In education, we spend a lot of time educating our youth but maybe not as much time as we should getting them ready for the workforce. Today on the Education Evolution podcast, I’m talking with Dr. Leigh Anne Taylor Knight, the executive director of the DeBruce Foundation. Her organization helps teens and young adults take what they’re good at and what they love to do and discover ways to translate this knowledge into goals and plans for future employment.
It’s fascinating to think about how increased awareness can grow more informed career decision makers and I love the idea of giving youth this knowledge early on. You’ll also hear us talk about how the DeBruce Foundation is responding to COVID and enabling interns to continue learning and growing–remotely.
About Leigh Anne Taylor Knight
Dr. Leigh Anne Taylor Knight is a resourceful, innovative leader who currently serves The DeBruce Foundation in Kansas City as Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer. The Foundation’s mission is to expand pathways to economic growth and opportunity. It seeks to help people discover what they want to do, and what they’re good at doing, to open more career possibilities.
Having served as a K-12 educator, Leigh Anne established a career dedicated to improving how individuals understand themselves and view opportunities to advance in the world of work. She is driven to lead the leveraging of resources across sectors for innovative learning, rigorous research, and community collaboration in order to improve economic development and the quality of life. A teacher at heart, Leigh Anne has also served as a K-12 assistant superintendent, advised learning institutions across the nation, and led a bi-state consortium providing powerful tools for data-driven educational research to inform practice and policy.
After graduating from University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Secondary Education, Leigh Anne earned her Education Specialist’s degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and her doctorate from the University of Kansas in Education Policy and Leadership.
Jump Through the Conversation
[1:30] DeBruce Foundation’s mission: expanding pathways to economic growth and opportunity
[1:49] Agilities: Discovering them and finding how those are used in careers
[4:08] What agilities success looks like
[6:09] DeBruce foundation’s connection to the community
[6:36] DeBruce virtual internships–condition of covid to innovate
[9:25] Workforce readiness
[12:44] Be more informed career decision makers with the agility advantage approach
[16:44] Leigh Anne’s Magic Wand:
Knowing their agilities and having the opportunities to grow
Organizations invite youth and embed them into the processes of the company
Links and Resources:
- Leigh Anne’s links
- Draw Your Future with Agilities video
- 10 Agilities: Discover what you are good with the Agile Work Profiler
- Building in-demand skills for jobs of the future
- Integrating authentic youth voice into the DeBruce Foundation via its Career Corps
- Students involved in product development, production, and decision making
- Labels and forming identities
- Transferable skills in changing job landscape
- Email Maureen
- Facebook: Follow Education Evolution
- Twitter: Follow Education Evolution
- LinkedIn: Follow Education Evolution
- Maureen’s book: Creating Micro-Schools for Colorful Mismatched Kids
Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Android. If you like what you heard, please leave a review on iTunes and share what you liked about the show.
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