00:00 - Soak it up.

00:01 - Good afternoon, everyone. Can you hear me?

00:04 - Okay, just so, as you just heard, my name is Doctor Perry.

00:08 - I'm with the Commonwealth, Broadband Development Authority.

00:12 - and it is a pleasure to be here with you today.

00:15 - So I want to give you just a little bit of information about our panelists.

00:18 - Can you hear me?

00:20 - Okay.

00:21 - So I want you to welcome Jeffrey Roach.

00:23 - He is a heart leader is what he's known by a health care innovator.

00:28 - His leadership has shaped health care strategy and workforce development.

00:32 - With a BA from more Varian University and an executive certificate from Harvard.

00:38 - He's a force at Siemens Healthineers

00:42 - and am an advisor at the core education PBC.

00:45 - He also nurtures startups at a product X accelerator

00:49 - and influence his thought leadership at the Forbes Business Council.

00:53 - He's a dedicated father and humanitarian man, and he truly embodies leadership.

00:58 - Next we have Rafael Torres.

01:01 - He is a symbol of dedication and service in our community.

01:04 - He's a proud Marine Corps veteran who,

01:09 - Rafael's 30 year long journey has impacted

01:11 - veterans, families and incarcerated individuals.

01:14 - His enthusiasm is infectious and his skill shine in all capacities.

01:19 - For 15 years, Rafael's voice resonated through 91.3

01:24 - FM, Radio Central in Lancaster and touching many lives.

01:28 - so let's welcome them.

01:29 - Before we begin with questions, we do have a short video.

01:41 - the short video will be presented

01:42 - by the National Center for the apprenticeship degree,

01:45 - discussing the future of workforce development and skills needed.

01:58 - For me.

01:59 - Thank you.

02:40 - Just a moment.

02:43 - It is one of the workers on YouTube.

02:53 - Who appears?

02:55 - Yeah.

03:04 - You know, you,

03:06 - consider moments, or you want to like National.

03:14 - Is some person.

03:18 - Especially in LA location.

03:20 - Those are things that happen in production.

03:23 - used to happen to me when I was on 91.3.

03:26 - A firm in Lancaster.

03:28 - Oh, my God.

03:29 - And I was it many of us back in the day, we didn't have these long

03:33 - or big production crews, so I was the one answering the phone.

03:37 - But there we go.

03:54 - There are

03:55 - 160 million people in the American workforce.

03:58 - Two thirds of them do not have a college degree.

04:01 - Half of those say that they wish they did.

04:04 - They wish they had some type of credential.

04:06 - That means we have 50 million adults in this country

04:10 - who the promise of the American Dream didn't come to that.

04:14 - Instead, what we got as a country is $1.7 trillion in student debt,

04:18 - much of which is held by people who didn't finish the degree that they started.

04:22 - The U.S workforce is either stagnant, shrinking, or growing slowly.

04:27 - The workers that you need are not simply got going,

04:29 - going to be in the place that you've looked,

04:30 - the communities that you've recruited from, you've exhausted those.

04:33 - So now you need to look at communities that you haven't looked in before.

04:36 - So these are our communities of color.

04:37 - These are women.

04:38 - These are folks in rural communities, low income communities.

04:41 - We've got a really challenging time in our health care workforce.

04:44 - And the shortages that we're experiencing are truly at a crisis level.

04:47 - There are 11 million skilled vacancies in the United States workforce.

04:51 - We believe every single one of those could be filled by a talented person

04:57 - who is currently locked out of our labor market.

05:00 - That's why we're launching the National Center

05:02 - for the apprenticeship degree.

05:03 - We've always had this historic separation

05:07 - of work based learning, higher learning.

05:09 - I think one of the things that we have to grow

05:12 - a change from in America is that we make those two discrete things,

05:15 - and it makes people make the choice that they shouldn't have to make.

05:17 - Dinos are actually, unfortunately,

05:20 - faced with a pretty significant gap in terms of college credentials,

05:25 - the choice between a job and school is, dramatic.

05:30 - We have labor shortages in the same places where we have

05:33 - people who could fill those jobs, and only they didn't

05:37 - have to make that same choice between a job and a degree.

05:40 - I think we as a country have to imagine a world where that is not

05:44 - a choice anyone has to make.

05:47 - Imagine a world instead, where you could turn your job

05:50 - into a degree instead of the other way around.

05:53 - That is what the National Center for the apprenticeship

05:55 - degree is here to do.

06:01 - Oh, that was a little bit of a hello.

06:03 - Yes. Amazing.

06:06 - Anything you want.

06:07 - It was down on the G Street strip and chemical place closed and Bobby

06:14 - Brooks, the coal and company closed and people lost jobs.

06:19 - Some people had to move away.

06:21 - All of those things are gone now.

06:23 - Buildings on empty, buildings looking down.

06:28 - There is nothing here

06:31 - I am to want to.

06:33 - It was.

06:34 - I am the administrative assistant, a great university educational co-op.

06:39 - I'm here every day from 8 to 4.

06:42 - And then I leave here and go to the Boys and Girls Club from 4 to 7.

06:47 - My journey of becoming a teacher.

06:49 - I wanted to be a speech pathologist.

06:52 - My mother,

06:55 - Ghazi,

06:57 - my father called and said I needed to come home,

07:00 - that I could attend a university here.

07:03 - Mother would get sick. I.

07:05 - I would have to

07:07 - withdraw from school. Mother would get sick.

07:09 - I was over two years, so it just went on and on and on

07:13 - until she passed away.

07:16 - She has been a long journey.

07:18 - This is not even what I expected for my life to be a single bear

07:22 - and my kids father being incarcerated and no child support

07:26 - or any of those things coming in.

07:28 - So I knew that a four year institute would not work for me and my children

07:33 - at this point in my life, and a traditional teaching program,

07:37 - you know, you have to work a whole year for free.

07:40 - I just couldn't afford it.

07:42 - But I am a believer that everything happens

07:45 - for a reason, because the rich just dropped in my lap

07:48 - two years late, $78 a month, you get a four year degree.

07:53 - And I decided I knew what to do in words job and better learning job.

07:58 - You did it.

