Events and Webinars

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

Join our mailing list and follow us on social media to learn about upcoming events and webinars.


Upcoming and Recent Events

What Employee Ownership Means to Workers
Economic Opportunity

What Employee Ownership Means to Workers

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Work and the Social Contract in the Age of AI: Where do we go from here?
Economic Opportunity
Gouged — A Book Talk with Lindsay Owens
Economic Opportunity
Work and the Social Contract in the Age of AI: How did we get here?
Economic Opportunity
Disposable Workers: A Book Talk with MIT Sloan Professor Paul Osterman
Economic Opportunity
The Impact of Foundational Skills on Workforce Success
Economic Opportunity
Employee Ownership Ideas Forum 2026: Owning America’s Future
Economic Opportunity
Ownership During the AI Revolution
Economic Opportunity

Ownership During the AI Revolution

| Washington, DC

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When Work Isn’t Enough: Improving Job Quality for ALICE Households
Economic Opportunity
Investing in Job Quality in the South
Economic Opportunity

Investing in Job Quality in the South

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Current Series

Opportunity in America

2019—Present

Opportunity in America considers the changing landscape of economic opportunity in the US and implications for individuals, families, and communities across the country. The series highlights the ways in which issues of race, gender, and place exacerbate our economic divides, and ideas and innovations with potential to address these challenges and broaden access to quality opportunity.

Job Quality in Practice

2019—Present

Job Quality in Practice webinars provide actionable tools and guidance to support leaders across geographies and fields — including workforce development, economic development, capital deployment, policy, worker advocacy, business, and higher education — to engage in practical action to improve jobs in their local communities and connect to a growing national conversation.

Employee Ownership Ideas Forum

2023—Present

The Employee Ownership Ideas Forum — hosted in partnership with the Institute for the Study of Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing at Rutgers University — convenes policymakers, practitioners, researchers, philanthropists, investors, and leaders of employee-owned companies to learn about and discuss the latest in policy, research, finance, and practice.


Previous Series

Event Archive

All Past Events from the Economic Opportunities Program

Photo of two warehouse workers wearing hard hats, reflector vests, and face masks. They are standing in front of a stack of cardboard boxes while looking at an electronic tablet. One is a Black man and the other is an Asian woman.
Event

Transformation in 2020: How 2020 Accelerated Digital Transformation at Companies and What That Means for Frontline Workers

2020 upended skill needs for frontline workers and changed how companies invest in education and training.

Photo of an Asian woman working in a warehouse. She is using a tablet and wearing a hard hat, face mask, and reflector vest.
Event

California’s Plans for the Future of Work, Workers, and a Renewed Social Compact

Now is the time to lay the foundation for a more inclusive economy. Learn what California is doing to build a brighter future of work.

Photo of a smiling Black woman using a touchscreen cash register
Event

Addressing Job Quality and Equity in a Time of Crisis: Tools and Case Studies from Local Government, Workforce Development, and Policy Advocacy

In this webinar, we’ll hear from leaders in government, advocacy, and workforce development on new tools and approaches to address the challenges of job quality and equity.

A Job Quality Agenda to Build Back Better – An Action Platform for 2021 and Beyond
Event

A Job Quality Agenda to Build Back Better – An Action Platform for 2021 and Beyond

Our economy doesn’t just need more jobs, it needs better jobs. What ideas can help restore the ideal of work as the pathway to the American Dream?

Photo of a delivery worker wearing a face mask and gloves
Event

Moving Beyond Gratitude: Opportunities to Improve Essential Work

2020 taught us the importance of essential workers. Let’s say thank you by improving the quality of essential jobs.

Job Quality in Practice Webinar: Can Investing in Workers Support Small Business Resiliency Through the Pandemic?
Event

Job Quality in Practice Webinar: Can Investing in Workers Support Small Business Resiliency Through the Pandemic?

Supporting workers isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s also good business. How can small businesses and workforce organizations advance job quality?

Can Employee Share Ownership Improve Racial and Gender Wealth Equity?
Event

Can Employee Share Ownership Improve Racial and Gender Wealth Equity?

Promoting employee ownership can help build a more equitable economy and expand the freedom of working people.

Photo of a young woman of color working at the checkout lane in a grocery store, wearing personal protective equipment, including a face mask, face shield, and gloves
Event

How the Workforce System Can Advance Workplace Health and Safety During and After the Pandemic

In this webinar, panelists share about the crucial role workforce development professionals can play in advancing workplace health and safety, including through direct engagement with employers and partnerships with local advocacy organizations.

Photo of a Black man and Asian woman wearing face masks and bumping elbows in an office.
Event

California’s Approach to Recovery and Resilience: Centering Equity and Job Quality

The pandemic has sparked overdue conversations about worker health and safety, unemployment benefits, health insurance, and fair wages and benefits.

Delivering Credit to Entrepreneurs of Color Impacted by COVID-19: Why Community Financial Institutions Are Essential
Event

Delivering Credit to Entrepreneurs of Color Impacted by COVID-19: Why Community Financial Institutions Are Essential

What role can CDFIs play in supporting entrepreneurs and advancing equity during this uncertain time?

African American woman restaurant worker wearing a face mask in the kitchen
Event

Open to Good Jobs: Now is the Time to Improve Equity and Job Quality in Restaurant Work

Can we reimagine restaurants, and restaurant work, so that workers, businesses, and communities all thrive?

A group of smiling workers
Event

Increasing Equity in a Post-Pandemic Economy: The Potential for Growing Worker Ownership – Job Quality in Practice Webinar

Can worker ownership address the inequities that divide our society and help us build a more resilient economy?

About the Economic Opportunities Program

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

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More from the Economic Opportunities Program

Building Economic Security: A Book Talk with Arindrajit Dube and Carrie Joy Grimes
Podcasts Videos

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

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.

What Employee Ownership Means to Workers
Publications

What Employee Ownership Means to Workers

Firms differ in how equity or profit is allocated, how long the ownership structure is intended to last, and how workers participate in governance and the workplace, all of which affect how workers experience ownership.

Employer-Friendly Practices: A Guide for Higher Education
Publications

Employer-Friendly Practices: A Guide for Higher Education

This resource is designed to help colleges and universities become more employer-friendly and build the kind of institutional capacity that sustains and grows partnerships while simultaneously better serving working learners. It offers role-specific guidance for leaders across the institution, a self-assessment spanning five domains of practice, and a process for turning results into action, grounded in the conviction that institution/employer partnerships can become easier without compromising academic missions.

MillerKnoll: Developing Operations Leaders from Within and Beyond — A Case Study in Structured Talent Development
Publications

MillerKnoll: Developing Operations Leaders from Within and Beyond — A Case Study in Structured Talent Development

Bridge, Propel, and Career Academy are built on a practical philosophy: that MillerKnoll has great talent already inside the organization. Finding that talent, developing it, and aligning it to the right opportunities is key to its success. T

A Typology of State-Supported Work-Connected Learning Programs
Publications

A Typology of State-Supported Work-Connected Learning Programs

States invest in work-connected learning through dozens of distinct funding streams, grant programs, and agency initiatives, often developed independently over time by different administrations and agencies pursuing different goals.

Resource Roundup: Data Centers and the Workforce
Blog Posts