


Transcript
Show ID (00:04):
The power of data is undeniable and, unharnessed, it's nothing but chaos.
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The amount of data was crazy.
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Can I trust it?
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You will waste money.
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Held together with duct tape.
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Doomed to failure.
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This season, we're solving problems in real time to reveal the art of the possible: making data your ally, using it to lead with confidence and clarity, helping communities and people thrive. This is Data-Driven Leadership, a show by Resultant.
Jess Carter (00:34):
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of Data-Driven Leadership. Today we are diving into a group that is doing some of the most impactful and often overlooked data work in the country, workforce boards. Workforce investment boards, or WIBs, are responsible for driving regional economic mobility. They connect people to meaningful work and help employers build skillset talent pipelines and make sure that the systems around them from training to child care or transportation actually support these goals. One thing I would tell you, I've worked with WIBs in the past. Every state has them. Every region of a state has a WIB. So you have a WIB if you live in the United States, whether you knew it or not. So there's, there it is. Go find yours.
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But here's the catch. Most states provide labor market data in high-level formats. Think spreadsheets, statistic dashboards, or tools designed more for reporting than for real-time decisions. And that leaves many of these regional workforce investment boards asking hard questions. So we just use what's handed down, or do we build what our communities actually need? And if you're in the private sector, this challenge might sound familiar. Maybe you have data, but it is buried in systems, maybe different teams—sales, operations, HR—need different slices of it, but no one has built the tools to actually make it useful. That is what democratizing your data really means: getting the right information into the right people in the right way at the right time that makes it actionable. That is exactly what today's guests did, and that is what makes today's conversations so important is we're taking the Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas, a WIB that serves 14 counties and thousands of residents and businesses, and that decides to democratize their own data through a project they just went through.
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Instead of just sharing what the state gave them, which isn't bad or wrong, they built user-friendly dashboards based on direct input from their stakeholders in their community. So job seekers, employers, educators, and these tools help people act on data, not just read it. And they did it fast. Three dashboards in three months focused on career pathways, labor market demand, and economic trends. Our guests are Phedra Redifer, executive director, and Jacob Jimenez, workforce research analyst, both at Workforce Solutions North Central Texas. They walk us through how this project came together, not as a massive investment, but as a smart, people-centered initiative that any board could learn from. If you're in workforce, economic development, education, or you just care about making data actually useful, this is a conversation worth hearing. Let's get into it.
(03:20):
Welcome back to Data-Driven Leadership. I'm your host, Jess Carter. Today we have Phedra Redifer, the executive director of Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas, and Jacob Jimenez, the workforce research analyst at Workforce Solutions North Central Texas. Let's get into it. Phedra and Jacob, welcome. We're so glad that you're here.
Phedra Redifer (03:42):
Thanks for having us.
Jacob Jimenez (03:44):
Thank you for having us. Appreciate this opportunity.
Jess Carter (03:46):
Yeah, of course. So first of all, you're semi-familiar with each other, correct? So what is that dynamic? Are you guys on the same team? You're in a workforce board, right?
Phedra Redifer (03:56):
Yes, we are one of 28 workforce development boards here in the state of Texas. We're North Central Texas, so we represent 14 counties. If you can imagine, that's pretty expansive. And so Jacob and I work here at the Workforce Development Board doing everything that we can to provide access to tools and resources to help us all in an effort of advancing workforce development initiatives for our region.
Jess Carter (04:19):
That is amazing. I've kind of been surprised. So we've talked a little bit about workforce development on this podcast in previous episodes, both at a national level through NASWA and then with other state agencies. We've not talked to a workforce investment board or a WIB before. So if you were to do an elevator pitch on what exactly a WIB is, what would be your elevator pitch?
Phedra Redifer (04:42):
You bet. So workforce development boards are really purpose-driven to ensure that we have a ready and skilled workforce for today and well into the future. So we work with regional stakeholders, our ISDs, chambers, you name it, all in an effort to make sure that we have a ready and skilled workforce, which of course, as we know leads to economic development, economic growth, and we can help people change their economic mobility for years to come.
