By Fritz Edelstein
February 6, 2006

On Tuesday, January 24 the Conference of Mayors held the first ever Mayor’s Urban Education and Workforce Development Forum in Washington, (DC). The purpose of the forum was to find new ways to create and implement policies, programs, and practices in cities that address the education and workforce needs of at-risk students; reconnect out-of-school youth to learning opportunities; and prepare students for post'secondary education and employment. The Forum was made possible with grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Ford Motor Company Fund.

The Forum enabled a long needed conversation about building a partnership strategy within a city government to address the education and workforce training needs of at-risk students. Fifteen city teams comprised of the mayor’s education advisor and workforce development director participated and began to establish a new working partnership in their city. The cities were Baltimore, Berkeley, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Fort Wayne, Hartford, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Louisville, Mobile, Philadelphia, Providence, San Jose, and St. Louis.

Tony Carnevale, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Education and the Economy, spoke convincingly to reinforce the need for such partnerships in cities to meet the workforce needs of this nation. Steve Gunderson, Council on Foundations President, talked to the participants about the importance of this endeavor. Mike Schmidt of the Ford Motor Company Fund gave a summary of what he had heard during the day and a closing charge to the city teams to begin their change process. Each team left with specific action steps and new ideas developed during the individual team breakout session and participant discussions held during the Forum.

The Conference also announced that it will be issuing a request for proposals (RFP) to fund two planning grants of $40,000 each. Only the mayor’s office is eligible to apply for a planning grant. The RFP will be available in early February. The planning grants are to be used to create and implement partnerships focused on at-risk in- and out-of-school youth to better prepare them academically and with skills to be successful in postsecondary education or the world of work.