Like many of you, I spent part of my rainy Sunday watching professional football. During a commercial break, one particular ad caught my attention. The ad, Tear The Paper Ceiling was interesting in that a workforce issue was being highlighted on national television and during an NFL game, and that’s not an inexpensive endeavor! 

Off I went to Google to see who was behind this ad campaign and who was supporting the effort. I discovered that back in September of 2022, “nonprofit organizations the Ad Council and Opportunity@Work, alongside nearly 50 national organizations and companies, launched Tear the Paper Ceiling. Announced at an event co-hosted with LinkedIn, the national public service advertising (PSA) campaign calls on businesses and decision makers to remove the barriers blocking 50% of workers in the U.S. from accessing upward mobility.” Source: Cision PR Newswire

Supporters of the campaign include IBM, Google, SHRM, Strada, Year Up, Accenture, and many others. Here in Delaware, our Pathways programs, higher education providers, companies, and nonprofits are all addressing employer needs by offering opportunities to what the campaign describes as “70 million Americans” in the workforce without a degree. 

The campaign describes the challenges facing many as “silent barriers.” This workforce evolution began a few years ago and we have many of the right pieces to address this challenge. However, more needs to be done to “systematize” how we prepare young people and middle-aged workers for rewarding careers and economic opportunity.