Scott Jakovich

NNTW Fall 2020 Webinar Series: Empowering the New Mobility Workforce

Join the NNTW Regional Transportation Workforce Centers on this 4-part webinar journey that explores how to achieve effective student career engagement and priority workforce development during the pandemic and the long road to recovery ahead.

Download a flyer of the complete series here.

October 7th, 2020: 11am – 12pm Mountain

Engaging Multidisciplinary Student Talent to Meet Agency Needs

With a shrinking tax base, fewer resources, and the urgency of meeting public needs during the COVID crisis, many local agencies are overwhelmed. And while efforts to attract and develop the future workforce may be set aside for now, they don’t have to be. This webinar showcases a model for university/public agency partnerships that can both augment agency capacity and provide opportunities for student professional development and career exposure.

Event Host: The West Region Transportation Workforce Center, Montana State University

Featured Speakers:

Susan Gallagher, Director, West Region Transportation Workforce Center
Susanne Cowan, Professor, Montana State University School of Architecture
Larissa Morales, Grad Student, Montana State University School of Architecture
Danielle Hess, City of Bozeman Neighborhoods Coordinator

Recorded web session: WRTWC Oct 7th Webinar

October 27th, 2020: 10am – 11am Pacific

State of the Transportation and Mobility Workforce: Highlights from the 2020 Report

Supplementing traditional labor market data with strategic workforce research and action planning, the 2020 State of the Transportation and Mobility Workforce report outlines a series of practical initiatives designed to address the transportation workforce needs of the southwest region. This webinar highlights these initiatives and offers guidance on how to move the transportation industry into the future—particularly during the long road to recovery ahead.

Event Host: The Southwest Transportation Workforce Center, Cal State University Long Beach

Featured Speakers:

Tom O’Brien, Director, Southwest Transportation Workforce Center
Tyler Reeb, Associate Director, Southwest Transportation Workforce Center
Special guest presenters from Pima Community College, AZ

Recorded web session: SWTWC Oct 27th Webinar

November 18th, 2020: 3pm – 4pm Central

The Role of Industry-Academia Partnerships in Preparing K-12 Students for Transportation Careers

Building engagement and creating positive impact on a future workforce requires strategic, collaborative efforts between K-12, higher education, and industry. This webinar features the T-STEM Academy at East High School in Memphis, TN. Now in its 4th year, this program demonstrates how a successful model of transformative partnerships can lead to a unique, industry-engaged, STEM-for-all student experience. Join us as we explore this innovative model, driving factors behind the program’s success, and lessons learned along the way.

Event Host: The Southeast Transportation Workforce Center, University of Memphis

Featured Speakers:

Stephanie Ivey, Director, Southeast Transportation Workforce Center
Lischa Brooks, Executive Principal, T-STEM Academy at East High School
Keith Booker, CCTE/STEM Lead, T-STEM Academy at East High School
Special guest student presenter from the T-STEM Academy at East High School
Special guest industry speaker

Recorded web session: SETWC Nov 18th Webinar

December 3rd, 2020: 1pm – 2pm Eastern

Providing Training and Education During the Pandemic: Challenges and Solutions at State DOTs

This webinar shares the experiences and problem-solving approaches to maintaining effective training programs that meet the needs of employees and their agencies, with a look at:

- How TDOT is adapting class activities to a virtual environment and deciding which programs to move forward, all while dealing with technical issues and pandemic restrictions.
- How Vermont’s Strategic Workforce Committees are connecting with employees across the state regarding Learning & Development, Manager & Supervisor Resources, Employee Retention & Recognition, and Talent Acquisition.
- CDOT’s process of problem ID and solution, course/program prioritization, program reinvention and rollout as a response to COVID restrictions, and highlighting some of the tools used to register, track, and report on training completions.