Jess Carter (05:09):
So you're really working in a real sense…in Indiana, Indianapolis is the capital, it's the central of the state, right? And so workforce board 12, it's region 12, but there's all these different boards. And the concept is economically, every region of a state doesn't need the same things. They have different needs, there are different disasters that impact employment. There are different unemployment situations that occur. And so those WIBs are really to understand in that spider web, if you will, the ebbs and flows of what employers need in that space, what job seekers need in that space, and then kind of ebbing and flowing, too, between state dollars and federal dollars and then custom needs in that region of employment and job seekers. Is that fair?
Phedra Redifer (05:51):
That is very fair. And if you take it and drill it down even a little bit more within even the service regions that we're all responsible for, each county is unique and different. Each county is its own workforce project, if you will. And we look at the 14 counties as a whole. Of course we do, but then we drill down into the uniqueness of what the county may need. And it's very different sometimes from what counties we have up north and what counties we have down south. And just for perspective, we're the 14 counties around Dallas and Tarrant County, so we call ourselves the donut, but there's a lot of diversity in that donut. So one size never fits all. So we are very flexible and it really spurs innovation for our workforce board because we have to go in those places that don't just treat all 14 counties the same. And that's what makes us so unique here in North Central Texas.
Jess Carter (06:45):
Yeah. And Phedra, how long have you been the executive director?
Phedra Redifer (06:48):
So I'm actually coming up on four years.
Jess Carter (06:51):
Okay, that's awesome. And Jacob, how long have you been the workforce research analyst in that space?
Jacob Jimenez (06:58):
It's been two years in April, so about two-and-a-half years now. Coming up in September feels like a lifetime, but it's a great opportunity though.
Jess Carter (07:06):
Well, and we're going to have to remind ourselves and each other. One of the things I think is overly complicated in this world is the semantics. So we all learn the same acronyms and they kind of ebb and flow with each other, but the reality is we'll have to catch each other and correct because I think you guys are doing a great job. But there are these, I would refer to a bit WIB and never think that people don't know what that is. But of course, I never heard of it before I started in workforce development. So let's kind of jump into why we're on this call. So you had a project recently and you launched a set of tools to help people better understand their job market. Phedra, can you give us a simple overview of what those dashboards are and what they're meant to do?
Phedra Redifer (07:46):
Yes. The dashboards really is an enhancement of what we've been doing every day. So Jacob sits in a very unique and special position for the Workforce Development Board because all 14 counties and those individuals who need access to data were coming to him individually with emails or phone calls. And then when you sit there and you start to really put it all together, you're like, this doesn't make sense. We have to build a better mousetrap and we have to accelerate the pace by which people are asking us for information. So in Jacob's intimate wisdom and his wanting to continue to innovate and elevate us, he said, I think we need to look at data dashboards in a different way. And so he was able to really compile all the needs that kept coming into us and recognize, wait, we have a pattern. Wait, we have a bigger need. And this is when he came to me to say, I would like for us to pursue a robust buildout of our data dashboards to help us help our stakeholders to get ready information into the hands of those who need it much quicker and at the timeline that they want it. So we were able to pursue this opportunity, and as a result of that, we have these very robust data dashboards that are proving to be super beneficial and valuable to our 14 counties.
Jess Carter (09:03):
This is so cool. Again, I want to make sure for people who don't live in this world that I've dabbled in, I think in the private sector, it's hard to understand who your stakeholders are. So what kind of questions do you regularly get? Who's interested in this and what kind of questions were you getting repetitively?
Jacob Jimenez (09:20):
That's a great question. So like Phedra mentioned, it was mainly our EDCs and our chambers that were looking for information, and also our business partners as well. So industry sector partners really, but really the EDCs were reaching out saying, Hey, we have a business retention expansion. BRET is another acronym.
Jess Carter (09:37):
Thank you.
Jacob Jimenez (09:39):
So how do we help them? So we have access to great data. They might not have access to data, but it's not just access, but it's understanding the impact of that data and what it means for landing a company. Do you have the ready workforce? There's all these ancillary questions that come with looking at a report. So really when I started to think about this and I started seeing the patterns in our data requests coming from both EDCs and our business partners, they were really the same thing, just looking at it from different perspectives. And so in the development of the dashboards, it really came down to what data can we pull together that tells a great story and helps us to land and be successful and drive economic growth in our 14 counties?
