You had me at SOC Code!

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Powerminds has partnered with the California Community Colleges central region to launch an innovative pilot project focused on bridging the gap between education and workforce needs in the Central Valley. Utilizing advanced data analytics, Powerminds has identified all credentials associated with over 400 occupations in the region to provide better alignment with high demand jobs.

The new Platform as a Service (PAAS), Credential Wallet ™ is designed to inform educators, students and employers which credentials are offered and aligned in education programs pathwayed to jobs.  Credential Wallet ™ delivers the first ever variable-rich environment including real-time salaries by geographic location, and all related quality measures in the world of credentials.

The Credential Wallet ™ features a live map of credential training and testing locations developed for college administrators and faculty to align teaching with industry needs. In addition, Powerminds will hold a regional workshop event on research findings, as well as a summit with all credential participants to further define solution-oriented applications to address worker shortages by industry sector within the region.

Powerminds is an official partner of Credential Engine, a non-profit that created the Credential Registry, a centralized cloud-based library that houses up-to-date information about all credentials, a common description language to enable credential comparability, and a platform to support customized applications to search and retrieve information about credentials.  Working closely with the 15 community colleges and industry partners throughout the Central Valley, Powerminds will publish academic programs and their credentials, as well as industry aligned certifications and their quality measures to the Credential Registry.

Ultimately, by increasing transparency and access to credential information, students and their families easily make more informed decisions about what credentials have demand in the workforce, service members find out what programs fit with their military training, and businesses gain a better understanding of what credentials address the competencies they need their workers to have and where they can acquire them.

Powerminds looks forward to expanding these partnerships in the future to further reveal the credential marketplace, dismantle data silos, and empower everyone with the credential data they need to succeed. To learn more visit  https://power-minds.com/.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Credential Engine Partners with BrightHive Inc., Ellucian, Credly, DXtera, Powerminds, Inc., and Credential Commons to Advance Credential Transparency

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For Immediate Release

March 27, 2019 (Washington, D.C.)—Credential Engine today announced the launch of its Credential Transparency Partner Program, including leading education data organizations BrightHive Inc., Ellucian, Credly, DXtera Institute, Powerminds, Inc., and Credential Commons which will focus on publishing credential data and improving communication across data systems to empower learners, workers, employers, educators, and others with the data they need to make informed decisions about credentials.

Many credential providers, including higher education institutions, have long since faced the challenge of organizing and cataloging data about their programs to meet various reporting requirements, as well as providing sufficient details to current and prospective students looking to pursue credential pathways. Credential Engine is dedicated to ensuring that all relevant data about credentials—their content, competencies, quality indicators, connections, pathways, and outcomes—are made openly available to the public.

This initial group of partners will work with Credential Engine to support individual credential providers, higher education systems, states, and others looking to publish their credentials to the Credential Registry, a cloud-based library that collects, maintains, and connects information on all types of credentials, from diplomas to apprenticeships and from licenses to PhDs. Partners will help these providers by translating the information using the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL)—the first and only common language that describes credential data. This groundbreaking work will empower credential providers with the ability to provide more comprehensive data on their program offerings in formats that will allow, for the first time, the ability to search, discover, and compare all credentials regardless of the type (e.g., diploma, badge, certificate, license, certification, degree), or provider (e.g., school district, boot camp, apprenticeship, licensing body, industry or professional association, college or university).

All of the partner organizations see unique benefits of this new program.

“Through this partnership, Credential Engine looks forward to making it easier for more organizations to make public essential information about the credentials they offer, and to unlock key data that may be challenging to access,” said Scott Cheney, Executive Director of Credential Engine. “By making data searchable and comparable through a common language, we will bring data transparency not only to credential providers, but also to the students, counselors, employers, and other users who need clear data to make critical education and career decisions.”

“Credly’s commitment to the creation and adoption of open standards has been central to our work since our founding. As more learning providers, associations, and employers have embraced the movement to recognize indemand skills and certifications in a portable and digital manner, the appreciation for the value of credential transparency in the labor market has grown,” said Jonathan Finkelstein, CEO of Credly. “Our partnership with Credential Engine will help increase the connection between digital credentials and the professional pathways and opportunities they unlock.”

“DXtera Institute was founded on the ideal that we can advance student success and career success through collaborative partnerships focused on better access to data and information,” said Dale Allen, Ph.D., President and Co-Founder of DXtera Institute. “We’re humbled and excited to bring the full support of our consortium to this project and to partner with many more like-minded innovators, like Credential Engine, who are advancing important data issues in the education space.”

