Senator Al Franken
Senator Al Franken hosts a “Career Pathways Summit” in St. Paul this morning. Franken aims to shed light on ways of combating Minnesota and that nation’s “skills gap”–which has employers scrambling to find skilled workers for a variety of jobs.
Franken will be joined by more than 350 educators, business leaders, policy leaders and students from across the state. Franken says he’s introducing legislation next week The summit will highlight several successful state school-business partnerships that are helping give students opportunities to train for good-paying jobs that don’t necessarily require a four-year degree.
The summit grew out of Franken’s “Advancing Career Pathways Tour” conducted in 17 communities across Minnesota in the past six months. During the tour, Senator Franken and his staff examined the innovative ways Minnesota high schools and community colleges are partnering with local businesses to expose students to career possibilities in manufacturing, health care, high tech, and other industries struggling to find workers.