One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Serving Special Populations, Workforce Challenges, Service Delivery and Policy Implications – Insights from Practitioners and Academics

Current and future societal developments are likely to affect various populations differently. Tectonic shifts, new or accelerated by Covid-19, have affected many populations in distinctively different ways that cannot be ignored given their collective impact on workforces and workplaces alike. Their story must be told. The USA’s changing demographics also must be considered. Based on US Census data, by the year 2045, the nation is expected to become a minority majority country. In other words, all minorities when bundled together will then become a majority for the first time in US history. This in turn will have significant implications for large segments of society, including service providers who specialize and work closely with many of these different populations. Diversity will be manifested in a variety of ways. It is essential as a society to stop and consider what this means for delivering quality services to so many different populations, each one of which will likely present with its own unique set of circumstances, dynamics, and needs that must be examined and addressed. One Size Doesn’t Fit All is unique in addressing this issue and doing so in such a way that maximizes the positive impact these special populations can have on the service delivery system and the country’s future economic well-being. It offers a service-delivery-driven, “best-practices” approach for working with diverse, special populations, with each chapter focusing on a different yet important population. One Size Doesn’t Fit All readily assists practitioners and policy makers with how they might best serve the emerging needs of many different populations with whom they likely interact, serve, direct, and/or fund.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Small Business Owners and the Pandemic: From Bleak Prospects to Promising New Opportunities – A Few Lessons to Remember; S. Charles Malka Chapter 2. First-Generation College Students: Challenges and Opportunities; Anthony Robinson and Chelsea McKendree Chapter 3. Recognizing the Suicide Prone Population for Suicide: Prevention, Intervention, Postvention; John L. McIntosh Chapter 4. Women Entrepreneurs: The case of the Ethnic Minority Entrepreneur – Workforce Challenges and Policy Implications; Anita Rose Chapter 5. Caring for the Homeless: Transforming Lives – My Journey from City Management to Homeless Advocacy; Ryan Ross Chapter 6. Mid-Career Pivoters and the Promise of Artificial Intelligence; Adam Elias Chapter 7. Single Parents in the American Workforce: Navigating Challenges and Embracing Solutions; Kristopher Mandy Chapter 8. International Students in the U.S.: The Case of the Indian Student Population; Gabriel De Freitas Chapter 9. Disability in the Workforce: Navigating the Post-Pandemic Landscape and Embracing Neurodiversity; Melissa A. Marvel Chapter 10. The Implications of AI Innovation in Healthcare: The Case of the Radiology Space – Challenges and Implications; James Scrivner Chapter 11. Intricacies in the Treatment of and Interaction with Combat Veterans; Robert S. Watson Chapter 12. The Positive Impact the Foreign Born Can Have on a Community: The Case of Cubans in Louisville, KY; Luis David Fuentes Chapter 13. Serving the Long-Term Unemployed: An Integrated Re-Employment and Health Fitness Delivery Model; Robert H. Tiell Chapter 14. The Uniqueness of Franchising Opportunities: Workforce Challenges, Technology Impacts and Policy Implications; Mary Ann Rozengard Chapter 15. The Men In-Blue: Members of the Police Force – Workforce Challenges and Policy Implications; Dan Negersmith Chapter 16. Individuals with Disabilities: Using Social Role Valorization for Ensuring Creative Employment Opportunities; Sonia Johnson Chapter 17. C-Suit Executives’ New Trend: Fractional Employment – Aligning Unique Workforce Needs in a New Business Era; Donald H. Noble Chapter 18. Substance Users: Employment and Recovery – Building a Positive Future; Beth Kuhn

About the Author :
S. Charles Malka, MA, MBA, PhD, is currently an adjunct professor of management at Lindsey Wilson College, USA. Robert H. Tiell, MA, is a career and vocational consultant at The Psychology Resource Group, USA.

Review :
The changing nature of the workplace has been a hot topic for the past three decades. Continuing innovations in technology and the recent pandemic have provided momentous changes to how work is performed and the overall experience of the modern worker. Artificial intelligence now enters stage right, providing substantial benefits and yet considerable uncertainty in terms of its effect on what work will look like in the next few years. These paradigm shifts in how and where work is performed have different impacts on various sectors of the population. This book provides viewpoints of numerous authors regarding how the workplace experience of many special populations has been and might be affected by the numerous variables in play. Anyone interested in understanding the likely varied experiences of different subsets of the workforce will enjoy the chapters presented in this volume. The most successful coaches and consultants are masters at crafting recommendations that solve a specific problem for a specific person or organization at a specific time. Their success reflects the philosophical belief and pragmatic approach that “one size doesn’t fit all”. That same approach is the editorial foundation and title of Tiell and Malka’s thought proving book. Kudos for their superb section of contributions providing state of the art recommendations that will be applauded by policy makers and those specific communities affected by those policies.