07:58 - Training is the best thing ever.

08:01 - You got to use my job. And it's, was

08:05 - towards my student teaching.

08:07 - I'm giving credit to my degree, and this is how it should be.

08:11 - and I'm getting paid.

08:13 - It is affordable,

08:15 - and it works with my life.

08:17 - I do think that Reach apprenticeship

08:19 - has the capability to cover more than just teaching.

08:23 - Wouldn't it be so great to allow these people

08:27 - to get this training and still get paid?

08:31 - Oh, it will be a whole new world.

08:33 - It would change thousands of people lives, if not more.

08:37 - I will be phenomenal when I graduate.

08:39 - I have one year, one semester left to go.

08:42 - I'll be teaching school.

09:04 - The video is approximately seven minutes long,

09:06 - so we wanted to show you just a brief, clip of it.

09:10 - and the YouTube link is also

09:13 - within the PowerPoint in the document.

09:16 - if you want that later, we can also provide that information.

09:19 - So today we're going to focus on encouragement, empowerment.

09:24 - in education this panel that has been put together today, is a reflection

09:29 - of Pennsylvania, the future economic growth that we're looking for.

09:33 - And we're going to talk about the skills that we hope to see in the next ten years.

09:37 - So the first topic, will be workforce trends and job readiness.

09:43 - And I will start with you, Jeffrey.

09:46 - So what are the current trends related to workforce

09:49 - employment and job readiness that you think are most important?

09:53 - Yeah.

09:53 - Well, I think,

09:55 - to Doctor Perry's point, right.

09:56 - This video

09:58 - is further evidence that we have a system

10:02 - that was really developed for people of white privilege.

10:06 - Not everyone has had the opportunity to go to college,

10:09 - and the movement within the National Center

10:12 - for the apprenticeship degree is truly all about,

10:14 - why should you have to make a choice between going to college or getting a job?

10:19 - Why can't you learn and earn on the job?

10:24 - And so when we look at the trends, particularly in the United States,

10:27 - you know, we are seeing record unemployment, right?

10:30 - But what we know is we still have people

10:32 - that are underemployed within many, many different industries.

10:36 - whether it's healthcare, whether it's advanced manufacturing,

10:39 - whether it's higher education, whether it's government,

10:42 - whether it's tech, we still see that across the board.

10:45 - And so I think what we're starting to see

10:47 - is these larger conversations to say, why is it that the United States,

10:52 - in the way that we are, don't have the same opportunities like Europe?

10:56 - So, for example, if you went to Europe,

10:58 - you could get a degree, learn on the job and be paid.

11:02 - And so, you know, when you think about moving equity

11:05 - forward from a workforce perspective, you can't do that.

11:08 - If you have a system

11:09 - that's set up where you have to choose between a job and going to college.

11:13 - and we all know, I had the opportunity to meet Tawanda.

11:16 - And when I met Tawanda, one of the things that she specifically highlighted to me,

11:21 - was that she was working, you know, as you saw there.

11:23 - And now she's working as a paraprofessional and she's earning,

11:27 - earning and learning to become a teacher.

11:30 - She couldn't do that in the current traditional system.

11:34 - And to think about that, she's paying $78 a month for tuition is profound.

11:40 - And so I think, Doctor Perry,

11:41 - what we have to do is we have to move more to an equitable system

11:45 - that allows individuals to really not have to make that choice.

11:49 - In her case, she's a single mom. I was raised by a single mom

11:52 - that's a nurse.

11:53 - And so I can remember my mom.

11:54 - You know what she had to go through as a single mom, as a nurse.

11:57 - I remember sitting there with her when she graduated with her associates

12:00 - degree, but I remember she came out of not automatically with debt.

12:03 - Right?

12:04 - Even community college graduates do, too, because she had to make that choice

12:08 - between learning and working.

12:11 - That's not something that everyone should have to make.

12:13 - We should absolutely have a choice where you can have that same opportunity

12:17 - and you hear it.

12:18 - I heard it

12:18 - so well from the former chief innovation officer at the Department of Labor,

12:22 - thank God, where he said, you should have the opportunity to do both.

12:27 - Thank you.

12:29 - And so, Mr.

12:31 - Torres, founder, work.

12:34 - I'm sorry.

12:35 - Working to empower for advancement

12:39 - people, for an advancement center.

12:42 - I think you have a unique perspective that we all want to hear

12:45 - about how organizations can adapt to the changing landscape.

12:49 - your experience, can speak to this,

12:53 - and and notice that I said people right.

12:56 - when I, when I speak to, when I'm advocating

13:00 - not just for the center itself, the physical building

13:04 - and what we're accomplishing or,

13:07 - will accomplish with the center,

13:10 - I keep reminding everyone

13:13 - that we need to focus all of our energies

13:16 - on people themselves and and,

13:19 - Jeffrey alluded to the, to the equity part.

13:23 - It's it's not just equality.

13:25 - Equality should be for everybody, but some of us need more equitable efforts

13:32 - to, to to help us

13:35 - to get towards that equality.

13:39 - for instance,

13:41 - there are some people right now that are coming to our center.

13:44 - They just need English as a second language, right?

13:48 - They already have skills.

13:50 - They come to our center with skills. Just last night.

13:52 - I'll give you a perfect example.

13:54 - What that means.

13:55 - We're having an English conversation class and we have been having it.

13:59 - It's free, open to the public.

14:01 - Come on Thursdays, 530 to 7 and let's have conversation.

14:06 - Right.

14:07 - Conversational settings in in a doctor's office interview.

14:12 - just telling us about yourself, where you came from,

14:15 - all those just different, different things.

14:18 - What we uncovered in my wife and I, she's

14:21 - my wife is watching me here, by the way.

14:25 - we knew that the skill sets that

14:28 - all of our communities need, whether it be, you know, Doctor

14:32 - Dance, you know, or someone to, to

14:35 - be employed at a particular job.

14:38 - We knew it was present in our community,

14:41 - but they kept asking me, where are they? Why?

14:46 - Where are they? Rafael?

14:47 - We don't see them. And I'm like, what do you mean you don't see them?

14:50 - I that's what I wanted to say to them.

14:52 - What do you mean you don't see them?

