Dr. Denise Reading | Workforce Alignment, Rural Equity, and Access
In the newsletter today: The Elimination of Poverty & Deeper Learning
🎙️ Tuesday’s Learning Can’t Wait Episode
Dr. Denise Reading grew up watching talent go to waste. Not because people in her rural hometown lacked ability but because they lacked access. That gap between talent and opportunity became her life’s work, and in this episode, she breaks down exactly how she’s closing it.
Most people don’t need to be told what career to want. Future Plans thrives on helping people actualize their truest potential when they need help seeing what they’re already good at and connecting it to something real. Her five-step process — assessment, coaching, discovery, preparation, and placement — puts the person first, not a pre-set path. And her numbers back it up: she says 70% of success comes down to people understanding their own value, not being pushed into a box that doesn’t fit.
The conversation gets even better when Dr. Reading talks about rural America specifically. Resources are scarce, but community is strong — and she shares stories of towns literally building their own opportunity from scratch: new businesses, workforce centers, entire ecosystems of support. It’s proof that when communities get the right tools, they can break cycles that have held them back for generations.
Talent is everywhere. Opportunity just needs to catch up. This episode shows what it actually takes to close that gap.
🚂 What I’m Headed
Last year, I stumbled onto a conference that felt DIFFERENT. Small. Intimate. Hands-on. Rooted in how we actually want our kids to learn and grow.
So when the Deeper Learning Ulster BOCES conference organizer asked if I knew someone wonderful to speak about the deep work in schools, I didn’t skip a beat: Luis Eladio Torres. My first principal.
This year, I’m heading back to support the work and to hear him take the stage as one of the Ignite Speakers.
Join me.