Jess Carter (10:20):
So I am not someone who majored in economics in college. One of the things I would say though is I want to make an explicit connection here. So all the time, you'll read in any local paper like, hey, Amazon's in a bid to see if we can get the next warehouse developed, good for jobs, it's good for the economy, it's good for taxes. And so a lot of companies are doing due diligence research on where is the most economically viable locations for their businesses. So a lot of those questions are coming from companies that are looking to expand or extend to your point, Jacob, and say, hey, is this the right place for me? Do I want to be in one of these donut counties? If so, which one? Or maybe I want to be in Dallas proper, what are the pros and cons of these things and the impact to my business? Is that right?
Jacob Jimenez (11:07):
Absolutely, a hundred percent. And yeah, just really helping to make data-driven decisions.
Jess Carter (11:13):
I imagine a lot of people aren't in those rooms. Maybe they don't even know that their companies are being that thoughtful when they extend or expand, but it sounds like Phedra, you were going to say something, this happens often. This is part of what being a mature business is.
Phedra Redifer (11:27):
Well, and I think you can really point to the data again, and particularly for the state of Texas, think about how many corporate headquarters have relocated to the state of Texas. We have an enhanced challenge on our shoulders because they specifically chose the state of Texas. We have explosive growth here in North Central Texas, and the way that those corporate headquarters will be successful is if we produce that workforce. And so being able to make sure that we put ready resources into their hands as they're making these significant decisions that also bring a huge challenge to us here locally to deliver on why they want to relocate to the state of Texas and particularly here in North Central Texas. And so it's hypercritical that they have access to all the information. I think we can all have the same thought that it's great to have access to data, but if it's not articulated in a way that you can use it or it is user-friendly, then data is just data and sitting there stagnant. We want to put the data to work for our benefit to support the region's economic prosperity for generations to come.
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And this is what Jacob led on our behalf. And it has proven, again, as I share, to be very beneficial not just now, but it will continue to be beneficial to the economic growth of North Central Texas.
Jess Carter (12:49):
Thank you for the context. I think it's super important and interesting because even thinking about it's not just about square footage and space and warehousing, it's also about skillsets and how many people actually exist in that space that are qualified for the jobs that we would bring to that area.
Okay, so let's talk about the dashboards. So this wasn't a, I don't know, multi-year, multimillion dollar effort, right? I mean, I think that's part of the story I find so interesting is this is, you just described it as a legacy outcome, democratization of data for all of these employers to look at your area and appreciate what it has to offer and attract them in. And it wasn't wildly costly or it didn't take forever to do. So you built these three dashboards as I understand it. Jacob, can you walk me through what exactly those are just in high-level summary?
Jacob Jimenez (13:40):
Absolutely. So our first one is our labor market information dashboard, and that's really what I call our in the weeds. So this is more for our seasoned pros who need to deep dive into data, really trying to answer those questions like why should Amazon Web Services move here? Do we have the workforce ready and available for them? So it walks 'em through different tabs on that dashboard, different data points. And really what it does at the end of that is it puts together a cohesive picture. But that's really, like I said, really in the weeds. Somebody that really knows labor market data, that's where they want to go. Then we have our second one, which is our economic profiles. And that's just high-level that's designed for executives that's designed maybe for a novice, just kind of get your feet wet and then make an actionable decision based off of the data that you're seeing so that way you get a clear picture.
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And one of the tabs that I'm really proud of in both of those dashboards are community profiles. So looking at our poverty levels in our counties, which is critical to the work that we do. And then also bringing in commuter times, especially in our region, you cannot live up here if you don’t have a car. It's next to impossible. So having those commuter times to help those individuals understand, well, okay, if I want to move, let's just say Collin versus Dallas, what does that time look like? And really giving them a comprehensive look and understanding that to make that kind of critical decision. And then our last one is our career lattice piece, which is completely separate but tied into labor market data. And it takes the career seeker into, if I'm starting, I'm going to use child care as a great example because we know that that job is critical to our region.
