Left Behind

No, this post has nothing to do with the novel series about spontaneous, Christian redemption! Rather, this essay deals with the issue of leaving people marooned in dying or dead careers in dying or dead communities. What are they to do? How do they restart their lives and encounter an exciting, vibrant future?

I think this situation is one in which more and more citizens are involved. It often takes years to happen until one day you realize you are in a dead end. In rare cases the process is rapid and more shocking. Hopefully it involves a buyout of your employment and benefits and you receive a separation package. This package may even include outplacement counseling, job search support, and the like.

For most people there are no such supports. Only the unemployment line and temporary state and federal benefits. Although this provides a cushion, it is small and temporary. If prepared for this experience, a person can do OK and transition quickly to another job until they find something more satisfying.

If all of this happens while you are living in a dying or dead community, the problem is made much worse. Think Flint, Michigan, or Detroit. Both of these communities have suffered through major industrial dislocations and rapid technology applications at their job sites. These folks have also experienced loss of jobs to international markets.

Their home values have collapsed. Neighborhoods have decayed and become crime ridden. Social agencies are overworked and unable to keep up with demands of a public panicking in social and cultural dissolution. Where to turn next becomes a major challenge.

There are things these good people can do. The very first step is realizing their situation and allowing time to enter the grieving process. Loss is the primary element that must be recognized and assimilated. Like the death of a loved one, one’s own identity is wrapped up in career and jobs; loss of either is a loss in self identity and self esteem. That is a huge loss and challenge to overcome.

But the first step is knowing you are in this situation and a process will help you deal with it.

Reaching out to family and friends is one tactic that will help. More potent, however, is reaching out to the larger community. There are institutions and care agencies that are trained to assist you in this journey. The community has a stake in this because your job loss is not yours alone but also the community’s. There are others caught in the same cycle and most likely lost their jobs on the same day you did. A community reels with this economic punch; but more so are the emotional lives of the job losers. The hurt is real and must be healed.

Community life can pull people together to face the larger issues of economic development and a culture of change. This community is not alone, either. The process of change is one with national scope. Huge swaths of the country have endured economic change. Think of the Rust Belt and what became of it.

Those areas, however, are returning to economic vitality by adopting new education models, career development processes, and attraction of new industries to their communities. Akron, Ohio is an example. Albany, New York is another one. Simi Valley, California is not the only region experiencing a rebirth of invention and creative economics.

Hardship and loss are often needed to cause creativity to rise.

Change. It is a challenge. Change. It is a constant in our lives. Change. Can be prepared for and welcomed. Change is the breath of fresh air and new life in every society.

Partnerships are not all alive and working on these challenges. They should, of course. Chief among them are community colleges. Rather than struggling to become a four-year college or university, they should focus instead on their tax payers in the region and help them manage change and career development. They should also be engaged in the much larger task of economic development of their region and learning how they can support that development. They should be encouraging and motivating tax payers to constantly rethink their careers and help them morph into new careers as they emerge.

Government leaders at the municipal level should be aware of their community’s demographics and critical elements of career preparedness. A local labor pool ready to support new business and industry is a golden offering to attract new economic development.

Life is change. Always has been. Rather than finding someone to blame for a down turned economy, find what you can do to reverse the community’s fortunes. The job you find is an answer to your needs. And the community’s, too!

April 25, 2017