Aspen is a place for leaders to lift their sights above the possessions which possess them. To confront their own nature as human beings, to regain control over their own humanity by becoming more self-aware, more self-correcting, and hence more self-fulfilling.
Opportunity in America, an event series hosted by the Economic Opportunities Program, 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.
Is America living up to our aspirations to be a real “land of opportunity?” Even as the economy’s expansion continues, mobility is in decline while inequality reaches alarming heights. How should we define opportunity in the era ahead? How can we ensure that everyone has equitable access to it? Opportunity in America explores the changing nature of opportunity, who is and isn’t included, and concrete ideas for expanding access to quality economic opportunities.
Opportunity in America builds on our Working in America events, which examined how the changing nature of work influenced access to opportunity in America, particularly for low- and moderate-income workers, but also broaden the lens to more intentionally include business ownership strategies as a key route to accessing economic opportunity in the US. We hope you will join us as we seek to advance strategies, policies, and ideas to ensure all have a fair shot to pursue their American Dream.
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.
For decades, economists and policymakers have debated how to help workers get better jobs. But what if the more fundamental problem is that employers have systematically redesigned work itself to make a third of the workforce expendable? In his forthcoming book, “Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment,” MIT Sloan Professor Emeritus Paul Osterman examines this idea and what it would take to reverse it.
This is the final event in our Job Quality in Practice series. In this conversation, hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program on May 7, 2026, we hear from the Institute’s Job Quality Fellows who are embedding job quality into their work across a range of contexts and strategies — from employee ownership models that give workers a direct financial stake in their company’s success, to apprenticeship programs that create structured pathways to higher-wage careers, to worker advisory committees that bring employee voice into business decision-making.
This event — hosted by the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program and the Forum for Community Solutions on April 21, 2026 — explores how to create meaningful work opportunities for teens while protecting them from dangerous and exploitative conditions
This event draws on insights from our Workforce Leadership Academies. For highlights from this discussion, subscribe to EOP’s YouTube channel. Or subscribe to our podcast to listen on the go.
A core shared value in American society, one deeply woven into our national narrative, is the belief in equal opportunity — the idea that everyone should have a fair chance to succeed based on their effort, talent, and ambition, regardless of their background.
In this event — hosted by the Economic Opportunities Program on July 30, 2025 — we learn how the warming climate is affecting workers, and what policymakers, businesses, and labor are doing to keep workers safe.
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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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.
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.
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.
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
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.