The P20 Council met on May 10, 2024, at the Henderson County Operations Center for its second quarterly meeting of the year. The Executive Director of the Land of Sky P20 Council, Emily Nicholson, welcomed attendees and introduced Chris Todd, Henderson County Business & Community Development Director. Mr. Todd updated the attendees on new economic development in Henderson County and various future initiatives county-wide. Mrs. Nicholson reminded the Council how they can stay updated on P20 news, including via LinkedIn, Facebook, and our newsletter. Mrs. Nicholson provided an update on the RFP for an Organizational Development Consultant and asked Council members to assist with promoting the RFP.
Julieta Fumberg, a photographer and videographer based in Asheville, was on-site to record Council members’ responses to the question “Why is regional, cross-sector collaboration imperative for our shared educational and workforce goals?
Data-Driven Discussion
Once all the introductions and updates were completed, Mrs. Nicholson began the main part of the meeting by introducing the three Student Ambassadors who were present–Citlally Diaz Mar, Aydan Shelton, and Kaylie Phillips–and informing Council members about the components of the program for this cohort. Next, Mrs. Nicholson directed attendees’ attention to the two printed resources on their tables:
- The latest data comparisons from myFutureNC’s educational attainment profiles for the Land of Sky region (also available on our data dashboard), and
- Responses from our Student Ambassadors and their peers to questions about their educational experiences and challenges.
Attendees then split up into pairs to discuss and develop two recommendations for the full Council to pursue with both of these datasets–one quantitative (attainment profile data) and the other qualitative (Student Ambassador responses)–in mind.
To provide some structure to these conversations, Mrs. Nicholson guided attendees to consider the following four questions:
- How do these perspectives inspire frame of thought, opportunities, policies (T.O.P.) discussions etc. at my institution/organization?
- How do these perspectives inspire T.O.P. discussions as a P20 Council?
- Can we draw parallels from their responses to the data trends or are we seeing trends that warrant additional research?
- Can these responses shed light to the work of the action teams (in addition to what’s happening)?
After time for in-depth discussions in the small groups, Mrs. Nicholson reconvened everyone to share with the full group.
The Essential Role of Pre-K
As is almost always the case when any combination of our P20 Council members discusses our educational and workforce attainment goals, the conversation quickly turned to Pre-K. The data show that, of our four strategic goals, we are farthest away from meeting this one.
Council members suggested soliciting input from NC Pre-K teachers and administrators on how to close the enrollment gap, and one of the Student Ambassadors shared about her work study experience in the field. She said the low pay rates probably deter a lot of people from pursuing careers in early childhood education. The Council agreed on the importance of expanding NC Pre-K and attaining the enrollment target as part of the needed infrastructure to support working adults.
The Need for More Exposure to Careers
The Student Ambassadors advocated for more and earlier exposure to information about career opportunities and wage information. They stressed that the availability and accessibility of this information highly influences students’ choices about higher education and career pathways. Several P20 Council members agreed about the need to reach more students with career exploration and earnings information, with representatives from a K-12 school district, a community college, an economic development agency, and a private employer all giving examples of how their sectors are working toward this goal and sharing suggestions to improve and/or supplement these efforts. The group briefly discussed the status of preparations for implementation of the new Career Development Plans that will be required in both middle school and high school.
Visit our webpage for P20 Council Meetings for the agenda, full meeting minutes, slide deck, and photos from this meeting as well as prior meetings.
