Vice President Joe Biden to discuss access to opportunity for young adults. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican Conference Chair, to also speak.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2015 — Opportunity Nation, a bipartisan coalition, will host the National Opportunity Summit on February 26, 2015, bringing together elected officials, public and private sector organizations and higher education institutions to discuss youth employment and economic opportunity.
Opportunity Nation seeks to expand economic opportunity and close the opportunity gap by amplifying the work of its coalition members and advocating policy and private sector actions.
The National Opportunity Summit convenes leaders from business, government and non-profit sectors focused on cross-sector and bipartisan solutions for stronger career pathways for young adults in the face of high rates of youth unemployment.
Currently, young adults ages 16-24 face unemployment rates nearly twice the national average and nearly six million youth are neither in school nor working. Other topics on the agenda include employment pathways to grow the economy, the power of entrepreneurship, juvenile justice, revitalizing the apprenticeship model and academic programs beyond a four-year degree.
Vice President of the United States Joe Biden will deliver remarks at the Summit.
Additional confirmed elected officials that will be speaking at the event include The Honorable Robert Portman, Senator, Ohio; The Honorable Cory Booker, Senator, New Jersey; The Honorable Michael Bennet, Senator, Colorado; The Honorable Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Representative, Washington and Chair, House Republican Conference; The Honorable Phil Bryant, Governor, Mississippi; The Honorable Jack Markell, Governor, Delaware; and The Honorable Michael Nutter, Mayor, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Participating private sector organizations include executives from State Farm, Bank of America, Walmart and Starbucks.
The event will be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. and is co-convened with Business Roundtable (BRT), Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG), U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and United Way Worldwide. The event is supported by partners such as Bank of America, State Farm, Citi Foundation, Walmart, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Case Foundation, Apollo Education Group, and others.
Previous Opportunity Summits have received national acclaim and attracted a diverse group of speakers, including Dr. Fareed Zakaria, Angela Glover Blackwell, Serena Williams, Governor Deval Patrick, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Michael Bennet, Arianna Huffington and Pastor Rick Warren.
About Opportunity Nation:
Opportunity Nation is a bipartisan, national coalition of more than 300 businesses, nonprofits, educational institutions and community leaders working to expand economic opportunity. Opportunity Nation seeks to close the opportunity gap by amplifying the work of its coalition members, advocating policy and private sector actions, and releasing the annual Opportunity Index, a composite measure at the state and county levels of economic, educational and civic factors that foster opportunity.
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