We need a workforce revolution. How fitting for a revolution to be sparked inside of me in the great City of Boston as I attended this year’s U.S. Conference of Mayors. As I walked in and out of the learning sessions, I kept thinking over-and-over again, “We need a workforce revolution!” My heart pumped with fire. My hands trembled with excitement. My eyes bucked with amazement. My ears rung out … it’s time for a workforce revolution. I came back to Saint Louis, Missouri fired up and ready to spark the workforce revolution in my City.
At the conference, hundreds of mayors from cities around the country convene to hear best practices, learn from one another, and gain information about other issues that impact cities on the local level. Although I am not a mayor, I work for Mayor Lyda Krewson of the City of St. Louis. My appointment to lead the workforce efforts in the City of St. Louis came on September 5, 2017. This appointment changed my life and I hope it will change the lives of people living in my City. My approach to workforce is to be intentional, aggressive, and unapologetic. My goal leaving the conference was to start a workforce revolution in my City and light the fire to spark a workforce revolution in other cities across our country. The City of St. Louis, like other cities around the country, are plagued with high murder, crimes and unemployment rates. Something has to change.
We need a workforce revolution to change the trajectory of our community, our future, our politics, and most importantly the way we handle our most precious capital – human capital. Saint Louis, like many other cities has had its share of systematic oppression, depression, and disenfranchisement on multiple levels. We need a workforce revolution to aggressively, intentionally and unapologetically address the issues of our communities before our existence as humans become obsolete. A workforce revolution is needed desperately. A workforce revolution will give hope to the hopeless and be the voice for the voiceless. A workforce revolution will allow communities which experience the greatest struggles to turn their struggles into upward steps of strength, their pain into pillars of power, the hurt will become community heroes, and the most unlikely to succeed will become their neighborhood’s most valuable player. The workforce revolution will create multiple pathways to prosperity for everyone.
I established a theory called the “Cyclical Dependency Theory,” which simply demonstrates the impact of similar characteristics that possibly transferred from generation-to-generation through a family or friend unit. Moreover, if a child’s parent is incarcerated or does not obtain a college degree, the child might be more likely to demonstrate behaviors that are not conducive to abiding by the law and not have an opportunity to attend college. A child is more likely to understand the importance of holding a job, going to college, getting into a skilled trade; if the caregiver, parent, or guardian is actively participating in a those types of activities. A workforce revolution will create a catalyst of aggressive, intentional, unapologetic, and impactful change using a two-generational approach.
The workforce revolution needs leaders who are unafraid to answer the cries of our community using techniques that have never been used before. The mindset of policymakers, leaders, and practitioners must be open to innovative service delivery techniques. A workforce revolution is going to require workforce partners to instill hope into the community and increase service accessibility. The workforce partners will have to collaborate with grassroots organizations, integrate depression awareness and suicide prevention inside of the workforce programs, be part of the solution for opioid addictions and substance abuse, and deal with social justice issues such as police brutality. Also, integrate other means of life-changing tools, such as financial literacy, home ownership, and aggressively make options available such as entrepreneurship, apprenticeships, and trades (not just college).
We need a workforce revolution to save our future. We need a workforce revolution to save our humanity. I am starting in the City of St. Louis. If anyone wants to join me, follow me on twitter @alicemprince.
Alice M. Prince is executive director, Workforce, in the Office of the Mayor, City of St. Louis.
