SHIFT 2026 Sessions
Sessions
What to Expect at SHIFT Conference
At SHIFT Conference, you can expect content that reflects the real challenges and opportunities shaping today’s workforce. Conversations on our main stage will feature the biggest topics affecting the field.
We’ll explore:
How artificial intelligence, workforce policy, and other factors are shifting the labor market in real time.
What it actually takes to improve job quality inside existing roles, not just create pathways out.
How employers are redesigning jobs in partnership with workers to strengthen retention, mobility, and dignity on the job.
Workshop sessions will dig into how communities are tackling structural barriers like childcare and transportation through coordinated, systems-level solutions; how organizations are opening pathways to economic mobility for underrepresented workers; and what it looks like to move from “listening” to truly sharing power with workers in decision-making.
Throughout our time together in Albuquerque, you can expect honest conversations about how to shift narratives in a polarized environment, influence decision-makers, and build the cross-sector partnerships needed to sustain this work — across business, policy, philanthropy, and community.
Sessions
Expanding Opportunity for Immigrant Workers Through Vocational English
Speakers
Fixing the Missing Workforce Link in Economic Development
Speakers
When Employers and Workforce Organizations Align for Results: A Utility Sector Case Study
Workforce Investments for a High-Quality Early Care and Education System in New Mexico
From Data to Audacity: Turning Insight into Equity-Centered Action
Speakers
Practical Tools for Expanding Access to Climate Jobs and Apprenticeships
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State-Led Strategy, Regionally Tailored Workforce Solutions
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Success, Security, and Sovereignty: How NM Tribes Are Shaping a Workforce Vision
On Site at the Social Enterprise Center: Where Community Meets Opportunity
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When Young Adults Define Success: Rethinking Workforce Outcomes Together
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Guardrails for Ethical and Effective AI in the Workforce Development System
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On Site at Southwest Glass & Glazing: Practices That Support Workers’ Return to Work
On Site at Plaza Justicia: Building Worker Power Through Partnerships
Beyond “What Works”: Using Evidence to Drive Equitable Decisions
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An Employer’s Perspective on Job Quality in Times of Policy Change
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Book Talk: “Help Wanted: How To Find and Keep Talent in a Forever-Tight Labor Market”
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Beyond Exit Strategies: Changing the Conditions That Shape Job Quality
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Caregiving as Public Health Infrastructure for Workforce Mobility
Unlocking Registered Apprenticeship and Skills-First Hiring with the Nexus Method
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Designing Workforce Solutions for Rural Realities
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Strengthening Job Quality Through Trust, Connection, and Worker Voice
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Designing Better Workplaces and Better Business
We are excited to host Designing Better Workplaces and Better Business, a pre-conference workshop on Tuesday, September 22 exclusively for employers and businesses. This highly interactive, four-hour session brings together employers, workforce leaders, and innovators to explore how improving job quality drives both employee engagement and business performance.
The Designing Better Workplaces and Better Business pre-conference workshop costs $350.
