“Who does STRIVE DC serve?”

This is one of the most frequent questions I hear.  It’s at the core of our work, defining the nature and scope of our program. Normally I don’t like categorizing people, but clarifying whom we serve is critically important to understanding STRIVE DC’s impact on individuals, workforce development and the community at large.

Technically “unemployed” workers are those who have been previously employed but are currently out of work.  These are the folks who make up the unemployment statistics that we are so aware of in these days of economic challenge.  A few of the “unemployed” come through SDC’s doors and they typically can turn their situation around fairly quickly with the support and challenge of our program.

The majority of STRIVE participants fall into the category of “discouraged workers,” defined by the Department of Labor as those who are eligible to work but who have neither worked nor sought work for over four weeks. The person who if offered a job would likely take it, but who has given up on the job search.  Discouraged workers may be ex-offenders, youth, and neighbors struggling with depression or other mental illness, homeless neighbors, illiterate neighbors or those who have grown up in generational poverty without any example of satisfying work. SDC serves these neighbors and still others with multiple barriers to finding employment.  

You can imagine it: you’re out of prison, ready to change and move forward for yourself and your family. You put in several applications for work, even get an interview, but in every case you just don’t get the job. Some employers might tell you why; others don’t bother and leave you wondering. After a period of time, one might begin to think it’s just not possible to change the outcome.

It is this person who most typically walks through STRIVE’s door.  Our program and skilled staff are there to provide the extra motivation, tough love, and access to skills necessary to nip the often understandable self pity in the bud, to challenge them to rise to his challenge, to remind a participant of his or her self worth regardless of the world’s assessment.  We also must be there to help each address the basic necessities each needs to make sure when they get a job, they can keep it: child care, housing, professional clothing, transportation and support.

Truthfully, there is a third category of worker: the non-worker. The person who when given the opportunity to seek employment might just opt out for the street corner or the television.  The person who in a weak moment we might dismiss as lazy, unmotivated, even not worth “wasting time” on.  At SDC we are working to assess the percentage of participants who fit this category because turning a non-worker into a worker can take months, even years. They typically have so little self-esteem that any additional failure or even challenge can mean a return to often unacknowledged despair. They think ‘Why even bother?  I’m screwed before I even begin.’  This is the person who is truly the most difficult to serve. Some will not show up for the first day of SDC.  Others will drop out as soon as they realize how much work it takes to enter the workforce for the first time.  If you’ve lived a lifetime without working, it often takes a long time to change that reality. 

Many discouraged and non-workers alike will hold multiple jobs before sticking with one for a significant period of time. However they get there and however long it takes; we honor and respect that extraordinary journey. After all, any of us who have a job recognize that we got it from a combination of using our own skills and savvy – and being supported by friends, family or communities who believed we were worth it.