Join us for the Equity in Focus Webinar Series
A Webinar Series Co-Hosted by the US Department of Labor–Women’s Bureau & The Worker Institute at Cornell ILR
This webinar series will bring together researchers, policy makers, practitioners, unions, philanthropy, and advocates to share current research and praxis that address the need for a just economic recovery that reverses long-existent inequalities in job creation and access. The current crisis of inequality, made worse by the intersecting crisis of the pandemic and its impact on women and people of color, accelerates the need to envision job creation through the perspective of an equity lens.
Unprecedented levels of public investment to spur economic recovery after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic creates an historic opportunity to dismantle structural barriers and achieve equity and inclusion in economic development through high-quality jobs access for women and people of color. The question this webinar series will explore is how best to achieve equity goals. Drawing on existing models of practice from around the United States, this series will show how local and state actors have successfully implemented equity and job creation.
The goal of this series is to showcase current research on equity and its application to spur the upscaling of effective policy innovation at the state and local level at a time of record levels of economic investment by the federal government.
Webinar One
February 24th, 2022
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM EST
Our first webinar will explore how equity in job creation is defined – with a focus on job growth through the current expansion of infrastructure investment. Central to any definition are questions about identifying the policy outcomes and how to measure these.
Agenda
- Welcoming Remarks:
- Research Presentations
- Discussion
- Audience Q&A
Speakers
ALEXANDER COLVIN
Dean, ILR School, Cornell University
Alexander Colvin, Ph.D. '99, is the Kenneth F. Kahn '69 Dean and the Martin F. Scheinman '75, 'MS '76 Professor of Conflict Resolution at the ILR School, Cornell University. He is an associate member of the Cornell Law Faculty. His research and teaching focuses on employment dispute resolution, with a particular emphasis on procedures in nonunion workplaces and the impact of the legal environment on organizations. His current research projects include empirical investigations of employment arbitration and a cross-national study of labor and employment law change in the Anglo-American countries. Read more.
WENDY CHUN-HOON
Director, Women's Bureau, Department of Labor
Wendy Chun-Hoon serves as the 20th director of the Women’s Bureau, appointed by President Biden on February 1, 2021. Ms. Chun-Hoon is skilled at coalition building, bridging strategy across grassroots community organizing, and public sector policy making at state and national levels. She has held senior positions in Maryland state government and private philanthropy, overseeing large-scale, results-driven initiatives for worker and family economic justice. Read more.
ROBERTA REARDON
New York State Secretary of Labor
New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon was appointed in October 2015 to oversee the Department’s more than 3,300 employees. On June 15, 2016, Commissioner Reardon was unanimously confirmed by the New York State Senate. Commissioner Reardon graduated from the Cornell Industrial and Labor Relations School’s New York State AFL-CIO/Cornell Union Leadership Institute and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wyoming. She is a Worker Institute Fellow at Cornell University and sits on the Board of Trustees for the Actors Fund of America. Read more.
ANDREA FLYNN
Senior Director, Insight Center
Andrea Flynn is Senior Director at the Insight Center. Prior to joining Insight, she spent eight years at the Roosevelt Institute, where she was most recently the Director of Health Equity. She is the co-author of The Hidden Rules of Race (Cambridge University Press, 2017). She frequently writes and speaks about the race and gender dimensions of economic inequality, reproductive health and justice, and health equity. Read more.
KELLY KUPCAK
Executive Director, Oregon Tradeswomen
Kelly Kupcak grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where early on she realized the critical importance of speaking out against injustice and wrote her first letter to the editor of the local newspaper in the third grade. After raising her sons as a single mom, working as a union heavy equipment operator, and working as an advocate for women for almost two decades, she relocated to the Pacific Northwest to serve as Oregon Tradeswomen’s Executive Director in 2017. Read more.
LEAH RAMBO
Director of Training, Smart SM, Local Union 28
Leah Rambo began her career as a sheet metal apprentice in 1988. In 2011 she was appointed as first woman to serve as Director of Training for SMART Local 28 and continues to work in this capacity. Her high energy and dedication have helped to attract and retain an increasing number of women. Local 28 has increased their percentage of female from 3% in 2011 to 13% in 2019. As Director of Training, Ms. Rambo has been responsible for the training of over 3,000 Local 28’s apprentices and active members. Read more.
RAAHI REDDY
Director of Metro's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program
Raahi Reddy is the Director of Metro's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program. Her team is responsible for ensuring Metro’s programs, investments and internal practices lead with a racial equity lens to effectively advance equity in the region. This work includes launching and leading the groundbreaking Construction Careers Pathways Project that is bringing together numerous public agencies and stakeholders in the Portland metro region to jointly plan, invest and support a new generation of diverse workers in the construction sector. Read more.
KATELYN WALKER MOONEY
Policy Advisor at the Department of Labor in the Office of the Secretary
Katelyn Walker Mooney is a Policy Advisor at the Department of Labor in the Office of the Secretary. Walker Mooney is leading the Department’s Good Jobs Initiative, which is focused on providing critical information to workers, employers, and government agencies as they work to improve job quality. She recently served as the Associate General Counsel for the Committee on Education and Labor in the U.S. House of Representatives. Read more.
ANNE MARIE BRADY
Senior Extension Associate - Director of Research for Worker Rights and Equity, The Worker Institute
Anne Marie Brady is the Senior Extension Associate - Director of Research for Worker Rights and Equity for the Worker Institute. Dr. Brady holds a Ph.D. in Social Policy Research from the London School of Economics. She is trained in both quantitative and qualitative methods of social and labor market policy research and has a 10 -year record of designing research projects with a variety of stakeholders in the policy-making process. Read more.