“At BrightHive, we believe that when organizations securely and ethically link their data with each other to achieve collective goals, everyone in their network benefits. We’re excited to partner with Credential Engine in the development of the Credential Transparency Partner Program, which we believe will empower educators, students, employers and workers to make better decisions by having greater access to the credentials provided by higher education institutions,” said Matthew Gee, BrightHive CEO.

“Powerminds believes that through transparent credential data, specifically data around competencies, we can help open up a world of applications that uses competency mapping to connect potential employees and industry,” said Renah Wolzinger, Chief Technology Officer for Powerminds, Inc.

“At Credential Commons, we enthusiastically support the Credential Engine mission and ecosystem as a nonprofit community. We work with educators and employers to publish with the Credential Registry, provide open-source Credential Engine professional development, and to promote the credentialing movement,” said Kelly Cooper, Credential Commons, 501(c)(3) CEO.

This year, these initial partners will work together to update their products and services so that their customers can easily publish credential data to Credential Engine’s Registry. Credential Engine looks forward to expanding these partnerships and adding new partners to the program in the future to further reveal the credential marketplace, dismantle data silos, and empower everyone with the credential data they need to succeed.

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Bridging the Gap

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Credential Engine Coming To L.A.

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On March 22, 2019 the Credential Engine team will be launching a new initiative funded by the ECMC Foundation.  The team will work with the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and partners in industry, education and credential providers to bring credential transparency to the region.

This is an extremely exciting project that we are excited to be an important part of.  As Los Angeles rolls out transparencies in key sectors, we hope to help scale that effort and increase the value of credentials in the marketplace.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

There’s not a nursing crisis: There’s a nursing faculty crisis

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The nursing crisis has been part of the healthcare employment environment for decades and, if recent statistics are any indication, it is getting worse. As we age, the need for nurses at all levels – LVNs, RNs, ADNs, BSN’s and specialty nurses – will continue to grow and the crisis will worsen. The challenges are clear; what is less clear are the solutions.

And one reason for this is; assuming there is a nursing crisis when, in fact, it is a nursing faculty crisis at the root of this critical dilema.

The demand for nurses has increased yet the supply of nurses has remained stagnant or even declined. There are many reasons for this: nursing programs at colleges and universities are impacted, often with long waiting lists; the number of units (and time) needed to complete degrees have increased; colleges and universities are reluctant to invest in nursing programs which are high cost; clinical placements are harder and harder to secure.

Yet, beneath these is one wicked challenge: how to recruit and prepare experienced nurses to become faculty. The clearest available stats support this:

  • According to AACN’s report on 2016-2017 Enrollment U.S. nursing schools turned away 64,067 qualified applicants from nursing programs in 2016 because of an insufficient number of faculty. Most nursing schools responding to the survey pointed to faculty shortages as a reason for not accepting all qualified applicants.
  • 1,567 faculty vacancies were identified in a survey of 821 nursing schools with baccalaureate and/or graduate programs across the country.
  • Efforts to expand the nurse educator population are frustrated by the fact that thousands of qualified applicants to graduate nursing programs are turned away each year. In 2016, AACN found that 11,859 qualified applicants were turned away [from various programs]. The primary reasons for not accepting all qualified students were a shortage of faculty and clinical education sites.

Why is it so difficult to solve the nursing faculty shortage? The salary of an active nurse exceeds that of a typical faculty member. There are no clear entry points for a nurse to become faculty, or processes for onboarding them if they decide to make the switch. There needs to be additional data and information to help both individuals and organizations – such as healthcare partners – deciding that the transfer from care provider to teacher is both possible and positive.

Powerminds Inc. is working to bridge educators to employers to fill the Capacity Gap behind the Nursing Faculty Crisis.

By building intentional coalitions and collaboratives for innovative programs across multiple higher education agencies and multiple healthcare organizations, we are part of the solution to the nursing faculty shortage. Our proprietary ProSearch (™) predictive research modeling uses untapped data to inform future decisions implementable today.

The Powerminds equation — Convening + Predicting = Solving Wicked Challenges — is now addressing the Nursing Faculty Crisis headon.

1. www.aacnnursing.org/news-information/research-data ; Special Survey on Vacant Faculty Positions released by AACN in October 2016 2. 2016-17 BRN Annual School Report[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Margo Turner named to National Small Business Assn. Leadership Council

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Margo Turner, president and CEO of Powerminds Inc., has been named to the National Small Business Association (NSBA) Leadership Council. NSBA is the nation’s oldest small-business advocacy organization, and operates on a nonpartisan basis.

