And the seat at this latest table was at the White House in the amazing and historic Indian Treaty Room which was originally known as the Navy Department Library and Reception Room. However, why is it actually called the Indian Treaty Room is an official mystery. But I digress.
The meeting on Friday was a gathering of those in industry, training and labor related to three key pillars in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the historic investment in our nation’s infrastructure and communities including broadband to discuss how we can all support workforce development and improve the labor pipeline. I actually expected the event to be more of a briefing in the White House auditorium but when I saw virtually no line at the White House entrance and only John Stankey, the CEO of AT&T and Chris Shelton, CWA President in front of me, I knew we were in for a more intimate White House experience.
When we arrived, we got to mill around the room with the top executives from Corning, Amtrak, Bechtel along with the leadership from all of the trade unions and of course White House leadership that included “infrastructure Czar” Mitch Landrieu, Susan Rice and Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh.
The gathering was spurred by the White House launching a challenge during the summer months to encourage employers to make commitments to build, scale and support training programs that help more workers equitably access good infrastructure jobs, and their efforts focus on working with employer and training providers in the broadband, construction, electrification (EV and Manufacturing arena). I am not certain there was solace in hearing how much every sector is challenged with finding staff these days so while I think finding the interested bodies is really job #1, training opportunities certainly follow - particularly with $42.5 billion coming down the pike for broadband construction and deployment alone. And then of course, there is maintaining what has been built.
My invitation to this gathering also gave me cause to reach out to my friend, Bill Esbeck, Executive Director of the Wisconsin State Telecom Association. Bill and Paul Kostner with Northwood Technical College and their Tech Broadband Academy have been partners for the past few years as we have highlighted what a model this program has been for industry training.
Northwood Tech Broadband Academy has an online training program that can train incumbents and un/underemployed individuals and provides related instruction for the Telecommunications Industry Registered Apprenticeship Program for Power Communications Contractors Association. While the enrollments have been low the past few years due to Covid, several hundred students have gone through this training.
When asked what might really take these training programs so perfectly situated for NTCA members to utilize, Paul shared that more curriculum development dollars for new courses, employer incentives to train their staff including support for tuition, stipends, and apprenticeships. It also got me thinking about the role that NTCA can play to be more of the pathway for this program and letting other NTCA members - beyond the Midwest - know that this program has been up and running with high marks for a long time and given the remote training, could be just the tool to have in hand. There is also a need to share that broadband careers are “cool” because indeed they are and the growth potential for folks getting into this arena is only upward and onward. This sparks me back to conversations I recently had with Allen Pratt, head of the National Rural Education Association, about working together on a K-12 program to do just that - give young students an early peek into being part of the connectivity solution for their communities.
In the meantime, I am going to start my post-meeting noodling (because meetings like these do tend to have more talking heads than actual pen to paper efforts…I’m all about bringing in the white board and with this type of thinkers in the room, let’s just start brainstorming!) but in the spirit of never being one to miss an opportunity, I did share with Wendell Weeks, CEO of Corning, as I slid my way to his side of the table, that NTCA broadband providers wouldn’t mind having a bit more access to some of their fiber assets!