Keith Lawing Appointed to National Workforce Panel to Advise Biden Administration on Economic Recovery Policies
WICHITA (March 15, 2021)
The Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas is pleased to announce that President and CEO Keith Lawing has been appointed by National Skills Coalition (NSC) and Business Leaders United for Workforce Partnerships (BLU) to serve on a national Manufacturing Panel that will advise the Biden administration on its “Made in All of America” initiative and related policies.
Lawing, along with other leaders in the panel, will meet in the coming months with Biden administration officials at the Department of Commerce, as well as Congressional leadership to help shape federal recovery policies for the manufacturing industry.
We want to ensure that federal recovery efforts support the businesses and workers most impacted by the pandemic, particularly workers of color, women, and workers with a high school degree or less,” said Andy Van Kleunen, CEO of National Skills Coalition. “We know that skills training alone will not ensure an inclusive recovery, but we also know that it must be part of our nation’s federal policy response. If we want those policies to succeed, industry leaders must help shape them.”
NSC and BLU convened a total of four recovery panels for the following industries:
Healthcare, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, and Retail/Hospitality.
Different industries have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic in different ways. The goal of the industry recovery panels is to ensure that federal recovery initiatives include investments in job training and support services that workers and businesses need to adapt to the structural shifts within their industries.
Lawing recognized the critical nature of the work ahead for these industries panels. “With the aviation industry having such a major role in the south-central Kansas economy it will be important for this region to have a voice on the Manufacturing Panel. I thank the NSC is for including me in these conversations and look forward to engaging policymakers to help influence economic recovery strategies that can benefit the manufacturing sector in Kansas”
The Industry Recovery Panel initiative is supported in part by Walmart, JPMorgan Chase, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and Microsoft.
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