Event Host: The Northeast Transportation Workforce Center, University of Vermont Transportation Research Center & Rutgers University Center for Advanced Infrastructure and Transportation

Featured Speakers:

Glenn McRae, Director, Northeast Transportation Workforce Center
Elena L. Knaffl, Training Specialist, Tennessee Department of Transportation
Colleen Montague, Learning Development & Support Manager, VT AOT
Kevin MacVittie, Maintenance & Operations Training Manager, CDOT

Recorded web session: NETWC Dec 3rd Webinar

Creative Leadership: Building a Culture of Innovation

Join the NNTW, NTTD, and NLTAPA in welcoming back V2Y Conference plenary speaker Jonathan Fanning for a 90-minute session on how creative leadership can help build a culture of innovation. This September 30th webinar (11:00am ET) has only 500 slots available, so early registration is recommended.

More detail on the event, the speaker, and how to register below:

Description
Innovation and creativity are absolutely necessary to thrive in business, hiring, motivating, marketing, parenting, educating, coaching… Are you and your organization becoming more – or less – creative? Jonathan’s TED Talk on this topic won the best speaker of the conference. Participants will learn 5 core strategies to build a culture of creativity. Lessons and memorable anecdotes come from some of the most creative people and organizations in history, as well as Jonathan’s personal experience implementing these lessons as an entrepreneur, parent, educator, and with clients large and small. What Jonathan calls the “innovator’s equation” has been a game-changer for leaders across the country. This was a favorite for a global entrepreneurship summit in Sydney, Australia.

“Jonathan described the ‘Innovator’s Equation’…
that concept will disrupt the way we run our businesses!”
(Jeff Hyatt, CEO Hyatt Family Facilities)

Learning Objectives:
1. How can you intentionally foster the traits of the world’s most creative people?
2. What questions, stories, and models will get you and your team “unstuck”?
3. What is the “Innovator’s Equation”? – Jeff Hyatt called this the greatest leadership lesson of the decade.

Speaker Bio:
Jonathan Fanning is the author of several books, including Who are you BECOMING? and has been coaching leaders – from Fortune 500 executives to sole proprietors – for over 15 years. If you are familiar with TED talks, Jonathan was voted the best speaker at a recent TED conference. A traumatic car accident and several other “Frying Pan” moments in the middle of Fanning’s career as a management consultant to Fortune 500 companies triggered a quest for a deeper sense of purpose, meaning, and significance. “Who are you BECOMING?” and “Who are you helping others to BECOME?” became central to Jonathan’s life, businesses, and speaking.

Webinar Date/Time: Sep 30, 2020 11am to 4pm EDT (US and Canada)

Registration Link: https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7QwmmVUiTSGigKY6XFyRYA

CITT Develops Strategies for Future of Highway Construction Workforce

Apprenticeship Program Best Practices Guide

In February 2020, the Center for International Trade and Transportation (CITT) developed the Highway Construction Apprenticeship Development Guide: Highway Construction Workforce Best Practices, a guide developed as a practical addendum to the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Roads to Your Future Playbook. This “Playbook” serves as a practical guide for employers on attracting, training, and retaining a skilled workforce in highway construction. It describes a series of recommended “plays” for employers to develop more resilient workforces that are based on findings from FHWA’s Highway Construction Workforce Partnership (HCWP) pilot programs. These pilots were created to help trained workers find jobs  or obtain promotion qualifications, build a  resilient  workforce, and develop  a new model for identifying, training, and placing individuals  on  the career path of a  highway construction  professional.

The Highway Construction Apprenticeship Development Guide—a companion piece to the Playbook—was developed by CITT’s Education and Workforce Development Analyst Deanna Matsumoto and Research Assistant Caitlin Mace, as part of a Southwest Transportation Workforce Center grant awarded to CITT by FHWA. As part of her work, Matsumoto and a team of research assistants conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with the Working Groups/Task Forces for ten out of the twelve HCWP pilot locations in order to gain insight on each Working Group’s best practices. The Guide matches pilot program recommendations with plays from the Playbook. A future update of the FHWA Playbook will incorporate CITT’s work to produce a final, comprehensive document.

