Workforce development programs are increasingly expected to demonstrate measurable outcomes, engage employers, align with community needs, and communicate impact to funders and stakeholders. Yet many begin collecting data before they establish a clear framework that connects program activities to intended outcomes. This interactive session explores how logic models and evaluation frameworks can strengthen workforce initiatives, improve performance measurement, and support continuous program improvement. Drawing on evaluation experience across pathway programs serving youth, justice-involved adults, women entering nontraditional occupations, apprentices, and work-based learners, this session will allow you to learn practical strategies to connect program activities to meaningful workforce outcomes.

Sherri Fulp, Diana Leyva, Cole Rush Whittington, and Dawayne Whittington, Strategic Evaluations, Inc.

Join us as we showcase practical, low‑cost strategies used across North Carolina to strengthen workforce partnerships and customer engagement. Presenters highlight shared booth kits, partner-focused events, and coordinated communication efforts that expand access to career pathway information and improve regional alignment. These approaches have boosted engagement across rural and urban areas by supporting counselors, advisors, and workforce professionals with consistent tools and messaging. You will gain adaptable frameworks to apply immediately in your own region to increase awareness, reduce barriers, and connect job seekers, learners, and employers.

Brandi Bragg, NENC Career Pathways; Emily Nicholson, Land of Sky P20 Council

This breakout session builds on the workforce board training covered in pre-Conference sessions. Participants are encouraged to bring their questions, needs, and ideas for immediate feedback from experienced presenters and peers. While especially valuable for board members, chairs, and leadership staff to interact around specific topics, we welcome everyone interested in expanding their understanding of how workforce boards function, inspire, and advocate for the broader system during challenging times.

Andrew Bercich, National Association of Workforce Boards; Al Searles, Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board

This session will provide an overview of NC Career Launch, which is a statewide coordinated effort to align systems, braid funding, and expand youth apprenticeship opportunities for both employers and high school students. We’ll discuss the systems approach in establishing new opportunities and expanding existing opportunities, and how multiple funding streams are used to support these efforts. Best practices and successful registered programs that serve as models for interested businesses and stakeholder groups will be highlighted, and we’ll consider how to collaborate for more sustainable program models.

Charlie Milling, North Carolina Business Committee for Education

Inspired by the keynote address? Keep the momentum going in this interactive session, where our featured speaker takes you deeper into the core ideas on Artificial Intelligence (AI) introduced earlier. Together, you’ll explore how these concepts connect to North Carolina’s AI Strategic Roadmap - especially its focus on expanding AI literacy and ensuring meaningful, accountable use of AI across the state. Expect practical insights, real‑world context, and a candid look at what responsible AI adoption truly requires. Come ready to engage, ask questions, and contribute to an open discussion on how each of us can use AI ethically, effectively, and with purpose.

Phaedra Boinodiris, IBM Consulting

This session highlights a scalable model that connects K–12 students with employers through career exploration, entrepreneurship, work‑based learning, and industry engagement. The Junior Achievement approach replaces one‑time events with repeatable systems that expand student access and strengthen employer participation. You’ll learn strategies to build sustainable employer partnerships and coordinate cross‑sector collaboration, as well as how to measure meaningful outcomes and replicate effective systems in local communities. This session is ideal for those seeking practical, scalable approaches to grow North Carolina’s future talent pipeline.

Dr. Shayla Hilton and Grace Thompson, Junior Achievement of the Triad

Strong communities require both economic opportunity and access to the resources that support health and well-being. This session highlights how workforce, healthcare, education, and community organizations are working together to remove barriers to employment and create sustainable pathways to economic mobility. Learn how collaborative partnerships are connecting individuals to training, career opportunities, and supportive services while addressing the social and health-related challenges that can impact workforce participation and long-term success.

Jennifer Hammond, Fayetteville Technical Community College; Corinna Miller, UnitedHealthcare; Jessica Schultz and Baylee Smith, Goodwill Industries of Central NC

In meeting the needs of job seekers, incumbent workers, and employers, workforce leaders must address a growing list of external challenges. Artificial Intelligence is at the top of the list, but there are many other forces at work: climate change impacts where we work and the skills needed; demographic realities mean fewer young workers and more 55+; federal budget deficits may curtail government’s role; changing migration and immigration trends; questions about how to boost economic mobility amid social/support services complexity; sorting out federal vs. state roles and executive vs. congressional authority will influence how workforce services are planned, delivered, and paid for. Join a discussion of how workforce systems can flourish in a time of unprecedented worldwide disruption.

