As 2025 comes to a close, Workforce on the Mic – Presented by NAWDP reflects on a year of growth and shared purpose. In Episode 16, Melissa Robbins, CEO of NAWDP, discusses key moments from 2025 and emerging priorities shaping workforce development in 2026.
Podcast Transcript
00:00:05 Intro
What could happen if we take our workforce to new heights? Workforce on the Mic, presented by NAWDP, brings you inspirational stories, innovative solutions, and expert insights that are shaping the future of the workforce. Tune in for dynamic conversations that motivate and transform the workforce development community. And now, on to the episode.
00:00:29 Alexis Franks
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, all you workforce warriors across the country.
00:00:35 Alexis Franks
My name is Alexis Franks, and I am your Director of Membership for the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals.
00:00:44 Alexis Franks
And in today’s episode, we’re wrapping up the year with a very special guest.
00:00:50 Alexis Franks
As we near the close of another transformative year in workforce development, we want to take a moment to just reflect on what has mattered most, our shared accomplishments, how the profession has evolved, and what’s ahead in 2026.
00:01:06 Alexis Franks
And there is truly no better person to guide us through this journey than Melissa Robbins, CEO of NAWDP.
00:01:15 Alexis Franks
Melissa, thank you so much for joining us today.
00:01:19 Melissa Robbins
I’m so excited to be on NAWDP’s own podcast with you.
00:01:23 Melissa Robbins
I’m not just a listener anymore.
00:01:25 Melissa Robbins
I get to be a guest.
00:01:26 Alexis Franks
Yes, I love it.
00:01:27 Alexis Franks
We’re glad to have you.
00:01:29 Alexis Franks
And honestly, Melissa, under your leadership, NAWDP has really navigated a big year of growth, of change, but we’re continuing that dedication to advancing workforce development nationwide.
00:01:42 Alexis Franks
So before we dive into everything that has happened this year, we kind of just wanted to start on a personal note.
00:01:51 Alexis Franks
And really just as you look back over the year, what is one moment that has felt especially meaningful for you?
00:01:58 Melissa Robbins
There were so many exciting things, so many awesome things, so many touching things, but
00:02:07 Melissa Robbins
What kept coming to mind is our team had the opportunity to come together at the beginning of this year.
00:02:16 Melissa Robbins
So those of you that don’t know, NAWDP has a home office in West Plains, Missouri.
00:02:23 Melissa Robbins
About half of our staff work here every day from the office.
00:02:28 Melissa Robbins
The other half are scattered across the country.
00:02:32 Melissa Robbins
And for the most part, we work together in a hybrid type situation
00:02:38 Melissa Robbins
We have the opportunity to get together when we’re at events and things like that, but we had the opportunity this year to bring everybody into the home office, and I just remember sitting around the table in the conference room.
00:02:52 Melissa Robbins
looking at everybody, watching everybody talk, have their little side conversations, laugh.
00:02:59 Melissa Robbins
I don’t know what David was doing.
00:03:00 Melissa Robbins
There’s no telling.
00:03:01 Melissa Robbins
And it just felt like it really did feel like family.
00:03:05 Melissa Robbins
And, you know, I think that sometimes people say that, but I’m just super grateful.
00:03:12 Melissa Robbins
Our team gets along and works really well together.
00:03:17 Melissa Robbins
There’s nobody on our team that has ever said,
00:03:21 Melissa Robbins
That’s not my job.
00:03:22 Melissa Robbins
Everybody’s always willing to do whatever they have to do to make not better.
00:03:28 Melissa Robbins
You know, as well as I do, we have some devil’s advocates in the group, but I think that makes us stronger, right?
00:03:34 Melissa Robbins
So when one of us has an idea, we can always count on a couple people to be like, well, did you think about this?
00:03:41 Melissa Robbins
Did you think about that?
00:03:43 Melissa Robbins
But again, I think that that makes us work together really well.
