Workforce Leadership Café

Description

The field of workforce development helps job seekers enter and advance in the workforce, and it helps employers improve their hiring, training, and advancement practices. To optimize local workforce systems, practitioners must dismantle silos and create coherent systems and services that balance the needs of both workers and businesses. Can the workforce development field itself set an example as it strives for equitable economic mobility?In the blog post “The Cobbler’s Children Have No Shoes: Why Workforce Professionals Need Their Own Good Jobs Strategy,” authors Dee Wallace and Sheila Maguire — senior fellows with the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program — refer to a pre-pandemic survey revealing that half of workforce professionals in New York City earned less than the city’s median wage, and half of those surveyed considered leaving their jobs within the year. That same study found that people of color made up 80% of the city’s workforce development staff, yet higher earners and organizational leaders were disproportionately white. Let’s explore how the workforce development field can be more reflective of the change it seeks to cultivate. Join us this fall and winter in the “Workforce Leadership Café” for a series of conversations with leaders who are contributing their talents and insights to this rich field of practice. Guests include sponsors of local Workforce Leadership Academies and others who are exploring talent development and job quality in workforce development.

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Join us for this exclusive Critical Conversation, moderated by Vivian Schiller, internationally renowned former media executive, current Aspen Institute Vice President and Executive Director of Aspen Digital. ‘Will We Ever Trust the News Again’ will examine the challenges facing the industry – and crucially, the promising paths towards a solution.

December 8th – 10th, 2025

2025 Aspen Cyber Summit

Join us in celebrating 10 years of dialogue at the 2025 Aspen Cyber Summit in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, November 18.

November 18th, 2025 9am-5pm

Socrates Montenegro Seminar

Organized in partnership with Aspen Institute Germany and Aspen Institute Romania, the first-ever Socrates seminar in Montenegro will bring together leaders to explore the challenges of democratic backsliding, the importance of rule of law, and the essence of values-based leadership.

November 17th – 19th, 2025

The Aspen Executive Seminar on Leadership, Values, and the Good Society – October 2025

The Aspen Institute’s signature seminar on Leadership, Values, and the Good Society.

October 4th – 10th, 2025

Rising Civic AI Leaders

A program providing recent tech-to-government civic AI leaders with the knowledge, tools, and support to navigate government processes.

September 18th, 2025 12:00am – November 20th, 2025 12:00am

The Aspen Executive Seminar on Leadership, Values, and the Good Society – September 2025

The Aspen Institute’s signature seminar on Leadership, Values, and the Good Society.

September 13th – 19th, 2025

Writing a Public Comment

Learn a framework for writing effective public comments in this 1-hour webinar.

September 10th, 2025 11am-12pm

Writing an Op-Ed

Learn how to draft an op-ed to advance a broader goal of policy change in this 1-hour webinar.

August 20th, 2025 9-10am

Psychedelics and the Brain: Unlocking New Possibilities for Healing

Featuring Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, Ralph Metzner Distinguished Professor in Neurology, Psychiatry, and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.

August 19th, 2025 6-7pm