Turner, a recognized leader in the small-business community, joins the NSBA Leadership Council alongside other small-business advocates from across the country as they work to promote the interests of small business to policymakers in Washington, D.C.

Turner is a serial entrepreneur, having launched and sold multiple successful enterprises, the largest employing 450 people in Southern California. She is a passionate advocate for positive change by creating solution environments. She credits her numerous teams for delivering on customer promises and raising their collective to shared success.

Turner joined the NSBA Leadership Council as part of his efforts to tackle the many critical issues facing small business, including tax reform, regulatory restraint, health care costs and how the Affordable Care Act will impact small business. The NSBA Leadership Council is focused on providing valuable networking between small-business advocates from across the country while ensuring small business a seat at the table as Congress and regulators take up key small-business proposals.

http://www.sandiegometro.com/2018/08/daily-business-report-aug-30-2018/[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Workforce Development: More Then Teaching People to Fish

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WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: MORE THAN TEACHING PEOPLE TO FISH

The point is not to just to teach a person to fish, but also to teach him or her as many ways as possible to get food to survive. The same is true with developing today’s workforce. The goal for agencies, industries, and educators must center on teaching students as many ways as possible to get a good job and stay in it.

Walter Dario Di Mantova, Vice President and Partner, Powerminds

We’ve all heard it dozens of times, on office wall after office wall and as part of untold numbers of PowerPoint presentations. It’s been attributed to a Chinese sage, Maimonides, Lao-Tzu, Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie, an Italian poet, a Native American, Mao Zedong, and even The Bible.

Give a man a fish, feed for a day.

Teach him how to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

Right?

Wrong. Teaching a man to fish is just a more efficient way of starving.

The fact is knowing a particular skill, while important, will only get someone a job today. To ensure a lifelong ability to work, the person must understand how to adapt to the ever-changing employment landscape.

Take the fisherman example. If that person is only trained to catch bounty in one particular lake or creek bed, what happens if the population dwindles? What’s more, how does the fisherman recover from a line or rod breaking? What if the fish are bony and inedible?

The point is not to just to teach a person to fish, but also to teach him or her as many ways as possible to get food to survive. The same is true with developing today’s workforce. The goal for agencies, industries, and educators must center on teaching students as many ways as possible to get a good job and stay in it.

A Case in Point

Here’s a good illustration. Many believe manufacturing in the U.S. is hampered by cheaper labor overseas or that jobs have taken away by automation. The reality is quite different. In fact, there has never been a time when America has produced more goods, to the point that several hundred thousand manufacturing job opportunities are going unfulfilled. Growing our manufacturing base here at home is limited more by the lack of qualified talent than anything else.

For sure, some folks who spent a lifetime in the industry are no longer employable, but that has more to do with the fact that required skills sets have evolved. Yesterday’s jobs are no more. In their place stand advanced manufacturing employment opportunities that might look nothing like those opportunities 10 years ago.

The average manufacturing worker might have to know how to use computers to design and program complex Computer Numeric Control machinery, operate lasers, manage quality control, weld at an advanced level, and work in high-performance teams to solve complicated problems. These positions require sought-after skills from a wide range of providers of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and, more and more, third-party, nationally recognized credentials. For someone to continue a well-paying career in manufacturing, he or she will need to truly stay a lifelong learner.

Needing new skills to capture job opportunities isn’t limited to positions in construction and manufacturing. The same is the case in nearly every other industry. High demand exists in practically all sectors, including finance, hospitality, logistics, and health.

Maintaining a competitive workforce requires the right balance of training for jobs today, plus giving employees the tools they need to critically think about how to leverage them—as well as build upon them—to remain employable. The future is all about flexibility and continued learning.

The problem is complex but solvable. Any significant change will require strong commitment from all stakeholders—government, education, and businesses—who collaborate and recognize that it’s all about creating a shared future. And, of course, a building a workforce with the skills to adapt to succeed.

