The Messenger Award recognizes an individual that effectively leveraged strategic communications tactics to advance policies and/or investments that support an equitable and inclusive workforce system. This award honors the capacity, strategy, and leadership required to build public and policymaker understanding of skills training issues and shift existing narratives around these issues to ensure investments or policy reforms center the needs of workers and businesses today.   
2024 award winner:
Marc Goldberg
Principal, Skills Strategy Consulting
In 2021, Marc launched the All In: Student Pathways Forward podcast, a worker and student-centered series that educates the public and policymakers on the true experiences of navigating the state’s higher education and workforce systems. As co-lead of the Oregon SkillSPAN coalition, Marc leverages the program to advocate for the group’s policy interests by elevating the voices of those most impacted by the decisions of policymakers, as well as experts in the field who contribute to the analysis and understanding of an issue, including college presidents, employers, and researchers. His episodes seamlessly showcase the intersection of strategic communications and advocacy by including content that intentionally builds public and policymaker understanding of the issues affecting students and workers in the state and offers evidence that favors the policy solutions advanced by the SkillSPAN coalition. For each episode, March develops a targeted social media campaign to further expand the reach of this policy agenda and strengthen interest in the coalition’s proposed solutions.