This career fair attracted several hundred high school students from racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in the licensed professions. OP provided printed material that was distributed and discussed by members of the State Boards for the Professions, representatives from State professional societies and faculty from professional preparation programs. Linda Hall, from the Human Rights Commission in Syracuse who chairs the Consortium, reported that the professionals participating in this event were engaging, informative, and added a meaningful dimension to this event. OP has pursued similar partnerships with existing programs in local communities across the state to bring to underrepresented students an awareness of and access to the services and career opportunities of the 38 licensed professions. Similar efforts currently are under way in Buffalo and Brooklyn.
Problems come in clusters.
These communities tend to have low employment, rapid turnover in employment, and low adult literacy. Many of these school districts are in communities where most current and former welfare recipients live. Consider what it must be like for a single parent on welfare who wants to help a child learn to pass the new 4 th grade test, but that parent cannot read. A remarkable confluence of public policy offers an opportunity to confront these problems with greater force than in the past. In education, welfare reform, and workforce development, a series of catalytic events is driving change.