That was the headline in a press release issued on October 15. Referencing and appending Montgomery Moving Forward’s Call To Action: Fueling our Future with Skilled Workers and Good Jobs, County Executive Leggett said, “We need to meet the talent attraction, development, and retention needs of strategic industries in the County. We must better address the needs of the unemployed and the underemployed. And we need to develop career pathways that lead to sustainable wage jobs, support a thriving economy, and strengthen the County’s tax base.”
Both County Council President Leventhal and Councilmember Floreen expressed urgency and enthusiasm for this initiative “to wholly revamp the County’s workforce development efforts.”
Everyone involved with MMF, a program of Nonprofit Montgomery, is now seeing the direct results of 2+ years of learning, organizing, advocating and leading a community-wide conversation on how best to train and match residents with the good jobs of the future. This is a step towards significant system outcomes and there is good reason to be optimistic.