In a 2017 article titled "Pennsylvania Departments of Education, Labor and Industry Discuss Business/Education Partnerships on Joint Schools That Teach, Jobs That Pay Tour Stop, Pennsylvania Department of Education was poised to roll out the Future Ready Index, a tool that measured schools progress differently than standardized tests. This approach focused more on the student as an individual, and incentivized schools to offer career pathways that culminate with high value, industry recognized credentials.

Since then, the Wolf Administration has invested millions into the public workforce and education system to support initiatives such as Schools to Work, Business Education Partnership, Teacher in the Workplace and Industry Partnership. All of these initiatives encourage local workforce systems to align people and resources to better and more strategically meet the needs of business.

In 2018, the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board, in partnership with the National Center for College and Career Transitions, and the Lancaster County Career and Technology Center, initiated a call to action amongst business leaders, educators, and community partners to come together to collaboratively tackle the changing workforce.

In 2019, Career Ready Lancaster! was established as a Business-Education partnership, convened by the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board. Over the past few months, we celebrate the growth and impact CRL! has made, and encourage continued dialogue and action. To learn how you can be a part of this work, contact us!

Hello from the desk of Anna! I am honored to serve as the new Executive Director of the Lancaster County Workforce Development Board (LCWDB). I am not new to the organization, or to the world of workforce development. I have most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer and previously as the Strategic Innovation Officer during my almost 3 years with the organization. Prior to that, I worked alongside some amazing people at the Lancaster Chamber, as the Business Initiatives Director. And from around 2002 – 2016 I worked in several capacities at the PA CareerLink® Lancaster County, from career advisor to operations and served as the Site Administrator for several years, overseeing all the functions and partners of the One-Stop system.

My professional career started with one person who saw my potential and offered me not only my first job, but to be a life-long mentor as well. I am so excited to move into this natural next step and role where I can continue to serve my community, whether that be by providing excellent resources to job seekers or those looking to transition from a career, to, our ultimate customer, the business community. In future ED Corner’s, I will share our vision on how the LCWDB is going to become your workforce development experts and “go-to” source, but first I would be remiss if I did not also share who and what gives me my ultimate motivation in this world, my family. I am where I am in life because of the love and support I have from my family. My husband, Freddy, and I have been married for 27 years, raised 3 beautiful daughters (Angilee, Melissa and Helena) and proud Mimi and Grandpa to our grandchildren (Mason and Maria and soon to be a new grandbaby!)

I bring to this organization my many years of professional experience, learning directly from the job seekers I served, the businesses I met, and community I live in as well as countless learned experiences. There is still a lot of work to be done, coming out of the last two years and looking ahead to continued labor shortages and the need to approach the quality of a job in a different way, from retention of current employees to being intentional about providing an even level playing field for all to gain educational, career and life opportunities. Let’s get started!

“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on FIRE.”