Our Little Corner of the World

A week of less than encouraging news about the slump in employment. In our little corner of the world, our supportive housing program has proven to be a microcosm of the economy when it comes to employment.

A third of our families are two parent families now. That’s a remarkable percentage for us - the highest ever in our history. Only 85% of our adults have found jobs – a requirement in different economic circumstances - and only 20% of our teens have summer jobs. In at least one two parent family only the mom had a job for several months.

In the July 7 Business Intelligence Brief from Armada Corporate Intelligence they observed that “Men have experienced this unemployment situation differently than women as two of the hardest hit sectors have been construction and manufacturing – both traditionally male dominated… There has been a sharp rise in the number of women serving as the primary wage earners in the household. This has had some social impact as well as economic…Adjusting to this new employment reality will be very hard for many people and their families.”

“The issue of youth employment will be a festering problem for years…There has been less job exposure in this group than any previous cohort as many parents have chosen to keep their kids involved in various activities while paying generous allowances. That practice has faded as the recession has deepened but now these kids are having great difficulty getting summer employment. Studies have shown that lack of exposure to the work world at an early age makes it harder to transition to the workforce later.”

“For those kids that come from lower income neighborhoods the lack of work is even more problematic. This is not discretionary money for the most part ...”

Having a home at Community LINC lessens the necessity for our kids to contribute to the household income, but we know the need is very real. The teenage son of one of our favorite graduates is deferring college to help support his family.

As bleak as all of this might sound, at Community LINC we have faith that things will get better. For the last 21 years, we’ve seen people overcome the circumstances that so many are experiencing because of the recession. In our world, personal circumstances rather than the economy pulled our families down to the bottom rung of the economic and employment ladder. Eight out of ten rebuilt their lives. Things do get better.

-Laura Gray