00:03:48 Melissa Robbins
And, you know, again, looking around the table, very much like the workforce offices that are all across the country, we all come from different professional backgrounds.
00:04:02 Melissa Robbins
So there are definitely not up staff that have American Job Center experience.
00:04:08 Melissa Robbins
Amanda, our communications director, ran a State Parks Youth Corps Program in Missouri.
00:04:15 Melissa Robbins
Folks that have worked on, you know, with workforce boards on staff.
00:04:19 Melissa Robbins
But then we have those that came from education, manufacturing backgrounds, their first job out of college.
00:04:26 Melissa Robbins
So I just think that the NAWDPoffice looks a lot, a lot like all of the other offices in workforce all across the country.
00:04:37 Melissa Robbins
And I think that’s, that’s the highlight for me is just having a team that is working together for a common good.
00:04:46 Melissa Robbins
We all share the same goal.
00:04:49 Melissa Robbins
And yeah, that that’s what kept coming to mind.
00:04:53 Alexis Franks
That is so true.
00:04:54 Alexis Franks
I was just thinking that as well, that even though we have all of those different perspectives,
00:04:59 Alexis Franks
We all want the same goal, ultimately.
00:05:01 Alexis Franks
We want to make and continue to make NAWDPbetter.
00:05:04 Alexis Franks
We want to continue to support each other and help workforce professionals across the country.
00:05:09 Alexis Franks
So that’s definitely how we’re carrying into 2026.
00:05:14 Alexis Franks
And Melissa, so I know we talked about a little bit about our team and what that’s looked like over the year, and the team has continued to grow as well.
00:05:23 Alexis Franks
But what is one way or how did NAWDP grow and evolved in a way that made you particularly proud?
00:05:30 Melissa Robbins
NADUP has definitely grown in numbers, right?
00:05:34 Melissa Robbins
So we can show you all the charts and graphs, our memberships climbing, certifications going through the roof, our events continue, super grateful for our event attendees.
00:05:47 Melissa Robbins
But I feel like NAWDP has also grown in purpose.
00:05:51 Melissa Robbins
And we talked a lot about it early.
00:05:55 Melissa Robbins
I’ve been with NAWDP since 2018, that relationships are greater than transactions.
00:06:02 Melissa Robbins
And that it’s not just processing that membership.
00:06:06 Melissa Robbins
It’s that we have a new member in the NAWDPfamily.
00:06:10 Melissa Robbins
It’s not just processing a certification invoice.
00:06:14 Melissa Robbins
It’s that we have somebody that has
00:06:17 Melissa Robbins
taken ownership of their own professional development and personal growth and achieved that for themselves.
00:06:25 Melissa Robbins
And so I think for me, the purpose probably outweighs the numbers.
00:06:32 Melissa Robbins
Don’t get me wrong, like the numbers are, the numbers are still great and I’m still very, very proud of that.
00:06:37 Melissa Robbins
But you know, I look at like the connections that we have
00:06:41 Melissa Robbins
The registration desk right of our of our events as people come and check in.
00:06:47 Melissa Robbins
I think sometimes the lines might be long because they know the person on the other side and they want to talk to Grace because they’ve been emailing back and forth or they want to.
00:07:00 Melissa Robbins
talk to you or David or Amanda.
00:07:04 Melissa Robbins
And I think that that’s really important, right?
00:07:06 Melissa Robbins
That you’re not just an event attendee.
00:07:09 Melissa Robbins
We’ve created and want to maintain this relationship that we have with you.
00:07:16 Melissa Robbins
And I think what I’ve seen over the course of the past almost eight years, specifically in this last year,
00:07:26 Melissa Robbins
And you bring it up almost every week on our weekly staff calls.
00:07:32 Melissa Robbins
Programmatic diversity of our members, we will have a new group.
00:07:40 Melissa Robbins
It’s just, it’s brand new to NAWDP.
