Transcript
00:30:51.000 –> 00:31:07.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Say that this was an easy process. Filling a board with quality people who want to present and be participatory is not easy. And you have to not be afraid for people to say no. And they’re not saying no to me personally. They might be saying, no, I just don’t have the capacity.
00:31:07.000 –> 00:31:27.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: capacity right now. And even, we just had somebody step down on our board, um, who had been on the board for 20 years. And he had, you know, he was joking at our annual meeting last week that he started when his son was just a baby. And, you know, here we are, he’s 20 years old, and he’s in college.
00:31:27.000 –> 00:31:43.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: I knew he was stepping down, but this particular individual was so good to me when I was transitioning into my role as ED and we’ve worked side by side to build this board up. And of course I recognize he certainly served.
00:31:43.000 –> 00:32:03.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: more than enough, um, and he wasn’t stepping down, like, I think sometimes we have to take our emotion out of it, um, but he was so quick to publicly speak about where the board was, how we got to where we are now, and is helping us recruit, and has helped us recruit, and I think that’s been.
00:32:03.000 –> 00:32:18.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: so helpful to me is that board members are talking about our story publicly, and they are helping us recruit quality folks into the board. And that has been just a huge game changer for us.
00:32:18.000 –> 00:32:33.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: We recently had a board retreat, which is something new that we started 4 or 5 years ago. We do a board retreat every year, and it’s a time where we not only thank our board, but we ask our board to roll up their sleeves and.
00:32:33.000 –> 00:32:49.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: do some work. And the 1st time I said that I was like, Oh, I wonder how that’s going to be received, but they love it, and they come every year. They look forward to it. They want to know what we’re going to be working on, you know. Many years ago it was. We needed a new mission and a new vision.
00:32:49.000 –> 00:33:05.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: We needed to update that. And they were happy to give their input. This year, we did a board survey for the first time ever. And I’m going to tell you, for anyone that has done it, I was a little anxious because it really is like a report card on your work, right? And I wasn’t sure what people are going to say.
00:33:05.000 –> 00:33:21.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And, you know, the feedback was really great. And one of the things that people wanted was more in person, which was fantastic. I love that. And again, I am a rural area. I’ve my region is expansive.
00:33:21.000 –> 00:33:29.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And so much so that you need to take a boat to two of the areas. And so, to have board members that are on Martha’s Vineyard.
00:33:29.000 –> 00:33:45.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: come to the mainland to want to participate in a meeting . And I was really surprised by that. I was pleasantly surprised by that, and the feedback was good, I mean, but it also gave us the opportunity again. It’s a report card.
00:33:45.000 –> 00:34:04.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And we know what the board is wanting from us and what they are expecting from us. And also, they were giving us great ideas of things that we can do during the next fiscal year to continue to grow and enhance the board. And I think that was something that we walked away with.
00:34:04.000 –> 00:34:19.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And I can’t recommend enough doing a board retreat. I know it’s a lot of work. We oftentimes partner with our vocational schools. We have two in our area, so they’ll host the meeting. And then it’s a really great opportunity.
00:34:19.000 –> 00:34:35.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Both of our superintendents are on the board, but it’s a great opportunity for the board to see what is happening, at vocational schools these days. And it’s so amazing. So they’ll often serve. The students will serve the breakfast, they’ll serve the lunch. They they are oftentimes the it help.
00:34:35.000 –> 00:34:48.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: So it is also educational for their board because they’re seeing more than just a venue. They’re seeing how workforce development plays into the educational partners as well.
00:34:48.000 –> 00:35:06.000
Kelly Hanlon: Kara, if I may interject, so I think the board survey was a fantastic asset for your region. There are times that I want to put at the bottom of my emails not accepting feedback at this time, but mostly, I do think feedback is a gift, and I think that survey really helped.
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Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Absolutely.
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Kelly Hanlon: You know, I think it drives people to sit down and think about the mission and the vision and what you’re doing and why they’re even on your board to begin with.
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Kelly Hanlon: You know.
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Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Absolutely, I think so too, and actually, I just wanted to piggyback on something else that you said earlier about our legislative delegation. We are a little bit further away from Boston, which is good and bad, and Kelly knows my frustration sometimes when.