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It doesn't pay well, but we need it. You can't have workforce and you don't have child care. Those two go hand-in-hand. So we said no, we need to understand if somebody starts off as a childcare worker, besides being a teacher, what other opportunities are available for them to grow in that capacity? So it's really starting them from the beginning job, from an entry-level job, to mid-level, all the way to an advanced career. And then taking those steps and saying, okay, what do wages look like across our 14 counties? And what opportunities, what counties are growing this occupation? What counties need these types of workers? But not only that, but then they can look at O*NET video and also they can say, okay, what are my next steps? Do I need to go and get a bachelor's degree? Do I need an accreditation? What skill sets are in demand? Do I have those skill sets? So it's really robust and dynamic and that career line is meant not just for our career seekers, but also employers as well. They can go in there and say, hey, I need this. Is this on our list? And they can reach out to us and contact us and work with us on that.
Jess Carter (16:19):
It sounds like there's dashboards that meet the needs of employers, of potential job seekers, of all of these stakeholders that are looking to your WIB for guidance. Is that fair?
Jacob Jimenez (16:29):
Absolutely.
Jess Carter (16:30):
How'd you do it? So just a breezy question, but walk us through what was the discovery process like and did you include job seekers and employers? And what was this exercise? What did it take?
Jacob Jimenez (16:44):
Well, first it took buy-in from Phedra, so I got to thank Phedra for that. It didn't happen in a vacuum. We don't work in a vacuum. We are very much driven by the community that we serve. We're servant leaders first and foremost. So listening to the needs of our community, we were developing this. This was really unique and really, really fun. We actually interviewed, we interviewed our community college partners. We interviewed some of our EDC partners and we also I think believed we reached out to industry folks as well. So what that allowed us to do during real-time build out of this was to pivot. If this wasn't working, we showcased not everything but some facets that were important to them and said, hey, does this make sense? If not, why not? And how can we improve this before it's done? So we didn't wait until the finished product to go and review and come back to it. We did it in real time. And I think having that accessibility and the understanding that this tool is not for us, it's for them, really made it dynamic. And that's what made this unique.
Jess Carter (17:44):
Phedra, you have this sort of executive view, and Jacob, you are living in the data all day. Did they give you any feedback where you did have to pivot that surprised you?
Jacob Jimenez (17:53):
Yeah. I'll tell you a quick fun story about the career lattice piece. We were really toying with it. My team and I, Dana Buckholt, she's great. She's my counterpart to this. And we're like, what does that look like? And there was a community college president we interviewed with him and she's like, can you gamify this? And we're like, it makes a lot of sense. How do we gamify this? And I was like, I know what it means, but how do we put theory into practice? We started off with a car that was going to move. We were going to have the car move across from a monopoly board type thing. And then we stepped back and we're like, this isn't gamifying, this is not working. We said, that's not going to work in this iteration. And so we kind of had to step back and rethink how this worked. And from that though, we really said, well, let's make a ladder a real true lattice of you, not even a ladder.
(18:39):
Sometimes it's a lateral move, not an upward move. And how does that work? So that's where we, that thought process went, right? So we took gamification starting with a little car all the way to what does this look like when we go this way? So there was a lot of thought put into this because at the end of this all, it was always about the end user. We always kept that individual who was going to be using this product, what was their interaction with this going to be and how are they going to interface with this? And that was always at the forefront of our thoughts as we progressed through this build.
Jess Carter (19:10):
That is so cool. If there was an award I could grant you all during this award ceremony I've made up in my head, you would get one. Because I think so many people, especially when they have Phedra, your vision and Jacob, your data, it's so easy to think you already know what everyone else needs and it's really easy to see those dollars in a discovery phase or stakeholder engagement. It's usually expensive and it's lengthy and it's hard. It's really hard. And the fact that you did that work, you have a better end product and your usage I imagine is substantially more than it would've been if you just gave them what you thought they needed. So I realize everyone's heard about design thinking and empathy-led processes, but it sounds like you really were open and willing to walk through this with your stakeholders. And I do applaud, award granted, very impressed with that leadership because I think it's really easy to just get down a channel of what you think. And I don't know, was that hard or was that fairly natural for you all?
Phedra Redifer (20:13):
So what I would like to share is that we have to keep in mind, this is a public workforce system. We've been operating it here at our board level for 30 years. And so we have to evolutionize how we work with this system that in all intents and purposes is slightly antiquated with its systems and kind of the traditional method of applying workforce development out in our region and recognizing that I only have so many resources here at the board level to try to cover 14 counties, which is just over 10,000 square miles. We have to think about doing our work differently. And what we can't do is limit or scale back what we can give out to the region. In fact, we have to amplify what we do, but we have to do it in a much more efficient and effective way. So what we tend to do is we hire bright people such as Jacob, we have quite a few of them on my team who are willing to look at things differently to find a workaround.
