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MAX

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

MAX Academy

Through the MAX Academy, MAX offers professional development and capacity building training workshops to help workforce development professionals develop new skills, learn best practices, connect to resources, and engage in peer-to-peer learning.  MAX Academy workshops are all about transferring how-to ideas and knowledge for addressing the most challenging issues faced by workforce developers as they seek to serve the job seeker and employer.     

OBJECTIVES

The MAX Provider Council – an advisory council that helps align MAX strategies and actions with the needs and operations of workforce professionals – serves as the program development lead for the MAX Academy.

  • Aligning with Workforce Needs: The MAX Provider Council develops the program content based on input from council members and past MAX Academy attendees, ensuring that the Academy addresses the most current and pressing challenges faced by workforce professionals.
  • Accreditation and Professional Standards: Each MAX Academy workshop is designed to meet specific learning objectives as required by accrediting bodies such as IAWP, NAWDP, and CRCC. This ensures that the training remains valuable for certification and continuing education.
  • Focus on Emerging Topics: Recent MAX Academy sessions have addressed skills-based hiring, human-centered coaching, workforce attraction and retention, trauma-informed care, support for second-chance employers, and serving the aging workforce population. This demonstrates a commitment to covering timely and impactful topics.
  • Organic and Responsive Program Development: The Academy’s program development is organic by design and intention, meaning it evolves in response to feedback and changing industry and professional trends.
  • Building Community and Partnerships: The Academy fosters peer-to-peer learning, resource sharing, and networking among workforce professionals, which helps keep the content and connections fresh and relevant.
  • Raising Awareness: The Academy keeps stakeholders informed about who is doing what, where, and for whom in the workforce development space.

PRESENTING SPONSOR


Google has proudly called Georgia home for more than two decades with an office in Atlanta and a data center in Douglas County. The company supports tens of thousands of local businesses, nonprofits, publishers, creators, and developers across the state.

FORMAT

Each MAX Academy is a partial-to-full day, in-person workshop.  The workshops are held quarterly. 

Each workshop has an agenda designed to suit its specific purpose.  Oftentimes, the workshops have included a combination of individual presentations and panel discussions featuring guest speakers.  Each workshop includes dedicated time for Q&A and for participants to identify specific actions they will take based on what they learned in the workshop. 

The workshops include dedicated time for face-to-face networking and peer-to-peer learning.

AUDIENCE

Attendees represent chambers of commerce, community-based nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher learning, local workforce boards, government agencies (local, state, federal), private trainers, and workforce intermediaries. 

ACCREDITATION

Both the International Association of Workforce Professionals (IAWP) and the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP recognize training programs held through the MAX Academy as relevant training hours for their certification programs.

Hours spent attending MAX Academy workshops can count as training hours for earning a Certified Workforce Professional (CWP) credential from IAWP and also as professional development (continuing education) hours for CWP recertification.

For NAWDP’s Certified Workforce Development Professional (CWDP), NAWDP will accept MAX Academy training hours toward the professional development hours required for CWDP recertification.

In addition, each workshop is submitted for approval by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC) to count for 3 hours of continuing education for Certified Rehabilitation Counselors (CRCs).

PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS

Following are some examples of topics focused on through the MAX Academy workshops. 

  • Age as an Asset and the Multigenerational Workforce
  • Best Practices in Workforce Attraction, Retention, and Outcomes
  • Skills-Based Hiring Practices
  • Human-Centered Coaching
  • Trauma-Informed Care: Serving the Customer
  • Trauma-Informed Care: Help for the Helper
  • Integrated Education and Training + Work-based Learning
  • Youth Work Experiences
  • Federal Stimulus Funds Due to COVID-19
  • IT Alphabet Soup: Understanding Credentials
  • How to Engage with Employers
  • State Resources for Workforce Development

CONTACT

MAX board member Derek Dabrowiak, Chief Academic Officer with the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG), leads the programming for the MAX Academy with the MAX Provider Council, which is chaired by Jeannie Ross. Ideas for future workshops can be emailed to Derek and Jeannie or the MAX office at office@metroatlantaexchange.org.