Weekly Newsletter
August 3, 2017
In the News  
$2.3M Indoor Baseball Facility to Rise in Chesterfield  

Looking for something to do this weekend in the Gateway Region? Attend the Maltdown Music & Beer Series, hear live music at the Harbor Blast Concert Series, and attend the 3rd Annual Flashback Fresh Festival. 
Partner Spotlight
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Grant Program Supports Credentials in High-Demand Fields

By Jessica Sabbath | Virginia Business | Full Article     

Started just a year ago, the state's New Economy Workforce Credential Grant program already is paying dividends.
In the fiscal year that ended June 30, Virginia community colleges almost tripled the number of credentials, licenses and certifications awarded in high-demand fields covered by the grant. During that time, Virginians earned 4,268 credentials in those fields. A year earlier, only 1,528 Virginians had earned those credentials.

More than half of students earning credentials last year took advantage of the grant program. It was developed to fill jobs that require more than a high school education but less than a college degree.
How to Prepare Preschoolers for an Automated Economy
By C. Miller & J. Bidgood | New York Times | Full Article 

Technological advances have rendered an increasing number of jobs obsolete in the last decade, and researchers say parts of most jobs will eventually be automated. What the labor market will look like when today's young children are old enough to work is perhaps harder to predict than at any time in recent history. Jobs are likely to be very different, but we don't know which will still exist, which will be done by machines and which new ones will be created.
 
To prepare, children need to start as early as preschool, educators say. Foundational skills that affect whether people thrive or fall behind in the modern economy are developed early, and achievement gaps appear before kindergarten.