobs for us, which I, again, I found odd, but to your point, a human still needs to do things, but the precision manufacturing, the healthcare, whatever it might be, the pipe fitting still needs, you still need a human to complete the process. Yeah, I mean, I'm sure along the Pioneer Valley, there's many manufacturers that have certainly adapted over the years. I'm adding some automation, and whenever I visit those manufacturing plants, there's someone behind what now is this new dashboard helping to deploy whatever needs to be done, but there's still a worker, and there's someone that also programs that too. And so as we think about registered apprenticeship, we know that it is a model that works to provide skill building, and whether we're thinking about the skills needed today or five years from now, it's a blueprint for adapting to what employers are looking for and making sure that as someone's going through an apprenticeship, they're gaining the industry-recognized skills, and those skills can change, but we ought to make sure that the curriculum then reflects what's being done, and we provide that adaptive training in partnership with academic institutions, nonprofits in this region and across the state to really scale up registered apprenticeship. Throughout your travels across the Commonwealth, is apprenticeship a big demand among employers that they want to bring in people to learn the skill? Because you look at older people in those positions, men and women, are going to begin to retire. They need that new workforce to maintain the business, correct? Yeah, I think what's definitely common across all regions of the state is that employers know they have to think differently as they look to build their workforce and expand the pie, whatever may have been their method for attracting and retaining talent five, 10 years ago is not necessarily the same method for doing so today, and making sure they can be nimble and flexible, and in turn, making sure that we in the state can be as well. And I think the registered apprenticeship model allows for that flexibility over the years, but there's also a standard. We know that regardless of what occupation, there's going to be a set of curricula that's going to be replicable for those occupations. There's going to be scheduled in the classroom time at minimum 150 hours, along with 2000 hours of on-the-job training, regardless of what occupation or industry you look for, but providing that special sauce that we know is applicable, whether you're in manufacturing, healthcare, or life sciences. And when I look at both programs, we've talked about the youth employment and the apprenticeship programs. Granted, we want those people to stay here, but if life changes and they need to move somewhere else, those are transferable skills to go anywhere. They're transferable skills to go anywhere, but we're going to keep that talent here in Massachusetts. Absolutely. We are up on our second break, so stay with us. We've got plenty more to talk about with Secretary Jones. This is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry. Hello everyone, and welcome back to this edition of In Focus. I'm your host, Patrick Berry. I am so very fortunate today to be joined across the desk by our Massachusetts Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, Lauren Jones. Thank you so very much for joining me. We've covered a few different programs that the state is offering, no matter your age, the youth or adult or whatever, through the Apprentice Program. In your travels, have you heard any success stories from either of the programs that maybe some of our viewers are just a little skeptical, but success stories to me are so valuable because people might poo-poo a program until you hear it come out of somebody's mouth of this saved my family or saved, I was aimless, but this program helped me. Yeah, I mean, that's one of the things that helps to fill my cup whenever I travel the state, hearing directly from people that are currently in training programs, where they look back on the time that they were in a training program or any of the programs that we invest in here in this region. I think back to sometime in the past year, I had the chance to visit the Holyoke Media Center and there was young people that were participating through the YouthWorks program. And then they came back and they were serving as mentors and supervisors for the next wave of young people. We actually had one of the prior workers join us for our Mass Hire annual awards in November of last year. So it is a great opportunity to think about the impact. When I think about registered apprenticeship, I know there's been many individuals that have graduated as apprentices through programs like at Bay State Healthcare and providing opportunities that, but for that apprenticeship, they wouldn't have been able to enter into a healthcare track. I think what's great is some opportunities are that first entryway into an industry and then there's ladders for further advancement. And I think registered apprenticeship offers that kind of experience. And it's really helping to invest in our current talent and then also really providing pathways for people to have economic mobility and further advancement. Are there any industries that you've seen that are in desperate need that really, healthcare, I hear it all the time, that's what triggered this question, but I might be missing an industry. I mean, the fishing industry at the Eastern end of the state, are there industries that you hear repeatedly that need the most help? I think healthcare for sure, because when you look at a model that can be applied in the same way for many different employers, healthcare providers across the state, we know that healthcare is a need in every