00:35:31.000 –> 00:35:49.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: we invite some of our public speakers to our region, and they can’t come because it’s so far away, and I get, you know, I do take it personally, but at the same time, we have a very active legislative delegation here on the Cape, and they, to Kelly’s point, know what workforce development is, and we.
00:35:49.000 –> 00:36:02.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: um, worked very well together this spring in advocating for certain line items, um, which has been fantastic. Kelly’s organization held a day up at the State House. I don’t know if you want to talk about that.
00:36:02.000 –> 00:36:18.000
Kelly Hanlon: We held our advocacy day and we convened all the workforce board directors and the deputy directors and the career centers if they wanted to join us also, and some did. And that was just a day. We held a day in the stateroom and local legislators came in to meet their local boards.
00:36:18.000 –> 00:36:34.000
Kelly Hanlon: Or see them again. They should have met already if everyone’s doing their job, right? So, but it was also a great opportunity for folks to come in and ask questions. It was a casual setting. You know, we did, um, prepare materials so that we were able to deliver those.
00:36:34.000 –> 00:36:48.000
Kelly Hanlon: you know, everyone was able to go visit their regions, their, you know, that day and deliver the materials, but it was also an opportunity for them to come to us, and that we could all stand together and answer questions and talk about the different regions. It was…
00:36:48.000 –> 00:37:01.000
Kelly Hanlon: very well attended, and we did receive great feedback on that event, so we’ll be doing that annually moving forward. But it’s events like that that… that… those engaging events. You know, we had a couple of…
00:37:01.000 –> 00:37:09.000
Kelly Hanlon: board members that were interested in coming. They just couldn’t make it this year, but to us, that just shows engagement across the board.
00:37:10.000 –> 00:37:25.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: It is, and I think that the engagement is something that we relish in, and that collaboration and having our board be as engaged as they are now has really helped us move certain initiatives forward.
00:37:25.000 –> 00:37:41.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And even take on other programs, programing that we didn’t necessarily run in the future. We’ve really advocated strongly for our youth programing and growing our future workforce. And because of our board support.
00:37:41.000 –> 00:37:56.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: it’s really soared. I mean, we’re putting over 1,300 students through internships annually, and our board has really seen the advantage of youth programming where before I don’t think they necessarily.
00:37:56.000 –> 00:38:03.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: did, or they didn’t understand the importance, again, of growing our future workforce. That’s our tagline.
00:38:04.000 –> 00:38:19.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Kim, I don’t know if you want us to take any questions or I know oftentimes with remote workshops, people are sometimes shy, but I would certainly be happy to entertain any questions if anybody has any.
00:38:19.000 –> 00:38:36.000
Kiim Meadows: Yeah, absolutely. So if you have any questions for Kelly and Kara, you can definitely put those in the chat box and I can read. I mean, I see we have one here, Kara, and I can go ahead and read it out and either one of you can take it. But Jermaine asks, with the board, what are the subject matters?
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Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Great.
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Kiim Meadows: And how do you approach it? How do you keep it aligned? Workforce can get very broad.
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Kiim Meadows: Where would you start?
00:38:44.000 –> 00:39:00.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: That’s great. It absolutely can get very broad. That might be the understatement of the day. Again, I think when we were looking at our board, COVID played a big part into the dismantling of the board.
00:39:00.000 –> 00:39:18.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And also the rebuilding of the board. And, you know, at the time, I had a very young girl right out of college who I say oftentimes was my shining star during Covid, because she learned right alongside me and is now my director of youth services.
00:39:18.000 –> 00:39:36.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: But together, we really, I mean, it was a matter of looking and who was on the boards across the Cape? Are they willing to join boards? Making sure that people knew the difference between the Career Center and the Workforce Board. It was all about us doing our due diligence.
00:39:36.000 –> 00:39:54.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: marketing-wise. Um, back in those years, funding was lean for us, and, um, we did all of our own marketing, and really highlighting anything that our organization did at that time, um, making sure that that recognition was seen across the region.
00:39:54.000 –> 00:39:59.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Um, and that the distinction was made between the Career Center and the Board.
00:40:00.000 –> 00:40:07.000
Kiim Meadows: Awesome. Jermaine, did that answer your question or did you have a follow up? And feel free to take yourself off of mute.
