Episode 7: Reimagining the CCWD with Jay West

In this episode, South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce Executive Director and Chair of the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development (CCWD) William Floyd sits down with Jay West, former South Carolina Representative and now Director of Government Affairs and Executive Advisor for the Office of Regulatory Staff.

West reflects on his early role in helping reimagine the CCWD and shaping the vision behind South Carolina’s Unified State Plan (USP), including a statewide portal that is in development.

The conversation also highlighted how CCWD leaders across the state worked together to build the USP and set the stage for South Carolina’s new portal, which will be a virtual, interactive platform that helps South Carolinians connect to personalized education, training, and employment opportunities tailored to them.

Watch now on YouTube at youtu.be/12uloutAt4g and explore all episodes and resources at www.findyourfuture.sc.gov/theworks.

For more information on career pathways, workforce programs, and employment resources across South Carolina, visit https://findyourfuture.sc.gov.

For additional information about career pathways, workforce programs, and employment resources across South Carolina, please visit https://findyourfuture.sc.gov

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Follow along to stay informed about opportunities supporting South Carolina’s current and future workforce.

Transcript

0:09

Welcome to the Works Podcast, where we introduce you to South Carolina's strategic workforce development efforts and its leaders. My name is William Floyd. I'm the Executive Director of the Department of Employment and Workforce, and it's also my privilege to chair the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development. In today's episode, you'll get to meet Jay West. I was talking about leaders. Well, he's one of them. He was there from the very beginning to see the rebirth of the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development and had the vision for the central portal. Welcome to the Works Podcast, Jay. Looking back, the first time I encountered you was uh during uh your chairpersonship of the ad hoc committee that you were doing for uh Speaker Smith. That was about four years ago. Uh before we go into that, tell us a little bit more about yourself in terms including your service in the house. So I I I'm a bit of a renaissance person. Uh I discovered early on that I had this rage for learning. Uh I was a baseball player in college and then decided I probably needed that college degree, so I had to buckle down a bit. But from there I went on to uh to grad school and and uh went back to Erskine College as vice president for a while. And then following that started my own consulting company and kind of went out into the world and invariably ended up running companies and uh in 2016 ran for the House of Representatives in South Carolina and was very fortunate to follow Senator Mike Gambrell. Well, your background actually is very reflective of the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development, education, employers, economic development, and in between. So now let's go back to four years ago before the CCWD was expanded. You're hosting and chairing this ad hoc committee about workforce. Tell me what it was and why it was, and what was the result of your committee? So it actually happened when Speaker Merle Smith was elected Speaker, and he is a visionary and really cares about people in South Carolina having good paying jobs, um, being economic development friendly, recruiting those jobs, and making sure that we have an economy that can sustain anything, basically. And so it was his idea to put together the Speaker's Ad hoc committee for economic development and utility modernization. So out of that committee, we did the workforce development bill for the unified state workforce development plan. Truly is a visionary, uh both the speaker as as well as your leadership. You know, we are poised in in South Carolina to be the leader, the innovator when it comes to strategic workforce development. You were tackling in uh some of the very issues that we are uh focused on today in the CCWD. So give us some observations about some of the challenges, the obstacles, but also the opportunities that you saw. South Carolina has always led, you know, and so this was another opportunity for us to lead. So we began to wrestle with how to bring all of these things together and synthesize them into something that really works very well. And what we realized is that there were teachers, parents, guidance counselors that needed resources, there were employers that needed resources to post their jobs, there were students that needed to know, you know, direction in terms of where they wanted to go for employment. Um, and and what the criteria was that they would have to meet to obtain those jobs. Um, what educational resources were there to help them meet uh obtaining that criteria. And so we kind of started conceptualizing this and it it really evolved into the the portal that that's being worked on right now. When all of those pieces are in place, you know, I think it's as simple as you will have an employer or all employers, if they wish, hosting their jobs that are available. And the easiest way to envision it is just a student being able to uh tap on an app on their phone or go to a website and say, you know, I'm interested in in welding or electricity, or I'm interested in going into marketing. What do I need to do to be able to do that? They will see the jobs that are available, they'll see the salary ranges that are available in those areas, they'll see uh the educational institutions in South Carolina that can prepare them, whether it's with an incredible technical college system or with a higher higher ed system in South Carolina, they will have a clear pathway to to traverse to get to their end point. And I I think for me, I mean, that is just a massive opportunity. At the same time, parents will have that same information for their kids. So I think in the end, you'll have