Hosting conversations around creating jobs?

[Ria Baeck]

(Posted by Amy on the emaillist on Nov.14, '11)

List mates:

I am curious about whether anyone has hosted conversations specifically about job creation?  I have searched the forums on our Ning site and didn't uncover anything, which could have been a problem with my search, but I thought I might ask here and see what conversation could be sparked on the subject.

Our economies around the world are struggling.  Unemployment rates in the United States has made only tiny improvements over the last few years.  In the US, our presidential candidates talk about "jobs" as if mentioning the word is enough to make change.  The Occupy movement is certainly part of our need for equitable, meaningful jobs.

I have found a number of news articles shared via the AOH listserv on protests and the forging of human connections between people seeking change in economic circumstances and employment, but haven't yet figured out how to run my searches so I can uncover a description of hosted conversations having to do with job creation.

If you have been part of a group that has hosted conversations around job creation, I would love to know more--when was it done, and where, who responded to the invitation (and how was it worded), what questions did you ask, and what format was used for conversation?  Have you tracked outcomes?

Amy K. Watson

http://www.linkedin.com/in/amykaywat

[Ria Baeck]

Comment by Rosemary:

I don't know if this is specifically relevant to your question, Amy, but what I thought of when I read it was John McKnight's changing the conversation about community development in the 1980s when he began asking people in communities about what they had and could do rather than what they didn't have and couldn't do. It led to what he called Asset based community development. See http://www.abcdinstitute.org/

In my experience, this kind of approach does lead to job creation as a part of identifying what communities can do for themselves and what they want to do. Moving from deficit-based to asset-based thinking.

Kind regards,
Rosemary

[Ria Baeck]

Comment by Steve:

"Hi Amy,

I have not been part of an Art of Hosting conversation around job creation but the topic intrigues me, provokes me a bit.  How could we change the question and the conversation, I wonder?  What I notice is that there is a lot of energy (and anger and fear) around creating jobs.  Yet it seems like most people when asked hate their jobs, can't wait until the weekend or vacation or retirement.  So, what is that all about?  We want to create more of what makes us miserable?  It seems like we may be using "jobs" as shorthand for two very different needs - the need for meaningful work and the need for livelihood, enough income for survival.  And living in world of scarcity and fear, enough is that mythical standard that is never quite attainable.  Just a little more and I will feel secure and happy.  So, people work in unsatisfying jobs to buy stuff that they don't really need and that doesn't give them satisfaction and save toward retirement so they won't have to work.  I find it so ironic that we are trying to create jobs by stimulating the housing industry while there are 19 million vacant housing units in the US.  So, we are creating jobs that are not really needed while depleting and polluting the natural world.  Maybe the planet would be better off with fewer jobs and more meaningful work.  What if meaningful work and income were not directly connected?  What else might work be?  Why should anyone have to settle for a job when there is so much important work to be done?

The questions really interest me.  I don't have the answers but it seems like there are some really different questions to be asked and I would love to see them explored within an Art of Hosting pattern.

Steve"

[Ria Baeck]

Back to Amy, who raised this question:

"Yes!  This is exactly the sort of thing I'm thinking about.  "Jobs" alone is too small a field.  But there certainly are needs for both "adequate" income (the definition of which may be one fundamental question) and a sense of thriving--which would include meaningful work, growth, engagement, wellbeing.  

Economic development in some form seems (to me) to be an important part of the equation.  Entrepreneurship might be an expression of that development.  I don't know enough to be able to develop the equation any further.

The questions are coming out of a general expectation that there's an opportunity here, one which others may have already taken up.  No plans (yet) or team...

-Amy"

[Ria Baeck]

Comment by Dave:

"Steve, Amy, and Stefan,

I am in agreement. The dialogue needs to expand beyond creating "living wage" jobs to include economic, social, existential and ecological benefits - for employee and employer.

I tweeted over the weekend about US branded products that are made (mostly) in China by oppressive organizations, where there is little environmental protection, then sold in the US at a significant profit to corporations. American workers see little benefit from this kind of economic development. This model also hides child labor, unsafe working conditions, and environmental degradation from our sight and kind.

I strongly support the dialogue about which you have written; and, I support prompt action to avert further harm and to develop healthy economies.

Best, Dave"

[Ria Baeck]

And Rick added:

Amy and mates--

I whole-heartedly agree about the importance of this conversation.  I don't think there's an AoH connection, but you might want to look at this initiative coming out of the Starbucks Foundation.  

"Starbucks is teaming up with Opportunity Finance Network® (OFN) to help create and sustain jobs. The Create Jobs for USA program will provide capital grants to select Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). The CDFIs will provide loans to underserved community businesses, which include small businesses, microenterprises, nonprofit organizations, commercial real estate, and affordable housing. It is the goal of Create Jobs for USA to bring people and communities together to create and sustain jobs throughout America.

 

To the extent that job-creation is being connected with community development, there's room for deeper sorts of questions about meaningful work to arise.

Rick