Mayor Vincent C. Gray to Host Conference on Job Creation and Workforce Development

WHAT/WHO:              Mayor Vincent C. Gray, Pulitzer Prize-Winning New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman and members of the local business community will be meeting to create a sustainable job creation and workforce-development system that will boost employment prospects for District residents. The conference will provide participants the opportunity to discuss how government and the private sector are transforming the workforce-development system to ensure that unemployed individuals, out-of-school youth and other D.C. residents have meaningful access to training and other services that can help them secure jobs.

WHEN:                        Tuesday, June 19, 2012

                                    9:00 a.m.

WHERE:                       PNC Bank Greater Washington, D.C. Area Offices

                                    807 17th Street NW, 12th Floor

BACKGROUND:           Creating jobs and encouraging economic development is one of Mayor Gray’s top priorities, along with ensuring quality education, public safety and fiscal stability. The District’s unemployment rate has been decreasing steadily in recent months, with May’s figure dropping to a three-year low of 9.3 percent. Nonetheless, thousands of District residents remain jobless despite signs that the economy is starting to recover. The conference will provide a forum for city officials, business leaders and academic experts to discuss best practices in workforce development and which practices could serve the District in developing short- and long-range strategic employment plans.