There is a rising demand for highway workers, yet there is a deficit in the highway construction workforce. Industry surveys show that many highway contractors have trouble finding, training, and retaining qualified workers. CITT’s Matsumoto explains “The Associated General Contractors of America has stated that  60% of construction jobs go unfilled. To address this workforce gap, we identified several proven and innovative best practices that can be implemented with highway construction workforce development teams throughout the nation.”  Some of the recommendations in the Guide included establishing shared and standardized technology platforms, issuing certifications relevant to the field, educating career mentors on the benefits of highway construction jobs, and partnering with community and adult education organizations.

The Guide also develops additional recommendations for future career development programs, building upon those addressed in the Playbook. It recommends implementing many progressive strategies for outreach such as using social media to recruit workers, creating a “no wrong door” policy that seeks to fit potential workers into positions that best suit their skills, and targeting areas where mobility infrastructure development was a high need, thereby facilitating economic development for communities through mobility in addition to job creation. Other innovative recommendations included facilitating childcare services for employees, addressing transportation obstacles through ride-sharing and similar programs, and case management services to assist with external factors that play into career success such as housing, food insecurity, substance abuse, and financial literacy education. These recommendations were all pulled from best practices identified through the interviews with the FHWA Pilot Program managers.

The objective of this comprehensive Guide is to begin resolving the highway construction worker shortage crisis and building a resilient, sustainable, and technically savvy highway construction workforce. The recommendations laid out in the Guide help both employee and employer, support overall industry growth, and serve as an initial step in allowing the industry to address the growing demand for highway construction labor. The findings are also of value to a broader set of industry sectors, including those in transportation where apprenticeship programs are not well established but where workforce challenges demand a bigger toolkit.

Building a Business Case for Knowledge Management

AASHTO Committee on Knowledge Management Webinar: August 12, 2020, 2:00 to 3:30pm (ET)

A crisis is building within the nation’s departments of transportation; the importance of collaboration and sharing of knowledge grows each day as the nature of work changes. Given the current circumstances regarding remote work, churning workforce, outdated government systems – knowledge – is in danger of being left to chance. Many DOTs face a challenge in aligning organizational knowledge, data, applications, technology, and staff with organizational goals and objectives necessary to drive and improve organizational agility. A more intentional and coordinated approach to data, content, and information management would improve efficiency, resulting in improved information at a lower total cost and better support a digital workforce.

Effective knowledge management (KM) is integral to a DOT’s sustainability and readiness for whatever opportunities or challenges come its way. When DOTs intentionally plan their knowledge management efforts in conjunction with their business and human capital strategies, they place the organization in the best position for ongoing success. When KM is left to chance, agencies suffer from institutional knowledge loss, ineffective business processes and an excess of duplicative, unnecessary work. Building a business case for a KM strategy can help articulate the risks to the agency and the return on investment for implementing a KM system.

During this webinar, CKM members from Washington and Utah DOTs will share their experiences building a business case for KM within their agencies. They will also provide how-to information and tools to help you build your case for KM.

Presenters:

Leni Oman, Knowledge Strategist, Washington DOT
Lorri Economy, Chief Learning Officer, Utah DOT
Alana Spendlove, Process Improvement Manager, Utah DOT Sandy Cook, MBA student, Utah Valley University

Registration Required: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8813890124455231758

Download Flyer Here!

ITS PCB Community College Virtual Workshop Series

The ITS JPO invites you to join our 2020 Community College Virtual Workshop Series. The Workshop will be a multi-week collaborative event where educators and practitioners will define current and emerging entry-level ITS technician needs, discuss the relevant technical skills taught at community college programs, and evaluate the potential for bridging the current skills gap through community college partnerships. The workshop will feature presentations, panel sessions, and discussion with educators, professional associations, federal employees, and practitioners from state DOTs, MPOs, and private consultancies.

Please register on Eventbrite. We will email a webinar link in advance of each session to registered participants.

