Recap: 2013 National Talent Dividend Meeting, April 7-9 in Philadelphia

The National Talent Dividend Spring 2013 Meeting was held April 7-9 at WHYY, Inc. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
 
With generous support from The Kresge Foundation, Lumina Foundation, United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, Knight Foundation, Graduate! Philadelphia, Inc., CEO Council For Growth - Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Economy League of Greater Philadelphia, University of Phoenix, and in-kind sponsorship from Garces Catering, Issue Media Group, Campus Philly, Philly Goes 2 College, Civic Commons, Philadelphia Youth Network, Mayor's Office of Education, WHYY, and Flying Kite Media, we convened close to 150 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 keynote remarks were made by Jim Applegate, Vice President for Strategic Impact, Lumina Foundation; on Tuesday, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and his Chief Education Officer Lori Shor delivered the keynote address.

There were two general session panels. The first featured a conversation between business and higher education leaders, moderated by Robert Wonderling, President and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce with the presidents of Rutgers University-Camden and the University of Delaware and the VP of Talent Development and Management at Comcast, and the President and CEO of K'NEX.

The second panel on Tuesday morning was moderated by Greg Darnieder, Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Education, College Access. Guests included representatives from Skills for America's Future, National League of Cities, STRIVE, and Jobs for the Future.

Workshops took place on Monday afternoon in two waves. The first focused on using data to drive your city's Talent Dividend, moderated by Dr. Kate Shaw, Executive Director, Research for Action, with guests from Office of the State Superintendent of Education in Washington DC, OMG Center for Collaborative Learning, and Louisville's 55,000 Degrees.
 
A second workshop focused on effectively sharing the stories of Talent Dividend cities, moderated by Brian Boyle, President and CEO of Issue Media Group, with guests from Civic Commons and Inside Higher Education. 
 
Deborah Santiago, Vice President of Policy and Research at Excelencia for Education, moderated a workshop on supporting 21^st students with panelists from the Institute for Higher Education Policy, The Graduate!, Philadelphia Network, Inc., and The Institute on College Access.

Deborah Diamond, President of Campus Philly, moderated a workshop on developing cross-sector partnerships at the local level with guests from University City District, Greater Louisville Inc., and the Drexel Co-Op Program.   
 
Finally, attendees heard an update on the Talent Dividend Metrics from Joe Cortright, learned about Geospatial Mapping from Peter Winograd, and heard a progress report on the Talent Dividend from the National Director.

The conference itself concluded on Tuesday afternoon with a presentation from the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce who will be hosting the 2014 Talent Dividend meeting April 7-8 in Los Angeles.