What are the best ways to meet the newly increased demand for adult education, Career and Technical Education (CTE), and workforce development programs? This workshop will provide a federal and state perspective on how new developments such as administrative relief and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act implementation are affecting the landscape. Learn how your organization can incorporate new policy developments into your local context to better serve immigrant communities.Room setup: theater style.
Moderator:
- Margie McHugh, Director, Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, Washington D.C. -- Margie McHugh is Director of the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. The Center is a national hub for leaders in government, community affairs, business and academia to obtain the insights and knowledge they need to respond to the challenges and opportunities that today’s high rates of immigration pose for communities across the United States. Ms. McHugh’s work focuses on education quality and access issues for immigrants and their children from early childhood through K-12 and adult, post-secondary and workforce skills programs. She also leads the Center’s work seeking a more coordinated federal response to immigrant integration needs and impacts, and more workable systems for recognition of the education and work experience immigrants bring with them to the United States.
Speakers:
- Rachel Unruh, Associate Director, National Skills Coalition, Washington D.C. -- Rachel helps lead National Skills Coalition, which works to advance policies at the state and federal level that ensure every worker and every industry has the skills to compete and prosper. She has over 15 years of experience in workforce development, higher education and adult basic education policy and has authored numerous reports about policies that can help ensure that individuals with low basic skills obtain credentials with labor market value. Rachel joined NSC in 2006 to develop and lead Skills2Compete, a national campaign replicated in 13 states that brought the nation’s middle-skill gap to the attention of the American public and policymakers.
- Donna Brashear, Executive Director, Division of Adult and Career Education, Los Angeles Unified School District -- Donna Brashear is Executive Director of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Division of Adult and Career Education, the largest provider of adult education in the United States. In this role, Brashear oversees education and career training programs serving thousands of students each year in schools and occupational centers throughout the Los Angeles region. She also builds meaningful partnerships with local community, business, and government organizations; implements innovative solutions to meet the diverse needs of local adult learners; and co-chairs the newly-formed Los Angeles Regional Adult Education Consortium as it strives to improve the local adult education system. Brashear holds a B.S. in Business Education from East Carolina University; an M.A. in Vocational Education from California State University, Long Beach; and an M.A. in Educational Administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills.
- Virginia Hamilton, Regional Administrator, US Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration -- Virginia Hamilton serves as the Regional Administrator for the Employment and Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor. The Region covers 8 Western states, including Hawaii and Alaska, and 4 territories in the Pacific. Her office oversees the Workforce Investment Act, Job Service, Unemployment Insurance, Trade Act, and discretionary grants such as the TAACCCT, Youth Build, Ex-Offender, and National Emergency Grants. Prior to her work at DOL, Ms. Hamilton spent several years consulting with workforce agencies, non-profits and government agencies both in the United States and Europe, including the National Association of Workforce Boards and the OECD, based in Paris.