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Easy Button for Guided Pathway Deadline

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THE NOVEMBER DEADLINE IS APPROACHING
Let Powerminds take the burden off your plate and let us help you with this project.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_separator type=”normal” color=”#e8e8e8″ thickness=”1px” up=”10px”][countdown year=”2017″ month=”11″ day=”1″ hour=”0″ minute=”0″ show_separator=”hide_separator” color=”#a0a0a0″][vc_separator type=”normal” color=”#e8e8e8″ thickness=”1px” up=”10px”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern” css=”.vc_custom_1505259228773{margin-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]A Solution and The Partner to Get You There
Powerminds is outsourced-capacity to deliver:

  • An accurate self-assessment by fall of 2017
  • An effective multi-year work plan by spring of 2018
  • Building the plan and implement the plan

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Powerminds has unique expertise in:

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column][vc_empty_space][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1793″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=””][vc_column_text]Assessing educational institutions and organizations of all kinds[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1792″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=””][vc_column_text]Facilitating the cross-functional teams[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1790″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=””][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1505259035926{padding-top: 20px !important;}”]

Building work plans that work

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”1793″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” qode_css_animation=””][vc_column_text]Creating career pathways and all that means to community colleges and our students[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Introducing ProSearch™

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Introducing: ProSearch™

We all face a common Wicked Challenge: how do we prepare for — and shape– the future without relying on yesterday’s information alone?

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RESEARCH IS NOT ENOUGH

Research is retrospective and focused on what has already happened.
ProSearch™ looks ahead: it projects and it produces plans for action through a progressive process.

ProSearch tracks and shares critical trends for the next three and five years and even ten years.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1697″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” qode_css_animation=””][/vc_column][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”40px”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1729″ img_size=”full” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” qode_css_animation=””][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]These use the most accurate sources and widest range of future-focused quantitative and qualitative sources.

The ProSearch™ Process is highly interactive using a series of provocative and even visionary presentations and thought exercises to trace the trajectory of these trends. The impacts and insights are immediately applicable and customized to sectors, occupational clusters, programs, colleges and Districts.

ProSearch™ builds a visual eco-system connecting these trends and what they mean to educators, stakeholders and students.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The Three Most Important Things Companies Want From Workforce Development Agencies

The Three Most Important Things Companies Want From Workforce Development Agencies
By Margo Turner

Government workforce development agencies find themselves with greater opportunities to positively impact an area’s economy than ever before.

While that may appear counter intuitive when we see unemployment rates at record lows, these types of environments beg for initiatives that can deliver a qualified labor pool that companies need now and tomorrow.

When the job market is tight, companies become constrained in finding enough experienced talent to grow. Moreover, today’s global market makes it difficult for businesses to fund workforce development on its own adequately.

This means government-sponsored initiatives must play an even bigger role.

More specifically, we see increased demand by businesses for apprenticeship-style and on the job training programs that provide individuals with the skills they will need for a wide array of occupations.

Advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity and biotechnology come immediately to mind, but the examples are seemingly endless.

Workforce development agencies can make the difference in fostering economic growth by focusing on the these three most important things companies want.

Move At The Speed Of Business

Government programs, such as ones that come under the purview of community colleges, can get hampered by internal bureaucracy. The global economy moves at an ever more rapid pace. Streamlining the creation and implementation of apprenticeship and other workforce development programs will ensure companies can keep up with their rivals around the world.

As important, it will be a boost for agency heads who must report measurable outcomes to justify the use of their funds..

Partner With Employers

Companies will gladly assist creating workforce development initiatives that will bring in qualified candidates.

Their inability to do so on their own stems not from a lack of desire, but instead an inability to fund on their own the costs of staying competitive. Offering businesses a way to increase their prospective labor pool without exponentially increasing costs will get them involved in many ways, including actively volunteering to develop the curriculum and vetting candidates.

Getting input from companies early and make them part of the team that develops the solutions.

Focus On More Than The Classroom

By focusing on developing one working apprentice for every four college students, agencies would add equal five million new trades people to the workforce, a tenfold increase from today’s number and a solid improvement to working towards filling the vast number of vacancies in the current job market.

While I don’t dispute the value of a four-year degree, many industries need many more trades people with advanced, state-of-the-art certifications and associates degree in career technical fields.

California, like the rest of the country, lacks enough qualified candidates to fill these roles. Workforce development programs help meet this need will be incredibly valuable to growing economies.

These government-sponsored initiatives work best when they become tribal. By that, I mean involving a broad range of education, government and business stakeholders coming together to assess the challenge, deploy agile teams and co-create solutions. When developed and implemented in a collaborative atmosphere, these programs will thrive from coming together to measured success.

The point: act fast, partner first, and think outside the classroom box.

About the Author: Margo Turner is the Founder and CEO of Powerminds, a tribe of strategic and creative minds invested in transforming education, workforce and economic development that spans every discipline and every kind of partner. She can be reached at margo@power-minds.com.