(21:08):
And they know me well enough. I always ask what if and why not? And so they have license to innovate and ideate to be able to push on the public workforce system that is not really keeping pace with how our users want to engage with it. And so giving them, and particularly Jacob, the license to just go dream. What do we want to build that's different or how can we evolutionize what we're doing so we can be more effective? This is the space that we love to live in and this is a space that our team just readily grabs onto and we're seeing it paying dividends in our counties. I'll give you an example. I was in a meeting just the other day and I said, oh, well let me share about our data dashboards. And it was actually a very high-ranking individual in an economic development corporation.
(21:52):
And she said, oh, I use 'em all the time. Well, that was just music to my ears. That's exactly what it's intended to do is to inform. And when Jacob was talking about the gamification of it, he's made it so interactive with Resultant's help that you can really maneuver and navigate through it to where it is highly interactive. You can drill down in other counties, you can look at the 14 counties as a whole. You can toggle between all the tabs in all the different data that you're trying to research and access and even by years and really get into the finite details where you can control what it is that you want to learn and how much of it you want to learn as well. And I think that's what makes these so unique and so useful is that it is really truly designed with the end user in mind and we have multiple users.
(22:41):
So it's not just just for this group and nobody else gets to benefit. This, as I would also like to share is that, we do have some of our counties that may not be so readily supplied with resources to invest in these types of tools. And so it helps us spread the value add that we bring as a workforce development board. And in fact, in a meeting that I was in the other day, this individual, another economic development corporation said, we're getting ready to hire a consultant to do workforce development, labor market information analysis. I said, stop, hold the floor. We have all this. And so I brought them to these dashboards that Jacob and team created and I said, don't hire a consultant to do this because it's free to you because this is our investment back into the region. Use those dollars to do other things that we can't do or you can't do, don't duplicate efforts while we've already spent the money and made the investments for you in particular. And it was music to her ears. And that's the benefit of being able to step into these spaces and ideate and innovate. And we want to bring real-time solutions that provide value and hopefully are causing people to shift where they're spending their resources because we're already in that space for them and with them. And that's what makes it so fun at this particular workforce development board and this incredible team that I get to work with every day.
Jess Carter (24:03):
My gosh, Phedra, I'm excited with you. It's so cool. I mean, you just covered seven other questions I had about the value proposition and the outcomes and the ways that it's meeting the needs of all these various different counties that are in the donut. And so maybe one of the other questions I had would be, and you kind of answered this, too, just from a county level, but if there was another board or local government team that's sitting on a bunch of data and isn't sure how to start to make it useful, what advice would you give them?
Phedra Redifer (24:34):
I'll start, but I do want to pivot over to Jacob because he was really boots on the ground and lifting this whole project. Not to mention all the engagement that he had in our outdoor region, but I would just challenge everyone, don't sit on data and make sure that you have access to data in an efficient and effective user-friendly way for others to be able to interact with it. Data is only data. If it's sitting there, you have to put it to work. So I'll shift over to Jacob on that piece.
Jacob Jimenez (25:02):
Thanks, Phedra. Understanding right now the landscape that workforce boards and just workforce in general is facing. And what I mean by that is just budget, right? I'm a budget guy, that's kind of my background, but I'm always thinking about dollars. How do we utilize dollars in an effective way that makes the most impact? Because especially being in the public space and not the private space, those dollars are our treasure, right? And to utilize them correctly is to show responsibility to the people that you serve. So purchasing that to say, once you have that understanding, then it becomes, okay, what problems can I solve with innovation and with technology? How do I marry those two together? And really having a comprehensive understanding of those problems that you can tackle quickly and efficiently and having a team around you and a visionary leader to say, yes, let's go for it.
(25:56):
The door's open and really pushing you and motivating you to solve those problems and having those champions and your team to help you create dashboards like this and other visionary projects. Because really, as Phedra said earlier, the public space can be kind of staid. It can be stuck, it can be not forward-looking at times. And I think that as we move forward in the unsure times that we face, it's even more critical to be innovative with our technology and in our problem solving and taking that mentality and that attitude forward is really what's going to drive change in workforce boards.
