America’s war on terrorism—coupled with its first recession in a decade—has created enormous challenges for our economy.

This three-day conference on workforce and economic development, held April 21-23 at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotal in Philadelphia, offered union leaders, government officials, community activists, scholars, educators, and workforce development experts a unique opportunity to exchange ideas on innovative approaches to meet the crisis.

Entitled Working for America's Future, the conference also sought to put the recent recession within a larger context of building long-term union-employer-government partnerships that strengthen our economy while also providing good jobs for workers.

The conference was sponsored by the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute, the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and the Philadelphia Council of the AFL-CIO.

The conference included general sessions with nationally known experts on economic and workforce development, mini-plenaries on specific topics of interest, site visits to union training programs, and 30 workshops.

Featured speakers at the conference included Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson, author and social critic Barbara Ehrenreich, Educational Testing Service Vice President Anthony P. Carnevale, editor and columnist Robert Kuttner, and national pollster Anna Greenberg.

Conference sessions were organized into three tracks (each designated by a different color) that reflect the work of the Institute and its partners:

Public Workforce and Economic Development Strategies

Individual Success

High Road Union and Employer Sector Strategies

In addition, many sessions and workshops were designed to help
participants improve skills in specific areas, such as research,
strategic planning and communications. Skills building workshops were
designated in blue and accompanied by an icon to represent the skill.
(See Workshop Key for details)

Besides identifying each session by track and skill components, WAI also
identified workshops and other sessions by topics of special interest. (See Workshops on Topics of Special Interest).

See full conference program in PDF format

Pre-Conference Activities | General Sessions | Mini-Plenaries | Site Visits | Workshops