Upcoming Events from the Economic Opportunities Program — October 2026

The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program advances strategies, policies, and ideas to help low- and moderate-income people thrive in a changing economy.

We hope you’ll join us at one of our upcoming events, which you can learn about below. Everyone who registers will receive a link to the recording, so please sign up even if you can’t participate live.

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October 7 — Building Economic Security: A Book Talk with Arindrajit Dube and Carrie Joy Grimes

Wednesday, October 7, from 2 to 3 p.m. EDT, on Zoom

Economic security shouldn’t be a lottery. Yet for millions of working families, stagnant wages and precarious jobs collide with the daily grind of managing money on shaky ground — leaving stability feeling less like a plan and more like a gamble. Fixing that takes more than one lever. It takes structural reform and the tools people need to take control of their financial lives, working together.

In “The Wage Standard: What’s Wrong in the Labor Market and How to Fix It,” Professor Arindrajit Dube maps out how to rebuild a labor market that actually works for workers. In “The Joy of Money: How to Do More With and Feel Better About Your Money—No Matter How Much You Have,” Carrie Joy Grimes flips the script on personal finance, showing that financial agency isn’t reserved for the wealthy. Together, their ideas offer something rare: a real blueprint for security that starts at the policy level and ends in people’s pockets.

Join the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on Wednesday, October 7, for a conversation that connects these dots. We’ll dig into the big questions: What will it actually take to fix a broken labor market? How do practical financial tools build real agency, no matter your income? And what does an economy look like when systemic fairness and individual security aren’t trade-offs — but a package deal?

Dube and Grimes will be in conversation with moderator Natalie Foster, senior fellow at the Economic Opportunities Program, co-founder of Economic Security Project, and author of “The Guarantee: Inside the Fight for America’s Next Economy.”

This event is part of our Opportunity in America series. Click here to register.

October 29 — What Employee Ownership Means to Workers

Thursday, October 29, from 2 to 3:15 p.m. EDT, on Zoom

Employee ownership has deep roots in the United States, from profit sharing in the cod fishing industry during the nation’s founding era to the early cooperatives formed by formerly enslaved people to the creation of employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) in 1974. Today, ESOPs, cooperatives, employee ownership trusts (EOTs), and new forms of ownership and profit sharing continue to expand what employee ownership can look like as we pursue a fairer economy where workers can share in the wealth and value they create.

Employee owners themselves bring a critical perspective to building effective employee-owned companies and expanding the model. Workers know best which elements of ownership matter most, so their voices are important in designing ownership plans, putting them into practice, and evaluating outcomes. Understanding those perspectives can help companies develop workplace practices that let employee ownership thrive and help policymakers craft policies that support its growth.

The Economic Opportunities Program’s forthcoming report, What Employee Ownership Means to Workers, shares the perspectives and experiences of workers at companies with different forms of employee ownership: ESOPs, EOTs, worker cooperatives, and broad-based equity compensation plans.

Join the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program for What Employee Ownership Means to Workers virtually on October 29, 2026, from 2:00 to 3:15 p.m. ET. Hear findings from the report and a panel conversation featuring four employee-owners who participated in the research, as part of our celebration of Employee Ownership Month. Click here to register.

External Events and Speaking Engagements

EOP staff are frequently called upon to lend their expertise to a variety of critical conversations and settings. To invite one of our experts to speak at an event, send us an email at [email protected].

• October 5-6: Alexandria, VA — 189th Fall Association Meeting (invite-only) hosted by the Association of Research Libraries. Maureen Conway, vice president at the Aspen Institute and executive director of EOP, will attend as a featured speaker.
• October 26-29: Tucson, AZ — Philanthropy Southwest’s 78th Annual Conference. The Aspen Institute Business Ownership Initiative Senior Director, Joyce Klein, will participate in a panel titled “Beyond Immediate Relief: Why Small Business Recovery is the Missing Link in Disaster Philanthropy.”
• October 14: Online — Moving Beyond Roi: What We Know About the Business Case for Apprenticeship hosted by Apprenticeships for America. In this discussion, UpSkill America Director of Research Annelies Goger and other panelists will examine the latest research on the business case for apprenticeship.
• October 22-23: Deer Valley, UT — 2026 Human Potential Summit hosted by the Human Potential Network. UpSkill America Senior Director Haley Glover will speak at a panel titled, “Access to Training ≠ Access to Advancement: How to Close the Gap.”
• October 27-28, San Juan, PR. — U.S. Biopharma Workforce Partnership Conference hosted by the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals (NIIMBL). UpSkill America Director of Research Annelies Goger will speak at a panel titled, “Rethinking Talent Metrics: Aligning Industry and Workforce Partners to Craft Stories That Drive Change.”
• October 29-30, 2026, Colorado Springs, CO — 2026 Career-Connected L/Earning Conference hosted by The Attainment Network. Associate Director of Upskill America, Chelsea Miller, will speak at a panel on career advising and navigation.

In Case You Missed It

We are pleased to share recordings and resources from these recent events.

September 23 — Work and the Social Contract in the Age of AI: How did we get here?
September 9 — Disposable Workers: A Book Talk with MIT Sloan Professor Paul Osterman
August 26 — Metrics that Matter: Improving Financial Analysis of CDFI Small Business Lenders