Insights & Frameworks

Why This Matters

Tribes don't approach workforce development the way businesses do. Businesses upskill workers to do 150% of the work without hiring more people. Tribes invest in their people because they're building enterprises and bringing citizens home. The clarity of workforce as sovereignty, not just labor supply, changes everything about how you design a program.

Core Principles

Tribal leadership drives scope. Programs answer to tribal economic development goals, with a crucial caveat: we must always include community voices and never move forward without unanimous consent.

Location matters. We must deliver training on tribal lands whenever possible. This reduces travel barriers, normalizes tribal spaces as credible sites of learning, and signals that this program belongs to the community.

Stackable pathways, not dead ends or pointless certificates. Every credential should count toward something bigger - college credit, an apprenticeship interview, or a job. We must build programs that serve participants well into the future, not just for the job at hand.

Wraparound supports are non-negotiable. Transportation, childcare, medical and mental healthcare, substance abuse and food assistance, case management, and more. Programs that provide these consistently hit high job placement rates. Don't think of these as extras because they're the difference between completion and dropout for people facing systemic barriers.

Hiring pipelines come first. Design backward from guaranteed interviews or job placements. Partner with tribal enterprises, unions, and regional employers before day one of class. There are plenty of high demand jobs that pay more than minimum wage. We must do our best to avoid perpetuating poverty wages, unsafe conditions, and lack of worker protections, so we must reject partnering with any employer or industry that cannot or will not adhere to these basic requirements.

Why This Matters

Union apprenticeships offer some of the best jobs - period. But the application process is a black box for most people. Pre-apprenticeships should exist for one reason: to get people into registered apprenticeships. If your program doesn't lead to a union interview, drop it.

Core Principles

• - Pre-apprenticeships must feed registered apprenticeships.
• - Coordinate requirements with union partners.

- Disadvantaged individuals, tribes, and the justice-involved receive priority.

In Oklahoma, I've been working to get union leaders in front of students in technical programs so they understand there's a better path forward with more prosperity. In five years, I want to know how they're doing, not just that they got hired.