14:55 - They're here.

14:56 - The problem is that

14:57 - they're not looking in the right places, which is right in front of them.

15:01 - So last night, going back to the conversational English class

15:04 - and keeping it focused on people,

15:07 - there was a lady there and

15:08 - she has been attending for the last week with a master's in marketing.

15:13 - There's a gentleman from Dominican Republic.

15:16 - She was from Mexico, by the way.

15:18 - and here legally.

15:21 - And notice I said that right.

15:23 - Legally.

15:27 - a master's in marketing.

15:29 - The other gentleman legally here living in our hometown,

15:33 - is a dentist

15:37 - with.

15:38 - And he showed me his actual doctor,

15:42 - Hosea Gabriel.

15:44 - Yeah. He's there,

15:47 - but he's not where he needs to be.

15:51 - He's actually at Walmart at the at the shoe department

15:55 - in our local Walmart store.

15:58 - But we didn't know who he was.

16:01 - And I've been to this Walmart so many, so many times.

16:04 - And I know I probably passed them every time I went there

16:06 - because the food sections right by the shoes.

16:09 - All right.

16:10 - That's where the women tend to hang out.

16:14 - and but but without having an

16:17 - actual space to engage people, how would I have known that?

16:22 - the guy at the Walmart shoe department is in

16:25 - has an actual doctor.

16:28 - when Covid came, Jeffrey and I,

16:30 - have had, work in relationship, for a while,

16:34 - because we keep crossing these workforce development paths.

16:39 - I remember them.

16:40 - Call me at home, and I say them business owners, politicians.

16:44 - Rafael, I need 21, individuals to come work at the prison.

16:50 - Rafael, I need 500 for my company.

16:53 - So I had I had of.

16:55 - Listen,

16:57 - I kept telling them

17:00 - politely, because that's the other part, right?

17:03 - You have to speak truth.

17:05 - Whether whether

17:07 - whether they like it or not.

17:09 - Just be respectful, but speak truth.

17:12 - And I kept saying, they're here.

17:14 - They're here.

17:15 - They are here.

17:17 - What do you mean, they're here? They're here.

17:19 - The problem is, you want them at the warehouse. Is.

17:22 - The problem is you want them at the restaurants.

17:25 - The problem is that you want them to do

17:27 - all these menial labors that you don't want to do.

17:31 - But you

17:31 - keep telling me that you need somebody, and I keep telling that they're here.

17:36 - You see where where it comes from.

17:38 - And then I really got I really got ticked off

17:42 - when the, the news media splash,

17:46 - the essentials and the non-essentials.

17:50 - Well, you remember that part, the essentials.

17:54 - And then who was in the essentials group?

17:56 - It was your health care workers, bless them,

18:01 - who serve the

18:05 - country.

18:05 - The Postal service.

18:08 - But they were talking about the service related folks,

18:12 - the pole trees, the warehouses and so forth and whatnot.

18:17 - They two were also essentials, so we're only essentials

18:21 - when it's convenient for them.

18:27 - We have to speak

18:28 - the truth is now the other thing I keep going on and on.

18:32 - Right.

18:33 - we got we got to organize, we got a strategy, guys.

18:36 - We can't just be, you know, all over the place.

18:40 - That's when my wife and I got together over

18:42 - many fireside chats because we couldn't go nowhere.

18:46 - And I said, are we going to continue being chronic complainers

18:50 - or are we going to be doers?

18:51 - Because when you're a doer, then you're in a position of power and strength.

18:56 - And what is our doing? Action.

18:59 - And I said, we need a safe space

19:02 - to do this long overdue work.

19:07 - Thank you.

19:09 - we have plenty of time.

19:13 - So when I hear the two of you talk, we met prior to our panel discussion

19:17 - and looked over what we wanted to really convey to the group today.

19:22 - I hear both of you talking about the intentionality,

19:25 - and what needs to be done, not just intentionally, to meet the needs

19:28 - of the government, or those lawmakers that are making those laws.

19:33 - But the intentionality to meet the people where they are.

19:36 - and I think that's very important.

19:37 - So as a Commonwealth employee, we constantly deal

19:42 - with the political red tape that is prohibits us from serving.

19:46 - So we need individuals, like Raphael and Jeffrey in the community.

19:54 - the next topic.

19:57 - I want to show some light again on Raphael.

20:00 - So you have plenty of time to talk.

20:02 - I want you to share about how you've impacted how you have been able

20:07 - to circumvent the red tape,

20:10 - or at least tell truth to power.

20:13 - with the numbers and impact reports.

20:16 - I just had a conversation with Jeffrey.

20:18 - He was asking me how far ahead, how how's it going?

20:21 - As it's going all right.

20:24 - We gotta keep being doers, regardless of what

20:27 - our obstacles and or challenges are.

20:31 - remember when I went back and I said, we have to organize?

20:34 - I asked my wife for ten years.

20:36 - Well, I got the ring to prove it.

20:39 - I asked for a lifetime with her, but I asked her for a ten year commitment

20:44 - to get the center established.

20:48 - And then she said, she says to me, but why ten years?

20:51 - I don't think we can or

20:53 - I'm going to quit, you know, because that that comes out in conversation.

20:57 - I said, well, I can't quit now.

21:00 - ten year commitment.

21:01 - But why?

21:02 - She I remember her vividly asking me why.

21:04 - I said, and I responded to her mighty well.

21:06 - How long you been here in this city, your birthplace?

21:10 - And has it changed?

21:13 - You know what she says to me?

21:15 - I've been here for a long time, and I'm not going to tell her age,

21:20 - but it's been five decades.

21:28 - That's okay.

21:29 - I'll take my lumps.

21:33 - I do have a shed now.

21:35 - She told me it was five decades and I asked, in those five decades,

21:39 - has it changed for you in this community?

21:43 - And she said,

21:45 - this little

21:47 - I said, well, that's why I need ten years.

21:49 - Because what you're saying to me is this is generational.

21:54 - This is being done on purpose, and it's not one sided.

21:58 - And I'm sorry.

21:59 - Don't don't start throwing papers at me if I if I'm speaking truth.

22:05 - Doctor Martin

22:05 - Luther King said this silence is betrayal.

22:08 - We cannot blame all of our problems on someone else.

22:14 - We have to take at least half.

22:18 - I'm asking for you and for myself

22:21 - to accept 50% of the culpability.

22:25 - Because if you just sit there and you blame the other person,

22:28 - you know what you're actually doing.

22:30 - You actually given up your power to somebody else to do

22:33 - whatever the heck they want to do.

22:36 - That's why I asked her for ten years now,

22:39 - after asking her for ten years, I said, I said,

22:43 - I remember saying to her, don't give me an answer right

22:46 - away, let's talk it through.

22:47 - But once we commit, we can't back out.

22:51 - And then I have to give her a plan.

22:53 - And I had to give her a plan. What it looked like.

22:56 - I said, well, that's going to take a lot of research

22:59 - because a lot of people are going to be asking those questions,

23:01 - and we want to be able to have reliable sources

23:04 - and not ain't TikTok is an Instagram or Facebook or any of that.

23:09 - You actually have to do research.

23:10 - You have to speak to people. You have to listen.

23:13 - It's not even about you speaking.

23:15 - It's about you. Do more listening.

23:18 - Okay, what's the one year plan?

23:21 - After she said yes, I said, look, this is what it's going to look like in

23:24 - one, three, five, ten.

23:29 - Give me the ten years.

23:31 - This is what it's going to look like in ten

23:35 - if we do not reach our three year mark.

23:38 - And it had dollar signs on it.

23:40 - By the way, I asked for $4.5 million to all of my politicians

23:45 - and donors and business owners to establish the center.

23:50 - We started it with our own money and our own efforts,

23:53 - and I was asking for $4.5 million,

23:57 - but I had to show them, or at least give them an idea

24:01 - of what it's going to look like in one, three and five and ten years.

24:06 - And I told Maribel, my wife, and I said, look, if in three years

24:09 - people are not calling us

24:12 - and the needle isn't coming our way, then we might as well just close the doors.

24:17 - I said that to her,

24:20 - and I'll tell you what, folks.

24:22 - I heard in the room over, over,

24:25 - breakfast in our lunch.

24:28 - We got to keep working at it.

24:31 - We got to speak it into existence.

24:34 - That's the these numbers that you see in there.

24:37 - We knew what the problem was

24:40 - because we took the time out

24:42 - to actively listen to people,

24:46 - 60% of our folks right now,

24:48 - we don't we've only been open to, since August 2023.

24:52 - so we've been active for a little over six months or so.

24:57 - 60% of the folks that are coming to our actual center, 11

25:00 - in Pennsylvania, are unemployed.

25:04 - But if you look up on on the top of the chart,

25:08 - of all participants live in our county,

25:11 - they were serving 72% of them live within the city limits.

25:15 - 40% of them only have,

25:18 - that's fine.

25:19 - 40% of them, are non high school graduates.

25:24 - You know, I could have been one of those high school graduates.

25:27 - Remember, Jeffrey said that his mom was a single mom and a nurse.

25:31 - My mom was not a nurse.

25:33 - My mom barely had a fifth grade education level.

25:37 - She came from from

25:38 - Puerto Rico, from the southern part of Puerto Rico.

25:42 - She fell madly in love at 16 with my dad

25:46 - and who also was 18, didn't have a high school diploma.

25:50 - Then they start having kids,

25:52 - and then my dad doesn't like my mom and my mom doesn't like my dad.

25:55 - And then it's just chaos for the next 50 years of our lives.

26:01 - And then my mom sitting there with five kids,

26:04 - fifth grade, level Spanish education, no English.

26:09 - What type of job does she have?

26:11 - Yeah, she was cleaning toilets, doing the manual work,

26:15 - getting paid $2.25 an hour.

26:19 - And then Rafael was the oldest one.

26:20 - So guess what?

26:22 - I was the part time husband for her.

26:27 - I was the translator.

26:30 - I was the

26:32 - breadwinner at 13,

26:36 - working on the farms to bring money home.

26:40 - I almost became a high school dropout.

26:44 - I stayed in school.

26:45 - The only reason I stayed in schools, because somebody in the Marine Corps

26:49 - recruiting center said, get over here, boy, what you doing here?

26:53 - And I told him,

26:53 - I said I wanted to quit school because I want to support my families.

26:58 - Those things that I'm speaking of the same thing

27:02 - as Jeffrey and all of these, fine folks that are doing wonderful work throughout.

27:06 - Not just in the US, but everywhere.

27:09 - We're still going through the same struggles,

27:12 - and it's getting worse

27:14 - because we're constantly being ripped apart and disconnected

27:19 - by a smart dummy phone.

27:23 - you know, the the, the minds of, of our community

27:26 - members are so have been so entrenched and so shunned.

27:34 - And I use that word a lot when I speak to

27:36 - some of my politician friends and some of my donors, the shunning of

27:42 - what ends Inshun

27:45 - intimidation, discrimination,

27:50 - annihilation.

27:53 - The shunning of fact.

27:56 - So we need beacons of light, like a center like this,

28:00 - where we're serving 152 individuals with employment services.

28:04 - Everybody gets coached that,

28:07 - you get welcomed at the door.

28:11 - Cuanto latino aqui?

28:13 - Whereby posse

28:16 - and whereby as an expression of joy,

28:19 - we want people to be excited when they come in through our doors.

28:23 - That's why we intentionally have colors.

28:27 - So no one gets left behind.

28:30 - We have to circle.

28:33 - It's the table.

28:35 - Come in the circle.

28:37 - Everything that we do has to have purpose and intent.

28:42 - Said $4.5 million, right.

28:45 - And Jeffrey doesn't know this year,

28:48 - in we've only

28:50 - been a nonprofit for three years.

28:54 - The first year we spent it on getting our friends

28:58 - together to believe in this center.

29:02 - And then by the first year,

29:05 - we got seed money of $750,000

29:09 - to buy this building.

29:12 - And we've been active for three years.

29:16 - And I know for a fact that we're getting close to

29:21 - passing $4.5 million,

29:25 - but you got to do it in stages.

29:27 - You have to be organized.

29:29 - You have to have a plan.

29:30 - You have to recruit and be accepted.

29:34 - Think of your community as a whole.

29:38 - Maribel said to me, you will not do a Puerto Rican center,

29:41 - even though Lebanon, the city itself, is 45% Hispanic,

29:47 - and those are the people that are allowing the census

29:50 - takers to come in and knock on the door and give up the information.

29:54 - So we know that it's well over 50%.

29:59 - So a city in

30:00 - itself that's over a half Hispanic is coming up

30:04 - with all of these numbers, and we need to do better for them.

30:08 - So I wanted them we wanted them to be able to come through our door and be inspired

30:14 - by our infectious, infectious enthusiasm.

30:19 - Even though we're getting shot and beat up all the time.

30:23 - That's what Wepa is.

30:25 - I want you to be excited.

30:26 - I want you to see people

30:27 - screaming and shouting and music playing and everything's a party.

30:31 - As my executive director, she's an honorary Puerto Rican.

30:35 - She's a VIP.

30:40 - So the director of the center

30:43 - is not even Puerto Rican.

30:44 - Well, she's an honorary Puerto Rican, but for real, she's not. Okay.

30:47 - Limit is our executive director.

30:50 - But why, Rafael? Why did you hire a white woman?

30:53 - Sorry. No offense,

30:55 - but isn't Wepa Hispanic Center?

30:57 - No, it's a center for everybody.

30:59 - Work.

30:59 - We're working to empower everybody, all people, to keep moving forward,

31:04 - to advance.

31:06 - That's what we're biased.

31:10 - That's what these numbers are telling us.

31:13 - And all I needed was a chance to show them,

31:17 - to prove it to them.

31:20 - And and, you know, I mean, I could be here all day

31:23 - just talking about all this, but everything matters, folks.

31:27 - You remember that tagline smarter, smarter.

31:32 - You know, it was blue Lives matter.

31:34 - Black lives matter wherever.

31:35 - And then I started screaming.

31:36 - Everything matters.

31:38 - Everything matters.

31:41 - Okay.

31:42 - She does all.

31:44 - Thank you.

31:45 - Rafael.

31:45 - We, definitely wanted to highlight, whether before,

31:50 - because of the ability to replicate.

31:53 - And so one of our questions, Jeffrey,

31:56 - as you've been working with Rafael, cultural adaption and organizations,

32:01 - how can you

32:03 - how can organizations learn about the cultural adaption as needed?

32:07 - How can they make those changes within the community?

32:10 - but also include the community itself?

32:15 - I think obviously, you know, to Rafael's point,

32:18 - the first thing you have to do is really intentionally listen.

32:21 - And what I have learned and, you know,

32:24 - Rafael probably will speak to this at some level is,

32:28 - when I served in Lebanon

32:30 - County, and lived in Lebanon County, one of the things I learned

32:35 - having grown up in the Poconos was, you know, I came from a community.

32:39 - That's where I was born and raised and in the Poconos.

32:41 - You have to keep in mind that what most people don't real about realize

32:45 - about the Poconos is that it went through

32:48 - complete cultural transformation in a very, very quick amount of time.

32:52 - And it's not done.

32:54 - it went

32:54 - through a time in the 1990s when I was in grade school,

32:58 - when the Ku Klux Klan marched through, right by my school,

33:03 - all the way to all the diversity, changes that have been incredibly positive

33:07 - for that area with New York, you know, people moving from New York City

33:10 - and New Jersey and changing that dichotomy of that community.

33:14 - And what I saw in the Poconos and I don't I will never, describe

33:18 - is it being perfect? You'll never hear me say that.

33:20 - But what I saw in the Poconos was more, of purpose

33:23 - and unity than what I saw in Lebanon County.

33:27 - what I saw in my time in Lebanon County was if you weren't from there,

33:30 - first of all, you're never going to be a part of it.

33:32 - you don't have a voice because you're really not from here.

33:35 - You don't understand it.

33:35 - But that was not from the Latino community.

33:38 - That was from really my people.

33:40 - unfortunately,

33:42 - and, which I hate to

33:43 - even say, my people, because it's difficult to say I'm part of that.

33:46 - But the reality of it is, is that, to your point on on that

33:51 - what I found in Lebanon was it was important for me

33:54 - to get into leadership roles in the community

33:57 - so that I can help get other people to the table, and

34:00 - hopefully not just get them to the table, but allow them to rock that table over.

34:04 - And I can remember, as Rafael knows, I served on the Lebanon County,

34:08 - United Way board for many years, and it was a very painful process

34:12 - and very painful time to serve, because so many of those board members

34:15 - really had no understanding of the needs of that community.

34:19 - Yet so many of them were viewed as community leaders in that community.

34:24 - And when I started to push that, we diversified the board.

34:28 - Some of them said, what's the difference?

34:30 - We're going to give out the amount of money

34:32 - we want to give out anyways, whether they're there or not.

34:35 - And so I pushed and said, well, then we should at least have an advisory board.

34:38 - If you're not going to be willing to diversify, get other voices here.

34:41 - Let's get other people.

34:42 - And to Rafael's point, he will remember this

34:45 - when we during Covid, for example, in Lebanon County,

34:49 - we're looking at the regional impacts of Covid.

34:53 - I specifically said to all the decision makers who are funding

34:56 - that you have got to get the voice of the community,

35:00 - and it has to be that diverse voice of the community in Lebanon.

35:04 - To them, it was okay if we got one voice of the Latino community,

35:09 - which often was one business in the city, Raphael will know it well, one business,

35:13 - and that's the voice they would go to.

35:14 - Didn't matter.

35:15 - Every time they thought that voice spoke up.

35:17 - All of Latinos and Latinas in the community.

35:20 - And I said, no, we're going to get Raphael to the table.

35:23 - And I remember it fondly because they were working on this,

35:26 - and I felt it was important to bring other voices to the table.

35:29 - But that's not how it should be.

35:31 - It shouldn't take a white person of privilege

35:34 - to get other people to the table.

35:36 - That's a problem.

35:37 - It should be inclusive.

35:39 - And I look at those quote unquote leaders who obviously have not intentionally

35:43 - listened, who obviously have not worked to really lift up the community,

35:47 - to do that.

35:48 - And, you know, I think to Rafael's point, his his message

35:52 - on organizing and staying at this is incredibly important.

35:56 - When I look and work nationally, you know, you have a time and I'm not going to.

36:01 - I'm not going to get political here.

36:02 - But you have a time in the United States where you have the most inclusive,

36:07 - the most diverse administration in history.

36:12 - The Kennedy family yesterday said.

36:14 - And if you look at the stats, this is true.

36:16 - This is the most diverse an ever number of judges of diversity,

36:20 - number of people appointed.

36:22 - The fact that you have the first transgender

36:24 - assistant secretary of health from Pennsylvania, by the way,

36:27 - in the administration, the first time you have a Latina as a small business

36:30 - administrator who's lived the struggles of what it's like to run a business

36:35 - as a small business, but yet so many people aren't

36:38 - understanding what that means to the overall system.

36:42 - And so I think we have we have a lot of work to do in this space.

36:47 - But I think it's really that idea as as you heard me say,

36:50 - we can't just get people to the table.

36:51 - We've got to redevelop that table.

36:53 - We have to really ensure.

36:55 - And one of the things

36:56 - that I'm frustrated about, and we spoke about when we came together

36:59 - is, you know, we're at a time nationally where you may have even seen it today.

37:05 - for example, there

37:05 - was a, North Carolina unk, one of the biggest institutions.

37:09 - Now, the state I live in,

37:11 - the North Carolina board made a decision to eliminate diversity

37:15 - as part of their intentional efforts as an institution.

37:18 - Well, why are they doing that?

37:19 - Because the government,

37:21 - legislature in that area said, well, if you don't do that,

37:23 - we're going to strip all your funding and you'll have no funding.

37:25 - So we're going to take it away.

37:26 - So we're at a time in the United States where, again, we politicize,

37:29 - we weaponize diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

37:32 - We haven't realized the actual impact yet.

37:35 - If you look at the studies, why even people leave organizations a bad loss

37:39 - and B

37:39 - they don't feel like they belong there, they don't have a voice,

37:41 - they're not valued, they're not appreciated.

37:43 - Yet we're going to take it away.

37:45 - And so we have to really stay very focused and intentional,

37:50 - and we've got to use our voices and we've got to encourage

37:52 - those that are allies to actually use their voices, too.

37:55 - You can't be an ally if you're going to sit on the side and not say something.

37:59 - You've got to be an ally. Use your voice and be loud.

38:03 - Be, sorry.

38:08 - the I's now called working to empower everybody.

38:13 - All people to advance.

38:15 - That's what the I's called.

38:16 - Weber.

38:20 - And now, for real.

38:21 - And it is it?

38:22 - My executive director knows that, the latest,

38:26 - the the folks that we're serving at our center,

38:31 - in February, 48% of them were non-Hispanic

38:35 - coming to the epicenter.

38:38 - 52% of them were Hispanic.

38:41 - So almost a 5050 split.

38:44 - If if I would have went with my heart, which was to establish a queen.

38:48 - I love Puerto Rico. Where.

38:51 - But for real, like all out, I would have started

38:55 - a Puerto Rican center, or I would have, started a Hispanic center.

39:00 - But my wife said no, because

39:02 - the community as a whole needs us.

39:06 - They need our talents. They need our skills.

39:09 - The community needs, to learn

39:12 - from our experiences, our resiliency.

39:17 - And if we continue to put

39:18 - labels on people and labels on things,

39:23 - all we're doing is just creating more and more barriers,

39:28 - which is why this country is in, in the situation

39:33 - that it is nationally where they just trying to rip us all apart.

39:37 - And that's the conquer divide syndrome.

39:39 - We can't feed into that.

39:41 - So I don't lean to the left, I don't lean to the right.

39:45 - And I tell my politician friends, I'm not playing the hokey pokey.

39:50 - We ain't shaking it all about we can.

39:53 - We can dance salsa if you want.

39:55 - We can dance the blues or whatever.

39:57 - I have the space, but we ain't doing that.

40:00 - So let's not talk about

40:03 - politics and religion because you're not going to like my answers.

40:06 - So let's focus our efforts on people, period.

40:10 - Embracing them, encouraging them, equipping them.

40:16 - That's where the real power lies, and that's what they're afraid of.

40:23 - Thank you.

40:23 - Rafael, that's so valuable.

40:26 - you and Jeffrey both are talking about something that I think is key.

40:29 - If you build it, they will come.

40:31 - And that's.

40:31 - That's what I hear when I hear you speak.

40:34 - When we talk about cultural adaption for organizations,

40:38 - what are some key takeaways that you have learned in your organization

40:43 - that helps implement that in the Latino

40:46 - population?

40:54 - that times can be tough to answer

40:58 - because sometimes we're not a prophet in our own lands.

41:02 - When I when I spoke to Doctor Perry and Jeffrey when we were meeting,

41:07 - I was talking about and I'm not trying to get religious on anybody here, but I

41:12 - there there are many times that I feel like Daniel

41:15 - in the lion's den.

41:19 - Because those

41:20 - lions sometimes look like us.

41:25 - Those lions

41:28 - sometimes are in our own homes.

41:34 - There are own family members.

41:38 - It's not even.

41:40 - Sometimes it's not even people from the outside.

41:42 - They just join in the club.

41:45 - So you have to be.

41:48 - You have to have.

41:52 - You have to be conscious of that,

41:55 - you know, to be able to reach to everybody.

41:58 - I'll be honest with you.

41:59 - And don't please the Hispanics in the room.

42:02 - Don't get mad at me.

42:03 - But this is true.

42:06 - You, you know, you

42:08 - you put your heart and soul into a business and you establish it.

42:12 - And guess what?

42:13 - Your own people won't even support you.

42:16 - They'll be the first ones to criticize you.

42:19 - They'll be the first ones not to show up.

42:21 - They'll be the first one to sit there and say, I could do it better.

42:27 - Right.

42:27 - And then they'll do it right next to you, right in front of you.

42:32 - And then after they establish themselves right next to you,

42:35 - right in front of you, then they start getting really nasty, right?

