The National Talent Dividend Spring 2012 Meeting was held April 2-3 at the Houston Post Oak in Houston, Texas.
With generous support from The Kresge Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Greater Texas Foundation, Houston Endowment, and the Center for Houston's Future, we convened over one-hundred participants from around the country to share smart ideas, practices, and stories, ask provocative questions, challenge conventional wisdom, and most of all to mobilize and accelerate local and regional action on the Talent Dividend.
Monday and Tuesday keynote remarks were made by Lee Fisher, President and CEO,
CEOs for Cities; Catherine Mosbacher, President and CEO,
Center for Houston's Future; Christine Marson, Program Officer,
Lumina Foundation; Bill Moses, Program Director, the
Kresge Foundation; and Larry Kellner, President,
Emerald Creek Group, LLC; former CEO, Continental Airlines and the immediate past chair of the Greater Houston Partnership.
Panels interspersed between speakers focused on "Enlightened Engagement" moderated by Jeff Edmondson, Managing Director of STRIVE, with guests from the Memphis Talent Dividend Committee, Greater Texas Foundation, and 55,000 Degrees. A second panel focused on data, moderated by Bill Moses, Program Director, the Kresge Foundation with guests from Impresa and Talent 2025. The concluding panel focused on college completion initiatives throughout the country, moderated by Lee Fisher, President and CEO, CEOs for Cities, with special guests from The Institute for Higher Education Policy, Dreamkeepers, All Kids Alliance, and CAEL.
Attendees participated in three "IDEA Flashes" throughout the conference. The first focused on sustaining cross-sector partnerships and collaborations presented by Andrew Moore, Senior Fellow, National League of Cities. The second "flash" was presented by Dr. William Trueheart, President and CEO of Achieving the Dream, who shared ideas about scaling up interventions to achieve more degree completers. The final flash focused on the federal government's aid-based strategy around college completion, presented by Maisha Challenger, Awareness & Outreach, Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education.
On Monday afternoon participants took part in a City Marketplace where they had the opportunity to hear highlights of the work being done in degree attainment in eight cities: Dayton/Southwestern Ohio, Houston, Louisville, McAllen-Edinburg, Memphis, Milwaukee, Northeast Ohio, and Philadelphia.
Monday evening concluded with a lively press conference to announce Houston's Talent Dividend. Houston's Mayor, the Honorable Annise D. Parker, provided opening remarks.
The conference concluded on Tuesday afternoon with a presentation from Issue Media Group and Civic Commons, media partners with CEOs For Cities on the National Talent Dividend.
Source: CEOs for Cities
Writer: Noël Harmon