Building a NJ Workforce That Works

There's a quiet mismatch playing out across New Jersey's economy: thousands of good jobs sitting unfilled while thousands of capable people can't find their way into them. The four-year degree — long sold as the surest path to a stable career — has become unaffordable for many, and increasingly disconnected from what employers actually need. Trades are short on workers as a generation retires. Technology is reshaping every job description. And the people most often left out of the conversation are the ones with the most to gain from a different approach.Host Aaron Turner, Chief Philanthropic Officer at the Community Foundation of New Jersey, sits down with two leaders building different answers from opposite ends of the state — Dr. Corey Homer, President of Sussex County Community College, and Onna Jones of Camden-based Hope Works — to discuss employer-driven curriculum, paying participants from day one, AI as a competitive equalizer, the wraparound supports behind Hope Works' 93% job retention rate, and what it will take to close New Jersey's middle-skills gap.Learn more about the guests' organizations.Hopeworks: www.hopeworks.orgSussex County Community College Workforce Programs: www.sussex.edu/academics/career-technical-programs/