00:07:42 Melissa Robbins
And they’re doing workforce development activities and we’re so excited to have them.
00:07:48 Melissa Robbins
But if you looked at just a list of all of the NAWDP members and who they work with, who they work for,
00:07:56 Melissa Robbins
I think that diversity has been really, really exciting.
00:08:01 Melissa Robbins
And there’s been awesome stuff too, right?
00:08:04 Melissa Robbins
The website, I mean, the new website is amazing.
00:08:07 Melissa Robbins
Shout out to Amanda for leading that effort.
00:08:12 Melissa Robbins
You started the membership engagement team.
00:08:15 Melissa Robbins
So, you know, there’s definitely a lot of new things that we were able to do this year that I’m super proud of.
00:08:21 Alexis Franks
True, very true.
00:08:22 Alexis Franks
And I think it’s Kim that usually says her or one of her favorite mottos is get connected and stay connected.
00:08:29 Alexis Franks
And that’s really been the feeling that’s carried through this entire year too, with events, with digital learning, with our communication and website, just like you said, we are creating ways to get people connected and hopefully build that community.
00:08:44 Alexis Franks
So I’m glad that I get to contribute, but definitely that it feels and sounds like our members.
00:08:51 Alexis Franks
and those just in the workforce community feel that there’s a value in everything that they receive by being connected with us.
00:08:59 Alexis Franks
And speaking of workforce, we know that there’s a lot of changes and priorities that are happening right now.
00:09:06 Alexis Franks
And there’s a lot of conversations behind the scenes and out.
00:09:12 Alexis Franks
that we have just around the future workforce and what that looks like.
00:09:17 Alexis Franks
So what are some of those policy developments or conversations that you feel like have had a big impact over this year?
00:09:25 Melissa Robbins
So the workforce system, the workforce ecosystem is bigger than any one
00:09:32 Melissa Robbins
program or funding stream.
00:09:36 Melissa Robbins
Historically, NAWDPhas had a lot of members that were funded in some form or fashion through WIOA.
00:09:44 Melissa Robbins
So that’s still a part of what we do, but there’s so many other workforce programs that are going on throughout the country.
00:09:53 Melissa Robbins
You know, this year has been
00:09:55 Melissa Robbins
interesting more interesting maybe than any that I can remember you know in the spring we were going through the turmoil uh with the changes with the new Administration um all of those things that that were happening just prior to our annual conference
00:10:16 Melissa Robbins
things maybe you might be able to say calm down a little bit, depending on what program you were in.
00:10:23 Melissa Robbins
But then we had the one big beautiful bill that became law.
00:10:30 Melissa Robbins
You know, that definitely, and I’ll talk about that in a minute.
00:10:33 Melissa Robbins
And then we had a historic government shutdown.
00:10:37 Melissa Robbins
So, you know, there were a lot of political things that happened that affected the workforce system this year, particularly
00:10:47 Melissa Robbins
what we’ll continue to see is the changes and how that will impact some of the programs that our members support through that one big, beautiful law.
00:10:57 Melissa Robbins
I don’t even know.
00:10:59 Melissa Robbins
It’s weird for us not to have an acronym for something, OBBL.
00:11:04 Melissa Robbins
I don’t know what we’ll call it.
00:11:06 Melissa Robbins
But, you know, there were definitely changes to SNAP, changes to Medicaid.
00:11:10 Melissa Robbins
Workforce Pell is going to be really big.
00:11:13 Melissa Robbins
And I think that’s something that we will see and
00:11:16 Melissa Robbins
us at NAWDP will work closely with our education partners on how to navigate workforce Pell to make sure that it is best utilized, you know, by our customers.
00:11:30 Melissa Robbins
So there were definitely a lot of federal legislation, things that happened, but that’s not the end of it.
00:11:37 Melissa Robbins
Federal is not the end all be all.
00:11:39 Melissa Robbins
So there’s state stuff that happens.
