DATE: Wednesday, January 27, 2020 
Time: 2:00-3:00PM (Eastern Time)

Please join in celebrating the culmination of the Minds that Move Us (MTMU) Adult Career Pathways Design Challenge!

Launched in 2018, the challenge focused on the creation of bold, sustainable career pathways approaches for low-income adults (aged 26+) for a chance to win $100,000 in prize money. 

Over 115 teams applied from around the country and were narrowed down to 10 semi-finalists that pitched their diverse concepts to a panel of experts judges and live audience.  Now it is time to bid farewell and celebrate the teams’ rich and timely lessons learned, which are shared in the MTMU Toolkit: A Collection of Place-Based Solutions for Future Adult Career Pathways Models.  

During this engaging discussion, you will hear from the teams that participated in the challenge and the project’s key partners—IEL, COABE, and NASDAE—as they discuss how to use the toolkit’s key principles of being adaptable, removing barriers, and maximizing potential to innovate within adult career pathways, even during a pandemic. You will also hear from adult education practitioners who are using the principles to address barriers to online learning, equity inclusion, and other issues exacerbated by COVID-19. 

With a unique blend of leadership experience in education, real estate and banking, Alicia Bolton brings a passion for building equitable solutions that drive impact for youth and adult learners. She oversees the Minds that Move Us Adult Career Pathway Design Challenge at the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL).  Through this challenge, ten cross-sector teams from around the country were selected to design innovative career pathway programs for low-income adults who need postsecondary education and industry skills to start and/or advance in a career.  Prior to joining IEL, Ms. Bolton served at the district level, as the Director of Career Education for D.C. Public Schools, and at the national level, as a Policy Advisor for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career Technical and Adult Education. Ms. Bolton is a thoughtful leader with a track record of successfully  managing complex projects and budgets, designing older youth and adult career programming, leading and developing people, and strategically partnering with stakeholders to advance innovative and  equity-driven solutions that create mobility for learners in under-resourced communities. 

DATE: Thursday, January 28, 2020 
Time: 2:00-3:00PM (Eastern Time)

This webinar will be two parts: first, explaining trauma and its effects and second, learning what we can do to teach in a more trauma-informed, empathetic way. We’ll discuss what causes trauma and what a traumatized student may look like. We’ll discuss how to make classrooms and instruction more trauma-informed. As teachers, we need to know who our students are, where they come from, and what’s going on in their lives. Whether it’s from physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; severe neglect; being a victim of violence or witnessing violence; abusing drugs or alcohol; being in a home where drugs or alcohol is abused; being in a single parent home, whether from divorce, incarceration, or an unwed mother; weather events; or automobile accidents, the effects of trauma greatly affect our lives. Becoming trauma-informed will help us to understand where some of our students are coming from and explain possible causes of behaviors and abilities. 

Andrew M. Strehlow has taught Adult Education in some capacity since 2003, and serves as the current Adult Education Director for Rankin County Adult Education, located in Brandon, MS. Prior to working full time with Rankin Adult Education, he worked for 15 years at Mississippi State Hospital. He started as a Patient Education Instructor where he developed curriculum for various populations, such as the child and adolescent unit, chemical dependency units, and MSH’s Jaquith Nursing Home. Additionally, he served as the Staff Training Coordinator in the Staff Education Department teaching and training patients, residents, and staff the importance of trauma-informed care. He makes his home in Brandon, MS, with his wife and two boys.

This webinar has been generously sponsored by Essential Education.