Addressing youth unemployment
•Caitlin Emma, Education Reporter
ADDRESSING YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT: Lawmakers, business and higher education leaders and nonprofits will gather at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in D.C. next week for the National Opportunity Summit, which this year focuses on scalable solutions to youth unemployment and its economic harms. Sen. Cory Booker, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant are among the government officials slated to speak, along with Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. On the agenda [http://bit.ly/19sbZ2p]: improving juvenile justice, revitalizing the apprenticeship model and investing in credentials other than a four-year degree that can lead to employment.
Watch for surprise guest speakers— and for some news, too. Walmart and AT&T will announce new workforce training investments, and Booker will discuss his intention to reintroduce the Leveraging and Energizing America’s Apprenticeship Programs Act [http://1.usa.gov/17iw8qn]. Opportunity Nation Managing Director Russell Krumnow told Morning Education he hopes the event — which is purposefully bipartisan in message and speakers — will translate into policy action in Congress and practical changes on campuses. (A full quarter of attendees will be young activists from across the country.) “We know there’s a lot of division in Washington but it really feels like on this issue we’ve been able to really bring people together under a common banner,” he said. Follow along Thursday using the Twitter hashtag #OppSummit.