individual roadmaps leading our students to where they need to be. But at the same time, we'll we'll have data and we'll understand how many are matriculating into these areas, where the shortfalls may be, um and and and what needs to happen in order to kind of make mid-course correction. So it's one of the things I cannot wait for people to actually be able to use. Well, we share your excitement and your enthusiasm. And what's really remarkable about this conversation is they had to start somewhere, and you were part of the genesis of that through the ad hoc committee, Speaker Smith, and the rest of the support there, bringing it all together to know that not one agency, not one entity, not one employer, not one school can do it all. Rather, it takes a collaborative, uh directed path to get it done. And I think we're achieving that. You know, the U.S. Department of Labor has really embraced this as well. And uh, with the leadership of the CCWD and uh uh Dr. Rebecca Batterbryant with the OSWD, we are truly many years in front of what the Department of Labor is encouraging all the other states to do. And that just doesn't happen overnight, do it. So thank you and the rest of the team that got us to where we are now. I'm gonna focus a little bit about the here now because you've hinted uh to some of the very impactful projects that the CCWD is tackling. What are some other observations or favorite projects you've had that either have been accomplished or are being worked on through the CCWD? The portal has been the number one thing. I I see the portal as the magic piece that will make everything come to fruition. You know, I had three big projects with that committee, um, and this was one of them, the portal. So we did the uh Energy Securitization Act, the workforce development and broadband. And if you think about it, all of those three things go together. They all go together, they all fit together. Uh we'll go through some changes in workforce with requirements, um, with job allocations and things like that. People will be going for re-education uh to go into a new field. Uh we have a tremendous opportunity. Um for me, it just feels good to know that a lot of people came together within due, within commerce, within the technical college system, higher ed, lower ed, um, and said, you know what? It's time to lead again. So that's that's what South Carolina does. We march to the beat of our own drum. It's certainly been a transformative time, thanks to the foresight of you and many others. You know, just to watch the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development to come together and uh work together. It takes collaboration. And in terms of that different drum, I think in South Carolina, at this time, it's a collaborative march that we're doing together because we couldn't do this without the technical college system, or without CHE, or without the Department of Ed. It all of us are coming together with one goal, and that's the goal of improving tomorrow's workforce for our citizens. And uh the USP, the uh Unified State Plan, echoes that as well. We're gonna increase awareness about the incredible opportunities from the mountains to the sea for uh all citizens to connect up with our wonderful employers. We also are gonna increase the opportunity to connect with those skills, the skills that are offered through the technical college system, as well as through four-year schools and in between. I've had an opportunity to live in a lot of other states and a lot of other places around the world. And uh the one thing I can say, regardless of whether I'm in Asia or Europe or somewhere else, I cannot wait to get home to South Carolina. It's great to be here in South Carolina, and it's great to have you and your leadership, Jay, on the CCWD as a member of the Executive Committee. Thank you so much for what you've done and what you're doing for South Carolina. Uh thank you, thank Du, thank everybody that's been involved in this. And uh just one last bit of thanks to Speaker Smith. Um, it it takes leadership who who's willing to step out and see a vision. Uh, and then it took everybody to make it happen. It wasn't just me or our committee, it was everybody. So I think it's something we all can be proud of. Indeed. Thank you again. Thank you for being on our podcast. Sure. Looking forward to many more like this with you as we celebrate the good things that are happening in South Carolina. To leave you with some helpful labor market information. Here's your LMI Minute. Hi, I'm Dr. Brian Grady, Assistant Executive Director for Labor Market Information at DU. Welcome to LMI Minute, where I share some parting data from today's discussion to help you better understand our workforce. Today you heard from former representative Jay West, who is the Director of Government Affairs and Executive Advisor for the Office of Regulatory Staff. Representative West mentioned in today's podcast episode the work that our state has done in recent years to expand access to broadband internet, particularly for people in rural communities. As South Carolinians need access to the internet, they're able to find training, education, and work opportunities fast for removing barriers to work employment. A new analysis from the State Health Access Data System Center highlights the progress that South Carolina has made in broadband expansion of individual divide. According to the Margin Community Survey, we went from a broadband internet description rate of 82.4% in 2019 to 92.7% in 2024. This is a terrific improvement as it represents a jump for South Carolina going from 44th to 28th among the 50 states. Again, in terms of state ranking, our state finds 12% 46 to 34th. We do have FC work centers and over 200 connection point locations across the state, the latter being computer left or agency overseas, locating to media hubs like libraries, universities, and faith-based organizations, including our most rural areas, where anyone can go online and receive free hands-on support from our employment experts in accessing Gality Fresserities. Learn more about connection points at dew.sc.gov. And until next time, thanks for joining us.