00:11:41 Melissa Robbins
There’s local stuff that happens.
00:11:43 Melissa Robbins
We work
00:11:45 Melissa Robbins
Closely with many of the.
00:11:47 Melissa Robbins
state associations.
00:11:48 Melissa Robbins
I know that you and David specifically work closely with a lot of the state associations.
00:11:56 Melissa Robbins
You were instrumental in some agreements to support our members in Oregon, our members in Missouri.
00:12:03 Melissa Robbins
And you know, we continue to do that.
00:12:06 Melissa Robbins
Those state associations, any partner association,
00:12:12 Melissa Robbins
The stronger they are, the stronger the system is, the stronger NAWDP is.
00:12:17 Melissa Robbins
And so what you and David, I think we’re at 25 plus and Kim, I don’t leave out Kim.
00:12:24 Melissa Robbins
Me and Kim are not qualified probably to be exhibit staff, but me and Kim can speak or be on a panel, whatever you need us to do.
00:12:33 Melissa Robbins
But I think we were at over 25 partner events throughout the year.
00:12:39 Melissa Robbins
And that is number one, we want to get information out to our members and to the entire system so they know the tools that are available to them, but also to support those associations and partners because what they do is super, super important.
00:12:56 Alexis Franks
Absolutely, absolutely.
00:12:58 Alexis Franks
And with all of those conversations, I think we’ve
00:13:01 Alexis Franks
allowed it to really give us the opportunity to hear back from our members on what they need as well.
00:13:08 Alexis Franks
And exactly as you said, these conversations don’t stop or start at a federal level.
00:13:14 Alexis Franks
It travels throughout every level of government, through nonprofit, through private.
00:13:20 Alexis Franks
areas.
00:13:21 Alexis Franks
And so we really just continue to focus on how can we support the community at the end of the day, what is the work that we are doing?
00:13:28 Alexis Franks
How it can, can it continue to support the sustainability of programs and services that we provide for the individuals that need it the most?
00:13:37 Alexis Franks
And so I definitely appreciate that NAWDP has been instrumental to me, even in the communications that Amanda sends or that our team sends and shares and just breaking down what’s happening and in a way that’s easily understood and you can really see how it may or may not affect you as a member or as any workforce professional.
00:13:59 Alexis Franks
So definitely some good conversations happening there too.
00:14:03 Melissa Robbins
We do take that seriously.
00:14:05 Melissa Robbins
You know yesterday, right?
00:14:07 Melissa Robbins
We have our weekly staff meetings on Monday mornings and one of the first things that we talked about on our staff meeting this week was you and David just got back from Texas with the Texas Workforce Commission.
00:14:21 Melissa Robbins
Kim right now is currently at the Indian and Native American event and so if you interact with a NAWDP
00:14:31 Melissa Robbins
staff member or board member, quite frankly, at an event, at a partner event, I promise you, whatever you are telling them, conveying to them, that message comes back to the team.
00:14:44 Melissa Robbins
And, you know, you bring up Kim, and I think it’s in my, one of my notes here, her new, new, new goals.
00:14:51 Melissa Robbins
So we take all those conversations seriously.
00:14:55 Melissa Robbins
we talk about them in real time and try to figure out if there’s something we can do to help support whatever they’re working on.
00:15:02 Alexis Franks
Absolutely, absolutely.
00:15:04 Alexis Franks
And speaking of, like you mentioned as well, we’ve seen a lot of strong engagement from our members, whether it’s in-person at events or just in attendance on our virtual or digital sessions too.
00:15:17 Alexis Franks
Are there any themes that you’ve noticed that continue to resurface in our conversations with our members?
00:15:24 Melissa Robbins
So we’re not offering training based on what we think everybody wants to know about.
00:15:30 Melissa Robbins
It’s really what have you told us you want training?
00:15:34 Melissa Robbins
And I think there’s a couple consistent themes, career coaching, leadership, those types of things come up year after year, which makes sense because we have new
00:15:46 Melissa Robbins
professionals coming into workforce development year after year.
