{"id":12669,"date":"2019-11-14T15:31:54","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T15:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/3.236.132.51\/?p=2150"},"modified":"2026-04-12T09:16:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:16:44","slug":"governor-bryan-describes-clear-path-toward-creating-sustainable-workforce-in-the-usvi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/governor-bryan-describes-clear-path-toward-creating-sustainable-workforce-in-the-usvi\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Bryan Describes Clear Path Toward Creating Sustainable Workforce in the USVI"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 <\/p>\n

November 14, 2019<\/p>\n

U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS\u2014During two daylong Workforce Development Summits that Governor Albert Bryan Jr. initiated in both districts, he laid out a clear path for how he plans to stabilize the Territory\u2019s economy and create a sustainable and thriving workforce that will benefit all Virgin Islanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis summit will highlight how workforce development has to evolve from a problem-focused approach, from simply addressing issues of low-skilled workers or the need for more employees in a particular industry,\u201d V.I. Labor Commissioner Gary Molloy said to open the first summit meeting on Tuesday on St. Thomas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe short version is, businesses want good people, talented people. Education wants to connect them together,\u201d Commissioner Molloy said. \u201cHowever, our labor market data is showing that there is a language barrier between people, education and the world of work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both meetings were well-attended by a variety of business leaders and members of the nonprofit sector from both districts.<\/p>\n

Governor Bryan\u2019s approach to a sustainable and robust workforce \u2013 which he calls \u201cCradle to Careers\u201d \u2013 is a plan that he said he has developed over the last 12 years. To that end, he announced that he is asking for the V.I. Legislature\u2019s assistance to rename the Virgin Islands Department of Labor to the Department of Workforce Development and Security.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get a job, your whole future changes. When you get that job you\u2019ve always been looking for, it just changes everything,\u201d the Governor said. \u201cYou have income coming into the family. You get a sense of purpose. You\u2019re able to create yourself, buy a home, get a new car, move to a different economic level. You connect. You\u2019re a part of society. You belong to something.\u201d \u201cDeveloping a workforce is one of the most important things that we want to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Governor\u2019s plan to develop a strident and lasting workforce comprises a number of elements, including:
\n\u2022 Bolstering the education system through investing in early childhood education; investing in university programs aligned with the Territory\u2019s growth sectors and creating charter programs for gifted students.
\n\u2022 Reducing single female households by 30 percent and increasing household income to 10 percent above the national average.
\n\u2022 Strengthening access infrastructure through low-cost wireless broadband, maximizing public computer centers\u2019 transitioning students to eLearning and providing every student with internet access and a device to use it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorkforce development is the biggest part of economic development,\u201d Governor Bryan said. \u201cFor years we\u2019ve been building things and thinking that\u2019s economic development. Unless you move people from one economic sector into another economic sector, you\u2019re not really doing economic development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the immediate steps the Governor proposes to increase the workforce economy include:
\n\u2022 Building a financial sector with a UVI School of Business.
\n\u2022 Taking advantage of the RT Park, which houses Google 2020 and has some of the best programmers available.
\n\u2022 Creating an active cargo shipping hub to give rise to new businesses on St. Croix.
\n\u2022 Expanding refinery operations.
\n\u2022 Upgrading transshipment capabilities for containers.
\n\u2022 Diversifying the tourism base to 20 percent Asian visitors, 30 percent European visitors and 50 percent American visitors.<\/p>\n

Governor Bryan also identified a number of hurdles facing the Territory\u2019s efforts to grow its workforce:
\n\u2022 The price of energy
\n\u2022 Labor force availability
\n\u2022 Availability of capital
\n\u2022 Increasing local investing
\n\u2022 Building the Territory\u2019s status and representation and how it is affected by federal legislation<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no separation about workforce development. From cradle to grave, there is no separation,\u201d Governor Bryan said. \u201cEducation has got to stop seeing itself as K-12. It has to start seeing itself as part of a workforce development system that includes post-secondary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still operating like we\u2019re in 1965. It\u2019s 2020,\u201d the Governor said. \u201cEverything that\u2019s in government must be powered by technology. We must lead the way in technology. By the time I leave this office, you should be able to do every single government service from your smartphone. That\u2019s where we need to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  November 14, 2019 U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS\u2014During two daylong Workforce Development Summits that Governor Albert Bryan Jr. initiated in both districts, he laid out a clear path for how he plans to stabilize the Territory\u2019s economy and create a sustainable and thriving workforce that will benefit all Virgin Islanders. \u201cThis summit will highlight how workforce […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18033,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"project_id":"","notification":"","due_date":"","status":"","show_rebuild":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,154],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-viodr-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12669"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18976,"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12669\/revisions\/18976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usviodr.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}