Public Affairs

Political 414

Allison gash

Paper 2

In an effort to provide housing for youth with alternate lifestyles and find employment opportunities I propose a symbiotic relationship with the Workforce investment board and a builder such as myself. The key to this working is training of the clientele in a long term market such as a housing developer can provide. As with any problem I plan to break down the logistics and explore the possibilities of each part of the proposal.

• Seek out and solicit corporate sponsorships.

• Partnership in building low-cost housing with WIB.

• Teach the youth to fit into today’s job market.

• Develop on sight work including but not limited to building, maintenance, upkeep, and management for training purposes.

• Examine workers comp. and options of lowering costs for employers.

To gain the assistance of the workforce investment board I propose to solicit multiple large to medium sized corporate sponsorships. I have researched other cities such as L.A. and San Francisco where this type of approach has not only been done but is thriving. Yet what has been accomplished there is on a much smaller more temporary scale. They have youth centers that are set up similar to a hotel with the kids getting 3 meals a day and job training as well as housing and the opportunity to explore all avenues of career building.

I would like to include the youth in helping me to gain sponsors; this will help them to get over the shyness that they feel around people who do not appreciate their lifestyles. At the same time it promotes unity, loyalty, and a sense of accomplishment for the youth. They will get a chance at public speaking and get to mingle with upper executives and learn what makes them tick. I believe the long term benefits of corporate sponsorship will help tie the community together and allow the youth to experience most of what goes into a program like this. Along with corporate sponsors I think it would be a good idea to engage in the arts as well. I think the kids ought to have a chance to put on performing plays for the community with the proceeds going to the housing project. This can be accomplished by renting theatres throughout town and to promoting the event heavily. Not only will this expose them to art it may even help them in deciding what type of employment they will be best suited for. If they learn how to organize events like a play, that will help them use those techniques to pitch corporate proposals.

To gain the favor of the work investment board I plan to assist in the placement of youth who decide that they might enjoy building houses. I plan to initiate an internship for all aspects of the housing project. They can learn to be roofers, framers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, etc. All of which are well paying and long term jobs that can encourage growth for themselves. Not to worry because there will be openings for women as well, if they are not interested in typical male roles in the job market they can settle into finance or clerical duties that again will be valued in the current market. In essence I plan to recycle the youth into this and future endeavors, allowing them to stay with my company until they feel that they are competent to look elsewhere.

“The influence of the business sector on the system comes primarily through business

Membership of the local, regional, and state WIBs and through the business sector orientation of

the Employment Department. The state and some local WIBs have programs for incumbent

worker training grants for businesses and the state has undertaken a health care sector initiative.

The Employment Department has business sector liaisons on staff in each region and some Title

IB providers have also hired business sector liaison staff. Some One-Stop systems also have a strong connection to local economic development efforts” (http://www.willamette.edu/centers/publicpolicy/reports/pdf/wiasd.pdf). Working closely with these liaisons could help cement the tie between the local business community and the state agency itself. The WIB can now readily fill slots with clients that would otherwise not be around. Lightening the case load on the WIB is just the beginning. Later in this proposal I will show possibilities of long term cooperation between the WIB and former clients that I have helped place with my company as well as others.

Taking in to consideration that the youth will have problems in the job market due to their lifestyles I would like to instruct a class for the WIB clients. This class will teach the youth that even though they may have a different lifestyle the focus of the class should be on how to abide by employers wishes. The class is strongly against bringing any form of home life into the work place and will be advantageous to the youth by training them to focus on what the employer expects rather than being who you are. This class will have heavy military overtones due to the fact that conformity is an employer’s friend. Therefore the youth will have to meet in the middle and learn new avenues of conformity that does not conflict with who they are inside. Unfortunately this class does not teach employers to be more open with their employees rather prepares the employee for a work environment that is mixed on its feelings toward them. Instead of making more laws and proposals I find if you go to the source or the person with the problem it is much easier and efficient to teach new skills of dealing with situations than changing the world around you.

As far as the comfort level of using the one-stop services, I believe that the individual needs to find comfort somewhere else. This program does not entirely care what your lifestyle is but rather how to get the best training and services available. I personally feel the uneasiness of going to a one-stop is felt by all people and rightly so. This gives them yet another reason to do better for themselves. These programs are not in place to make you feel comfortable and secure rather to assist you in getting where you need to be… on your own! Then you can feel comfortable.

As the main employer for the WIB youth in this project I would like to set up internships with all clients that I can use in the building of the housing complex. The youth will not only gain experience

...