00:15:50 Melissa Robbins
So those things are kind of on repeat, right?
00:15:53 Melissa Robbins
As you guys need them, the career coaching, the leadership, but also AI.
00:16:00 Melissa Robbins
AI’s big now.
00:16:02 Melissa Robbins
AI is not going away.
00:16:04 Melissa Robbins
How do we harness that?
00:16:06 Melissa Robbins
for the workforce system?
00:16:09 Melissa Robbins
And quite frankly, how do we harness it as professionals ourselves?
00:16:11 Melissa Robbins
Like, are you using it every day?
00:16:14 Melissa Robbins
Does your organization have a policy on how you can?
00:16:17 Melissa Robbins
It’s just one of those new things that I think I don’t want people not to embrace it because they’re scared of it.
00:16:27 Melissa Robbins
And, you know, Kim was the first person, she was like,
00:16:31 Melissa Robbins
asked me why I wasn’t using AI and I didn’t want to say like, I have, I don’t even know, is that an app on your phone?
00:16:39 Melissa Robbins
I don’t know how to do this.
00:16:42 Melissa Robbins
So anyway, Kim, Kim taught me and I use it every day.
00:16:46 Melissa Robbins
So I think themes wise, training wise, you know, we’re going to continue to see those next year, probably year after year.
00:16:56 Melissa Robbins
But I think the just in time stuff.
00:16:59 Melissa Robbins
So
00:17:00 Melissa Robbins
You know, earlier this year, Job Corps was going through a huge programmatic turmoil.
00:17:08 Melissa Robbins
You and Kim, I’m going to say immediately, turned around super quickly a webinar and a tool on helping youth thrive during program transitions.
00:17:20 Melissa Robbins
And although that was in direct response to an immediate need because of what was happening with Job Corps, we have programmatic transitions
00:17:30 Melissa Robbins
every year.
00:17:31 Melissa Robbins
So every year there’s a change in service providers, there’s a change in eligibility and rules.
00:17:39 Melissa Robbins
And that not only affects us in what we do in our work, but also our customers.
00:17:46 Melissa Robbins
And they might leave your office on a Friday under one set of rules and come back on a Monday under a new set of rules.
00:17:54 Melissa Robbins
So those program transitions aren’t going away.
00:17:58 Melissa Robbins
And then man CWDP interest has absolutely well, not just interest, interest and attainment has gone through the roof and that’s super exciting to me because.
00:18:11 Melissa Robbins
We continue to tell the people that we interact with every day.
00:18:16 Melissa Robbins
Continue to grow.
00:18:18 Melissa Robbins
Never stop learning.
00:18:19 Melissa Robbins
Always look for that next opportunity, but sometimes we miss that for ourselves and.
00:18:26 Melissa Robbins
I’m excited to see CWDP grow like it’s growing because people are truly investing in themselves.
00:18:35 Alexis Franks
Well, you heard it here first.
00:18:37 Alexis Franks
We’ve got a lot of things that have built
00:18:41 Alexis Franks
that we can build on moving into 2026.
00:18:44 Alexis Franks
Some great things that’s happened in 2025 that will lead us in the right direction.
00:18:50 Alexis Franks
So while we’re here, we want you to take advantage of all of the opportunities that we have for you to engage with NAWDP and participate.
00:18:59 Alexis Franks
And we hope that you do.
00:19:00 Alexis Franks
We hope that we get to see you at an event or see you on an online session and that you feel connected and a part of a workforce community.
00:19:08 Alexis Franks
So as we’re looking forward into 26, 2026, what can workforce professionals expect from us?
00:19:17 Melissa Robbins
Going back to Kim’s new, goals, I think there’s a lot of new things coming.
00:19:22 Melissa Robbins
So we’re not going to stop what we’ve been doing to support our members, our event attendees.