Jess Carter (26:35):
Yeah, I so appreciate you all sharing this today because I think everyone has data projects right now. Everyone's to figure out how to manage and govern their data. Everyone needs an enterprise data warehouse and a dashboard and whatever. And I think there's been these really interesting conversations about, what are you doing with it? What are the real outcomes? And you guys are in this really fascinating space where your job is to democratize it and allow others to make decisions based off of it. So you're using it, but your maybe more purposeful mission is to make it available in a meaningful way. It's what Phedra said in a useful way that people can see it, leverage it, and make decisions. And that can be confusing for people because it's like, well, what did you do based on this data this morning, Phedra? And it's like, well, I made sure everyone had it.
(27:23):
So I mean, it sounds crazy, but that's a really important concept in a democracy that our government is putting together data that we have access to as employers and citizens to make data-driven decisions about my life. If I think it's going to be valuable for me to invest in a license of some kind for myself, are there jobs out there in my area where I'm likely going to be employed or not and have a skill-up? And I love this idea of a career lattice, not ladder, to your point, Jacob, because in every intro of every talk I've ever heard from anyone ever in the history of my life here on earth, everyone says, well, it wasn't linear. Everyone says, I didn't go to school and get the degree and then immediately do maybe unless you're a doctor or a lawyer. But it's like I did a thing and then this went here and then I you know, we're all over the place. And so the recognition of: The data tells that story, too. So let's acknowledge it and get really creative about who could be available. Where are the skills, not necessarily just the employees, but where do people with those skill sets live that we could access as an employer in that space who might be interested? So I'm just high five. I'm so excited. While we wrap up, is there anything we have not talked about that you guys want to make sure we cover?
Phedra Redifer (28:44):
Well, I would just end in saying that there's no better time to be in workforce development than right now. All eyes are on us. We are transparent and we are investing state and federal dollars for optimal and maximum use in our region. And so this is the space that we love to live in, is because we want to scale something up and we want to scale it out. We want everybody to benefit. And to your point regarding the career lattice, things are so different than they used to be. We don't have to have everybody have a bachelor's degree or a four-year college education or whatever that may be. And so I think being able to demonstrate that diversification in your career journey or your employment journey, that's normal now, and it's okay. We want to make sure that we provide you the tools and information though, so that if you zig or zag, here's what that path could look like, all is not lost.
(29:37):
You actually still can control your economic mobility. And that's what we want to be able to do is make sure that people have a journey, but a well-informed journey that just because you start here, it doesn't mean you're going to end there. We're going to show you that path forward. We're going to show that economic mobility and prosperity because we want everybody to participate in workforce and we're doing everything that we can to provide that on-ramp into it. So I can't think of a better industry than workforce development. And of course, we're thinking about how do we evolutionize or revolutionize the public workforce, and this is the fun space to be in at this current juncture because it's only up from here.
Jess Carter (30:16):
Inspiring. Sign us up. Guys, thank you so much for joining. If people do want to follow you and stay in touch and see what else you guys are doing, Phedra, and then Jacob, what's the best way to stay connected with you?
Phedra Redifer (30:30):
You bet. It's so simple. www.dfwjobs.com, so that's where we send everybody and in fact, we have a speaker's bureau, so if you want us to come out and speak, we're happy to shop the dashboard model out. In fact, Jacob has been featured nationally to explain our dashboards with Resultant, which has been phenomenal. We also have the other workforce boards in the state of Texas asking us and wanting more information of how did you go about doing that? We would like to model that as well. So dfwjobs.com, that is where we send everybody and that's what we can communicate with. And then of course, do specialized treatment thereafter.
Jess Carter (31:10):
Amazing. I am so excited. We will have that link in our show notes so people can go and find you very, very easily. So again, thank you so much for joining us today. Okay.
Phedra Redifer (31:20):
Thank you for having us. This is a great opportunity.
Jacob Jimenez (31:23):
Appreciate the opportunity.
Jess Carter (31:23):
Absolutely. Thank you guys for listening. I'm your host, Jess Carter, and don't forget to follow the Data-Driven Leadership wherever you get your podcasts and rate and review, letting us know how these data topics are transforming your business. We can't wait for you to join us on the next episode.
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