Now Accepting Applications

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Now Accepting Applications !!

For information about the 2023 Cleveland|Cuyahoga County Academy click here.

Ohio’s Second Local Workforce Leadership Academy

Announcing the 2024 Delaware, Knox, Licking County Workforce Leadership Academy

The Coalition was one of eight partners across the country selected by Aspen in 2022 to implement the Academy. The first cohort of the local WLA ran in Cuyahoga County in 2023. Alumni of the Academy become part of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunity Fellows Network, joining Fellows from over 20 previous Academies across the US and Canada.

The Ohio Workforce Coalition in partnership with the Greater Ohio Workforce board, has launched a second cohort of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program’s local Workforce Leadership Academy (WLA or Academy) in Delaware, Knox, and Licking Counties. The Academy is a fellowship designed to engage and support current and emerging leaders committed to advancement of local workforce ecosystems.

The Academy brings leaders - recognized as Fellows of the Academy - from across a workforce ecosystem together for a year-long series of retreats, workshops, and action learning projects. Fellows work with leaders
and experts from across the state and the country as they deepen networks; strengthen systems leadership skills; apply race, equity, and systems change frameworks to their work; and increase understanding of effective strategies and programs. Alumni of the Academy become part of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities

Fellows Network, joining Fellows from over twenty previous Academies across the US and Canada.

For cohort two, OWC is partnering with the Greater Ohio Workforce Board (GOWB). GOWB is a local workforce area serving forty-three Ohio counties and GOWB Executive Director, John Trott serves on OWC’s Leadership Committee. Read the full press release here.

“GOWB shares OWC’s commitment to system thinking and capacity building. We are excited to bring this Academy to three counties that continue to work together to build stronger workforce systems.”
— John Trott

Academy Candidates

  1. Located and working within the defined local area
    (Delaware, Knox, Licking County)     or a regional organization that serves those counties​

  2. Leaders across the ecosystem of nonprofit organizations, business associations, union-based training efforts, adult literacy, community development, philanthropy, economic development, public agencies, and post-secondary education and training​

  3. In leadership position with decision-making authority to execute strategies on behalf of their organization​

  4. Engaged in or planning workforce development, including job quality and/or career pathways efforts​

  5. Interested in designing and implementing effective strategies to strengthen their local workforce system​

  6. Committed to achieving equity across race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation​

  7. Eager for the opportunity to collaborate with others in their local workforce system, to reflect on their current work, to explore leadership practices, and to gain feedback from colleagues.

The application process is now open!

Refer to the Applicant Overview for additional background and details. Submit your intent to apply here.

Submit your full application here.

Questions?
Email us at khanson@r4workforce.com

Thank you to the Local Advisory Council

Academy Goals

The Academy engages leaders in a yearlong peer learning cohort to: 

  1. Expand and deepen professional networks and partnerships;   

  2. Strengthen organizational and systems leadership skills;   

  3. Apply a race and equity lens to assess and improve workforce services and strategies;   

  4. Apply systems change framework to Fellows’ work;  

  5. Deepen understanding of effective strategies and programs; and  

  6. Provide a forum to work collaboratively to identify local and regional systems-based challenges and create shared solutions 

What is A Workforce Leadership Academy?

Workforce Leadership Academies strengthen Fellows' capacity to develop and sustain effective workforce strategies, collaborate more deeply with employers and other strategic partner organizations, and expand the number and quality of leaders who advance opportunities for workers while meeting the talent needs of employers. Participants in local academies work with leading practitioners throughout the country, are introduced to practical planning tools, and have the rare opportunity to reflect on and strategize about how to apply principles that underlie effective workforce strategies to their local economic and social context. Fellows bring systems thinking and racial equity to all aspects of their work, including their organizations, the labor market, and the local ecosystem. Participants also engage in leadership development activities, including a 360-degree leadership assessment. Through Collaborative Learning Labs (CoLabs), local academies provide a forum for local leaders to collaborate to identify local and regional systems-based challenges and create shared solutions. Participants are recognized as Fellows of the Workforce Leadership Academy and become part of the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Fellows Network upon completion. 

About The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington DC. Its mission is to spark intellectual inquiry and exchange, create a diverse worldwide community of leaders committed to the greater good, and provide a nonpartisan forum for reaching solutions on vital public policy issues. The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances promising strategies and policies to help low- and moderate-income Americans connect to and thrive in a changing economy. Over its 25 years of work, the Economic Opportunities Program has focused on expanding individuals' opportunities to connect to quality work, start businesses, and to build assets and economic stability. 

Their initiative is made possible by the generous support of Walmart, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, and The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr Foundation. 

“Through the course of a year, it will transform how you view and leverage partnerships, advocate on behalf of disenfranchised populations, listen to dissenting views with earnest validation, along with transforming your community outcomes through an action-oriented systems thinking approach.”
— Past Academy Participant
“… an incredible learning opportunity to understand yourself as a leader, challenge yourself in discomfort, identify the major players in the local workforce space and meet great people, doing great work - all through a critical racial equity lens. ”
— Past Academy Participant
Ohio Leadership Academy

Academy Structure 

Over the academy year beginning in October 2024, Fellows participate in: 

  • A virtual 90-minute online orientation

  • An opening two-day retreat (one overnight)

  • Five Academy sessions and five Collaborative Lab meetings held in back-to-back weeks

  • One leadership 360 assessment process and debrief workshop

  • Networking event for supervisors and advisors

  • A closing two-day retreat (one overnight)

  • Collaborative Learning Lab presentations at an in-person stakeholder event

  • Continued learning, application, and collaboration between workshop sessions

View the Academy timeline here.

  • David Alley, Vice President, Schafer Driveline

  • Robert Anderson, Director, Delaware County Job & Family Services

  • Dr. John Berry, Dean, Central Ohio Technical College

  • William Scott Boone, Director, Knox County Department of Job & Family Services

  • Jennifer Ellis-Brunn, Director, Licking county Ohio Means Jobs Center

  • Michele Engelbach, CEO/Administrator, The Ohio Eastern Star

  • Alexis Fitzsimmons, Director, GROW Licking County

  • Nic Langford, Director of Economic Development, City of Delaware, Ohio

  • Jennifer McDonald, President, Licking County Chamber of Commerce,

  • Chad Williams, Director of Adult Education, Delaware Area Career Center

  • Kim Williams, Director, Knox Technical College

Key Contacts 

Academy Facilitation Team 

Rebecca Kusner, WLA Lead Facilitator and Director of Ohio Workforce Coalition staffed by R4 Workforce
rkusner@r4workforce.com  

Dr. LaShon Sawyer, WLA Facilitator and CEO of Sage Insight
Ask@DrLaShon.com 

John Trott, WLA Facilitator and Executive Director of Greater Ohio Workforce Board

Academy Project Coordinator

Karissa Hanson, Academy Coordinator and R4 Workforce Project Manager
khanson@r4workforce.com

Knox County, Rastin Observational Tower

“A group of people sitting at tables in a learning environment,” image generated by OpenAI’s DALL·E 2, May 17, 2024.

Delaware County, Ohio Wesleyan University

Licking County Louis Sullivan Building

Licking County Louis Sullivan Building

Inclusivity and diversity are core values of the Coalition. The cohort of Fellows will be selected to represent the diversity of organization type and focus as well as race, ethnicity, and gender.

Academies engage senior-level managers of organizations in the workforce
development ecosystem.

A maximum of 24 Fellows will be selected.

Applicants should be: