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About - Work Force Development - Career Profiles - Career Resources - In the News

About the Project

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced a grant of $260,160 to WVIZ/PBS ideastream for the American Graduate: Getting to Work initiative to help advance education and career readiness locally. Of the 19 PBS stations receiving grants, Ohio was awarded a statewide collaborative grant. WVIZ/PBS ideastream will partner with WOSU in Columbus and CET in Cincinnati to assess workforce challenges and opportunities, and produce content focused on the essential skills needed for students and workers to succeed in the job markets of today and tomorrow.

The three stations will coordinate and collaborate to share resources, content, events, distribution networks and services for a deep impact statewide effort to address workforce development through broadcast and digital media.

The American Graduate III “Getting to Work” initiative represents the next phase of public media’s success during the past six years forging community connections and innovative partnerships to help improve student outcomes.  The American Graduate III “Getting to Work” initiative strives to assess workforce challenges, highlight opportunities for growth, and produce content and egagement events focused on the essential skills needed for students and workers to succeed in the job markets now and in the future.

Through local engagement with business and community leader support, ideastream is reaching out to job seekers (16-26 years old) and the job influencers in their lives to address the skills gap, which is the difference between in-demand, high potential occupations and a workforce ready and willing to enter them.

Previous Highlights

Talking Jobs with CEOs

In this series, we talk with CEOs of Ohio companies who rely on a well-trained workforce. We explore well-paying and good growth positions that require post-secondary education but not necessarily a college degree.

Watch on-demand now.

Talking Jobs with Ohio's Next Governor

Talking Jobs with Ohio's Next Governor was a live digital forum featuring Ohio's leading gubernatorial candidates, Richard Cordray and Mike DeWine. The candidates appeared individually in back-to-back segments and were allotted 45 minutes each to interact with young Ohioans and respond to their questions and comments about education, workforce development and job creation. In conjunction with Corporation for Public Broadcasting's American Graduate initiative, Talking Jobs with Ohio’s Next Governor provided a rare opportunity for young adults across the state to engage with the leading candidates in this year’s Ohio gubernatorial race.

Watch the event on-demand now.

Celena Roebuck
Community Engagement & Education Manager
Email | 216-916-6436

Gloria Skurski
Chief Education Officer
Email | 937-220-1645

Brent Davis
Chief Content Director - Arts, Life & Culture
Email | 614-247-2454

About - Ohio Collaborative - Work Force Development - Career Profiles - In the News

ideastream will partner with WOSU in Columbus and CET in Cincinnati to assess workforce challenges and opportunities, and produce content focused on the essential skills needed for students and workers to succeed in the job markets of today and tomorrow.

The three stations will coordinate and collaborate to share resources, content, events, distribution networks and services for a deep impact statewide effort to address workforce development through broadcast and digital media.

Celena Roebuck
Community Engagement & Education Manager
Email | 216-916-6436

Gloria Skurski
Chief Education Officer
Email | 937-220-1645

Marcelita Haskins
Chief Content Director Learning and Public Engagement
Email | 614-514-9867

A unique school-to-work program in Cleveland that trains Steelworkers for the Future.

About - Work Force Development - Career Profiles - Career Resources - In the News

The Career Path Taken Zoom Series for middle school and high school students is a series of pre-recorded Zoom sessions with young adult guests over the age of 18 who have pursued careers in IT, manufacturing, health care, or construction while in high school.  The interviews allow young adults to reflect upon their high school experiences and through that reflection provide helpful information to assist students with their experiences.  Viewers are invited after the sessions to interact with the guests through Gmail, TheCareerPathIT1@gmail.com.  Post-program questions may be related to seeking more information about career paths, building your course schedule, seeking scholarships, understanding program expectations, seeking early job placement opportunities, and gaining access to credentials earned through the training programs. The Career Path Taken Zoom Series also describes where the career path has taken them now--to a four-year degree, apprenticeship program, a two-year degree, and/or other programs and employment.

Information Technology (IT Career Field): Kobe Ballard with Host, Hannah Bradley, Cleveland Heights-University Heights Video Media Production student. 

Media Technology (Arts & Communication Career Field): Carolyn Bajzer shares her career path in a high school Media Technology program and discusses IT crossovers in the program in this recorded Zoom interview (approx. 60 minutes in length).

-Frank Austin is an 18-year-old with a remarkable story of career focus and determination despite some barriers in his life. This is Austin’s story - his clear vision and work ethic inspires all who hear it.

Explore our career profiles using the video playlist below. Click on the  icon to change videos.

Check Out These In-Demand Career Sectors

There are some great job opportunities in Northeast Ohio. Through data collected to analyze the availability of jobs by geographic areas of the U.S. (Labor Market Information), these are some in-demand career sectors showing the greatest number of unfilled jobs and predictions of future job growth; Manufacturing & Advanced Manufacturing, Construction & Engineering, Information Technology and Health Care. To gain an insider view of these in-demand careers, ideastream has made a collection of videos from Public Media across the U.S. for you to view below.

1. Manufacturing & Advanced Manufacturing
2. Construction & Engineering
3. Information Technology
4. Health Care

Careers in Advanced Manufacturing Technologies
Five possible career paths in advanced manufacturing technologies: design and development; production and quality assurance; inventory and distribution; health, safety, and environment; and installation, maintenance, and repair. (by WGBH)

Automobile Manufacturing Technology & Programmable Logic Controllers
Examine the skills and education necessary to secure a career in advanced manufacturing technology.  Practice solving problems using logic to analyze truth tables and learn how math is used in programmable logic controllers. (by WVPB)

Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Careers
Engineers explain new materials development and the special systems they must create to manufacture these new materials. (by STEM Career Labs)

Manufacturing | Career Explore Northwest
In this series of videos, professionals in the manufacturing industry disscuss how they got their jobs, why they love working in manufacturing, what their day to day tasks look like, and the college and career experiences that led to them to their field. (by KSPS)

Manufacturing Medicine | QUEST
This series discusses how scientists are using synthetic biology to quickly, and inexpensively, manufacture artemisinic acid, a precursor to the drug artemisinin, which treats malaria. (by KQED)

Career Gates: Manufacturing
A discussion by various employees of Rexroth, Just Born Candy, Coca-Cola and Martin Guitars or what their jobs and responsibilities are. (by WLVT PBS 39)

Exploring Careers in Manufacturing
If you like working with technology and doing something where there is a physical product at the end of the day, then maybe the manufacturing industry is for you! (by SciTech Now)

Advanced Manufacturing | Degrees that Work
The program features a group of manufacturing students, who possess the hands-on, high-tech skills desired by manufacturers. (by WVIA, Pennsylvania College of Technology)

The Manufacturing Process | What's Up in Factories?
The manufacturing process involves taking raw materials through a variety of steps to produce a finished product. Having an efficient manufacturing process greatly affects the cost of the product to the consumer. (by Alabama Public Television)

Career Connections | Lean Manufacturing Manager
Watch a young manager as he describes his role at a major US company and explains how his large family, rural upbringing, engineering education, and college internships all paved his way to a successful career. (by Career Connections)

New Trends in Manufacturing | What's Up in Factories?
New trends in manufacturing include processes such as built-in quality, kaizen and kanban as part of the innovative concept of lean production conceived by Japanese automotive manufacturers. This video demonstrates new manufacturing trends in a Alabama Honda Manufacturing Plant. (by Alabama Public Television)

KIA Motors Manufacturing Georgia | Fast Forward
This version is admittedly simplified. It summarize the process, starting with steel coil and finishing by shipping a brand new car out the door. All of these steps are conducted by skill-trained workers. (by GPB)

Careers in Plastics
Learn about career opportunities in the plastics industry in this video segment adapted from Pennsylvania College of Technology and WVIA.  (by WGBH)

Hot Jobs: Advanced Manufacturing's High Tech Career Paths | Science Matters
Thanks to Advanced Manufacturing — the making of products using cutting edge technology — factories all over the United States are undergoing some exciting changes. (by Science Matters Community Ideas Stations WCVE)

Biomanufacturing Supervisor
Hear from a Biomanufacturing Supervisor about the challenges and opportunities he faces in his factory workplace, which assembles retractable safety syringes. He explains that all assembly equipment is software driven, and that machine operators need to know how to run the program. (by WGBH)

Welding Supervisor
Learn about her workday of Welding Supervisor and her responsibilities in a part of the plant called body weld. While robots make 97 percent of the welds used to build vehicles in this plant, she explains that humans are needed to oversee the operation.(by WGBH)

Nanoengineering and the Scientific Method
Learn how the scientific method is used in the field of nanoengineering and about the career of researcher. The scientific method is used by a researcher in nanoengineering to develop new sources of energy.Examine the skills and education necessary to secure a career in advanced manufacturing technology. (By WGBH)

Contemporary art is scattered all around Northeast Ohio this summer as part of the FRONT International Triennial. In some cases, you might drive right past it. In others, you have to know where to look. We visit a handful of exhibits in Cleveland, Akron and Oberlin.

We asked ideastream listeners and viewers to share their memories of Blossom Music Theater as Northeast Ohio celebrates 50 years of great music at the summer home of the Cleveland Orchestra. Here are just a few of the many memories you shared with us. 

During a visit to the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center on August 8, 2018 Dr. Norman (Ned) Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute, sat down with ideastream’s Kay Colby. The discussion centered on challenges related to cancer care across the nation, as well as some key issues to address in the quest to accelerate progress in cancer research and treatment.

Part One: Workforce Development

One challenge stems from the nation’s aging population, often referred to as the Silver Tsunami, and the fact that risk of cancer increases with age. According to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), by 2030 the incidence of cancer in the U.S will increase by 45 percent creating the need for more oncologists -- especially those trained to care for elderly patients.

Part Two: Clinical Trials 

In the last two decades, cancer researchers have come to appreciate the fact that cancer is a collection of hundreds or even thousands of different diseases resulting from countless numbers of DNA mutations in cells. Clinical trials have had to evolve from those that treated single diseases to those that tackle the complexity of cancer. This has given rise to treatments that target specific DNA abnormalities in a patient’s tumor. The director of the National Cancer Institute says this era of “precision and personalized medicine” calls for revamping the system of conducting clinical trials to test new drugs in ways that account for this new paradigm of treatment.

Part Three: Big Data

Developments in cancer care remain hampered by the fact many hospital record systems are incompatible and not designed for research. Therefore, the ability to learn about factors in individual patients that may help or hamper his or her prognosis often lies buried in unharnessed piles of data. Dr. Norman (Ned) Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute, says this generates a great need to create infrastructure to mine the benefits of “big data.”

Chapter Four: Continuing Moonshot

In his State of the Union Address in 2106, President Barack Obama appointed Vice President Joe Biden, who lost his son to brain cancer, to lead an initiative known as the “Cancer Moonshot” to help accelerate progress in cancer research and treatment. The Moonshot program spotlights the need to speed up “translational research” in an effort to move scientific discoveries in the lab to timely clinical applications at the bedside. The 21^st Century Cures Act enacted by Congress in December 2016 is currently funding many research grants to scientists and clinicians from the National Cancer Institute under the Moonshot program. Dr. Sharpless says that the NCI has some 50 grant announcements on its website now.

As part of our You First! election coverage, ideastream's Nick Castele was joined by Sam O'Leary, the president of the Lakewood City Council; Eric Moorer with the Northeast Ohio Young Black Democrats; and Diane Morgan from the Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus. They discussed a range of issues that are on the minds of young left-leaning voters.

Student debt, according to Sam O'Leary, was preventing young professionals from buying houses, starting families, and choosing to pursue lower paying non-profit jobs rather than corporate work. Eric Moorer said young African-American voters care about issues of violence and Black Lives Matter concerns. They also spoke about poverty, inequality, and access to healthcare. 

Our next You First! Live will be Thursday, September 20, at noon with young Republicans and conservatives via Facebook and Twitter.