We’re helping the water industry over the next five years

by Kimberly Sawatka | Feb 20, 2023

We’re helping the water industry over the next five years

Key Points

BETTER WORK Gwinnett and The Water Tower are partnering to expand water industry job training to high school students and young adults.
The water industry will need to fill 1200 positions over the next five years.
Without skilled water workers our community infrastructures will suffer.

BETTER WORK Gwinnett and The Water Tower are joining forces. The Water Tower is a nonprofit organization “bringing together the public and private sectors of the water industry, side by side with academia and nonprofits, to tackle the industry’s greatest challenges.”

The next five years are crucial for the water industry as they expect 1200 water-related jobs opening in North Georgia. This generates the need to recruit, train, and vary operations to be most effective for the communities served.

A career in the water industry transcends pandemics and technology because it is a needed resource no matter what happens around us. To help fill the workforce needs, The Water Tower created training programs in the areas of Water and Wastewater Operators, Lab Analyst, Maintenance Technicians, and Field Technicians. The programs allow participants to receive the education and hands-on experience needed to walk into a living-wage career and not just a job.

The training course was designed for those in high school work programs, and those who may be already working but looking to expand their knowledge and create a career path in order to provide for themselves and their families.

Without skilled water laborers, many of the structures, products, and systems that are central to our daily lives would simply not exist. Furthermore, careers in the water industry offer stability, competitive wages, and opportunities for advancement, making them an important pathway to a fulfilling and prosperous life.

From protecting our precious water resources to providing clean and safe drinking water to communities, a career in this field is both fulfilling and impactful.

The water industry is a critical component of any healthy and thriving society, and the contributions of skilled laborers are truly invaluable. Careers in this field offer availability in many locations around the state, plus flexible hours to give workers the opportunity to create work-life balance.

To learn more about The Water Tower and the training programs offered, contact our BETTER WORK Gwinnett team.

From protecting our precious water resources to providing clean and safe drinking water to communities, a career in this field is both fulfilling and impactful.

Opinion: Increase choice as public schools can’t meet all kids’ needs

by Kimberly Sawatka | Feb 15, 2023

Opinion: Increase choice as public schools can’t meet all kids’ needs

OpEd Written by Corey Burres, VP of Communication

Unedited Title: Public Schools Are At the Heart of School Choice

As states like Utah and Iowa pass sweeping school choice legislation, it is important to understand no one is trying to defund public schools. The millions of American parents pleading with legislators across the country to open up educational options for their kids are not secretly hoping public schools go away. It’s a partisan myth that is dividing us on education and resulting in burnout and frustration for everyone.

I grew up riding the big yellow bus to my local public school. My kids spent most of their education in public schools. I’m thankful for public schools and the teachers who work so hard to educate and enlighten our children.

Public schools are immeasurably valuable.

It’s my respect for that value that makes me question why so many have politicized fear around educational concepts like school choice, charter schools and scholarship programs. We must face the fact that our education system is overwhelmed. There is no possible way an area public school can meet the diverse needs of every single student.

Yet that is exactly what many expect of them. We expect that public schools will be able to address the learning needs of kids with a wide array of abilities, physical and emotional needs and unique home and personal challenges. You can understand why teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

Imagine going to work with a lesson plan and knowing that five of your students will struggle because they have a diagnosed or undiagnosed learning disability, another five will have ADHD and struggle to focus and another five will be facing home issues and food insecurity. A teacher’s lesson plan is expected to get each of these different students to the same level of success. Add in that we are asking teachers to instruct or guide moral standards and you have a recipe for frustration and burnout.

But it’s not just about teachers. It’s about the kids getting a quality education. Let me be clear, quality education is not an input solely determined by great teaching but an output of what is learned. You can have the greatest teacher, but if the child isn’t learning, they aren’t receiving a quality education. Many years ago, I worked on filming a documentary on education called “Flunked.”

