Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

Count me among the group who believes that college is oversold and job training for careers that require gritty soap are under-respected. Unfortunately, during the past several years, fly-by-night profiteering programs that offer federally backed loans have gotten far too large a market share in job training leaving prospective trainees without work and saddled with debt and the profiteers with full pockets. What’s the solution?

The NYTimes offered one way out of the woods in “Job training That’s Free Until You’re Hired is a Blueprint for Biden”, and article by Steve Lohr that describes a model developed by Social Finance. Social Finance is described on its webpage as a nonprofit

dedicated to mobilizing capital to drive social progress. We bring uncommon partners together around a common purpose: to measurably improve the lives of those in need.

Through a set of outcomes-based financing strategies called Pay for Success, we work to disrupt the status quo, shifting mindsets to align resources with impact.

As described in Mr. Lohr’s article, I would offer this prosaic description: Social Finance matches employers seeking skilled workers with prospective workers seeking skills that will yields higher pay. And based on my own prejudices for cooperative work-study and an emphasis on the work-ethic in a team setting, I see this model as a great way forward. As much as I wish major corporations would offer their own in-house training programs and wish that schools could create the kinds of networks that Social finance can create, I don’t foresee it happening any time soon. One of the key elements of the job training described in this article is mobility. That is, there is no assumption that those getting training in, say, Ohio, will work in that state. And though Mr,. Lohr does not say as much, it is evident that those who sign on for training enter knowing that this might be the case. As one who moved frequently as a youngster and as an adult, I see no problem in moving from one community to another. But as one who did extensive consulting in rural communities, I can also appreciate why some people would be very unsettled in moving from their home town to a community of strangers.

Will this work to scale? It will if the higher-minded mission of Social Finance works— that is if workers seeking higher wages are willing to shift their mindsets to align their opportunities with where the work is…. AND… employers are willing to align their compensation so that workers feel assured that their commitment to relocation is worthwhile.