00:00:00:18 - 00:00:44:17
Secretary Jones
Two years ago, the Healey-Driscoll Administration released its first workforce agenda focus on four priorities: attracting and retaining talent, developing talent, leading by example, and modernizing our workforce infrastructure. Massachusetts is strongest when people can participate in our economy, and when employers can access the talent they need to grow. Since launching the agenda, we have led strategies to reduce barriers, to attract more people into the workforce and upskill existing talent, expand access to training to develop untapped talent, and build stronger talent pipelines for employers across the Commonwealth.
00:00:44:19 - 00:01:09:15
Secretary Jones
Today, I'm proud to share some of the progress we've made. Let's start with strategies to attract and retain talent. We know Massachusetts must reduce barriers to employment if we want to increase labor force participation and strengthen our economy. That is why we focus on strengthening work supports and removing obstacles that prevent people from entering and staying in the workforce.
00:01:09:20 - 00:01:38:06
Secretary Jones
Through the Massachusetts Workforce Skills Fund Pilot, as an example, we provided direct stipends of up to $5,000 to unemployed and underemployed residents participating in workforce training programs. Over the course of the pilot, more than 1,500 individuals received direct financial support while participating in workforce training. This pilot demonstrates that work supports like this and other resources such as transportation and child care
00:01:38:06 - 00:02:03:20
Secretary Jones
subsidies, go a long way. We also know that language access remains one of the greatest opportunities to upskill existing workers with English as a second language, but also a constant barrier for those seeking to enter the workforce where they may not have English proficiency. That is why the Workforce Skills Cabinet established ESOL for Work as a statewide priority. With the support
00:02:03:20 - 00:02:33:18
Secretary Jones
from the legislature, Massachusetts secured $10 million to expand vocationally focused English language learning opportunities, increasing access for more than 3000 additional learners, reducing waitlist and helping more workers gain the language skills needed to enter and advance in the workforce. I'll now pass it to Eva Millona of Eastern Bank Foundation, who will share how ESOL is opening doors for more workers and supporting business growth.
00:02:33:20 - 00:03:15:09
Eva Millona
My name is Eva Millona. I am with Eastern Bank Foundation. Eastern Bank Foundation has made a serious investment in career focused English proficiency $10 million. Really understanding the importance and the imperative of language skills, and the importance and career mobility and lifelong learning, as well as workforce participation. Investing in career focused English. It's not just in investing in a language program, but it's really a workforce development strategy.
00:03:15:09 - 00:03:53:02
Eva Millona
It's a business competitiveness strategy. It's an economic security strategy. It's beneficial to employers to offer career based English in their workplace, because it helps them really tap into the talent of the worker and their full participation in the workforce. That really increases productivity of the business, and it supports employers as well to retain the workers and uses cost for recruitment.
00:03:53:04 - 00:04:21:17
Eva Millona
First, I just wanted to say how grateful we are at eastern Bank Foundation to collaborate with employers to collaborate with the administration. I do want to commend Healey-Driscoll administration for their leadership, for their vision, for their commitment to strengthening the workforce. The additional investment of 10 million and an investment in career focused proficiencies and investment in the workforce.
00:04:21:17 - 00:04:26:11
Eva Millona
It's a strategy for economic success and for growth.
00:04:26:13 - 00:05:04:23
Secretary Jones
Thank you, Eva for reminding us that language access is more than a workforce strategy. It's a pathway to economic mobility for workers and a source of talent for employers. Retention is equally important as talent attraction. Massachusetts continues to invest in incumbent worker training through the Workforce Training Fund Program. In fiscal year 2024 and fiscal year 2025, the program awarded more than $61 million through 5000 plus grants to help employers upskill and retain their workforce among participating employers across the board.
00:05:05:00 - 00:05:37:03
Secretary Jones
These investments contributed to the creation of nearly 7800 new jobs, while helping businesses remain competitive and workers advance their careers. As a retention strategy, we launched and continue to convene partners in government, business, labor, and advocacy to support caregivers in the workplace with the intent of promoting best practices for working individuals who show up every day to work and have the added responsibility of caring for our loved one at home.
00:05:37:03 - 00:06:22:00
Secretary Jones
Now, our second pillar within our workforce agenda is focused on developing talent. Our talent development strategy is influenced by the workforce demands and opportunities expressed by industry and across all regions of Massachusetts, and we are building the pipeline to meet these needs. Registered apprenticeship is a marquee program and tool within our Talent development toolbox. Since January 2023, Massachusetts has registered more than 12,000 apprentices, including over 2000 in expansion industries like early childhood education, health care, life sciences, manufacturing, financial services, technology and more.
