Fuel for the Field

With unemployment in the double digits, and the California economy melting down, REDF has a lot more company joining us in our (obsessive) focus on connecting people to work.

I recently had the chance to hear Harry Holzer hang the striking price tag of about $500 BILLION annually – almost 4% of GDP – on the real costs we all bear because of decreased earnings and increased social costs that are a result of many people in the US grow up living in poverty. Holzer is a Georgetown University economist affiliated with a score of other policy and research institutes, and investigates the low wage labor market. At a recent San Francisco Federal Reserve forum, he spoke along with Abby Snay who leads the widely respected San Francisco workforce program, Jewish Vocational Services.

These days I know I’m not alone in checking price tags more carefully than ever, and getting that little burst of joy from saving a couple of bucks. It’s hard to grasp what it would be like to save $500 billion. But it does make a compelling economic argument for investing in jobs for people who are otherwise chronically poor.

Meanwhile the California Labor Federation gathered about 400 people in San Jose this month to ‘forge workforce partnerships.’ Focusing on green jobs, Carl Pope, head of the Sierra Club, noted that the much vaunted ‘green economy’ is not actually here yet.  A concrete example – we could have been sitting here a century ago with pretty much the same light bulbs in the hotel chandeliers, the wires bringing in the electricity, and the source of the power. But, he stated, that is likely to change soon. And when it does, Pope suggests, “For 25 years, we’ve tried to build an economy by building the penthouse first, and hoping it will all trickle down. But it’s the workers at the foundation level that really need the training, opportunities, livelihoods and communities that grow our economy. Let’s build the foundation first.”

Despite the drumbeat of devastating economic news in California, we know that we are at the epicenter of innovation where miraculous economic recovery and growth has happened before. As Melody Barnes, President Obama’s Domestic Policy Chief, and California First Lady Maria Shriver hit town the week of June 22 for the mega National Conference on Volunteering and Services there’s one innovation they might attend to. As federal recovery funds for energy efficiency and weatherization, infrastructure, etc. come in to California, as the ‘green economy’ does actually begin to emerge, and as private companies begin to grow again, by purchasing a portion of needed goods and services from employment-focused social enterprises, they can be an engine of job growth for people who otherwise cost us billions of dollars of GDP. That’s a bargain worth shopping for. Stay tuned for the unveiling of REDF’s new marketing kit for Bay Area social enterprise!