COLLOQUIUM 2008 - April 13-14, 2008

"Building the Opportunity Economy: an American Dream Agenda for the Next President" [1] focused on creating a bi-partisan, opportunity-oriented agenda to serve as a blueprint for the next president's first days in office.

See photos [2] from Colloquium 2008

BREAKOUT SESSIONS 

A."Containing Costs, Enhancing Value in Health Care "
A discussion focused on strategies for making quality health care affordable for all Americans.

B. "Globally Competitive Education for our Children's Future"
A discussion focused on approaches to transform our K-12 education system into one that can adequately prepare our students for a knowledge-based global economy.

C. "New Approaches to Increasing Savings and Assets"
A discussion focused on innovative ideas that will bolster the financial security of American families.

D. "Creating a Level Playing Field for Small and Medium Enterprises "
A discussion focused on policies to make the engine of the U.S. economy -- small and mid-sized businesses -- more globally competitive in the 21st century.

2008 KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Ronald Brownstein

Our keynote speaker at the Opening Night Dinner was Ronald Brownstein [3], Political Director of Atlantic Media and author of The Second Civil War: How Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America.

"What Would You Do If You Could Be President for 100 Days?

We spoke with people on the streets of New York City and asked them "what would you do if you could be president for 100 days?"  Here are some of the responses we got: play video [4]

What is the Colloquium?

Hope Street Group's Opportunity Economics Colloquium is an annual event bringing together some of the nation's most influential political, business and civic leaders to tackle the challenge of expanding economic opportunity for all Americans.  Each year, these leaders convene for an evening and full day of idea generation, goal setting, and collaborative problem-solving.  Hope Street Group provides a safe space in which we encourage open and constructive conversations about how to make our economy stronger and more inclusive.  This year, our theme is "Building the Opportunity Economy: An American Dream Agenda for the First 100 Days," and we seek to develop a bi-partisan slate of opportunity-enhancing initiatives that our next president can commit to during the first 100 days in office.

Who participates?

Participants include numerous nationally influential political leaders (Senators, Governors, Mayors) of both parties, business leaders (CEOs and their equivalents) from several industries, and leaders from faith communities, education, media, and other civic institutions.  Sample participants include David Fisher, Chairman of Capitol Group; Allan Golston, President of US Programs for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Ken Mehlman, Fmr. Republican National Convention Chairman; Bill Novelli, President of AARP; Andy Stern, President of SEIU; Han Humes, Managing Partner of Greylock Capitol Management; and John Podesta, CEO for the Center for American Progress.

What are you trying to accomplish?

The Colloquium explores new ideas and approaches, and aims to create uncommon coalitions around some of the most important drivers of economic opportunity: education, savings, health care, and business competitiveness.  Our attendees use collaborative problem-solving techniques in order to:

• Build common ground in education, savings, health, and business competitiveness policies;
• Envision "what success would look like" for expanding economic opportunity in the next 5-10 years, compared to the past 10-20 years, and the most promising common ground themes;
• Identify what the constituencies of each participant can contribute to better outcomes; and surface 2-3 initiatives on which they can collaborate in the next year

The Opportunity Economics Colloquium is an energetic, hands-on work session with some of the most influential leaders in business, politics and civil society.  It unearths surprising common ground on how best to revitalize the American Dream, and lays the groundwork for longer-term collaboration on deepening and widening economic opportunity in an era of rapid global economic change. 

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For more information: info@hopestreetgroup.org [6]

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