42:39 - So yeah, I see a lot of head shaking.

42:41 - Sometimes it gets even to this where they pull one of these, until you get out.

42:46 - Go on, go on.

42:47 - Moving forward, a lot of that mentality hasn't changed.

42:52 - But we have to be steadfast.

42:54 - And what we do and in our case

42:58 - is that, for instance, the center needs to look like

43:01 - the community that we're serving, right?

43:02 - Not just specifically for our Hispanic folks,

43:06 - but everything that we do as leaders have to be intentional.

43:10 - So the executive director that came,

43:13 - she's the one that needed to be in that position.

43:18 - Same thing with the janitor,

43:20 - you know, same thing, with our part time staff.

43:24 - if you go to our center, you know, there's Hispanics

43:27 - there, there's African-American, there's white American, you know,

43:31 - the 65 year old white

43:35 - American maintenance guy.

43:38 - You know what he told me the other day?

43:40 - He said, Rafa, you've been the best boss

43:45 - ever in my life.

43:48 - And I would work for free for you.

43:51 - But you're not letting me work for free because you keep telling me to clock it.

43:56 - He doesn't.

43:56 - You want a clock in?

43:57 - He just wants to work with me.

44:02 - Thank you.

44:03 - Rafael. So we. We have about five minutes.

44:06 - four minutes.

44:08 - As you can see.

44:11 - this panel is very passionate, so I want to make sure,

44:14 - even though we didn't get to each of the topics,

44:17 - I think the information that was shared here is valuable.

44:19 - So I want to give both of you the opportunity,

44:23 - to share about a time when diversity and workforce development

44:26 - intersected in your community and what that has meant for you.

44:34 - You know, I think,

44:37 - I mean, the best time that I can certainly think about, really was,

44:40 - when I met, Raphael and Maribel,

44:43 - and heard their vision, for the center.

44:46 - You know, I knew as a, as a board member

44:49 - for that regional workforce board that, to me,

44:54 - it was the best initiative that would help move the region forward.

44:58 - But I also knew that knowing that region and knowing that county

45:02 - and knowing some of those leaders

45:03 - that to Raphael's point, they would they would play, politics,

45:08 - because they have a history and a legacy of ignoring

45:11 - what truly is happening, in that community.

45:15 - And they have the benefit of the majority of the county,

45:18 - you know, not being in the city.

45:20 - Right?

45:20 - I mean, the reality of it is, is that the other parts of the county

45:24 - don't really know what's happening in the city.

45:26 - They're not experiencing the city.

45:28 - They may go and have dinner in the city. But if you look at the stats,

45:30 - they're actually not going into the city very often.

45:34 - And so, for me, it really was that that important element

45:37 - of, of doing what was simple to me, which was to introduce him,

45:41 - to the executive at the workforce Board, because as a board member, my my feeling

45:46 - I was in Lebanon County, represented, appointed by the board of commissioners.

45:49 - you know, I had a the bully pulpit, at least to try and be thoughtful,

45:53 - try and be, sensitive and listen to what the needs were.

45:58 - That's certainly, the story that comes to mind.

46:01 - for me, I will say, from a national perspective,

46:05 - certainly as somebody who who goes across the entire country now and territories

46:09 - included, in this work, I'm incredibly encouraged to Raphael's point

46:14 - that I'm seeing more, desire to really build community, in this space.

46:19 - And I think this, you know, summit is a great example of that.

46:22 - And I think George Fernandez, his own story, is a great example of that.

46:25 - But we've got to really make sure people, to Raphael's point, are at the center.

46:30 - And for the corporations, they have to keep people,

46:33 - at the center, and government has to keep people, at the center.

46:37 - And whether it's profit or non profit,

46:41 - you've got to keep people at the center.

46:43 - I've sat in enough nonprofit rooms and boardrooms, and seen

46:47 - they're not keeping people, at the center.

46:50 - And certainly the for profits have their work to do as well.

46:53 - And so that's what I would share from my perspective.

46:56 - Thank you.

46:56 - Jeffrey Raphael.

47:00 - Can you tell us about a time when diversity and workforce development

47:03 - intersected in your community and what that has meant for you?

47:08 - The diversity is not just being Hispanic.

47:11 - Diversity comes in in many different forms.

47:14 - It is also being a woman.

47:15 - It is also being, you know, Hispanic or a veteran or someone that's homeless.

47:21 - It comes with all kinds of different classifications.

47:25 - my regular day job before I put on my Superman cape

47:28 - and fly around town, I work for the Department

47:31 - of Labor and Industry, and I'm the Veterans outreach rep.

47:35 - the go to guy in this whole county,

47:39 - that if the veteran needs a job,

47:42 - needs resources, needs support, needs guidance.

47:46 - He comes to me, you know,

47:50 - and so.

47:53 - I see it every day.

47:56 - in my bio, I was a corrections officer after I left the Marine Corps.

48:00 - I was working in the county prison, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania,

48:04 - for approximately six years.

48:06 - So I saw that aspect.

48:08 - I worked for the Department of Human, services, which is the welfare

48:12 - office, as a case manager for 13 years.

48:16 - So I saw the dependency model.

48:19 - after that, I took a break.

48:22 - you know, just I just got tired.

48:24 - Sometimes you get so overspent serving people, right?

48:27 - Because they just suck,

48:30 - your soul and your life from you, right?

48:32 - That you need to regenerate, recoup.

48:35 - And then, so I took a hiatus, and then I came back.

48:40 - I was the postal mailman.

48:42 - I worked for the postal service.

48:45 - but then the state called me back to work

48:46 - with veterans, you know, homeless, incarcerated, and you name it.

48:50 - So diversity every day crosses,

48:54 - and, you know, I'll be honest with you, with the center.

48:57 - Now, I have, center piece

49:00 - where, I don't have to feel like that Superman,

49:03 - but I have a go to place that I can trust that we built.

49:07 - And I have an awesome team that's working with people, and it's available

49:11 - to help that 69, 71 year

49:14 - old white male that was looking for work, and he kept getting rejected

49:19 - from all the employment agencies and all around town.

49:22 - And then he comes to WEP on a Tuesday, and then by Thursday he has a job.