Robert Knight, Equus Workforce Solutions; Ron Painter, Forbes Field Associates

Justice‑involved individuals face challenges that extend beyond job placement, including housing instability, lack of transportation, substance use, limited soft skills, and low confidence. We’ll take a look at how these factors affect job retention and long‑term workforce stability, while learning practical strategies to identify barriers early and build supportive workforce systems. Highlighting Forsyth County’s Local Reentry Council and its partnerships, key topics include soft‑skills development, confidence‑building, behavioral health needs, support for basic needs, community partnership models, and second‑chance hiring approaches. You’ll leave with adaptable strategies for strengthening reentry and workforce outcomes in your own community.

Ariyana March, Piedmont Triad Regional Council; Torrance Walker, Goodwill NWNC

Workforce boards are expected to engage employers, expand apprenticeship, improve performance outcomes, braid funding, and create meaningful career pathways - all while operating with limited staff and resources. The good news? You do not have to do it alone! This session demonstrates how to leverage existing group sponsors and industry associations to expand services, increase employer participation, and strengthen apprenticeship ecosystems without building every program from the ground up. You’ll leave with a framework to identify potential group sponsors in your region, build stronger partnerships with associations and intermediaries, improve employer engagement strategies, and create scalable solutions that help you achieve your goals while making it easier for employers and job seekers to succeed.

James Disbro, Career Source Suncoast; Natasha Sherwood, Independent Electrical Contractors

Strong workforce pipelines don’t begin when a job seeker enters an NCWorks Career Center; they begin much earlier in Career and Technical Education (CTE) classrooms across the state. Yet workforce and CTE often operate in parallel, missing opportunities to collaborate on mutual goals. In this interactive session, presenters share lessons learned from more than a decade of collaboration across a multi-region workforce network. We’ll explore practical, proven strategies for connecting workforce development, CTE, employers, and students through a variety of services. Learn through hands-on activities and facilitated discussion how to "tag team" to expand opportunities for both students and employers - and take away practical tools and actionable next steps you can implement immediately in your own community.

Brandi Bragg, NENC Career Pathways; Rachel Clipston and Amanda Hurdle, Northeastern Workforce Development Board

This interactive session provides you with a practical, replicable framework for developing a new program or improving existing program performance and accountability. Many programs struggle because activities are not aligned with measurable outcomes or evaluation feels like an afterthought. We’ll address these challenges by teaching how to construct logic models which can serve as blueprints for project development or enhancement, program evaluation, or grant applications. You’ll leave with ready-to-refine logic models to ensure your workforce programs are data-driven, scalable, and fully aligned with state workforce goals.

Dr. LaTricia Townsend, Collective Impact Partners

The state of the economy plays a major role in shaping the challenges faced by our workforce system. It determines whether job seekers can find work, whether employers can fill open positions, and is a primary determinant of individuals’ well-being and quality of life. This presentation will equip you with the latest information on the shifting economic landscape. Using a variety of data sources, we’ll describe what we’ve been through over the past year, what to expect in the years to come, and what it all means for job seekers, employers, and our state’s workforce system.

Andrew Berger-Gross, NC Department of Commerce, Labor & Economic Analysis Division (LEAD)

What does it take for organizations with different missions, systems, timelines, and funding structures to effectively collaborate around one participant - and why is it worth it? This workshop introduces a pilot model that embeds workforce services within organizations already providing housing support, case management, financial coaching, and other wraparound services. Moving beyond traditional referrals, this approach requires sustained coordination around participant readiness, communication protocols, data sharing, funding alignment, and shared accountability. Everyone will leave with a practical framework to strengthen workforce partnerships within your community and to more effectively address complex barriers to economic mobility.

Lisa Boyd and Franecia Rosemond, Equus Workforce Solutions/NCWorks Charlotte; Carrie Christian, Families Forward Charlotte; Shemia Williams, Charlotte Works 

This presentation features a practical framework for preparing North Carolina’s workforce to engage with responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) across industries. You’ll explore how responsible AI practices strengthen system performance, improve service delivery, and expand opportunities for job seekers - including youth, adults, and priority populations. The workshop highlights early implementation results from statewide pilots, including increased digital confidence, improved task efficiency, and measurable gains in AI literacy among learners and staff. You’ll leave with replicable tools, curriculum samples, and implementation guidance that can be adapted for workforce boards, community colleges, apprenticeship programs, and employer partners.