Workshop Schedule:

The dates of the following sessions are confirmed:

Session 1: Series Introduction and Transportation Agency Needs: Tuesday, June 30, 1:00-3:00pm EDT

Includes series intro from USDOT, overview of USDOT efforts in this area and how this workshop will be used to round out this effort (EPAWs), and discussion of existing and emerging needs from DOTs and transportation agencies.

Session 2: Community College Programs: Thursday, July 2, 1:00-2:30 pm EDT

Session 2 begins with a recap and summary of Session 1, followed by a panel session highlighting Community College educational programs that may align with the needs described in Session 1. An open discussion will follow, noting any additional learning objectives (and related teaching resources) that may be required to enhance a program such that graduates can immediately (and productively) join the ITS workforce. During open discussion, other CCs are encouraged to discuss other programs that align with transportation needs.

The dates of the following sessions are tentative:

Session 3: Community College and Transportation Collaborations: Wednesday, July 8, 1:00-2:30pm EDT

Some Transportation Agencies and Community Colleges have already benefitted from collaborations. Some have attempted to collaborate and/or to create a pipeline for hiring new staff. However, some of these partnerships have run into difficulties. Others have found ways to successfully recruit and build a transportation workforce using community college graduates. This session will include representatives from community colleges and industry discussing collaborations, collaborative potentials, and hurdles. During open discussion, other transportation agencies are encouraged to share how they’ve been able to successfully recruit from CCs as well.

Session 4: Welcome to Turner Fairbank (part 1 of 3): Wednesday, July 15, 1:00-2:30pm EDT

FHWA’s Research and Development headquarters, Turner Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), has been developing new technologies to advance the state of transportation, along with trainings and materials that could further advanced education of emerging topics in transportation. This session features tours and demonstrations from TFHRC, along with information for how folks can get involved in this cutting-edge research.

Session 5: Recap and Open Discussion: Wednesday, July 22, 1:00-2:30pm EDT

This session will feature a summary recap of everything learned to date, followed by an open panel discussion about the potential for strengthening the transportation workforce with community college graduates. Panelists will discuss the merits of engaging community college students and graduates, and will discuss how the USDOT, transportation agencies, industry, educators, and others, can and should get involved in the process.

Session 6: Turner Fairbank Workforce Development (part 2 of 3): Wednesday, July 29, 1:00-2:30pm EDT

A continuation of Session 4.

Session 7: Turner Fairbank Workforce Development (part 3 of 3): Wednesday, August 5, 1:00-2:30pm EDT

A continuation of Sessions 4 and 6.

Session 8: Wrap-up and next steps: Wednesday, August 12, 1:00-3:00pm EDT

USDOT will summarize all main points discussed. A brief (~30 minute) period will be set aside for open discussion from all participants. Following that, USDOT will discuss clear action items in GOST format, and will invite (… and encourage!) all participants to engage in one of the task implementation/action item teams.

ENO Center Webinar: Empowering a Resilient Transit Workforce

June 30, 2020 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm ET:

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed transit professionals to establish new standards for resiliency. At the same time, leaders in transit are seeking new ways to promote social mobility through career pathway opportunities. Drawing from industry experience and research, this webinar will delve into resiliency challenges and education and training solutions to cultivate a more resilient and empowered transit workforce. The webinar will identify critical labor market benchmarks impacting the transit workforce and address ways to prepare the public transportation workforce for the post COVID-19 world.

Registration link: https://www.enotrans.org/event/webinar-empowering-a-resilient-transit-workforce/

Moderators:
Tyler Reeb, Director of Research and Workforce Development at the Center for International Trade and Transportation at the California State University of Long Beach & Editor of Empowering the New Mobility Workforce: Educating, Training, and Inspiring Future Transportation Professionals
Robert Puentes, President and CEO, Eno Center for Transportation

Panelists:
Xinge Wang, Deputy Director of the Transportation Learning Center
Joanne Peterson, Chief of Human Capital & Development at Los Angeles Metro
Jess Guerra, Executive Director of the Transportation Workforce Institute at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College