IOWA OPPORTUNITY FORUM
Monday, November 16, 2015
Des Moines Area Community College – Ankeny Campus
FFA Enrichment Center
1055 SW Prairie Trail Parkway
Ankeny, Iowa 50023
Agenda (in formation)
8:00 AM – 9:00 AM Registration Opens, Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM Welcoming Remarks
- Rob Denson, President, Des Moines Area Community College; Chair, Opportunity Nation Leadership Council
- Monique Rizer, Executive Director, Opportunity Nation
- Wayne Ford and Mary Dominguez Campos, Co-Founders, Iowa Brown and Black Forum
- Dionna Langford, Board Member, Des Moines Public Schools; Public Allies Alum
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM Forum Co-Chairs Remarks
- Retired Congressman Tom Latham
- Dr. Andy McGuire, Chair, Iowa Democratic Party
- Jeff Kaufmann, Chair, Republican Party of Iowa
10:00 AM – 10:30 AM Opportunity Index Data and Iowa Workforce Overview
- Paul Kendrick, Director of Coalition and Grassroots Engagement, Opportunity Nation
- Paula Nissen, Iowa Department of Education
10:30 AM – 11:15 AM The Power of Data: Iowa’s Opportunity Score and Workforce Data
- Elisabeth Buck, Chief Community Impact Officer, United Way of Central Iowa
- Paula Nissen, Iowa Department of Education
- Russell Krumnow, Managing Director, Opportunity Nation
- Mike Ralston, President, Iowa Association of Business and Industry
- Moderator: Deidre DeJear, Opportunity Leader
11:15 AM – 12:00 PM Working Groups Session
- Facilitators: Mary Chapman, Vice President Emeritus, DMACC; Opportunity Iowa and Paul Kendrick, Opportunity Nation
12:00 PM – 12:45 PM Lunch and Networking
12:45 PM – 1:30 PM The Power of Collaboration
- Mayor Sara Kurovski, Pleasant Hill, Iowa
- Nate Clark, Vice President, John Deere Foundation
- Jay Byers, CEO, Greater Des Moines Partnership
- Jane Bradley, Vice President Academic Affairs, Hawkeye Community College
- Marvin DeJear, Director, Evelyn K. Davis Center for Working Families
- Tucker Murphy, Gateway to College Student, DMACC
- Moderator: Monique Rizer, Executive Director, Opportunity Nation
1:30 PM – 1:45 PM Remarks from Be the Change, Inc.
- Alan Khazei, CEO, Be The Change, Inc.
1:45 PM – 2:00 PM Break
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM Getting and Keeping Young Adults on Track
- Wilfred Johnson, Director, Classic Upward Bound Program, University of Northern Iowa
- Laurie Phelan, CEO, iJAG
- Thomas Willoughby, Project Manager, Implementation Program Office, Principal Financial Group
- Marcela Hermosillo-Tarin, Iowa Department of Education
- John Pedersen, Senior Vice President, Management and Training Corporation
- Jazmine Geyer, Student Body President, Denison Job Corps
- Moderator: Carol Hunter, News Editor, Des Moines Register
2:45 PM – 3:30 PM Working Groups Session
3:30 PM – 4:00 PM Working Groups Wrap-Up
3:30 PM – 3:45 PM Opportunity Nation National Call to Action
- Melanie Anderson, Director of Government Affairs, Opportunity Nation
3:45 PM – 4:00 PM Closing
- Rob Denson, President, DMACC
For more information, please contact info@opportunitynation.org