State Rep. Joseph Wagner Earns Workforce-development Lifetime Achievement Award
BOSTON — State Rep. Joseph Wagner has been recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the statewide Workforce Solutions Group (WSG), the first-ever recognition by the group.
Wagner will be awarded this distinction at the 13th annual Jobs & Workforce Summit, hosted by WSG, on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at the Devens Conference Center in Devens. Learn more about the summit at www.workforcesolutionsgrp.org/summit22.
In a letter announcing the honor and signed by 10 statewide leaders in workforce development, the group cited Wagner’s central role in supporting and advancing the statewide workforce-development infrastructure.
“From the creation of the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund and its initial funding to saving that funding during the Great Recession, to growing that funding to unprecedented levels in our post-pandemic times when it is needed more than ever, the WSG is keenly aware of how instrumental you have been as a leader on these issues,” the letter stated.
“Key programs such as Learn to Earn, School-to-Career, STEM, ESL/ESOL/ELL, YouthWorks, AVTE, and key agencies such as the one-stop career centers and now MassHire system are all in positions of strength because you prioritized their funding budget cycle after budget cycle, and economic-development bill after economic-development bill,” it continued. “This focus made a huge difference in the trajectory of workforce-development programs and funding, the impacts of which will be experienced for generations. As chair, you helped ensure that workforce development went hand in hand with economic development and helped to establish, fund, and then increase funding for critical workforce.”
Headquartered in Boston, the Workforce Solutions Group is a statewide advocacy coalition that plays a role in setting the state’s agenda for skills training and workforce development.