49:28 - And Friday he comes to the center.

49:30 - He says, thank you.

49:34 - This is home.

49:36 - This is a place for me.

49:38 - This is a place for everyone.

49:41 - Thank you for putting it together.

49:45 - That's again.

49:46 - That's where the real power lies in.

49:49 - Thank you, Jeffrey, for putting me in front of the crowd that I needed to be in

49:56 - and not to throw anybody on the bus.

49:57 - But a lot of those folks that Jeffrey introduced to me,

50:01 - they still haven't helped me yet,

50:04 - but I haven't given up.

50:05 - And we're not going to give up.

50:08 - And I will say this keep keep up.

50:11 - You have to speak it into existence.

50:13 - Keep organizing, keep planning.

50:16 - if if everything works out in September of this year,

50:19 - we're going to open, we're going to renovate, floor of our center.

50:23 - And, we'll be providing health care trainings for medical assistant

50:28 - nurses, assistants, phlebotomist, dental assistant, health care office physicians.

50:35 - In September.

50:37 - And and we'll have scholarship, monies

50:40 - so that folks don't have to sit there and take tuition dollars.

50:44 - So all they have to do is show up

50:47 - and put in the time and put in the effort.

50:50 - And I think my executive director says we have enough funding for 80,

50:55 - 88, zero.

51:01 - A who's not going to get excited for that?

51:05 - And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

51:09 - So, I hope I answered your question.

51:12 - I probably went on other, rabbit holes and tangents, but everything matters.

51:17 - It it all ties in after a while.

51:21 - No, Rafael, I think, again,

51:22 - even though we made our plan, obviously, I'm from a counseling background,

51:27 - so if you've ever heard Ride a Dragon, and so we just rode a dragon today.

51:32 - One final question.

51:34 - for both of you, either a motto or ongoing inspiration.

51:39 - what is your call to action?

51:41 - or model for life?

51:47 - Yeah.

51:48 - I mean, I think I certainly share, you know, with you

51:52 - certainly the importance of, what you heard Raphael's

51:55 - talk about, passion and perseverance.

51:58 - But I want to share with you,

52:00 - this as well, because as I think about the work,

52:03 - certainly that Raphael and others are doing,

52:07 - I would I would just remember, this quote and you could say

52:12 - you can insert person instead of child, but but as I heard it, it was.

52:16 - Which child?

52:17 - when I look at the work of, for example, that video, what comes to mind for me

52:21 - as a child educated is a family elevated and a generation liberated.

52:26 - And I think when we look at, the work that, the weapon is doing,

52:31 - whether it's a start, a child, an adult, a student,

52:35 - when you have the

52:36 - opportunity to give them, education and training,

52:40 - when you think about the impact that that does to their family,

52:43 - to Raphael's point, this is really the social determinants of health

52:47 - is is really systems thinking.

52:49 - This is really systems changing.

52:52 - And certainly when you look at the impact to the generation, certainly it becomes

52:56 - not only liberating for the generation, but it becomes truly transformational.

53:00 - And so I would just share that with you, that at this point, we have to really be

53:04 - thinking about how you change the system and really make it more equitable.

53:09 - that's the work that all of us are called to do.

53:12 - And I'll tell you that if you ever have a chance.

53:14 - I had the recent opportunity with it, with a group of civil rights leaders

53:18 - to, visit and tour

53:21 - in a private tour that Martin Luther King Jr,

53:24 - Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, and see, you know,

53:28 - unfortunate place that the ending of Doctor Martin Luther King's life.

53:32 - But when you go there, what you see is the true facts of the civil

53:36 - rights era, the real history, of the civil rights era.

53:40 - And what you see there so much is what we all are called to do,

53:45 - which is to doctor or to Raphael's point, we are to organize.

53:50 - We are to act.

53:52 - We are to lift others up,

53:54 - to make it better for all.

53:57 - And so I would just share with you that you use your passion,

54:00 - use your perseverance,

54:02 - and you hear Rafael say, there are many times

54:04 - I can remember in conversations with him where you could tell

54:06 - he was like, oh my gosh, this Lebanon County.

54:08 - But the reality of it is that he didn't give up.

54:10 - And I'll tell you why he didn't get up.

54:11 - Give up because he had his wife there pushing him.

54:13 - That's the real reality.

54:15 - She had somebody there pushing him.

54:17 - And so everyone needs to have that person there that's going

54:20 - to push you, encourage you to never stop what you're doing.

54:25 - You just

54:25 - might call to action, actually wrote it down. So,

54:29 - it is for for everyone here to embrace learning.

54:33 - I'm always learning in all the spaces.

54:37 - I only have a high school diploma.

54:41 - They didn't get to finish college

54:43 - or tried, but life got in the way.

54:47 - But the key was to, you know, not you got it.

54:50 - Please be intentional in continuing,

54:54 - to learn, even if it's a bad situation.

54:57 - Get a lesson out of it.

54:59 - Don't don't sit there and focus on what went wrong.

55:02 - But focus on what what you could have done better and do.

55:06 - And when you get a chance to do it again the next time to do

55:10 - so, cultivate being, adaptable.

55:14 - So in our logo, based on a three hour interview

55:17 - with the designer he talked about or I talked about being flexible.

55:22 - So there is an actual wave action, in our logo.

55:26 - We don't want to be stagnant.

55:27 - We want to be like the running waters flowing.

55:31 - oh. And Jeffrey mentioned, advocacy.

55:35 - So we need to advocate for inclusive,

55:38 - practices in the workplace.

55:40 - But in our community as a whole, that way, it ensures that everyone,

55:46 - no one gets left behind and that we have access to opportunities

55:49 - for personal and professional growth.

55:52 - So God continue to keep pushing

55:55 - regardless of what's out there.

55:59 - So when I think of,

56:01 - this has been an amazing opportunity,

56:04 - it has been my pleasure to sit and be your moderator.

56:08 - any questions?

56:09 - I think we're out of time. Correct.

56:11 - So we're out of time.

56:12 - But, I'm sure that Raphael Jeffrey will be willing to answer questions afterwards.

56:17 - Thank you, everybody, for coming.

56:33 - It's.