Seattle is one of the featured cities in a recent New York Times article on federal retraining funding. The article points out that fewer than 5% of the people who sought retraining to help them qualify for new opportunities in a still very tough job market were able to qualify for funding.  This is similar to the situation all across the nation.  

Here is the paradox that ASTDps members need to get their head around. On the one hand, federal training funds for Washington State amount to tens of millions of dollars, far more than just about any one major corporation spends on workforce development.

On the other hand, it is only small amount of what is needed to help people upgrade their skills and help their organizations and our society move ahead in an increasingly technical world -- and this level of funding is threatened by continuing girdlock in Washington, DC.  

If we want to fulfill the National ASTD vision of wanting to create a world that works better, then we need to understand that these seemingly arcane public policy issues have a huge impact on our field and on our society.

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