Siobahn Day Grady, Haley Hickman, and Christopher Lawson, NCCU Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Research

Across North Carolina, workforce, education, employer, and community stakeholders are working to address talent shortages in skilled trades while navigating fragmented systems, competing priorities, and evolving industry needs. This session explores a replicable approach to strengthen these pathways through cross-sector partnership and employer engagement. Using findings from Pathways Lab: Strengthening Skilled Trades Pathways in Charlotte as a case study, attendees will hear directly from philanthropic, industry, and workforce partners about how cross-sector collaboration strengthened employer engagement and identified strengths, barriers, and opportunities across the skilled trades talent continuum. Takeaways include practical frameworks, lessons learned, and actionable practices that communities can adapt to strengthen skilled trades talent pipelines.

Fontella McKyer, SchermCo; Noah Muscente, Charles Koch Foundation

Expanding work-based learning and creating fair chance pathways depends on one critical ingredient that is too often an afterthought: meaningful employer engagement. This moderated “how-to” workshop connects several strands of work into one conversation: fair chance employment, work-based learning, and employer partnership. The panel discussion explores what it actually takes to bring employers to the table and keep them there, with focus on how to design employer engagement strategies that are intentional and sustainable. Everyone takes home proven strategies for recruiting, engaging, and sustaining employer partners, a framework for making the business case to skeptical employers, replicable models, and practical guidance on aligning workforce system infrastructure to support employer engagement.  

Khalilah Olokunola and Greg Watkins, Jobs for the Future; Caroline Sullivan, North Carolina Business Committee for Education

What works in workforce development? Evidence from LEAD research shows that work-based learning (WBL) can be a remarkably effective method for improving the outcomes of job seekers with barriers to employment. We’ll present our findings that demonstrate the positive impact of registered apprenticeship and other forms of WBL on the employment and wage-earning outcomes of youth, dislocated workers, and justice-involved individuals in North Carolina. You can then use this evidence to make the case for WBL to prospective employers, job seekers, policy makers, and philanthropic organizations.

Andrew Berger-Gross and Jonathan Guarine, NC Department of Commerce, Labor & Economic Analysis Division (LEAD)

This session introduces a coordinated statewide outreach effort to expand awareness and participation in workforce programs, including among rural communities, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and justice‑involved populations. We’ll highlight the communications strategy of the Governor’s Council on Workforce and Apprenticeships and its emphasis on collaboration to help employers, learners, job seekers, and workers navigate available education and workforce pathways through unified statewide messaging. You’ll gain insight into how coordinated communication can strengthen workforce engagement statewide and how you can be part of the initiative.

Kristie VanAuken, NCWorks Commission

This workshop provides Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment (RESEA) practitioners with a proven framework to increase participant engagement, shorten time to employment, and improve measurable outcomes. Evidence‑based strategies highlighted include motivational interviewing, barrier‑identification models, and structured follow‑up systems that consistently help claimants reenter the workforce more quickly. You’ll explore real-world results from North Carolina RESEA pilots and leave with immediately usable tools and recommended workflows to strengthen local operations and produce more consistent, measurable reemployment outcomes.

Darrin Ballard and Karen Rowe, NC Department of Commerce, Division of Workforce Solutions

Work-based learning (WBL) plays an important role in connecting education, workforce development, and industry partners to support career readiness and talent pipeline development. This interactive session explores how North Carolina’s Work-Based Learning Resource Manual can be used as a practical tool to support alignment, clarify roles, strengthen partnerships, and guide implementation across systems. You’ll engage in collaborative discussions and activities focused on common challenges, including employer engagement, partner communication, and program implementation. You’ll gain practical ideas, resources, and strategies that can support stronger cross-sector collaboration and workforce-connected learning opportunities within your own region.

Amanda Dixon and Jeanne Turner, NCDPI - Office of Career & Technical Education

Here is the problem workforce professionals face every day: the people you are trying to serve - job seekers, youth, career changers, adults with barriers to employment - often show up already disengaged. They sit in the back row. They fill out forms without eye contact. They attend orientations because they have to, not because they want to. Meanwhile, the staff are at risk of burning out as they seek to engage people who do not seem to want to be engaged. This is not a motivation problem - it is an engagement problem - and the old rules for solving it are not working. In this interactive session, you’ll learn that engagement is a measurable metric on a spectrum, and you can learn to move people along that spectrum using specific, repeatable strategies. Take away some unique strategies that can work with your customers and your team.

