Corean Reynold was recently appointed the Director of Nightlife Economy for the City of Boston, where she brings a wealth of experience and a passion for fostering an equitable and thriving nightlife ecosystem.
10/04/2023
6:00pm - 7:30pm
Roundhead Brewing Company
Don’t miss our upcoming Government Affairs Forum with Massachusetts State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg. Register now!
10/11/2023
9:45am - 11:00am
Bank of America
Learn about new ways of utilizing the professional apprenticeship model to create diverse, sustainable, and scalable talent pipelines.
10/12/2023
10:00am - 11:30am
Edenred
Designed for mid-level managers and supervisors, this new certificate program addresses workplace well-being through unique, innovative, and actionable methods.
Join our Transformational DEI Certificate! Our comprehensive learning & development offerings are designed to connect and grow strong leaders who lead both inside and out of the office.
Our Women’s Leadership Program enables you to take your leadership to the next level by arming you with the most in-demand leadership toolkit.
Our Boston’s Future Leaders (BFL) program provides emerging leaders with a socially conscious and civically engaged leadership toolkit, as well as the opportunity to apply their knowledge through experiential assignments.
Our Economic Inclusion Committee provides strategic support around research, policies, and programs that are focused on building equal opportunity.
We are developing an ecosystem of corporations and partners with the influence and buying power to transform economic inclusion for minority business enterprises (MBEs).
The Fierce Urgency of Now Festival brings Boston’s diverse young professionals together with business leaders, organizations and their peers to build connection, advance careers and ignite positive change.
09/12/2023 -
09/16/2023
Greater Boston
City Awake empowers young professionals in a variety of ways that encourages these rising leaders to stay invested in the region’s future success.
BIMA (the Boston Interactive Media Association) serves a vibrant community of like-minded professionals from agencies, brands, publishers, and ad-tech companies with business interests in the New England market.
For nearly 30 years, the Chamber’s Women’s Network has connected female professionals of all background and career levels. Today, our Women’s Network is the largest in New England, strengthening the professional networks of women each year.
The Massachusetts Apprentice Network convenes employers, training providers, and talent sources interested in developing and implementing apprenticeship programs in occupations across industries and statewide in fields such as tech, advanced manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and more.
We support small business through public policy initiatives, events designed to connect small businesses in Greater Boston to their peers and established business leaders, professional development offerings, and free small business advising.
Explore our mission and values to better understand how we are leading the business community forward.
Our member directory is your resource to discover, connect, and engage with Boston’s businesses from every industry and sector.
June 11, 2021
The Massachusetts Business Coalition on Skills (MBCS) and the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education (MBAE) Affiliate Network, submitted testimony to the Joint Committee on Education in support of H.691/S.351, An Act expanding high school student access to earn industry recognized credentials. MBAE brought this bill to the legislature and worked with Representative Jeffrey N. Roy and Senator Eric P. Lesser, co-chairs of the Advanced Manufacturing Caucus and champions for equitable skills development, to file it. The MBCS – a coalition of 27 diverse business organizations from across the state that advocates for equitable skills development policies – and the MBAE Affiliate Network – comprised of 37 chambers of commerce and industry associations from across Massachusetts – support these bills because they expand opportunities for high school students to earn industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) that are tied to labor market demand and high-wage jobs.
Employers across the Commonwealth struggle to fill open positions with employees that possess the skillsets required for employers to run or expand their businesses successfully. Meanwhile, far more students want access to career-connected study than our current high school system allows. Integrating education and career, by making IRCs more accessible to high school students, will help build career-aligned high school pathways to good jobs or higher education and close this skills gap by ensuring that the education our students receive aligns with the skills needed to be successful in the workforce.
Labor market alignment is key to the value of IRCs and closing skills gaps, but right now, Massachusetts has low alignment between the credentials earned by high school students and the credentials in demand among employers.[1] This is troublesome because the state’s employers report that one of the clearest indicators of the whether a high school graduate is hirable is if they possess an in-demand IRC.[2]
H.691 and S.351 offer a dynamic solution to closing the skills gap by annually prioritizing IRCs with high employment value that are recognized by higher education institutions and respond to changing regional labor market demands. In turn, the prioritized IRCs can guide students toward high-wage and in-demand careers while also assisting employers in their efforts to identify job candidates that possess the skills needed to succeed.
Investing in and fostering the talent of our future workforce will keep Massachusetts a global competitor and create new opportunities for residents and businesses alike. Data-driven efforts to expand access to IRCs, like the one outlined in H.691/S.351, will work to close the skills gap, address labor market demands, and provide students with career pathways toward high-wage and in-demand jobs.
READ THE TESTIMONY.
[1] ExcelinEd and Burning Glass Technologies. September 2020. Credentials Matter Phase 2: A 2020 Update on Credential Attainment and Workforce Demand in America.
[2] Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. May 2019. Ready for Work: Leveraging the Madison Park Talent Pipeline.
James Sutherland, PhD
Director of Policy & Research
[email protected]617-557-7312
Popular Resources