00:06:22:02 - 00:07:03:21
Secretary Jones
We have also approved over 300 new apprenticeship programs and secured more than $10 million in state and federal funding to scale registered apprenticeship and programs. We've invested $13.5 million in grants for registered apprenticeship opportunities in workforce, what we like to call our Grow grants to support a wide variety of occupations in the industry, as I've mentioned, including Massachusetts very first residency and LPN apprenticeship program, and the nation's first AI health care apprenticeship program aligned with a bachelor's degree.
00:07:04:00 - 00:07:20:16
Secretary Jones
Now, I'd like to introduce David Shapiro, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Boston, to share how registered apprenticeship is helping to build a pipeline for early childhood educators and helping to address a critical workforce need in the field.
00:07:20:17 - 00:07:47:15
David Shapiro
I'm David Shapiro, I'm the CEO of the YMCA of Greater Boston. The partnership with EOLWD allowed us to do something really pretty incredible at the Y. We've always done workforce development for people to be in careers outside the Y.
00:07:47:16 - 00:08:08:00
David Shapiro
But we noticed our own need, which is also a need that we found throughout the state and the country, which is a need to strengthen the pipeline of early educators. And so we were really one of the first registered apprenticeships for early education in the state due to EOL d launching that registered apprenticeship, seeing that need in the workforce.
00:08:08:05 - 00:08:30:01
David Shapiro
We're now in our fifth year of running that registered apprenticeship with partnerships in the state. So I mean, I'd say first of all, in defining registered apprenticeships and the role that they play, and specifically they play with early educators and at the Y, the beauty of a registered apprenticeship, the first thing I'd say is a phrase that you've probably heard before, which is earn while you learn.
00:08:30:01 - 00:09:06:16
David Shapiro
Because the number one reality is that often in the American kind of ecosystem, we ask people to pause. Earning to learn. The apprenticeship allows them to earn, learn, get credits, get credentials, and in a pretty quick accelerated time frame, meet them where they're at so that they are workforce ready. So it's just I feel like the registered apprenticeship one, it's often been used for the trades and something the Healey Administration and Secretary Jones and others have recognized is how important apprenticeships are in the human services as well, even though we don't think of them that way.
00:09:06:16 - 00:09:27:20
David Shapiro
But these are skilled trades, like welding two pieces of metal together is not that different than teaching a young person how to read or how to share. These are these are technical skills that you need expertise to do. And so the register apprenticeship in early ed has really one met the learner and job seeker where they're at from lots of different angles.
00:09:27:22 - 00:09:47:07
David Shapiro
It's to allowed them to keep earning money and credential while they learn it's three, allowed them to be economically mobile and earn more at the end than at the beginning. And then four. It's really filled a job need that we have and prepared people to work at the why? There is no question that this is the workforce behind the workforce and at the Y.
00:09:47:08 - 00:10:22:20
David Shapiro
I mean, essentially we specialize in this, whether it's before school, after school, summer or early ed, we're basically helping families run and helping folks allowed to be in the workforce because their kids are getting quality care at all these gaps during the workday. And so when we have skilled teachers and pipelines, like apprenticeships to get folks into early editor and to make it economical and practical to get into this workforce, whether you're a high school graduate or a newcomer coming from another country, we bolster this workforce that bolsters the rest of our economy.
00:10:22:20 - 00:10:43:14
David Shapiro
And so to me, on the early ed side, this has just been an incredible innovation in a state that has really prioritized early editor investment in early editor in a way that I think reflects what we know about child development, what we know about brain science, what we know about the best way to give all kids a really great start so they can have the best possible outcomes.
00:10:43:16 - 00:11:14:01
Secretary Jones
Thank you, David, for highlighting how registered apprenticeship is creating new pathways in early education and care. We also remain focused on populations that have historically faced barriers to workforce participation, including youth, immigrants, veterans, individuals with disabilities, low income residents and returning citizens. Across state government, we are aligning resources and partnerships to ensure more people can access training, credentials and meaningful careers.
00:11:14:03 - 00:11:49:19
Secretary Jones
Take, for example, youth and young adults. In 2025 alone, Massachusetts provided workforce training and employment opportunities to more than 1600 young people through Yoa funded youth programs, helping participants complete their education, gain work experience and connect to career pathways. This builds on the thousands of workers that we've been able to unlock through our Youth Works program, ensuring young people have that first, second or third job as they continue to gain greater exposure to career pathways for the future.
00:11:49:21 - 00:12:23:04
Secretary Jones
We also launched the yes initiative Youth Employment and Skills Initiative to expand youth employment opportunities to not only include youth works, but also soft skill building, employer sponsored summer jobs and more. Over the past several months, we have been working through yes to engage local elected officials, anchor employers and MassHire regional workforce boards in Pittsfield, Springfield, Holyoke, Salem, Lynn, fall River and Taunton to say yes to summer jobs this year as a pilot effort.
