Future-Ready: How the D.C. Workforce is Being Reshaped

When Kenya Nicholas, a financial planner and children’s author, participated in the Future-Ready Forum: Talent, Technology and Opportunity, hosted by the DC Chamber of Commerce, she was hoping to not only vend during the April 9 event, but also learn along the way.

“I was very interested in the AI industry and just trying to [keep] abreast of the most recent updates, and I enjoyed hearing anything about the future of AI,” Nicholas said as she was vending during the Thursday event, held at Gallup’s headquarters. “I wanted to hear and just stay informed and be engaged and network with like minded professionals.”

From 8 a.m. – 1 p.m., the forum featured programming about AI-workforce compatibility, properly training the next generation of industry personnel and the District’s workforce’s evolution.

As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) increases in the workplace — raising questions about the future of the job market and national security — local business leaders and employees are working to chart a powerful path forward for the District’s evolving economic landscape.

Gathering work professionals and entrepreneurs with a focus on the economic landscape in the District, the event featured speakers such as Councilmember At Large Anita Bonds (D) and CEO of Gallup Jon Clifton, and four panel discussions that highlighted the power of incorporating AI in the workforce. Each participant emphasized the importance of artificial intelligence education and collaborating across the D.C. area to strengthen the future of business in the District and nationwide.

“We’re able to convene, this regional partnership, this consortium of individuals, to really have the conversations around: ‘What is the employer looking for? What is the training provider providing? And then how can the local government fund initiatives that will actually push people to have more [necessary] skills and have a pipeline to those jobs?” said William Lopez, president of Build Within, who participated on one of the panels.

Incorporating AI In the Workforce

Throughout the Thursday programming, many of the panels featured in-depth conversations about how employees are using artificial intelligence.

In the first panel, “AI at Work: Turning Disruption into Opportunity,” panel participants Joe Paul, founder and CEO of OptimaNova AI, Elicia Belle, founder of Echo AI, Steven Gelfound, vice president of technology for Goodwill of Greater Washington and moderator Paul Kihn, D.C. Deputy Mayor of Education, detailed how the technology is reshaping the landscape of the workforce industry in the nation’s capital and how best to integrate it into operations.

While highlighting AI as a helpful tool, Paul emphasized the necessity of a “people-first” methodology when using it, outlining a multi-step integration plan: discovery, employee autonomy and reverse engineering. 

“Our approach is human-centered,” Paul explained. “It should be human in the beginning, human in the middle, and human at the end… If you have a tool that can get you from point A to point B faster, now you just have to understand what point A and point B looks like.”

In the second panel, “Bridging the Talent Gap: Building Stronger Pathways to District Careers,” speakers, including: Lopez, Drew Hubbard, executive director of Workforce Investment Council,  Elisa Ortiz, executive director of Council for Court Excellence, Anthony Featherstone, president and CEO of WorkSource Montgomery, Jay Grauberger, executive vice President of Clark Construction, and Craig Barnard-El, director of corporate engagement at Year Up United, stressed that AI is a tool to be managed, not a replacement for human judgment.

“Our technology helps [match] the skills that people have [and] the experiences to jobs, resources [and] events across the region [and] across the country,” said Lopez, reflecting on his BuildWithin platform that heavily utilizes AI for the purposes of candidate screening, career coaching, skill-based job matching and application assistance.

The fourth panel, “From Research to Reality: DC’s Workforce Evolution” — featuring Emily Bouck West, senior vice president policy and initiatives of Greater Washington Partnership, Yesim Sayin, executive director of DC Policy Center, and Douglas Freuhling, editor-in-chief of the Washington Business Journal— centered around the Greater Washington region’s labor force development, including: its history, causes of current conditions, and what career pipelines can be improved.

“Time hasn’t grown here over the past decade, and now we’ve started to see some shifts because of impacts of AI, kind of trickle-down impacts for contractors and how they service our government partners,” West explained. “As we continue to see those shifts, we know that this workforce development strategy must be about anticipating the needs of the future, and our public and private sector leaders coming together to come up with strategies that protect our region and our people that live here so that they do continue to have those opportunities.”

Learning AI

As vice president of technology at Goodwill, Gelfound knows that AI is not one size fits all. 

“It’s important to understand what people do and how they do it and understand that— [it’s the Wild West and AI,” Gelfound said. “There is not one tool that’s going to work for everyone, we really need to understand how they function.”

Many of the experts, such as Paul, said one way to get people familiar with using AI is learning how to prepare the groundwork for artificial intelligence to be a compatible partner with workplace duties, particularly to avoid inaccuracies. 

“You need to know how to ask the right questions,” the OptimaNova AI CEO said. “And when you’re prompting and communicating with AI, it’s important that you’re very, very clear, and also don’t trust everything that it gives you, no matter what it is.”

Some panelists also talked about building up the next generation of professionals, who will be leaning on guidance from human employers and using artificial intelligence along their road to success.

“We work with a lot of interns and college students, and they don’t know how to work. And that’s OK because to me, what it is about is focusing on actual skills and capabilities,” said Ortiz. “It’s really about investing in people from the very beginning.”

Further, the third panel of the day, “Degrees of Impact: Universities Shaping DC’s Talent Pipeline,” underscored the importance of understanding how young people use AI as they prepare for the future.

“We remember days where we were handing in papers to our [professors] and teachers that were handwritten or printed out, the days where a paper clip will pop up as a word document, and now the days where you can type a prompt in and a full paper with citation is completed for you. So, things have changed a lot”, said Dr. Selvon M. Waldron, moderator of panel three.

Speakers advocated for universities to implement adaptive strategies to the current climates of education, AI, and the workforce industry.

“I think what we should do as institutions is lean more into helping our students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and the skills to be entrepreneurial with respect to their careers,” said Allen. “ I think that [a] person who’s developed those skills very well, they can respond to any changes in the career ecosystem because they have the right mindset.”

Looking Toward the Future

For Brian Redway, a licensed realtor in the D.C. area who runs a consultant and automation company called Redway AI, the forum emphasized the profound benefits that artificial intelligence brings to the workforce— ones that he can attest to firsthand.  

“We’re using AI for everything right now,” he told The Informer. “I have a team of virtual assistants from overseas that help me run the business and I was able to reduce the workforce by two just based on some of the new AI stuff and tools that we’re using right now.”

The forum allowed Redway to organize his ideas for the future, particularly his desire to collaborate with organizations to address housing disparities within the District.

“[Success would look like] working with the Chamber of Commerce and different institutions up here, the Greater Washington, the D.C. Policy Center, working with those types of institutions to kind of help with the housing shortage and housing issues that people in the city are having,” he said.

Further, Redway said he will continue to use the benefits of artificial intelligence to achieve his goals.

“AI isn’t a tool I picked up. It’s the foundation I’m building on,” the entrepreneur emphasized. “Every system I deploy, every client I serve, and every deal I close runs smarter because of it.”

After participating in the April 9 event, Nicholas said other professionals should also lean into AI as they navigate the ever-evolving business and technological landscapes.

“Learn it, embrace it, and show what you know,” she told The Informer. “[Not] only learn it on your own, but apply it to your job, and show your leadership chain some of the opportunities they could take advantage of with the use of AI.”