Growing the Next Workforce: Park Ginder on How Communities Can Help Young People Flourish | EP. 19

How do communities help young people thrive beyond high school?
On this episode of The Midwest Flourish, host Rick Farrant sits down with Park Ginder, Ph.D, former school superintendent and now Executive Director of Grow Allen in Allen County, Indiana.

Grow Allen connects education, business, and industry to open real-world opportunities for students, from workforce tours to internships to career-aligned training. But beyond credentials and job skills, today’s young people face deeper challenges: motivation, structure, academic readiness, and finding what they actually love to do.

Hightlighted Topics:
• How business-school partnerships expand career awareness
• Why talent development requires a long-term view
• The myth of “high-wage, high-demand” as the only path
• How family structure and time shape success
• Ways to reignite curiosity and imagination in students

Whether you're an educator, employer, parent, or simply someone who cares about the future of our region — this episode will challenge and inspire you.

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Chapters:
00:00 Intro – The urgency of developing young talent
01:11 What is Grow Allen & how does it help students?
02:42 Workforce Windows: Taking students inside local industry
04:20 Measuring success: Long-term workforce outcomes
06:54 Aligning with “Learn More, Earn More”
08:28 Why motivation matters as much as skills
09:54 What changed for today’s youth?
11:58 Structure, expectations & the influence of culture
15:10 “High-wage, high-demand” — is it the right metric?
18:20 Career growth vs. instant success
19:56 Academic stagnation & root causes
23:30 Curiosity, creativity & rigid graduation systems
26:03 “Soft skills” and life success
27:12 Parents, modeling, and quantity time
30:04 A story of expectations and support
31:22 Final thoughts & thank you

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