00:19:30 Melissa Robbins
But you know, the new professionals cohort.
00:19:32 Melissa Robbins
So I’m excited about that to start in 2026.
00:19:37 Melissa Robbins
mentor mentee model that’s deliberate about being able to grow as professionals.
00:19:47 Melissa Robbins
Training and resources for workforce and nonprofit board members and board staff.
00:19:54 Melissa Robbins
So that’s something new for NAWDP that I’m excited to get going in 2026.
00:19:59 Melissa Robbins
I think at the end of the day, as far as an organization, we want to be strong.
00:20:07 Melissa Robbins
and sustainable.
00:20:08 Melissa Robbins
So we’re here for the long haul.
00:20:13 Melissa Robbins
without NAWDPis here to support, to champion and to amplify the impact of all of our members.
00:20:23 Melissa Robbins
So we do have a strategic plan.
00:20:27 Melissa Robbins
That plan is tested to make sure that it’s supporting our mission and supporting our members and everything that we do.
00:20:36 Melissa Robbins
And so I think it’s just moving, moving in a forward direction for the benefit of the people that we serve.
00:20:44 Alexis Franks
Well, we are definitely excited to see what 2026 holds, especially with what we’re providing programmatically, our services and initiatives.
00:20:54 Alexis Franks
So I’m looking forward to it.
00:20:56 Alexis Franks
I’m sure you are too, Melissa.
00:20:58 Alexis Franks
So I didn’t want to take up too much time today, but I have one more question for you for our closing reflection.
00:21:06 Alexis Franks
What message would you like to leave with workforce development professionals across the country as we end this year?
00:21:13 Melissa Robbins
Thank you for the work that you do.
00:21:16 Melissa Robbins
It’s fantastic work that we’re here for you.
00:21:20 Melissa Robbins
So without you, there is no us.
00:21:24 Melissa Robbins
That is something that is
00:21:28 Melissa Robbins
I can’t say that enough.
00:21:30 Melissa Robbins
So let us know what we can do.
00:21:33 Melissa Robbins
Let us know.
00:21:35 Melissa Robbins
Let us know the things that are going fantastic, because we would love to amplify that for you.
00:21:40 Melissa Robbins
Sometimes this can be a very thankless job.
00:21:44 Melissa Robbins
And if there’s something that’s working, if there’s a huge win, let us help amplify that win for you.
00:21:52 Melissa Robbins
If there’s a struggle, let us know what the struggle is.
00:21:57 Melissa Robbins
because if we have a tool, we would love to get it to you.
00:22:00 Melissa Robbins
If there isn’t a tool, we can find somebody or figure out a way to create that.
00:22:07 Melissa Robbins
So, just, I think, looking for solutions for our members.
00:22:13 Melissa Robbins
But overall, just thank you for the work that’s done throughout the country every single day.
00:22:19 Alexis Franks
That’s awesome.
00:22:20 Alexis Franks
That’s awesome.
00:22:21 Alexis Franks
Well, thank you, Melissa.
00:22:22 Alexis Franks
Of course, as always, you’ve given us our last mic drop moment for the year, for 2025, that NAWDP as an organization, we’re here to support, champion, and amplify the work that every workforce professional is doing on a day-to-day basis.
00:22:39 Alexis Franks
And we hope that you look and continue to look to us as a resource, as a support in 2026.
00:22:47 Alexis Franks
Melissa, thank you so much for joining us today.
00:22:50 Alexis Franks
I know where you work, so I may be calling you back next year.
00:22:55 Alexis Franks
But I’m looking forward to another year of more innovation and more support for workforce professionals.
00:23:04 Alexis Franks
I’m excited.
00:23:05 Alexis Franks
All right, thank you.
00:23:11 Conclusion
Thank you for listening to Workforce on the Mic, presented by NAWDP. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. To learn more about NAWDP and to become a member, visit www.nawdp.org. That’s www.nawdp.org.