Then, like now, the United States was falling behind internationally, and we wanted to see if there were any schools doing something different. We traveled up and down the West Coast talking with schools that served low-income, inner-city students, schools in rural areas and others that focused on performing arts. As a young parent, it was fascinating and inspiring to see what was available.

Sadly, as I returned home, I faced a different reality for my family. The teacher assigned to my then-5-year-old daughter told my wife and I that our daughter was likely to be bored and not challenged. The local school simply couldn’t provide what she needed, and we were forced to find alternatives.

Thankfully, we had family and others who helped us collect the money necessary to get her into an option that would challenge her. Eventually, we moved and were able to get her back into a public school where she thrived.

But what about the many kids and parents who have no opportunity because they can’t afford it or live in the wrong district? Is quality education only promised to those who can pay up or live in the right ZIP code?

We are stressing public schools by expecting them to be all things to all kids and we are failing to deliver quality education. Even as school choice options become more mainstream across the country, we’re still clinging to the fear of public schools going away. Even the fear that public schools will suddenly be defunded is a myth with per-student funding actually going up over the last decade despite more options being available.

We need to look to innovation in education and stop fearing change. Keep public schools at the center while decreasing the stress on the system by creating alternatives. After all, what we all want is a great education for our kids.

Originally posted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Bill to reopen Louisville’s juvenile detention center moves ahead, but some voice concerns

by Kimberly Sawatka | Feb 15, 2023

Bill to reopen Louisville’s juvenile detention center moves ahead, but some voice concerns

A bill that would reopen Louisville’s juvenile detention center amid an influx of crimes committed by young people cleared its first committee hearing Wednesday in Frankfort.

House Bill 3 appropriates $8.9 million to renovate the Jefferson County Youth Detention Center, which Metro Louisville closed in 2019 amid a budget crunch. The legislation also provides operating costs for the facility once it opens.

“This bill focuses on the children who have found themselves most involved in street life and most involved in serious offending and serves as an intervention point to hopefully get them back on a positive life course,” said Josh Crawford, formerly of Louisville’s Pegasus Institute think tank and now the director of criminal justice initiatives with the Georgia Center for Opportunity..

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Competing proposals emerge to help Kentucky’s struggling juvenile justice centers

by Kimberly Sawatka | Feb 15, 2023

Competing proposals emerge to help Kentucky’s struggling juvenile justice centers

Kentucky’s troubled juvenile justice facilities have put a call on lawmakers to act. Democrats and Republicans have put out different approaches to curb troubled youth away from crime.

Before the 2023 session started, lawmakers formed a work group to investigate the problems in the state’s juvenile justice centers.

The two Democrats in that group said their proposals are more prevention-focused. Meanwhile, the GOP-backed bill that passed the committee Wednesday would bring a facility to Louisville as well as tougher penalties for violent youth and their parents.

“This bill focuses on the children who have found themselves most involved in street life and most involved in serious offending and serves as an intervention point to hopefully get them back on a positive life course,” Josh Crawford, Director Of Criminal Justice Initiatives at the Kentucky Center for Opportunity told lawmakers.

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Two Columbus-based organizations offering FREE work-training program

by Kimberly Sawatka | Jan 27, 2023

Two Columbus-based organizations offering FREE work-training program

Better Work Columbus and Asbury United Methodist Church are working together for the second year to offer free classes designed to remove the barriers that keep many people in Columbus without a job.

“This is about bringing resources into the communities where they’re needed to meet people where they are instead of making people have to go out into the community,” says Better Work Columbus Program Manager Kristin Barker.

Jobs for Life is a free 11-week program for people who are looking to find a job and keep a good job. Classes will be offered at Asbury United Methodist Church starting March 7. Applications are open right now until Friday, February 17.

“They are learning about how to search for jobs themselves, they are working on their resumes, and their vocational plans and their goals, and learning about themselves”

Barker says students who go through the program build their own identity and a newfound value in themselves.

Read the full article here