A Conversation With ... Mary Ann Rojas

As Springfield’s workforce development director, you will manage about 60 employees and an annual budget of $4 million. How does that compare to your previous experiences in Texas?
This budget is quite a bit smaller then the regions I managed in Texas. In the South Plains region, our budget was anywhere from $16 to $20 million, and when I was in Corpus Christi the budget was about $35 million. However, it’s hard to make a comparison because the local systems are different. In Texas, everything is integrated. We managed not only workforce programs, but also a large variety of other programs, including child care. We provided child care payments for individuals seeking employment and that was a huge part of our budget, probably about 50 percent.

As a native Texan, why make the move to Missouri?
This was a wonderful opportunity to get back into what I was doing before. When I left Corpus Christi in October 2009, I was working as a consultant on my own, in my own business. Truthfully, I have missed the work. I have missed the collaboration and working with different facets of the community. I want to be part of a larger team again.

What do you see as the purpose of the Missouri Career Center?
The central purpose is linking individuals and businesses together. The goal is to help be part of a bigger picture and join our other partners such as economic development, our educational system and our industry sector, to develop a workforce.

With 17 years of experience in workforce development and business economic development, what insight will you bring with you to Springfield?
I’m very fortunate that I have worked in different areas in Texas. Even within Texas, we had 28 workforce areas. The public workforce system is held to the same administrative standard as all federal programs; however there is a lot of flexibility at the local level to set policy and priorities to address local needs. I really look forward to working with the board here, getting to learn from them and using their expertise on how Missouri does things.

The Texas model is the signature workforce model in the country and I bring a lot of that knowledge with me. I hope to establish and expand on some best practices we used in Texas, but really, I serve the community and the workforce board. I hope a lot of the insights I bring will mesh well with where Missouri and the Springfield community are headed and where they want to be in the future.

Unemployment in the Springfield metropolitan statistical area is at 5.8 percent. That’s down from a year ago, but it means people are still looking for work. What’s keeping people out of the workforce?
From what I have heard from employers, a lot of it can be attributed to a couple of things. Top of the list is preparedness for the workforce in terms of education and skill level. A huge concern with many employers is the soft skills and the job readiness level of the job seeker. I think one of the positive things Missouri has going for it is the career readiness certification system, which helps individuals that may be lacking in skill readiness for the workforce. Job seekers are assessed in terms of where they are and where a weakness might be. The program then helps them improve in weak areas. One of the things I want to do more and, really, every workforce wants to do more, is help to develop and prepare that workforce.

According to a 2012 study by the National Partnership for Women and Families, applying data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the median yearly pay for women in Missouri is $9,281 less than the median yearly income for men. The wage gap represents 78 cents on the dollar. What can be done to address the gap?
Awareness and reaching out is key. Reaching out to those women in the workforce that, for whatever reason, haven’t reached their full potential, haven’t gotten that degree or haven’t gone after that skill certification. A lot of it has to do with priorities within the family and even a lack of confidence.

One of the things I want to bring to this area, even within our own workforce center, is to be an example to other women. One of the great things we can do to help them enhance their skills and help them excel is to be examples for them. I went to school as a non-traditional student. I was almost 30 and had two kids at home and a husband, but I went to school full time and I made it. The sky is the limit. We need to let women, and the general public, know there are opportunities out there.