Ohio’s Second Local
Workforce Leadership Academy
Announcing the 2024 Workforce Leadership Academy in Delaware, Knox, and Licking Counties
In 2022, the Coalition was one of eight partners across the country selected to implement a nationally recognized Workforce Leadership Academy (WLA). The first cohort of the local WLA ran in Cuyahoga County in 2023 and alumni of the Academy became part of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunity Fellows Network, joining Fellows from over 20 previous Academies across the US and Canada. In partnership with the Greater Ohio Workforce board (GOWB), the Coalition has launched a second cohort across Delaware, Knox, and Licking Counties. GOWB is a local workforce area serving forty-three Ohio counties and GOWB Executive Director, John Trott serves on OWC’s Leadership Committee.
The Academy brings leaders from across a workforce ecosystem together for a 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.
Academy Candidates
Academies engage senior-level managers of organizations that make up the Delaware, Know, and Licking Counties workforce development ecosystem. A maximum of 24 Fellows are selected. Applicants should be:
Located and working within the defined local area (Delaware, Knox, Licking County) or a regional organization that serves those counties
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
In leadership position with decision-making authority to execute strategies on behalf of their organization
Engaged in or planning workforce development, including job quality and/or career pathways efforts
Interested in designing and implementing effective strategies to strengthen their local workforce system
Committed to achieving equity across race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation
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
Inclusivity and diversity are core values of the Delaware, Knox, Licking County Academy. The cohort of Fellows will be selected to represent the diversity of organization type and focus as well as race, ethnicity, and gender.
Academy Goals
The Academy engages leaders in a yearlong peer learning cohort to:
Expand and deepen professional networks and partnerships;
Strengthen organizational and systems leadership skills;
Apply a race and equity lens to assess and improve workforce services and strategies;
Apply systems change framework to Fellows’ work;
Deepen understanding of effective strategies and programs; and
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.
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.
This 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.”
“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.”
“… 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. ”
Introducing the Fellows of the 2024 Workforce Leadership Academy in Delaware, Knox, and Licking Counties
Andrew Volenik, Delaware County Transit
Angela Carnahan, Ohio Means Jobs Licking County
Brandy Booth, Ohio Means Jobs Knox County
Carlos Mendez, City of Delaware
Carolyn Stout, Ohio Means Jobs Delaware County
Cassandra Palsgrove, Ohio Excels
Daryl Jones, Newark Electrical JATC
Julia Suggs, Knox County Area Development Foundation
Michael McLane, Delaware County Job & Family Services
Academy Structure
Over the academy year beginning in October 2024, Fellows participate in:
A virtual 90-minute orientation
An opening two-day retreat
Five Academy sessions and five Collaborative Lab meetings held in back-to-back weeks
One leadership 360 assessment process and debrief workshop
A closing two-day retreat
Reception event for supervisors and advisors
Collaborative Learning Lab presentations at an in-person stakeholder event
Continued learning, application, and collaboration between workshop sessions
Local Advisory Council
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
Contact
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
“A group of people sitting at tables in a learning environment,” image generated by OpenAI’s DALL·E 2, May 17, 2024.
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Michell Ward, Columbus State Community College
Shelly Laslo, Knox County Career Center
Michelle Snow, Career & Technology Centers of Licking County
Opal M. Brant, One Columbus
Rachel Reedy, County Commissioners Association of Ohio
Sheila Cottrell, Licking County Government
Tavaris Taylor, Mount Vernon Nazarene University
Kaylor Sines, Columbus State Community College
Tara Houdeshell, A Call to College