00:12:23:04 - 00:13:09:03
Secretary Jones
And now to our third pillar leading by example. In 2024, Governor Healey signed an executive order instituting skills based hiring within state government. This was demonstrating how we can lead by example and also engage employers who are already implementing skills based hiring within their organization. So building on Governor Healey's executive order, we launched Mass Skills Coalition. This has been a great opportunity to bring together a coalition of employers, workforce, partners and academia to advance skills first hiring as a strategy to not only attract talent but also help to upskill and continue to develop existing talent.
00:13:09:04 - 00:13:34:12
Secretary Jones
Recognizing one's skills, knowledge and ability. As a coalition, we've also convened, bringing together all partners, most especially through a learning community over the past year that is culminating in the release of a toolkit. We just released this toolkit that provides a blueprint, really a guide for employers to learn how to implement skills. First hiring within the workplace.
00:13:34:13 - 00:14:22:06
Tonja Mettlach
My name is Tanya Matlock, and I'm the executive vice president at the Mass Business Roundtable. The motivation behind the Skills Coalition was really the Governor Healey and Secretary Jones coming together to make the Commonwealth a skills first employer. And as part of that, they really saw the opportunity to engage the private sector to rethink hiring. So we came together with our members who are large employers throughout the state, who I think for years have been doing a lot around skills first hiring, maybe not calling it skills first hiring, but have been thinking differently about the types of skills and qualifications that employees need for various roles in math skills.
00:14:22:06 - 00:14:53:13
Tonja Mettlach
Really presented an opportunity to help employers get together to learn from each other, share challenges, think about opportunities. I really think one of the the biggest misconceptions is it's a complete overhaul of all of your hiring practices when you can really start small and then as you see results as it starts working, you can think what other parts of your organization maybe skills for strategies would be appropriate for when organizations replace degree requirements with the skills actually required for the job.
00:14:53:13 - 00:15:31:02
Tonja Mettlach
We think everybody wins. The employers win because they get more applicants for the job. They actually get to think about what requirements go into the job, what are the skills, and potentially hire someone that's going to be more ready on day one. Job applicants win because they are able to more understand what goes into the job. And I also think the state wins because again, the more people you're getting into good jobs with good career pathways, the more the state is keeping people here and really creating an economy that works for everyone.
00:15:31:02 - 00:16:07:23
Tonja Mettlach
We would welcome any employer to join us at Math Skills. We've been going now for about two years. We have over 50 employers and other workforce partners, and we would welcome any employer, any size to join us. The only requirement is that you have an interest in learning more about skills first, and it's really a great place for you to meet talent sources, different education institutions, workforce institutions, nonprofits and other employers who are seeing successes and challenges and learn from each other.
00:16:08:01 - 00:16:22:10
Tonja Mettlach
We just put out a great new toolkit. So if you go to our website at Mask of Backslash Math Skills, you can learn more. And we really hope employers will join us in the suffer. Finally.
00:16:22:10 - 00:16:53:21
Secretary Jones
We are modernizing and strengthening our workforce. The fourth pillar of our workforce agenda, a strong workforce system depends more than just programing and funding a requirement. Workforce infrastructure that is coordinated, accessible and responsive to the needs of job seekers and employers. That's why the Healey Driscoll administration has embarked on modernizing the mass hire workforce system to improve how people connect to workforce services across state government.
00:16:54:03 - 00:17:29:21
Secretary Jones
Through the Mass Hire Innovation Project, we are redesigning how job seekers, workers and employers access workforce resources. This is a major undertaking, engaging roughly 6000 stakeholders through surveys, workshops and direct engagement to help shape the future of workforce service delivery in Massachusetts. We are also developing a more seamless front door approach across workforce partner agencies, making it easier for residents to access services and employers to navigate available resources without having to understand the complexities of government.
00:17:29:22 - 00:18:10:09
Secretary Jones
These efforts build upon the previous launch of mass talent, and will further position Massachusetts to offer a more comprehensive, responsive, flexible system that will be more nimble to the ever changing economy. And as we look ahead, our focus remains clear continuing to invest in people, reducing barriers to opportunity, strengthening partnerships across government, industry, academia, nonprofits and more, and building a workforce system that increases access to opportunity, promotes economic mobility, and drives our competitiveness for the future.
00:18:10:11 - 00:18:16:10
Secretary Jones
Thank you for listening and thank you for being a partner as we grow our workforce in Massachusetts.