00:40:07.000 –> 00:40:18.000
Jermane Coote: No, that answered it. We had something similar where COVID, we had a board prior to me starting, COVID hit, it dismantled.
00:40:16.000 –> 00:40:18.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Yep.
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Jermane Coote: It’s been something in the conversation where…
00:40:21.000 –> 00:40:35.000
Jermane Coote: there… and you’re right, there’s a lot of confusion, because I’m in economic development, so we get… people confuse me with… I’m workforce focused, people confuse me with the Economic Development Board, and career… and career… we use CareerSource, so it… and we all…
00:40:35.000 –> 00:40:41.000
Jermane Coote: Collaborate quite a bit, but people tend to get us confused, and your marketing piece is very, uh…
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Jermane Coote: Very important.
00:40:41.000 –> 00:40:57.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Yeah, we’re happy. We just did our annual meeting. We’re happy to send you our annual report. I’m happy to send it out to Kim if you want to send it to folks. Marketing’s been really important to us, and it certainly helped us grow and evolve. I mean, now.
00:40:57.000 –> 00:41:12.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: through grant funding, we’re able to hire a firm to help us. But you know, 6, 7 years ago we were doing it. We were doing it. I think I saw a question about the legislative involvement, and that, too. I mean, we are very.
00:41:12.000 –> 00:41:31.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: lucky here on the Cape. Our legislators work well together, regardless of what side of the aisle that they are on, and I think part and parcel is because we are so far away from the State House. Um, and really, honestly, again, this is where you need your thick skin, because it is knocking on doors, it is sending emails.
00:41:31.000 –> 00:41:50.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: it is really… I can’t stress enough the importance of befriending the chief of staff and aides of your legislative delegation, because they are your foot in the door at all times, and we would invite them, um, to any and all things, and it was slow. I mean, again.
00:41:50.000 –> 00:41:59.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Um, it didn’t happen overnight, um, but I think now the momentum is there, and we… we do have, um…
00:42:00.000 –> 00:42:20.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Members of our delegation that attend all of our meetings. But again, it was a lot of hard work. It did not, I can’t stress that enough. It wasn’t an overnight change. It was something that we’ve worked on diligently since. And honestly, it’s like you really need to befriend those aides.
00:42:20.000 –> 00:42:30.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: and the, um, Chief of Staff, because we, um, subsequently have formed really strong relationships with our board, with our delegation.
00:42:30.000 –> 00:42:32.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: That Kelly sees too.
00:42:32.000 –> 00:42:35.000
Kelly Hanlon: Makes my job easier.
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Kelly Hanlon: Thank you.
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Kiim Meadows: All right.
00:42:35.000 –> 00:42:52.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And you know what, surprisingly, I mean, again, I have so much respect for our legislative delegation, but oftentimes we’re, I think to Jermaine’s point, we’re educating them on whether it’s economic development or workforce development or how our schools play into it.
00:42:52.000 –> 00:43:07.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Um, that’s such a big part of what we do, um, when we are selling youth programming. Um, we did, um, we had a very strong connecting activities program, which is our young adult program, um, prior to me being ED.
00:43:07.000 –> 00:43:25.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: but it was with our educators, and we really needed to rope in our superintendents and our leadership teams to make sure that anytime we were going to take on a new program. It was received at that highest level. And so we’ve been very fortunate that we’ve had superintendents.
00:43:25.000 –> 00:43:45.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: who are co-chairs on our Youth Council. They’re on our board. We speak at superintendents meetings across the region which has been really helpful in helping us roll out any of our youth programming, but also our adult programming, because a lot of students don’t know that we offer.
00:43:45.000 –> 00:43:49.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Programs for 18 plus. So it’s really served two folds.
00:43:49.000 –> 00:43:51.000
Kelly Hanlon: Absolutely.
00:43:50.000 –> 00:44:01.000
Kiim Meadows: Awesome, thank you. And there’s another question that popped up and it asks if you can talk a little bit more about the annual board retreat and how long is it and how is it paid for?
00:44:01.000 –> 00:44:18.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Sure. I actually love the board retreat. We did the first one a couple of years ago. We did it in September. Subsequently, we have moved it to March. And I’m going to tell you, my staff doesn’t love it. And I’m always like, oh my gosh, I love it. As a matter of fact, I’m trying to get Kim to come to our board retreat this March.