single region of the state and there's untapped talent that could be prime for going into an apprenticeship program supported in any one of our regions. I know that's a great opportunity, especially as healthcare is looking for more direct care workers and some of those entry level roles that are going to provide greater paths for individuals, but also employers in healthcare. Construction is also an opportunity as we hope to have more opportunities for infrastructure, the governor's really continue to advance with the hopefully the support of the legislature as it continues to move forward. Investments like the BRIGHT Act, the DRIVE Act, these are investments that will help support the growth of our Commonwealth. The BRIGHT Act, for example, will create jobs in construction for more infrastructure across the 29 different state universities and community colleges across state in need for advancing the spaces that will prepare our future workforce, but it's also gonna first create the jobs to build those new spaces. And by doing so, that will create more opportunities for needs we have within construction. And that's gonna be in every region of the state as you think about all of our academic institutions. For both of the programs we had a chance to talk about today, the Youth Employment Development and the Apprenticeship Program. If any of our viewers want to learn more, do they go to the mass.gov website? What are the resources that people can go to to get more information? Well, you can certainly search on mass.gov, but to easily find things, to learn more about our YES Initiative, which is Youth Employment and Skills, including our YouthWorks Program, including our new pilot, visit mass.gov forward slash yes. And to learn about- Yeah, we make it easy to navigate and to learn more about apprenticeship, you can go to mass.gov forward slash apprenticeship and you can see a menu of programs that have apprenticeship programs. You can explore and you can connect also with apprentice liaisons that can be a guide, whether you're an employer or a job seeker looking to jump in. Very good. So I would be remiss if I didn't bring up my own ignorance when it comes to April 13th. So April 13th has come and gone. And if you think about the date, it's 4-1-3. Yes, it is. I live in the 4-1-3. And apparently, according to Kara Walsh, our news director here, she pointed it out to me back on April 13th that it's 4-1-3 day where we all celebrate the 4-1-3. I had no idea that 4-1-3 day even existed and I live here. How does the 6-1-7 recognize the 4-1-3? Well, the 4-1-3 is very much part of Massachusetts. And whether you are from another part of the state or you live in the 4-1-3, it's an opportunity to celebrate all that's great here in the region and to be able to promote more opportunities to invest in this region. And I know on 4-1-3 day, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll was zigzagging from the Berkshires to Franklin to Hampshire and Hamden County, reaching all four counties. Myself, I was along the Pioneer Valley doing the same. And you didn't grow up far from here either. I just grew up south. I was in Connecticut, but I did appreciate the 4-1-3 from growing up for sure. And so it's just, it's one day, but it also is a good reminder that every day is 4-1-3 day. But if you look at the calendar, it's April 13th. Now, you traversed, you and your counterparts traversed the four Western Mass Counties that encompass the 4-1-3 area code. Is it sort of like a, you know, a glad handing tour or do you really listen to the concerns of your mayors, your select boards, your town managers, your business owners, your superintendent of school, whoever it might be to really have that workforce development conversation or is it just out here for the photo ops? I mean, it's really listening and moving things into action. I know for me personally, during the 4-1-3, we convened a youth employment round table with local mayors who have been rolling up their sleeves with us to provide more opportunities for young people. I also had the chance to visit the veterans home in construction and seeing some of the apprentices on site and hearing directly, there's 250 jobs being generated in construction every single day and building that amazing facility. And it's also helping to care for our veterans and seeing that in action is really, really helpful so that we can continue to do our job even better. Sidetracking slightly, we only have about a minute left. My dad, before he passed, was at the soldier film and the old soldier film, obviously. And the one thing we had recognized when we were there was that it was an old building, let's face it. It really was, but the care was top-notch. So the people who worked there were above and beyond any medical care we could have gotten anywhere else. My apologies to any other medical facility, but this new facility really gives those veterans a place of pride. They really, I get a little misty thinking about what my dad would have been able to experience. You said, you mentioned earlier when you were visiting it, the view they will have of the Pioneer Valley. That's a great thing to see for our veterans. Yeah, no, and certainly with dignity and pride, as you said, and there are healthcare workers that are also veterans themselves, and it is really amazing. And to your point of doing all these visits, at the end of the day, hearing directly from our workforce, the people that help support our workforce, it really helps me do my job better. And I really appreciate any time I can get out to the 413. Well, you are always welcome here, Secretary. Our time is up, but thank you so very much for giving me a half hour of your day. Absolutely, thanks for having me. This is 22 News In Focus with Patrick Berry.