Tom Krieglstein, Swift Kick Leadership

Digital literacy is the new essential skill for every North Carolinian, but the barriers to obtaining it vary greatly - from a justice-involved individual navigating reentry to a small-town farmer scaling an online business. We’ll feature the NC Digital Futures high-impact, replicable model for bridging the digital divide across the urban-rural spectrum. We move beyond basic instruction to showcase how providing access + equipment + tailored education creates measurable workforce outcomes. Takeaways include a Digital Inclusion Roadmap featuring reporting methods, curriculum ideas for specialized populations, and a strategy for building cross-sector partnerships with libraries and community organizations to scale impact.

Hannah Bradley-Cobb, Jeffrey Cates, and Kenneth Sherin, NC State/Cooperative Extension

The panelists will provide insights on how workforce development boards can form partnerships to better understand outcomes of workforce programs within their local areas. Evidence on effective workforce development programs is essential to increasing effectiveness, supporting advocacy, and increasing opportunities for external funding. You’ll leave this hands-on session with a deeper understanding of how to form relationships, identify sources of potential data, and develop potential research projects.

Will Dorsey-Eden, United Way of the Greater Triangle; Annie Izod, NCWorks Commission; Amanda McMillan, Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute; Jessica Sperling, Duke University Social Science Research Institute

What is the return on investment (ROI) of North Carolina’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs? Every day we hear inspiring participant success stories, but program data provides the quantitative evidence that completes the picture. In this session, we’ll examine the most current state data alongside labor market trends to understand system-wide impact. Together, we’ll explore who is being served, which training and services drive the best outcomes, what industries are hiring, how earnings change after exit, and the broader economic value of these outcomes for our communities. Using a three‑lens ROI model - community, productivity, employer - we’ll clarify the economic value WIOA generates across the state. To replicate these insights locally, you’ll receive a step‑by‑step ROI analysis guide.  

Geoff Smith, FutureWork Systems

How do communities build the workforce of the future while meeting employer needs today? STEMFest Greensboro shows what’s possible when workforce development, education, economic development, employers, and community partners align around a shared talent strategy. In just two years, STEMFest has engaged 10,000+ students, families, and educators and convened 70+ organizations across advanced manufacturing, aviation, healthcare, engineering, technology, and skilled trades – and has grown into a full workforce ecosystem. We’ll offer practical strategies you can replicate for employer engagement, partnership building, family outreach, and sustainable talent pipeline development.

Melissa S. Smith, Greensboro Chamber of Commerce

This session highlights the most frequent programmatic findings identified across Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title I activities during recent monitoring. We will discuss common findings related to redaction, supportive services, Individual Employment Plans/Individual Service Strategies, on-the-job training, and Work Experience. As we walk through typical compliance gaps, we’ll share how you can best prevent those findings during your next monitoring visit.

Felicia Gilmore, Zack Ledwell, and Fran Ponce-Toledo, NC Department of Commerce, Division of Workforce Solutions

When most people hear “Registered Apprenticeship” they picture electricians, plumbers, or construction workers. But apprenticeship has evolved far beyond the traditional trades into healthcare, education, information technology, finance, hospitality, advanced manufacturing, childcare, public service, energy, corrections, and countless other occupations. This interactive session challenges attendees to rethink what apprenticeship can be, while providing a practical framework for determining whether an occupation is apprenticeship-ready. Takeaways include a practical understanding of the core components of apprenticeship, how to identify characteristics that make occupations apprenticeship-ready, how to partner to develop new pathways, and strategies for serving priority populations.

James Disbro, Career Source Suncoast; Natasha Sherwood, Independent Electrical Contractors

This workshop presents an innovative and scalable outreach model designed to increase engagement, enrollment, and employment outcomes for veterans and other priority populations. Through strategic collaboration with community partners, this model demonstrates how consistent, structured outreach can transform service delivery and expand workforce access. You’ll gain insight into effective methods to track outreach, performance accountability, and strategies for documenting impact in alignment with state and federal workforce requirements.  And you’ll leave with a replicable outreach framework and actionable tools to enhance engagement, improve program visibility, and drive measurable workforce outcomes.

