Machesky has led the OLC since 2016
Lisa Machesky, the Executive Director of Oakland Literacy Council, has been selected to be a 2023 Detroit Workforce Leadership Academy Fellow. The Academy is a collaboration between the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program and the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce. The participants of The Academy come from various fields such as medicine, energy, education, construction, and nonprofit organizations. They are chosen for their leadership and experience in strengthening the regional workforce system.
Fellows come together throughout the year to exchange detailed insights and knowledge about the workforce system and the struggles workers often face from the system and the larger economy. The Fellows will work together to find regional solutions to these challenges so that metro Detroit residents will have better access to high quality training and employment. Through their efforts, the Fellows hope to expand the number of people working in more secure, higher-paying jobs in Detroit’s near future.
From her own experience in working in nonprofit organizations, Ms. Machesky will contribute her own detailed knowledge of the workforce and the obstacles it faces today.
Ms. Machesky has been serving Oakland County for almost twenty years. She has worked in various nonprofit organizations and has been long-time serving Executive Director of the Oakland Literacy Council based in Pontiac, Michigan. Within this organization, Ms. Machesky and her team work to build the foundational knowledge of individuals struggling in subjects such as English language, reading, writing, math and digital literacy to help them secure careers and better livelihoods. She states: “I am excited about this opportunity because foundational skills aren’t often seen as essential to workforce planning, yet they influence everything in someone’s career.” To Ms. Machesky, to be selected for this honor serves as an important acknowledgment of the need for foundational skills in the workplace.
