Right People, Right Skills, Right Time

”This is the future of work”

WorkforceRx: Agile and Inclusive Strategies for Employers, Educators and Workers in Unsettled Times is a collection of proven workforce development strategies refined for the private, public, education, and nonprofit sectors—a playbook for connecting work and workers with training in an uncertain economy.

Who will benefit from this book? Industry leaders, educational leaders, economic and workforce development practitioners, elected officials and public policy makers, foundation officers, and citizens who care about their community. Everyone can take action to form an ecosystem of the willing and approach the future of work with a new and agile mindset.

Finding novel ways to collaborate and braid resources, stimulate diversity by making education and career opportunities more reachable, design the right on- and off-ramps to create supportive infrastructure for the emerging gig economy— WorkforceRx offers a clear-cut, proven strategy for each.

“

“This book is great storytelling and a master class in big design thinking. Well worth reading.”

Tammy Johns

CEO of Strategy &Talent, former SVP Innovation and Workforce Solutions of ManpowerGroup

Praise for WorkforceRx

“Van Ton-Quinlivan has mastered workforce development from more perspectives than anyone in the field. She knows the differing interests of private industry, the public sector, higher education and the union movement, and has offered up ways to bridge those worlds to collectively bring a diversity of working people into good jobs.”

Andy Van Kleunen

CEO, National Skills Coalition

“Creating an inclusive economy takes intentionality. This book outlines the levers every state and region have at their disposal to create economic opportunity and equitable recovery.”

Stuart Andreason

Assistant Vice President and Director of the Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta

“Van Ton-Quinlivan is a leader, a storyteller, and a problem solver, all key to helping cure the ills of our outdated and outmoded workforce development systems. WorkforceRx offers a prescription for navigating the new world of work, where postsecondary credentials are a critical part of the treatment and where business leaders, educators, policymakers and the workers themselves must work together to build a healthier new ecosystem.”

Jamie Merisotis

President & CEO, Lumina Foundation

A revolutionary set of public-private partnership prescriptions for how to reignite the American Dream from a unique leader who has been on both sides of the education/employment divide. WorkforceRx should be compulsory reading for every elected official, college president, and CEO.”

Ryan Craig

Managing Director of Achieve Partners and author of A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College and College Disrupted: The Great Unbundling of Higher Education

“Chock full of practical advice for business people who need to find and grow talent. The book pays keen attention to diversity, equity and inclusion and how companies don’t need to go at it alone.”

Helen Rule

Board President of the International Women’s Forum, Chairman of Imatech Group of Companies, Australia

“Van has rewritten the human capital theory and practice. The book offers a critical analysis and thoughtful proposition of the skills ecosystem that the new economy needs. Van calls for all stakeholders to develop a sustainable and inclusive skills ecosystem.”

Dr. Soon Joo Gog

Chief Skills Officer, SkillsFuture Singapore

"Van Ton-Quinlivan has pioneered the path—and has now provided a guidebook—for bringing employers and educators together to develop the skilled and adaptable workforce that is required to close the income gap and enable resilient regional economies. These cross-sector partnerships—focused on improving outcomes and reducing disparities—should be a priority strategy for civic leaders committed to more inclusive prosperity.”

James Mayer

National Public Service Award recipient, former CEO of California Forward and Executive Director of the Little Hoover Commission

“Van Ton-Quinlivan very effectively reframed how community colleges in California delivered on workforce programs while executive vice chancellor of the state system, reshaping not only how those institutions operated but also influencing K-12, workforce, economic development and other public agencies. She describes the behind-the-scenes work to materialize policy ideas into implementation—which is where many can fall short.”

Mike Kirst

Professor Emeritus of Education at Stanford University and the longest serving President of California’s (K-12) State Board of Education

“For the big challenges facing our country posed by the striation of our economy, this book gives a win-win roadmap for workers and employers.”

Dave Regan

President, SEIU–United Healthcare Workers West

"Brilliant. How Van comes up with solutions in really tricky and complicated environments should be inspiring to everyone in an organizational leadership role. And her book illustrates solutions that are repeatable and transferable. These insights and proposals hold relevance across national borders and different education systems.”

Mary-Ann Bell

Corporate Director at COGECO, NAV Canada, SNC-Lavalin and IGOPP, former SVP and COO, Bell Aliant, Canada

“Van has a mastery of the intersection of higher education, workforce and public policy. She weaves those worlds together into WorkforceRx so that leaders of public systems and companies can adopt and adapt the playbooks for our needs.”

Totsie Memela Khambula

CEO, South African Social Security Agency, former CEO of the Women’s Development Business Trust, South Africa