NFG Jobs Toolbox. Chapter 1: Introduction

NFG Jobs Toolbox: A Funder's Guide to Jobs

Tackling Jobs Issues Through Effective Grantmaking

Analyze the Problem

There is no single method or strategy for addressing jobs, and replicating best practice programs without consideration of context or organizational competencies. What follows are suggestions for designing programs that work, in spite of the complexities. Generally speaking, the best definitions of the jobs issue are couched within a strategic analysis. Strategic analysis of jobs issues are typically organized around three primary approaches:

"Demand" side of the labor market: Identification of promising employment opportunities in the local or regional economy by sector, occupation, geography and, if possible, specific employers. In other words, what and where are the jobs accessible to neighborhood residents? What skills or qualifications are necessary for neighborhood residents to successfully compete for those jobs? Are existing jobs sufficient or do job creation activities need to be a part of the strategy?
"Supply" side of the labor market: A description of the neighborhood labor pool (e.g., welfare recipients, working poor, males 18-30, etc.), including rough estimates of the number of persons within each of the categories and assessment of their strengths, weaknesses, barriers and needs. In other words, how well do the capabilities of neighborhood residents match the available jobs? If neighborhood residents are generally not sufficiently skilled or face other barriers for those jobs, what must be done to make them effective competitors?
Service provider "infrastructure:" Identification of who provides services, to which populations, and how effectively. On the basis of this assessment, determine what is missing, what needs to be upgraded, what needs to be added?

Diagnose the Problem

The next step in assessing a jobs strategy or program is understanding how it defines the jobs problem it seeks to address. For example, is the jobs issue confronting a particular neighborhood characterized by:

A shortage of jobs in the local economy, which implies the need to create more jobs, or a lack of access to existing jobs, which implies the need to create better linkages and support services?
High unemployment rates?
An "oversupply" of low paying, poor quality jobs, which implies the need to improve job quality, or an over-supply of under-prepared people, which implies training and human capital development?
The adequacy of services to a specific population - welfare recipients, youth, adult male population or a long-term, out-of- workforce population?
The adequacy of services at the pre-employment stage, the skills training stage, the placement stage, the job retention stage or the career advancement stage?

As these examples suggest, how the jobs issue is analyzed and diagnosed influences the choice of strategy or program.

Determine the Value Strategies Add

All of the above should shape decisions on what is the most appropriate course of action. The question then becomes: how can a grantmaker "add value" to existing neighborhood resources, given local economic trends, the neighborhood context, and the current system of services?

Funders should also be conscious that their resources are small compared to the dimensions of the problem. However, these resources can still be useful, particularly if they leverage changes in larger systems. The important question is: how can grantmakers reach the scale necessary to solve problems? Again, there is no simple answer to this question. Funders can examine various strategies including:

Organizing or advocacy to change public policy or to win commitments of significant jobs or resources;
Developing new institutions or programs in a neighborhood;
Reforming existing institutions and systems;
Devising comprehensive, integrated jobs strategies for particular neighborhoods;
Fostering new, innovative programs through experimentation; and
Building capacity for existing neighborhood organizations, so they can do better what they already do.

The case studies offered at the end of this Jobs Toolbox provide examples of these different change strategies and how they can be put to work.

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