WWP November 4, 2025 | e-News
At Oregon Workforce Partnership’s recent WORKing Together conference, four mass timber innovators participated in “From Forest to Future,” an engineered wood products panel, facilitated by Dean Craig of Willamette Workforce Partnership (WWP). The panel consisted of Kyle Freres of Freres Engineered Wood, Jared Revay of Timberlab, Ben Deumling of Zena Wood Products, and Marcus Kauffman of the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition. It was one of the most interesting highlights of the October conference.
Are you curious how other partnerships like the Mass Timber Coalition are tackling Oregon’s workforce challenges and opportunities?
Mark your calendar for WORKing Together 2026! Next year’s conference will be held October 20-21 at the Salem Convention Center in Salem, Oregon.
What Is Mass Timber and Why It’s Changing the Future of Construction
When people hear “mass timber,” they often picture a dense forest of trees, or a giant stack of harvested wood. But the term actually refers to one of the most exciting innovations in modern construction. Mass timber is engineered wood panels and beams made by layering pieces of wood or veneer and bonding them under pressure. These components are strong enough to build mid- and high-rise buildings, in many cases, offering a renewable alternative to concrete and steel.
If you’ve been to the Portland International Airport (PDX), mass timber takes center stage, where massive Douglas fir beams and panels showcase Oregon-grown wood in one of the largest airport timber projects in the world. Seventy percent of the timber used in the PDX project was recovered from the Santiam Canyon area, where forests are now regrowing after the fires. As you enter the airport, you’re walking across millions of slender pieces of wood, harvested from forests just miles away, joined together into a surface that’s both durable and beautiful.
Oregon’s forests have been the backbone of this transformation. By combining sustainable forest management with advanced manufacturing, Oregon became one of the first regions in the U.S. to produce large-scale, code-approved mass timber buildings. What’s unfolding here is not only a shift in construction methods, but also a new way to think about how forests, industry, and communities can work together for a low-carbon and climate friendly future.
Willamette Workforce Partnership can play a key role in helping prepare this burgeoning workforce by connecting job seekers with short training programs, apprenticeships, and technical education pathways that align directly with what companies like Freres, Timberlab, Zena, and coalition members need. Together, we can build the next generation of workers who will carry Oregon’s legacy of responsible forestry into the next century.
Building a Work Ready Future:
Oregon Employability Skills
Another fantastic session from the recent WORKing Together conference was focused on Oregon’s youth and successfully preparing young people for the world of work. The panel was led by Kim-Parker-Llerenas, WWP’s Executive Director and CEO, with Jaxson Crawford, Charlie Hopewell of the Workforce Talent and Development Board, Christian Paige and Kasey Sanchez of the Oregon Business Academy joining the panel.
Attendees learned about the Oregon Employability Skills (OES) framework, and how these practical skills are transforming our education and workforce systems. OES are curriculum based, developed by the Oregon Department of Education (ODE), and comprised of 11 employability skills to include traits such as adaptability, digital literacy, empathy, self-awareness, and an entrepreneurial mindset. Designed with input from employers, educators, and youth-serving organizations, OES provides a unified language for career readiness from classroom to workplace.
OES are basic “soft skills” that employers across every industry value most, like communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and resilience. Beyond job specific or technical expertise, successful employees consistently demonstrate these core skills. K S “Venkat” Venkatraman, an executive member of the Workforce and Talent Development Board advising the Governor of Oregon, refers to the OES as “human skills,” because they form a foundation to every person’s individual success, not just in the workplace, but in society as a whole.
Why This Matters…
In today’s tight labor market, technical training is only part of the equation. OES offer a structured approach to help youth and adult learners become work-ready, regardless of background. The OES’s thoughtful framework defines, teaches, and certifies essential employability skills through real-world application and storytelling. Community-based organizations, after-school programs, and alternative education settings can integrate these tools to prepare their participants for work and life.
How to Get Started
Whether you’re a business looking to influence the next generation of workers, or a community partner seeking to build workforce readiness, the Oregon Employability Skills toolkit is available now. It includes videos, posters, self-paced modules, surveys, and classroom-ready curriculum for all age groups, from elementary awareness to adult work-readiness.
Visit OregonEmployabilitySkills.org or email [email protected] to get connected and explore how these tools can strengthen your programs, partnerships, or workforce.
Together, let’s keep building Oregon’s workforce!
WorkSource Oregon and WWP are excited to share a new resource available through our partnership with GotResumeBuilder.com. This online resume builder makes it easy for jobseekers to create, format, and download professional resumes. All users need to do is create an account, fill in their information, and the system keeps everything formatted and standardized.
As part of GotResumeBuilder’s community giveback program, this service is completely free for nonprofit organizations. There are no hidden fees and no fine print. Anyone who creates an account through the partner link below will be automatically upgraded to the free nonprofit version.
Customers can access the tool here: WorkSource Oregon Resume Builder
We’d also like to recognize Matt Gilbert and Jay Teller from the Oregon Employment Department (OED) for making this partnership possible. Thank you for continuing to connect people with tools that support their career goals.
