Please join the Center for American Progress as we host Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski to discuss the new Poland-Russia relationship and European and global security issues after after the ratification of New START.

For the past several decades, most of the benefits of economic growth have gone to those at the very top and have largely bypassed average workers. Wages for most workers have been nearly stagnant and income inequality in the United States is now at levels not seen since the Great Depression.

On March 2, the Center for American Progress will host a panel to address potential options – including a proposal by Freeman, Blasi, and Kruse - to ensure that, as we slowly emerge from the current economic downturn, the benefits of economic growth are more broadly shared by workers.

Following the panel discussion, the conversation will be open to audience questions. We hope you will be able to join us for this timely and thought-provoking event.

The United States is the world's largest economy and the largest exporter and importer of goods and services. But today, America's workers and businesses are facing many economic challenges. There is a need to create more well-paying, sustainable jobs for our country's workforce. In light of these challenges, what is the Obama administration's trade policy? How can trade policy help promote competitiveness, broad-based economic growth, and good jobs? Please join the Center for American Progress in a conversation with U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk to address these pressing questions.

The Great Recession and tentative recovery have brought into sharp focus the complexity of preparing workers for employment opportunities in the 21st century. The sheer volume of unemployed and underemployed workers seeking the next good employment opportunity presents challenges to public policies and institutions ranging from the Workforce Investment Act to community colleges. Which sectors will grow? What skills will be necessary? How can we deliver instruction in ways that make sense for workers’ live? How can we use multiple funding streams to utmost effect in tough fiscal times? These are all key questions that must be answered if we are to help workers acquire the skills that will promote both national competitiveness and broader prosperity.

To respond to these and other questions, the Center for American Progress, in collaboration with the Rutgers University School of Management, is sponsoring a discussion of the policy and politics of workforce development systems today and into the future.

We will have a panel discussion of the findings of academic research on workforce development programs published in the most recent annual research volume of the Labor and Employment Relations Association titled, "Transforming the U.S. Workforce Development System: Lessons from Research and Practice."

Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act of 1965 is the largest school program operated by the Department of Education. Title I began as an antipoverty program whose funds were meant to ameliorate the educational disadvantages of growing up in concentrated poverty. This goal has evolved into a broader responsibility around equity—closing achievement gaps. And Title I has become the pivot point for an education reform movement aiming to bolster U.S. economic competitiveness by promoting higher overall levels of academic achievement.

Through statutes, regulations, and guidance, Title I guides school districts’ and state educational agencies’ behavior. There are undoubtedly ways to align incentives embodied by the program to serve better the complex purpose of Title I.

Please join us for a conference featuring seven new papers that examine fiscal requirements and other provisions around the expenditure of and accounting for Title I funds. The papers draw on existing evidence to develop recommendations for policymakers.

On his visit to Turkey in April 2009, President Barack Obama chose the term "model partnership" to describe Turkish-U.S. relations and stressed that economic cooperation between the two countries reinforces the common security interests that Europe and the United States share with Turkey. Even though U.S.-Turkish economic exchanges have nearly doubled over the past decade, there is still opportunity for further growth—especially given Turkey's role as a regional hub connecting the Middle East with Europe and other parts of the world. The efforts of President Obama to revitalize U.S.-Turkish relations more broadly offer a tremendous opportunity for both countries to work together to craft a new and lasting relationship that will be beneficial to both sides.

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke will discuss the future of U.S.-Turkish trade relations and its importance for strategic partnership between the two countries.

EVENT FULL: This event is now full and we can no longer accept RSVPs. Please watch the live webcast here.

Imminent threats to federal and state budgets have the potential to severely harm a broad range of groups, including African-American men who have long faced barriers to accessing adequate social services. Those living in poverty disproportionately experience negative outcomes related to such areas as employment, education, incarceration, and mental and physical health. Despite the economic and social progress by significant numbers of black men and the symbolism of having an African-American male in the White House, far too many continue to face difficult barriers on the road to well-being and success for themselves and their families. Systems and policies that could help often don't account for their varying needs or completely fail to reach the population.

This discussion will be led by well-respected scholars and social workers, including contributors to the book, Social Work with African American Males: Health, Mental Health, and Social Policy (Oxford University Press, 2010). Panelists will highlight quality research on black males and suggest necessary system and policy reforms.

Copies of Social Work with African American Males: Health, Mental Health, and Social Policy will be available for purchase at the event.