00:44:18.000 –> 00:44:35.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: When we rolled out the board retreat. One of the things that I wanted to do is I wanted to make sure our board knew everything, not only that we that we do, but what who we partner with. So Kelly’s agency, Mwa. The division of career services. So it was really.
00:44:35.000 –> 00:44:52.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: The Department of Ed, it was really important for us to bring in speakers to the Cape. I didn’t want to do it virtually. And so that they could, meaning our board, could see the connectivity between all of our collaborative partners. It’s not just a Cape thing.
00:44:52.000 –> 00:45:11.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And so that has really been important. It is really shown the board, that we do that we do work well, not only with local folks, but with the Department of Education and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. That’s how we’re really getting some of the work done.
00:45:11.000 –> 00:45:30.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: that we do here in the state of Massachusetts is building those strong partnerships. Kelly and her executive director have come to the Cape many times to talk about what is going on with the state level, and that really was a game changer, honestly, for the board retreat. I think the members really got to see.
00:45:30.000 –> 00:45:46.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Someone emailed me the other day and said, workforce development is, is constantly, you’re constantly talking about it in many different variances. And so that really helped. I think it was like lifting a veil up and folks really got to understand a little bit more about.
00:45:46.000 –> 00:46:11.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: what we do and how we do it, and how we connect with our state partners and getting them all in the same room has been really important. So we really, you know, every year we try to do something different and do something better this year. We also did a training with lightcast. I know lightcast is often at a lot of the not up conferences, but we brought them over to the Cape to do a training on.
00:46:11.000 –> 00:46:27.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: all of the data that could be done, because this is something that we constantly are presenting at our board meetings to different partners when they’re applying for grants, and so enabling again the board to see what we do, how we do it.
00:46:27.000 –> 00:46:48.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: has been really important. But I also think it’s of equal value to get the board involved. Really, again, roll up your sleeves. We’re going to put you to work. We’re not just serving you breakfast and lunch. You got to do some work here. And they appreciated that. This year we also rolled out a sponsorship opportunity, which is something we hadn’t done in the past.
00:46:48.000 –> 00:47:05.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: We do each year, we give out five-ish scholarships to graduating high school students, some that are going on to a traditional four-year college, one or two that are going right into the workforce, a community college. They run the gamut.
00:47:05.000 –> 00:47:21.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And we were told last year or the year before that we couldn’t use one of the state line items that we had been using for many years. So to support this, we came, you know, we talked to the board about doing a sponsorship, and it was really well received.
00:47:21.000 –> 00:47:38.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Now, that doesn’t mean I haven’t seen some stumbling blocks since then, and it hasn’t rolled out as smoothly as I would have liked. But this morning at a finance committee meeting, we were talking about it. How can we do it better? We’re all on so many boards, I’m sure.
00:47:38.000 –> 00:47:54.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And some of our boards do have a financial responsibility. Ours is a volunteer board. So that’s always difficult questions to ask when you’re not a professional fundraiser, which I was not. So again, really making sure the boards understood.
00:47:54.000 –> 00:48:15.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: why we were asking for money, what it was going to be used for, and how we continue these conversations. And so we just relaunched a stronger finance committee last year, again, because, like all of us, we want transparency, right? I mean, we want to be accountable for the dollar spent.
00:48:15.000 –> 00:48:22.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: that finance committee meeting, like, through that finance committee, we’re having people ask, hey, how do I get on your executive team?
00:48:22.000 –> 00:48:30.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Wonderful, because I’m going to tell you, usually it was like pulling teeth to get someone on the executive team.
00:48:29.000 –> 00:48:40.000
Kelly Hanlon: I also… I need to interject here just for one second, Kara. I think, um, also, there’s another piece of this, the wins that you showcase and celebrate in each…
00:48:40.000 –> 00:48:58.000
Kelly Hanlon: every time something, every program, every student is celebrated, every win. I think that also tells your story for your board. That is that’s that’s motivating for your board. So there was a question in the chat that said, you know, how do you get your local legislators involved and your board? I think it’s twofold.
