Corporate Voices for Working Families Promoting Positive Youth Development

Melissa Hough, Director, National Partnerships and Development for the Forum, presented at the Corporate Voices for Working Families 8th Annual Meeting. Corporate Voices is a non-partisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporate membership organization created to bring the private sector voice into the public dialogue on issues affecting working families and is a Ready by 21 National Partner. Corporate Voices also acts as the voice of positive youth development and workforce readiness to the business community. Through their work, business broadens and deepens its support of positive youth development.

The session, “Workforce Readiness on the Ground: Ready by 21 Interactive Discussion,” provided an overview of the Ready by 21 Approach for the business community. The other panelist was Andy Chavez, National Youth Programs Manager with Marriot who shared the role that Marriot has lead for some time in helping to prepare youth for employment through their “Spirit to Serve” Program.  Youth development was a consistent thread throughout the entire conference. Participants cited workforce readiness and youth development as immediate priorities that business should be tackling as part of their corporate responsibility commitments and expressed interest in hearing more about Ready by 21 and the opportunity for business.

First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama was at the event to share her perspective on working family issues. The meeting captured significant media exposure on Michelle Obama’s remarks on work/life balance and the release of CVWF’s new report, “Innovative Workplace Flexibility Options for Hourly Workers.” Corporate Voices was featured in the NY Times, Washington Post, CBS.com, Business Week, ABC.com, Politico and on CNN, to name a few. Please take a look at their blog, http://corporatevoices.wordpress.com/, to see some of the coverage and view a video of Michelle Obama’s remarks.

Finally, Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist for Vice President Biden & Director of the Middle Class Taskforce on Working Families, challenged CVWF companies to brainstorm policies that the Taskforce can use when they examine policies on work/life. A series of panels and discussions were focused on workforce readiness and youth development.