The day after his inauguration, President Barack Obama committed his administration "to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government." For this event during Sunshine Week—a yearly event to raise awareness of the importance of open government—OpenTheGovernment.org and the Center for American Progress are bringing together transparency experts from inside and outside government to discuss how far the administration's efforts have moved us, two years into the effort, to that goal. The event will assess progress from both a policy and a technical standpoint, and what more we can and should expect the administration to do to meet its goal. Panelists will also take questions from the live and viewing audience.

The first panel will cover the policy aspects of the administration's Open Government Initiative. During the second panel, panelists will discuss the effect of technology on the way people get and use information, how the government is trying to fill that need, and the strengths and limitations of the administration's approach.

EVENT FULL: This event is now full and we can no longer accept RSVPs.

Official Selection 2011 Sundance Film Festival

In October 2008 a humbled Alan Greenspan admitted to the U.S. Congress that he had been mistaken to put so much faith in the self-correcting power of free markets and that he had failed to anticipate the self-destructive nature of wanton mortgage lending and the housing and credit bubble it generated. Taking for its title Greenspan's description that he'd found a flaw in his model of how the world worked, "The Flaw" attempts to explain the underlying causes of the crisis in more depth than any documentary to date.

Made by international award-winning documentary maker David Sington, "The Flaw" tells the story of the credit bubble that caused the financial crash.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a provocative discussion immediately following the film.

In a speech in Kabul on March 21, Afghan President Hamid Karzai will mark the official inauguration of the transition process endorsed by NATO allies in November 2010, a process set to culminate in 2014 with the full transfer of security responsibilities to Afghan lead. What political and diplomatic preparations are being made for an Afghan political settlement that can be sustained absent large-scale international military and financial investment in the country, and what shifts need to take place in advance of transition?

Please join the Center for American Progress for the first event in a monthly series of discussions through this summer which will focus on issues related to the evolving transition and realignment of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Future scheduled events in this series:
• April 19, 2011 - Debating Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan
• May 4, 2011
• May 24, 2011
• June 23, 2011

Joseph Romm, Senior Fellow at CAP and author of the award-winning blog Climate Progress, will discuss the future of energy and climate policy in the United States and the aftermath of the Japanese nuclear crisis.

Turkey operates in a unique space between Europe and the Middle East and has dramatically expanded its reach in recent years throughout the Mediterranean and beyond. Understanding how Turkey is changing itself and its region is critical to U.S. foreign policy, particularly as political upheaval continues to unfold across the Middle East and North Africa.

Please join the Center for American Progress and the TESEV Institute as we host a presentation and discussion of The Perspectives of Turkey in the Middle East, a new study by the TESEV Institute on perceptions of Turkey by its Middle East neighbors on democracy, Iran, and Turkey’s role and influence in the region. We will discuss the implications of these findings for U.S.-Turkey relations.

On March 25, 1911, a catastrophic fire broke out at the Triangle Waist Company in New York City. Trapped inside the upper floors of a 10-story building, 146 workers—mostly young immigrant women and teenage girls—were burned alive or forced to jump to their deaths to escape an inferno that consumed the factory in just 18 minutes. It was the worst workplace disaster in New York state until 9/11.

The tragedy changed the course of history, paving the way for government to represent working people, not just business, for the first time, and helped an emerging American middle class to live the American Dream.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a panel discussion immediately following the film.

Conservative legislators in Congress and across the states have launched a quiet assault on women's health and reproductive rights while the nation is consumed by economic and budget battles. The conservative vision for American women is stark, from restrictions on access to abortion and family planning to attempts to redefine rape and cut funds for low-income women and children.

What are conservatives trying to pull off with this assault on women?  What are the real threats and what are distractions?  How should progressives work together to stop these efforts and protect women's health and rights?  What are the opportunities for progressives to turn this assault into new activism on behalf of women's rights?

Join us for an important discussion about policy choices facing progressives with Amy Dacey, executive director of Emily's List, one of the nation's most important pro-choice advocacy organizations.

On the first day of the 112th Congress, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives seeking to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to "clarify" which classes of U.S.-born children are citizens of the United States at birth. Representative King's bill reflects his assertion that the 14th Amendment does not guarantee citizenship at birth for U.S.-born children of temporary or undocumented immigrants.

On March 31, 2011, the American Constitution Society and the Center for American Progress will bring together leading thinkers to discuss current challenges to birthright citizenship and provide historical perspective to the debate about what the 14th Amendment guarantees.