00:48:58.000 –> 00:49:09.000
Kelly Hanlon: I think you’re showcasing all your wins and celebrations that people want to be a part of that. I think you’re all the hard work. There’s a small celebration for each step, and I think that matters.
00:49:07.000 –> 00:49:22.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: That’s true. That’s a really good point. Thank you for saying that. Because as we know, it’s not all about the wins. For every win we have, we have 10 losses or 10 bad days. But we are just coming off our annual meeting.
00:49:14.000 –> 00:49:16.000
Kelly Hanlon: Oh, no.
00:49:23.000 –> 00:49:38.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: termed it not just an annual meeting, it’s our annual meeting, an award celebration. So several years ago, we came up with the idea to do an award for Academic Partner of the Year, Business Partner of the Year, Nonprofit of the Year, Workforce Development Partner of the Year.
00:49:38.000 –> 00:49:55.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And so the word the awards have grown, but that also buys in like it really has helped the board buy in and they get excited about it. And so I’m happy to share we this year we, actually had, a shout out from the lieutenant governor at.
00:49:55.000 –> 00:50:12.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Our meeting, she wasn’t able to attend, but she sent a video on our artworks program, which is celebrated 30 years. This year, it’s longest running youth program here in Massachusetts. So that was great. And then we did a video of our award winners, which, Kim, I’m happy to share that with you as well.
00:50:12.000 –> 00:50:16.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: And you can send it out to folks. And people were so…
00:50:16.000 –> 00:50:25.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: happy and pleased with that, you know, because it’s not just… it’s no longer me or my staff, or even Kelly, sharing, um…
00:50:25.000 –> 00:50:41.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: the good work that we’re doing, it’s our board members, our community partners that are being recognized. And, you know, workforce development shows up in everything that we do, but it’s really important that workforce development and economic development work in unison, because that’s what helps drive.
00:50:41.000 –> 00:50:43.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: both across the region.
00:50:44.000 –> 00:50:45.000
Kiim Meadows: Awesome.
00:50:45.000 –> 00:50:50.000
Kiim Meadows: Thank you! I mean, we packed a lot into this 35…
00:50:48.000 –> 00:51:04.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: We did. There was so much. There was so much. And I know it’s hard with virtual. And like I said, we rolled this out in New Orleans. And it was the youth symposium. It was a smaller group than I was accustomed to.
00:50:49.000 –> 00:50:52.000
Kelly Hanlon: Yes.
00:50:50.000 –> 00:50:52.000
Kiim Meadows: Thank you so much.
00:50:52.000 –> 00:50:54.000
Kiim Meadows: I’m on it.
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Kiim Meadows: It’s good.
00:51:01.000 –> 00:51:02.000
Kelly Hanlon: Hmm?
00:51:01.000 –> 00:51:04.000
Kiim Meadows: Yeah. Yes.
00:51:04.000 –> 00:51:22.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: I don’t know if that was probably would have been better at the annual meeting, but we got a lot of good feedback and I’m really happy, Kim, that you, gave us this opportunity because it’s not easy work, right? None of us. This is not easy work from any of us. I’m happy to answer any questions. Kim, I’ll send you some resources. You can send them out.
00:51:15.000 –> 00:51:16.000
Kiim Meadows: Okay.
00:51:15.000 –> 00:51:16.000
Kelly Hanlon: Nope.
00:51:22.000 –> 00:51:23.000
Kiim Meadows: Well…
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Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Of things that we’ve done recently.
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Kiim Meadows: Awesome. Yeah. You’re welcome. And there was a question just asking if the attendees would receive the report. So the annual report that you were talking about, I’ll take that and I’ll send out all those resources. And Nautilus is about to do some things that is going to be specifically for board engagement and improving your board for workforce results. So I look forward to having you all in the room for that conversation as well.
00:51:24.000 –> 00:51:26.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: So thank you. Thank you so much.
00:51:33.000 –> 00:51:36.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Yeah, I’ll send out that as well.
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Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: We love partnering with you.
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Kelly Hanlon: Thank you.
00:52:02.000 –> 00:52:04.000
Kara O’Donnell-Galvin: Thank you.
00:52:03.000 –> 00:52:05.000
Kelly Hanlon: Bye.
