Last month, UNITE-LA attended the National Skills Coalition’s (NSC) Skills Summit, NSC’s largest event of the year that brings together workforce and business advocates from across the country to Washington, D.C.

The Summit was an opportunity to learn about critical federal skills policy and its ties to racial equity, job quality, how to build a people-centered infrastructure and making higher education work for working people. In addition to policy learning, the Summit offered a firsthand opportunity to understand how to navigate a challenging political landscape under the current administration and reinforced that workforce issues remain a bipartisan priority. Additionally, this was also an opportunity to join a Southern California NSC delegation to meet exclusively with congressional staff from the offices of Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff and Representatives David Valadao and Ken Calvert. Key issues raised during these advocacy visits included the reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), protecting and expanding Pell Grants for short-term credentials, investing in industry sector partnerships and protecting Medicaid, especially relevant given that 75 percent of Rep. Valadao’s district relies on Medicaid. For more information, feel free to reach out to Edgar Castillo!