Working on the Workforce, by AJ Frigillana

Let’s talk about the topic that’s been on many of our minds lately- staffing shortages. Whether you’re currently in the out-of-school-time (OST) field, have been in the OST field, or even know people who do this work, you know that staff shortages have been on this rise. In terms of Beacon programs, data show that some sites have experienced up to shortages of  4 staff and are unable to serve youth participants at full capacity. So the big question is, what do we do about it?  If you’re experiencing recruitment and retention challenges you may have considered the following:

• Applying for grants 

• Surveying your staff to see what’s working and what’s not working

• Increasing staff wages

• Investing in professional development

• Working with local colleges to recruit staff

The good news is, you’re not alone in your thought process! According to A VISION FOR EXPANDED LEARNING IN CALIFORNIA: Recommendations for the Development of a Diverse and Thriving Expanded Learning Workforce, put out by the California Department of Education’s (CDE) Workforce Strategy Committee, there were 5 recommendation categories put out in February 2020 to inform efforts around workforce development:

• Policy and Funding

• Data Collection Systems

• Economic Mobility and Success

• Career Pathways and Professional Development

• College Credit System

So now that we know that our thinking aligns with statewide efforts, this begs the question: how do we make this work for our workforce and what has prevented us from doing so? Some of the answers may be lack of time and lack of capacity. When you’re leading a program through a pandemic and experiencing a staff shortage to boot, you may be focused on immediate next steps, immediate action items, immediate ways to keep your participants and team engaged, safe, and healthy. 

This is where SFBI’s Workforce Development team comes in. Through our initial work, we have collected data around what the needs of programs are:

• Additional funding for staff recruitment and retention: staff pay, professional development, merit increases, and referral bonuses

• Professional development and technical assistance resources

This brings our team to focus on 2 of CDE’s recommendations to inform our current work- Economic Mobility and Success and Career Pathways and Professional Development.  

As we look to the future of the OST workforce, we can continue to ask ourselves, how do we make the work being done around the workforce work for us?