At the close of the 69th Winter Meeting, Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill, Chair of The U.S. Conference of Mayors Jobs, Education and Workforce Committee, announced that the Conference will hold a series of four Mayors Skills Summits as part of a national effort to address the skills gap. At the summits, mayors will convene local elected officials, the private sector, educators, unions, and workforce boards to identify workforce needs, challenges and resources. The Summits will be held in Long Beach, New Orleans, Boston and Boise over the next several months.

"It's going to take the leadership of education, labor, business and government to address the widening skills gap. This issue is a major challenge for the future of our cities and one that mayors need to be closely involved in especially now during the era of information and technology," said Mayor O'Neill who was appointed by Conference President Boise Mayor H. Brent Coles to chair the Presidential Transition Task Force on Workforce and Technology Training,

O'Neill also thanked the U.S. Department of Labor for providing funding for the four summits. The Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University will provide a regional labor market analysis for each summit and prepare a report that reflects the goals and policies identified at the Summits. This report will be presented to mayors at the 69th Annual Conference of Mayors in Detroit in June 2001.