The Kitchen Table Forum on Working and Earning (KTF), is proposed as an ongoing, independent, non-partisan regional initiative on the work-related challenges faced by middle income earners and those who are working to reach the middle. The KTF is unique in that it will speak directly to working families. The KTF will capture the challenges that they face at work and in the economy, offer sound analyses and explanations, and provide solutions, from broad policies to strategies that they can employ on their own on how to meet these challenges. Our aim is to mobilize the public to demand action that supports the needs of working men and women through education, training, job support and economic development by all levels of government, the education system, and the private sector. The target audience for the KTF is the public, and through the public, policy makers.

The kitchen table is where families share information, impart knowledge and values, communicate beliefs, make plans, solve problems and dream about the future. It is a place where families face new challenges together. Ordinary, hard working people face new economic conditions that they can meet head-on with the right resources, policies and programs at hand. A forum, as defined in Webster, is "a public meeting place for open discussion." It draws its meaning from the open market places of ancient Rome, but now includes both virtual and real venues. The Kitchen Table Forum on Working and Earning seeks to link these two places by providing families earning a middle income or less with the resources to engage in a public discussion on how to survive - and thrive - in a quickly evolving economy.

The KTF is needed now. Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act has languished for several years and may be completely re-written by the next Congress. The State of Illinois and adjoining states comprising the Chicago metropolitan area have shrunken their collective investment in workforce development and the region as a whole is poorly positioned to help residents move forward and climb up in challenging economic times. Businesses are showing signs of pulling back on their investments in training. Unless the public demands otherwise, investments in workforce development will continue to be threatened. Now, more than in prior years, a new vision is needed for a workforce system that takes full account of the needs of middle-income earners. Good, middle income jobs can no longer be taken for granted - and, the people who fill those jobs need the resources to be successful.

The KTF will:

• Describe in plain language the needs of earners, businesses and the Chicago-area economy
• Frame the issues in workforce development and education, and in so doing, articulate the needs of earners and employers in ways that lead to constructive discussion and action
• Bring balance to ongoing policy discussions by examining issues from the perspectives of earners, their families and communities as well as from those of businesses
• Create a public discussion among advocacy groups, public agencies, educational institutions, unions, businesses and business organizations to join in that discussion
• Explore issues without being constrained by the public workforce system and open discussion to new investments by state and local governments, foundations, and other private institutions.
• Challenge conventional wisdom in order to open the workforce development and education communities to new views and solutions
• Partner with organizations to establish the linkages between workforce development, neighborhood and community investment, business investment and growth, housing, transportation and the metropolitan economy
• Put forth new "design criteria" for workforce and education system - public and private - that address challenges and issues faced by earners and their employers
• Empower earners and their employers by educating them on these criteria
• Set forth strategies to sustain and grow opportunity, the economy and communities.