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Sign Up Today: Registration for Corporate Voices' Annual Partners Meeting Closes Friday, June 3
The deadline to register for Corporate Voices' Annual Partners Meeting is fast approaching. In order to reserve your seat, you must register before 12:00 noon on Friday, June 3. The theme of this year's annual meeting is: "Celebrating 10 Years of Success: Shaping the 21st Century Workforce and Workplace," and will feature a White House briefing, Capitol Hill briefing with Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Buck McKeon and an exciting collection of keynote speakers and panelists. If you have not yet registered for the annual meeting, please click here.
Please note, Corporate Voices' Annual Partners Meeting is open to corporate partners only. If your company is not currently a member of Corporate Voices, please contact Tiffany Westover-Kernan, twestover-kernan@corporatevoices.org or 202.467.8133, for information on membership.
We would like to recognize the following sponsors of this year's Annual Partners Meeting:
Baxter International, Inc.
CVS Caremark
Marriott International, Inc.
AOL, Inc.
Bright Horizons Family Solutions
Ernst & Young
Johnson & Johnson
KPMG
H-E-B
The TJX Companies, Inc.
Abbott Laboratories
Capital One
ICF International
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Annual Meeting Volunteer Opportunity
To provide an additional opportunity for corporate partners, Corporate Voices is partnering with Suited for Change for this year's annual meeting. Suited for Change provides professional clothing and career-related education to low-income women to increase their reemployment and job retention potential and to contribute to their economic independence. Since their founding in 1992, Suited for Change has provided more than 18,000 women (most in their forties, heads of households with young children and been out of work for six months or longer) with free professional clothing and training opportunities.
Corporate Voices is asking annual meeting attendees to bring jewelry and accessories donations to assist these women in completing their professional look. We will be collecting the items throughout the June 15-17th events with a special address by a Suited for Change client on Thursday, June 16th. Please contact Jennifer Weber (jweber@corporatevoices.org) if you have any questions.
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As Nation Discusses Need for Growth and Job Creation, How Can Businesses Boost Workforce Competitiveness?
 On Thursday, the Department of Commerce reported that the economy grew at a slower than expected rate in the first quarter of this year. GDP growth was only 1.8 percent, compared with 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. Seizing on this news of anemic growth, both the administration and Congressional Republicans responded by announcing their plans to spur economic growth and job creation.
At a time when the national dialogue is focused on the need to stimulate growth in the economy, we should also consider other innovative ways the business community can take part in creating a more productive and competitive workforce, and how public policy can support businesses in doing so. Engaging the business community in advancing policies and practices to strengthen our workforce and to improve the quality of life for working families is something that Corporate Voices for Working Families sees as critical to our ability to compete in the global economy. As Stephen M. Wing, president of Corporate Voices, said, "In an economy which has experienced dramatic demographic shifts over the past decade, work-life and talent development programs are becoming more about creating effective workplaces for the future and adopting successful business strategies." To support work-life and talent development programs that make our workforce more competitive, Corporate Voices has produced new research and business tools on the business case for workplace flexibility, supporting nursing mothers at work, educating low-income workers about tax benefits and investing in the training and education of workers. Read more on Corporate Voice's blog. |
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Coordinating Policies for Kids Congressional Briefing
Next week, the Forum for Youth Investment and the Ready by 21® Policy Coalition in which Corporate Voices participates will host a Congressional Briefing:
Coordinating Policies for Kids
Wednesday, June 8
8:30 AM - Breakfast
9:00 AM - 10:30 - Briefing
2261 Rayburn House Office Building, Capitol Hill,
Washington, DC.
Hear from the federal policymakers and state Children's Cabinet directors being honored with the Ready by 21 Policy Leadership Award, and learn about leading state and federal efforts to:
- build partnerships to promote the alignment of youth policies across agencies
- set big, collective goals for children and youth
- collect better data to track progress and drive decision-making
- adopt bold new strategies that raise visibility, improve quality, and engage young people in change
RSVP today. Space is limited. Email RSVP@forumfyi.org.
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Corporate Voices' Legislative Update
Corporate Voices' president Stephen M. Wing and partner company Allied Barton recently participated in a Workforce Investment Roundtable hosted by U.S. Senator Patty Murray. The roundtable was held as part of Senator Murray's work as Chair of the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety.
During the discussion, Wing highlighted the important role played by local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) and reflected on the success of CVS Caremark's Regional Learning Centers during his tenure at the company. By partnering with local WIBs, CVS Caremark was able to create training centers that helped develop a strong workforce while improving the communities in which it was doing business. In Wing's view, such partnerships between business and local boards help to ensure the success of workforce investment programs.
Wing also used this time to speak to the need for Congress to invest in a proposed federal Workforce Innovation Fund, which is designed to test and replicate innovative strategies to improve the skills and employment outcomes for individuals, especially disadvantaged job seekers. These strategies could include "learn and earn" models, on-the-job training and apprenticeships, and a range of other best practices which Corporate Voices and many partner companies have actively supported. The Fund-included in President Obama's annual budget this year and last--represents a small but crucial investment in evidence-based and cost-effective training that could benefit American employers and the U.S. workforce well into the future.
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