WorkingNation logo with the tagline of "Covering the Future of Work"
DONATE
Search
wnart
Tags   
Tags 

Amplifying workforce development solutions at JVS Strictly Business L.A.

At the JVS Strictly Business L.A. Awards Luncheon, WorkingNation Founder and CEO Art Bilger spoke about the proven career training programs from JVS SoCal and their significance to a national conversation about skills training.
By Matt Parke
-

Calling structural unemployment “the most significant issue facing our nation,” WorkingNation Founder and CEO Art Bilger connected workforce development solutions happening in Southern California to those happening across the United States.

“This time it’s about the heart of America,” Bilger said in his keynote address at the 21st Annual Strictly Business L.A. Awards Luncheon on Thursday.

Speaking to a crowd of hundreds representing event hosts JVS SoCal, its partners and supporters, Bilger brought attention to the national trends that are shaping the future of work, the theme of this year’s Strictly Business L.A. event.

Technology, a rapidly-aging population and an insufficient education system are contributing to a potential crisis that could leave millions of Americans without the skills to obtain 21st-century careers, according to Bilger. The shift in skills is accelerating and workers without equitable access to training will be unable to adapt without fundamental changes to society and the education system.

Bilger said that the U.S. must change its focus away from traditional notions of K-12 education to a more flexible system accessible to learners of all ages.

Art Bilger at JVS Strictly Business L.A. Awards Luncheon talking about workforce development solutions.
Art Bilger delivered the keynote address at Strictly Business L.A. Photo – JVSSoCal via Twitter.

“Lifelong learning is a theme we, as a society, must follow,” said Bilger.

Bilger’s remarks were part of the networking event celebrating the work JVS SoCal and its partners have done to change the lives of unemployed and underemployed people in Los Angeles.

Through the JVS BankWork$®, ApartmentWorks® and HealthWorks® career training programs, JVS SoCal continues to deliver skills to low-income and underserved communities. These accelerated programs are free for all participants, who go through eight weeks of technical and soft skills instruction which prepare them for entry-level careers.

“JVS is doing exactly the types of things we’re trying to identify and tell in stories,” Bilger said.

Bilger gave an overview of WorkingNation’s mission to inform the public about the changing nature of work through our compelling video content and original reporting.

Beginning with our animated short “Slope of the Curve”—which was screened ahead of Bilger’s speech—and continuing with the “FutureWork” and “Do Something Awesome” series, Bilger said that our content amplifies solutions like JVS BankWork$ for a national audience.

Following Bilger’s keynote address, the crowd was treated to a screening of the 18th episode of the Do Something Awesome series “Banking on Your Future” which focused on the success stories of two JVS BankWork$ graduates, Jerry Walker and Janet Romero. Both Walker and Romero have found new careers with City National Bank and Bank of America and spoke at Strictly Business L.A.

RELATED STORY: JVS BankWork$ delivers quality workers for the banking industry

Walker, who introduced the JVS BankWork$ mini-documentary, has climbed the career ladder since joining City National Bank in 2016 and is now a Relationship Banker, helping source new business through his extensive customer-service training. Where once he held down two jobs and rarely saw his three children, he now has economic independence and keeps a regular schedule.

“It was a privilege to share my story, knowing that it might contribute to greater awareness and increased opportunities for people facing the same barriers that left me in such despair in the not so distant past,” said Walker.

Romero, who was hired as a Client Services Representative in May, juggled long commutes and minimum-wage work while going through JVS BankWork$ in early 2018. She spoke about her experience along with three other recent graduates who worked hard to make a better life for themselves and their families.

Janet Romero shared her experience going through the JVS BankWork$ program.
Janet Romero at JVS Strictly Business L.A. Photo – WorkingNation

The quality of the workers produced by JVS BankWork$ and the reliability of this program to source and train a diverse group of candidates has resulted in this solution being brought to scale with a national version of BankWork$ available in 11 cities.

JVS graduates’ ability to make an in immediate impact for their employers was hailed by the winner of the JVS Corporate Partnership Award, Steve Solk, the President of Consumer Banking for CIT/One West Bank.

“These are your future leaders,” Solk said.

Join the Conversation: What do you think about the future of work and accelerated career training programs? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

Related Articles
Get the latest from WorkingNation
DONATE
Terms of Use
Privacy Policy
Our Mission
Contact Us

© Copyright 2024 by Structural Unemployment, LLC dba WorkingNation

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.

Share Bio