09/01/2026

Career Development Needs a Voice in Public Policy

By Steven Thomas and Sarah JanTausch, NCDA Government Relations Co-chairs

Career development professionals help people make decisions in an uncertain environment. Students question education value, workers adapt to technological change, and employers rethink recruitment and talent retention alongside the work of the career development professional.

Public decisions influence career services, workforce programs, standards, data protection, and access to opportunity. Career development professionals often see the effects of these decisions before they appear in a policy report. They know which career pathways are accessible, which populations face barriers, and where systems fail to meet the needs of learners, workers, and employers.

Government relations matter because the profession holds knowledge that policymakers and workforce leaders need. The question is whether that knowledge reaches the conversations where priorities are set and resources are directed.

Policy Is Already Part of Career Practice

Government relations may sound removed from career counseling, advising, teaching, or program administration. In practice, public policy is embedded throughout this work. Policies impact workforce funding, student services, education access, employment protections, certification, technology, and career support. The NCDA Government Relations Committee’s (GRC) policy agenda covers employment, career and workforce development, professional standards, mental health, research, equality, and data ethics.

These are not abstract categories. They affect whether a displaced worker can obtain meaningful retraining, a student receives timely guidance, and technology is used responsibly with client information. Career professionals see how policy choices become real opportunities or barriers. Connecting those frontline experiences to public policy helps decision-makers understand how changes affect people seeking sustainable careers.

Turning Workforce Signals Into Professional Insight

Career professionals often are concerned that they lack advocacy skills. While they do not need to become legislative or policy experts per se, they do benefit from understanding the forces shaping their work. That is why NCDA is rolling out new resources and training to help members get up to speed quickly while acknowledging full-time jobs and other commitments.

NCDA members can use a newly installed Legislative Tracker found in the NCDA Members Only secure webpage to follow selected federal and state developments affecting career development. Policy awareness through regular use of the Legislative Tracker can improve practice. Recognizing an emerging education, employment, or workforce issue enables practitioners to prepare clients, brief institutional leaders, identify service gaps, and contribute evidence before decisions are finalized.

While the GRC monitors the federal landscape, the GRC is also organizing regional policy monitoring to preserve state context and identify emerging workforce trends. Additionally, virtual monthly GRC meetings, quarterly town halls, and an annual advocacy summit are also intended to increase advocacy skills and bring member experiences and local concerns into the committee’s work. This creates a valuable exchange: members gain policy awareness, while the GRC gains the practitioner insight needed to communicate credible priorities.

Advocacy begins with listening carefully to what career development professionals and our clients are experiencing. Members do not need to arrive with policy expertise. Their experience in counseling, education, workforce development, research, and career services is the expertise that makes government relations useful.

Building Collective Influence

A profession’s public voice strengthens through links with related organizations. The GRC is building a liaison network across the work in counseling, workforce, education, higher education, human resources and international policy. It aims for focused exchange of policy intelligence, research, practitioner views, shared learning, and resources.

The GRC has also launched five member-driven workstreams:

1. Policy Intelligence & Response
2. Partnerships & External Affairs
3. Member Communications & Mobilization
4. Awards & Learning
5. Convenings & Conference

GRC members can contribute by monitoring issues, developing communications, serving as organizational liaisons, supporting grants, or delivering professional learning.

Another milestone is the NCDA State Advocacy Grant opportunity, which offers funding to support efforts such as legislative advocacy days, meetings with policymakers, advocacy training, public awareness initiatives and more. Applications are open through September 13, 2026, and applicants do not need to belong to a state career development association. The grants support advocacy efforts designed to build relationships, skills, resources, and continued engagement.

From Awareness to Action

Government relations activities are not separate from serving clients well. It helps practitioners understand the systems that underlie the challenges clients bring to counseling sessions, classrooms, career centers, workforce agencies, and private practices.

The profession does not need every member to play the same advocacy role. It needs many forms of professional engagement, including research, storytelling, policy monitoring, coalition building, and leadership. When coordinated, these contributions strengthen career development’s influence on decisions that shape its future.

Get Involved

Participation offers networking, leadership development, and an opportunity to influence the profession’s future. NCDA offers many opportunities to get involved:

• Attend the September GRC Meeting on September 16, 2026, at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time
• Register for the NCDA Advocacy Summit on September 18 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The summit is open to NCDA members and non-members and will cover advocacy fundamentals, policy awareness, storytelling, and practical resources. Register for the Advocacy Summit now.
• Members may join a GRC workstream by emailing the co-chairs at  GovernmentRelations@NCDA.org
• Apply for a State Advocacy Grant by September 13 at https://bit.ly/4hGmSmS 
• Join the GRC mailing list at https://bit.ly/NCDAGRClist.

Steven D. Thomas is a program director at The Graduate School at Michigan State University, where he supports the development of undergraduates, graduate students, as well as postdocs in science communication for the policy makers and the general public. He serves as Co-Chair of the National Government Relations Committee for NCDA and is a general member of the Michigan Career Development Association. He can be reached at deshawn@msu.edu.

Sarah JanTausch is the Co-Chair of the Government Relations Committees for both the National and Ohio Career Development Associations and works in private practice as a career coach. Her business, Values-Based Careers, supports mid-career professionals. She can be reached at sarah@valuesbasedcareers.com.