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

What Does Tax Reform Mean for Low- and Moderate-Income Workers?
Event

What Does Tax Reform Mean for Low- and Moderate-Income Workers?

Tax policy can dramatically shape the availability of economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income workers.

nLIFT Evening Networking Reception
Event

nLIFT Evening Networking Reception

Join the members of nLIFT, Nonprofit Leaders in Financial Technology, for an evening networking reception in New York on May 10th.

Building Good Jobs into America’s Infrastructure Investments
Event

Building Good Jobs into America’s Infrastructure Investments

Investments to renew our nation’s infrastructure offer many possible benefits to our economy and our society, including the creation of good jobs for workers.

Launch of the Good Companies/Good Jobs Initiative
Event

Launch of the Good Companies/Good Jobs Initiative

The Good Companies/Good Jobs initiative looks to sectors that have the potential to house good companies and good jobs and explore tools to better align capital deployment to firms with good jobs outcomes.

Business Ownership and the Racial Wealth Gap: Expanding the Growth of Minority-Owned Firms
Event

Business Ownership and the Racial Wealth Gap: Expanding the Growth of Minority-Owned Firms

FIELD explored the factors inhibiting the growth of Latino and African-American-owned firms and the ways to strengthen the link between business ownership, job creation, wealth building, and economic growth.

Communities that Work Partnership: Talent Development for Good Jobs and Strong Economies
Event

Communities that Work Partnership: Talent Development for Good Jobs and Strong Economies

As the Communities that Work Partnership came to a close, we held a conversation with leaders from the partnerships sharing their lessons, accomplishments, and future directions.

Has the First Job Disappeared? Connecting Young Workers to Employers and Career-Building Work Experiences
Event

Has the First Job Disappeared? Connecting Young Workers to Employers and Career-Building Work Experiences

Why are young adults increasingly disconnected from the workforce, and how can we work to reverse this trend?

Building Ladders and Raising the Floor: Improving Employment and Economic Opportunities for Frontline Workers
Event

Building Ladders and Raising the Floor: Improving Employment and Economic Opportunities for Frontline Workers

As labor markets evolve, how can we continue to “build ladders” and “raise the floor” for workers across the economy?

Democracy at Work: Citizen Action and the Fight for $15
Event

Democracy at Work: Citizen Action and the Fight for $15

David Rolf discusses his book “The Fight for $15”, joined by local labor leaders who share their experiences in today’s workplace.

Celebrating Skills for America’s Future
Event

Celebrating Skills for America’s Future

A look back on five years of achievements in demonstrating how businesses can successfully partner with community colleges to meet their workforce needs.

Win/Win: Making the Business Case for Employer Talent Investment

Hosted by UpSkill America, Lumina Foundation and Business Champions for Adult Credential Completion, this session brought together leaders in business, government, policy and academia to discuss how to elevate the skills and education of incumbent workers.

Reskilling America: Career and Technical Education in the Twenty-First Century
Event

Reskilling America: Career and Technical Education in the Twenty-First Century

What is the future of career and technical education? Panelists discussed ways to provide opportunities to develop skills, access middle skill jobs, avoid crippling debt, and meet skill needs in critical industries.

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