Andrew Dugger, Tremayne Gilchrist, LiliBeth Howell, and Tony Lambert, NCWorks Career Center - Cumberland County

Small and mid-sized businesses are the engines of local economies and are the employers most workforce development practitioners are working hardest to engage. Turning that engagement into lasting impact means helping employers build skills-based talent systems that make it easier to hire, advance, and retain workers. This session delves into how you can deepen employer engagement through a co-design approach grounded in discovery, worker voice, and practical implementation support. Drawing on actual experiences, we’ll examine how to move from identifying a talent challenge to delivering employer-owned tools, such as skills matrices, revised job descriptions, career pathway frameworks, and manager conversation guides.

Greg Watkins, Jobs for the Future

This session shares a partnership model that demonstrates how a state agency partners with employers to create long-term employment opportunities for people with disabilities. You’ll learn what makes these partnerships successful and how to replicate them in your own region to serve your priority populations. Practical tools and communication strategies will be shared so you can adapt and efficiently implement what you learn.

Kristy Silance, NC DHHS / EIPD

North Carolina faces a growing healthcare workforce crisis. Recent projections indicate the state will need more than 17,500 additional nurses over the next decade to meet the needs of its growing and aging population. Addressing these shortages requires stronger alignment between workforce development, education, and employer demand.
This session will explore how work-based learning strategies are helping build talent pipelines that connect individuals to high-demand healthcare careers, while supporting credential attainment and degree completion. We’ll share tangible outcomes, implementation strategies, and practical guidance that you can replicate to improve workforce system performance and meet employer demand.

Dr. Holly Myers, Davidson-Davie Community College; Preston Roseboro, myFutureNC; Sullivan Schenck, North Carolina Business Committee for Education

Attainment of the state’s workforce goals depends on students having access to intentional career development, high-quality advising, and meaningful work-based learning (WBL) opportunities. This interactive workshop highlights the NC Career Impact Pro training and certification for educators and how community and workforce partners can support this new tool, career development planning strategies, and relationship-centered partnerships to move students from career awareness to workforce readiness into future employees. We’ll outline how structured career planning tools, labor market data, career assessments, and employer engagement strategies through WBL increase student confidence, improve postsecondary decision-making, and fill current and future open positions, while building sustainable alignment between partner systems.

Amanda Dixon, Jeanne Turner, and Lenny Westmoreland, NC Department of Public Instruction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping workforce expectations, operational models, and the skills employees need to succeed. This session will provide a practical framework for preparing organizations and communities for AI-driven transformation.
You will learn how AI is already impacting hiring, workforce training, productivity, and organizational capability building across industries. We’ll focus on actionable strategies that workforce boards, community colleges, economic development organizations, and employers can implement immediately to improve workforce readiness and support long-term economic competitiveness. You’ll gain tools and frameworks to apply within your own organization to strengthen talent development and future workforce resilience.

Gerardo Kerik, WSI Digital Boost

Retention is a top challenge for employers. This workshop showcases how apprenticeships, when paired with intentional training design, improve retention, loyalty, and long‑term productivity of employees. We’ll examine data‑backed retention outcomes and learn strategies for building structured onboarding, ongoing coaching, clear advancement pathways, and supportive workplace cultures.  Using real case examples, facilitators will demonstrate decreased turnover and increased employee engagement when apprenticeships are leveraged strategically. Through hands-on activities and take-home worksheets, you’ll leave with practical tools to strengthen retention while growing a skilled, future‑ready workforce.

Halie Reed and Lee Anne Tourigny, Charlotte Water

FIRST Robotics is far more than building a robot -- it’s a hands‑on, K‑12 workforce development engine. Students learn to make design decisions, test ideas, and explore options. They collaborate under real‑world pressure, document their work in detailed engineering notebooks, and evaluate both successes and failures. Through competition, they build alliances, strengthen teamwork, and practice the skills employers value most. With funding declining, your support is critical. Join us to hear directly from students how robotics transforms them into confident problem‑solvers -- and how you can become an advocate for expanding these opportunities in your community.

