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Two of Missouri Governor Mike Parson’s top goals align with the Grand Challenges: Workforce Preparedness and Educational Attainment

Educational Access

Educational attainment is rooted in preparing people to be successful, as well as starting early on to help them imagine an educational plan post high school. It means coupling that with the resources, such as Land Grant Scholarships, for those who are positioned to come to college, but for whom resources may still be a roadblock. It means partnering with other institutions of higher learning within our UM System and across our state, including junior colleges and two- and four-year colleges, to better serve Missouri’s students, as well as those coming from out-of-state. Here are a few of the initiatives MU, Extension and 4-H (a part of Extension) are currently doing in these areas.

Workforce Preparedness

Missouri is blessed to be experiencing one of the lowest rates on unemployment in the nation, however that doesn’t mean that there aren’t jobs in businesses that are lying vacant due to not having the talent pool to apply, but also challenges such as opioid abuse that impact those able to pass their drug tests. This is a complex area, but also one where MU has resources, expertise and where we offer training and involvement in the larger conversations. Sometimes we forget to share back with elected officials and citizens all the strides we have made in this area. In Extension, we share Missourian’s concern on this issue — and are using this to drive our work and key partnerships aligned with that.