The Value of Being in the Room
A Reflection from the WIN Summit in NYC
By Tara Migliore, Senior Philanthropy and Data Strategy Manager at Uplift Northwest
I could have watched the livestream. But I knew I wanted to be in the room.
Uplift Northwest submitted a proposal to the Workplace Innovation Now (WIN) Challenge, hosted by Aspen Digital and Pivotal. Our proposal wasn’t selected for funding, but we were invited to attend the WIN Summit in New York City, joining more than 200 leaders imagining a better future for women at work.
The summit brought together WIN Challenge grantees and voices from across the public and private sectors. We heard about responsible AI, new research on barriers women face at work, and a range of ideas for making workplaces better. There were plenty of perspectives, including a few unexpected ones from comedian and TikTok personality Corporate Erin.
But some of the most valuable conversations happened between sessions. Over meals and between panels, I met women working in housing, law enforcement, philanthropy, and workforce development. We talked about our work, but also about parenting, caregiving, health, and the experiences that shape our lives beyond our job titles.
Many of the people I met were other WIN Challenge applicants. Our ideas hadn’t been funded, but we shared a belief in the larger vision of a fair and thriving economy. We wanted to keep the conversation going, share ideas, find resources, and build connections. Progress on an issue this big won’t come from a handful of funded projects alone. It will take a network of organizations and people working together.
Uplift Northwest has a stake in that conversation, and so do our job seekers.
Our work is local and personal. We help people move toward employment while navigating the challenges of homelessness and poverty. But the questions behind our work are much bigger: Who gets access to opportunity? Whose talents are overlooked? What can we do now to make work better for more people?
For women experiencing homelessness and poverty, barriers like limited access to training, caregiving responsibilities, and discrimination can make employment and career advancement especially difficult. When we make meaningful improvements for workers who are often overlooked, we help create workplaces and systems that work better for everyone.
That’s the thinking behind the women’s employment initiative we proposed to WIN: expanding access to Uplift Northwest’s RISE (Roadmap to Independent Sustained Employment) pre-employment training through a network of women-serving organizations, while creating opportunities for women in our programs to help shape the conversation about leadership and the future of employment.
We still believe these ideas are worth pursuing. Some may find a place in our existing programs; others may grow through partnerships or future grant proposals. Good ideas have a way of sticking around and finding new opportunities.
I’m following up with people I met in New York, learning from funded projects and looking for ways to keep all of Uplift Northwest’s big ideas moving forward. We don’t yet know what will grow from those conversations, but we’re glad to be part of a wider network working toward a future where more women have access to opportunity and work is better for everyone.
The livestream would have let us listen to the people on stage. Being in the room gave us a chance to be part of what comes next.