Non-Profit · Jobs For The Future (JFF)

When Policy Meets Practice

by Jobs For The Future (JFF)

The nation is facing unprecedented challenges in helping millions of learners and workers get their lives back-on-track. Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis have been particularly severe for the lower-income people who community colleges specialize in serving, and particularly for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous populations. For this podcast series, When Policy Meets Practice, Jobs For The Future (JFF) teams up with long-time higher education journalist Paul Fain to explore the critical role of education and workforce development policy in shaping the nation's economic recovery and renewal. In each episode, Paul speaks with community college leaders who serve on Jobs For The Future’s Policy Leadership Trust to lift up lessons about which policy approaches are producing results for workers, learners, and employers, and which policy approaches are falling short. The podcast highlights the most promising work in the field, with blunt takes on fast-moving policy questions, ranging from free community college to short-term Pell. Paul concludes each episode with a sense-making conversation with Jobs For The Jobs policy experts. The Podcast kicks off on June 21, 2021, with new 30-minute episodes every other Monday. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and connect with us on Twitter at @jfftweets. Tell us what we should cover by contacting the executive producer of the When Policy Meets Practice podcast, David Altstadt, via Twitter and LinkedIn.

Latest episodes

Showing 11 · updated from the feed

Career Navigation Policy and Best Practices for Today’s Learners and Workers

Faced with steep enrollment declines and growing competition, two leading institutions in postsecondary education and workforce development are making big changes to outd

Oct 13 2022
37 min

Saving the Lost Generation: How Career and Technical Education Can Put Today’s Youth Back on a Path to Success

In this bonus 9th episode of the miniseries, Paul Fain is joined by a distinguished panel of K-12 and college leaders to offer policy solutions for helping all young peop

Jan 18 2022
46 min

Dual goals of dual enrollment: Why policymakers and practitioners should emphasize equity and intentionality when providing high school students with opportunities to dually enroll in college

In this final episode of the miniseries, Paul Fain is joined by Marielena DeSanctis, president of Community College of Denver, and Leigh Goodson, president and CEO of Tul

Sep 26 2021
35 min

Hitting Reset on Transfer -- How higher education and policymakers can help more transfer students earn their degree and advance in today’s economy.

In this special episode, Paul Fain is joined by three members of the Tackling Transfer advisory board: Sharon Morrissey of Virginia Community College System, Elena Quiroz

Sep 12 2021
44 min

That’s Not What We Meant to Do: Unintended Consequences of Basing Higher Education Finance Models on Tradition Rather than on the Needs of Today’s Students

Host Paul Fain is joined by community college presidents Tonjua Williams of St. Petersburg College and Randall VanWagoner of Mohawk Valley Community College to discuss th

Aug 30 2021
27 min

What Adult Learners Need: Reforming the way Higher Education recognizes and supports skills development and career success

Host Paul Fain is joined by community college Presidents: Robert Vela of San Antonio College and Ajita Talwalker Menon of Calbright College to discuss the urgency and opp

Aug 16 2021
32 min

From Statements to Steps: Achieving Racial Equity in Education and Employment

Host Paul Fain is joined by Michael Baston, president of Rockland Community College; Janet Spriggs, president of Forsyth Technical Community College; and Cynthia Olivo, v

Jul 31 2021
39 min

Ladder Economics: The short and long game of Short-term Training policy

Host Paul Fain is joined by Monty Sullivan, president of Louisiana Community and Technical College System, and Anne Kress, president of Northern Virginia Community Colleg

Jul 29 2021
37 min

A Promise to What and For Whom? What it’ll take to get policy right on Free Community College

Host Paul Fain is joined by Russell Lowery-Hart, president of Amarillo College, and Bill Pink, president of Grand Rapids Community College, to discuss free college. They

Jul 29 2021
40 min

The Future of Community College: Key Policy Lessons from the Pandemic

Paul Fain is joined by Madeline Pumariega, president of Miami Dade College, and Marcia Ballinger, president of Ohio’s Lorain County Community College, to discuss how thei

Jul 29 2021
35 min

Welcome To Policy Meets Practice

Paul Fain previews the podcast series. JFF’s Lexi Barrett explains why policymakers should turn to practitioners to inform policy approaches.

Jul 27 2021
2 min