Mark Case and student team, Guilford County Schools

This workshop provides evidence-based case studies on how career center staff can use data to drive decision-making to ensure NCWorks Career Centers operate efficiently, provide high‑quality customer service, and demonstrate value beyond Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) performance measures. In addition, data driven decision-making will provide leadership with immediate visibility into center operations, emerging issues, and performance trends. By combining operational metrics with WIOA measures, NCWorks Career Centers can tell a more complete, accurate, and compelling story of their value to the community - driving better service, stronger outcomes, and smarter decision-making.

Wendy Johnson, NCWorks Commission

Every workforce dollar matters, particularly amid funding uncertainty and increasing demands on workforce systems. Results for America (RFA) is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit that helps state and local workforce development professionals use evidence and data to advance economic mobility and connect customers to quality jobs. RFA will work with you to strengthen an upcoming grant or contract by embedding evidence-based practices that support job seekers in obtaining quality jobs. The session will be rooted in RFA’s publicly available toolkits, the Workforce Evidence-Based Spending Guide and Job Quality Playbook.
Important Note: Bring a draft grant or contract with you and the RFA team will help you refine it on the spot to maximize impact.

Kelsey Berkowitz and Tim Griffith, Results for America

This session looks at how workforce and educational organizations, employers, apprenticeship sponsors, workforce boards, and nonprofit partners can maximize existing workforce investments through stronger collaboration and strategic planning. You’ll learn strategies for leveraging resources, reducing service duplication, expanding outreach, and increasing participation in apprenticeship and workforce development programs. We’ll highlight partnership models that connect employers and job seekers with workforce resources available for veterans, dislocated workers, individuals with disabilities, youth, justice-involved individuals, and other priority populations. Attendees will gain practical approaches for increasing awareness, improving coordination, and strengthening talent pipelines through existing partnerships and funding streams.

Drew Long, NC Department of Commerce, DWS; Randolph Keaton, Men and Women United for Youth & Families; Jacob C. Rogers, Southeast Non-Profit Housing; Phillip Stykes, NC Department of Adult Correction

The battery and energy storage sector across North Carolina is diverse and growing. From employers engaged in lithium mining and advanced manufacturing to battery construction, the sector needs a broad spectrum of technical and professional skills.  Despite broad opportunity, barriers persist, including lack of awareness about the technologies and difficulty gaining necessary experience and credentials. We’ll lay out the many roles, skills, credentials, and degrees that are needed by different battery value chain companies, how to obtain these credentials, and where the gaps are – plus we’ll consider options for apprenticeships and other work-based learning to fill talent needs.

Kate Bashford, Appalachian State University

This session highlights proven, replicable strategies for engaging, hiring, and retaining military talent across North Carolina, drawing on the Veterans Bridge Home employer‑engagement model. We’ll explore how military skills translate into workforce‑aligned competencies and how intentional employer‑facing strategies improve hiring, retention, and advancement for servicemembers, veterans, and their families. The workshop showcases best practices such as structured mentorship, talent‑ambassador models, and skills‑based job descriptions. You’ll take away actionable tools, partnership frameworks, and implementation guidance adaptable for NCWorks Career Centers, workforce boards, chambers, and employer partners statewide.

T White, Veterans Bridge Home

• Access resume support, practice tests for WorkKeys®, and interactive tutorials.
• Guide job seekers through targeted skill-building for top industries and certifications.
• Learn to effortlessly navigate and share statewide workforce resources.

Devon Waugh, NC LIVE

• Why child care is an economic and workforce development issue
• How employers can help increase access to child care for their workers
• Resources for employers, economic developers, and workforce development leaders

Samantha Cole, NC Department of Commerce

• Interest assessments
• Occupational research
• Local labor market data

Aanchal Gupta and Jamie Vaughn, NC Department of Commerce, Labor & Economic Analysis Division (LEAD)

• Effective communication
• Workplace professionalism
• Time management
• Adaptability
• Goal setting
• Planning for career success

Sondra Hines-Yates, Central Piedmont Community College

• Communicate with clarity
• Build trust
• Support staff through shifting systems, new expectations, and daily pressures
• Keep everyone focused on meaningful outcomes for the people we serve

Kristy Silance, NC DHHS / EIPD

• Types of work-based learning
• Determining if WBL is a good fit
• Building employer engagement
• Helpful resources

Sonja Godsey, Capital Area WDB

Five steps to strengthen your outreach:

1. Know your audiences
2. Meet people where they already are
3. Create experiences, not just information
4. Work smarter with AI
5. Measure what matters

Tona Rowett, NENC Career Pathways