Name: How a data-driven system could prepare Kansas students for workforce needs by Reflector Podcast
Duration: 21 min 11 s
Description: Kansas businesses have more jobs than workers, and state universities are exporting 57% of graduates. A workforce pathway system could serve both students and businesses, says Torree Pederson, president and CEO of the Kansas City-based nonprofit Aligned.

YWCA Northeast Kansas CEO Kathleen Marker and Fatima Perez-Luthi, the founder and CEO of The Grind Coaching and Consulting and manager of a local financial literacy program, talk about financial empowerment for women, looking at workplace trends and gender-based discrimination.

Kansas advocates talk financial empowerment for women, gender pay gap

LaTonya Boyd, along with Courtland Davis, director of operations at the YWCA Northeast Kansas, and LaRonna Lassiter Saunders, a civil rights advocate and attorney, discussed the nuances of Kansas gun violence. In an average year, 456 people die and 655 are wounded by guns in Kansas, according to Everytown statistics.  Approximately 135 people in the state die by gun homicides and 271 are wounded by gun assaults annually, with 311 estimated firearm-related suicides.

Kansas advocates describe effects of gun violence on their communities

The Community Voice editor and publisher Bonita Gooch and Wichita State University professor Michael Birzer discuss discrimination in traffic policing

Racial profiling during traffic stops and the need for police training

Jack Curtis, founding chairman of the United Kansas Party, says many right- and left-leaning independent voters in Kansas feel the Republican and Democratic parties don’t represent their interest. The United Kansas Party would seek to initiate a process of cross-party nominations.

United Kansas Party chairman on merits of fusion voting

Kansas Reflector opinion editor Clay Wirestone talks with editor in chief Sherman Smith about an overstuffed veto session yielding drama aplenty — not that any of the drama was required — and the prospects of Gov. Laura Kelly calling lawmakers back for a special session to address tax cuts.

Kansas Legislature ends session — and prepares for an encore

National Park Service rangers Lawson Nwakudo and Jeff Tully discuss celebrations May 17 and May 18 of the 70th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that "separate but equal" public schools were a violation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

Brown v. Board: Celebrating 70 years of desegregated schools

Kansas businesses have more jobs than workers, and state universities are exporting 57% of graduates. A workforce pathway system could serve both students and businesses, says Torree Pederson, president and CEO of the Kansas City-based nonprofit Aligned.

How a data-driven system could prepare Kansas students for workforce needs

Advocates of clemency for Sarah Gonzales-McLinn are taking the next step in their efforts. Gonzales-McLinn is serving at least 25 years in prison for murder, but her advocates want the public to understand that she was the victim of sex trafficking to learn more. Journalist Dave Ranney and advocate Michelle McCormick talk about the case.

Making the case for Sarah Gonzales-McLinn

Braided Haven board member Darin Stephens and executive director Kathleen Marker discuss the need for an LGBTQ+-specific shelter and the inspiration for the project. After years of work, the organization is planning to open both a drop-in center and a shelter.

New Kansas LGBTQ+ youth shelter almost ready to open doors

Cindy Lane, the new director of the Kansas Blueprint for Literacy, and Blake Flanders, president and CEO of the Kansas Board of Regents, speak about the imperative that Kansas better equip current and future educators to teaching reading instruction to students.

New Kansas literacy program to better prepare future educators

The Kansas Reflector Podcast, hosted by senior reporter Tim Carpenter, presents voices from the people and politics of Kansas.

How a data-driven system could prepare Kansas students for workforce needs

Reflector Podcast

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