WQED’s rich history of educational programming, its long-standing partnerships with local schools, as well as community and family-focused learning events are unique in this region. As a result, WQED embarked on a high-profile multimedia initiative called Future Jobs in 2018 that addresses the growing issue of Pittsburgh’s changing workforce needs.
This year, WQED continues its initiative showcasing the region's trending and future career paths with Future Jobs: Careers to Consider, which premieres Thursday, September 2 at 8:00 pm on WQED.
Program Description:
This half-hour program explores a variety of careers that are trending not only in the Pittsburgh region, but across the country. Each segment is designed to give viewers a quick but informational look at each career possibility, noting job duties, salary ranges, educational requirements and more. Highlighted are welding, media art, ironworking, robotics, electrical work, manufacturing, information security, protective coating, additive manufacturing, completions engineering data analytics, direct support, physical therapy, and the PNC Partner Up program.
About Future Jobs
In 2018, WQED launched Future Jobs, a major multiplatform initiative to address the region’s workforce development challenges. Future Jobs was extremely well-received by the community with strong community engagement and critical acclaim including a regional Emmy Award for the outstanding Community Service Initiative in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Future Jobs content, including television programs, a series of digital videos, webinars and online resources, raised awareness about high-demand careers now and in the future, and helped people from all backgrounds to connect with opportunities for training and education to acquire the needed skills. This content aired on WQED TV and was posted online and shared on social media to reach the broadest possible audience.
Additionally, WQED facilitated a series of in-school screening and discussion events for middle- and high-school students. During the 2019-2020 school year, over 4,000 students in our region have participated in Future Jobs events to learn about career readiness, and the demand for this content by school districts continues to be strong. Additional Future Jobs events in the community helped to bring this information to adult job seekers and career changers.
WQED’s second phase of the Future Jobs initiative includes four television programs and a continuation of the digital video series. WQED will also continue its community outreach efforts, including screening and discussion events (virtual or in-school) for students, and additional events (virtual or in-person) through partnership with community organizations such as Catalyst Connections and the Pittsburgh Technology Council.
About WQED
WQED was an experiment in educational community-supported television that was the forerunner to PBS. Today, WQED is a multimedia powerhouse that is as much a part of Pittsburgh as the three rivers. WQED is WQED-TV (PBS); WQED World; WQED Create; WQED Showcase; WQED PBS KIDS Channel; Classical WQED-FM 89.3/Pittsburgh; Classical WQEJ-FM 89.7/Johnstown; the Pittsburgh Concert Channel at WQED-HD2 (89.3-2FM) and online at www.wqed.org/fm; local and national television and radio productions; WQED Interactive (www.wqed.org) and WQED Education (www.wqed.org/edu).
Future Jobs is made possible with major support by:
Builders Guild of Western PA
Aurora
Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh
Society of Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh
Arconic
River Point Technology
Passavant Memorial Homes Family of Services
WesBanco Bank
PJ Dick-Trumbull-Lindy
PA Department of Labor & Industry
United States Steel Corporation
And also by these generous funders:
Hunter Associates
Consensus Technologies
Deloitte
Thiel College
Triangle Tech
Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics
NECA – IBEW Local 5 LMCC
Carlow University
Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters
West Liberty University
Seton Hill University
Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh
Fayette County Career & Technical Institute
Achieva
Turner Construction Company
Columbia Gas and NiSource Charitable Foundation
Ampco-Pittsburgh Corporation
Ellwood Group
Dollar Bank
Shippensburg University
Community College of Beaver County
New Horizons
Mascaro Construction Company, LP
University of Pittsburgh at Titusville
Academy Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry
Pittsburgh Technical College
Berner International
Western Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Payroll Association
Turbine LMS
MDI General Contracting
Conturo Prototyping