Design
Brief
SOCIAL
PURPOSE BUSINESSES: Supported Work and Training Settings for Hard-to-Place
Welfare Recipients
By
Fredrica D. Kramer
Objectives and Scope
Assuring
employment for those with multiple barriers often requires ongoing training
within the workplace, intensive and specialized supervision, delivery of
additional support services and sustained case management.
It also may require workplace designs that accommodate such special
supports, and control over a market or product niche to maintain job and
training opportunities for those with continued need for assistance.
This
Design Brief explores one way of
creating those specialized work settings.
It is directed at the potential for Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families (TANF) agencies, workforce development agencies and others to partner
with community-based organizations or for-profit employers in order to support
businesses whose principal purpose is to train and/or employ those who would
probably not succeed in the competitive labor market.
Sometimes
known as "social purpose business ventures," these businesses have
often been developed by organizations serving extremely disadvantaged
populations, such as formerly homeless individuals with addiction or mental
health impairments. Some borrow
from the experience of sheltered workshops for individuals with severe
physical or psychological limitations and build in extra supports, but with an
eye toward graduated entry into mainstream employment.
Many look much like mainstream businesses, albeit with an on-the-job
training component. While we
borrow lessons from all of these experiences, we are attempting here to
describe only businesses that deliberately accommodate, either at the work
site or within a broader service strategy, those with multiple barriers to
work.
Creating
businesses is not a usual role for TANF agencies, and indeed it is probably
inappropriate for TANF agencies to employ recipients directly.
But using TANF funds to leverage initiatives may be both appropriate
and useful for serving harder-to-place clients. The intention here
is to provide sufficient background to enable TANF and workforce
development agencies to initiate informed discussions with potential partners
in the community or corporate sectors to jointly support business ventures
that can train or employ those with multiple challenges. There is now a
resurgence of interest among community development corporations, foundations
and some for-profit employers in developing businesses to provide jobs and
training in distressed areas, and a growing literature from which to draw
instruction on training and employing those with special needs. (See
especially the work of the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) from
which this brief draws heavily, and the Urban Enterprise Fund.)
The Problem
Many
individuals with multiple barriers to employment will need training,
employment and sustained social supports not provided by mainstream employment
and training programs and for a longer time than TANF time limits will allow.
States are well aware of encroaching time limits and of the urgency of
helping those with multiple barriers. But
most recipients have not reached TANF time limits, and states' abilities to
meet work participation requirements have made it possible for many with
multiple barriers to remain exempt from work participation but not get the
help they will need to be self sufficient in the long term.
The
Workforce Investment Act places “priority” on serving welfare recipients.
But workforce development agencies have not historically served
individuals with multiple barriers and TANF agencies are only beginning to
develop relationships to integrate such clients into WIA programs.
Incentives, such as tax credits or hiring requirements attached to
credits within economic and community development initiatives, have been
unevenly successful in encouraging hiring of those with education or skill
deficits in general, and have had less effect on hiring women, welfare
recipients, and those with multiple barriers.
Most
states continue to have surpluses within their TANF block grants, and there is
concern among some that those funds be put to demonstrated good purposes or be
relinquished when the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities
Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which created TANF, is re-authorized in 2002.
WIA is still in its early implementation, which makes this an opportune
moment to help state and local Workforce Investment Boards develop new
strategies to serve welfare recipients and their families, consistent with the
express purposes of both WIA and PRWORA.
Many engaged in social purpose ventures are aware of the potential
connections between their work and welfare reform; some already serve welfare
recipients and others are eager to work with the TANF program to serve their
overlapping target populations. HHS
has also indicated an interest in new pilots and evaluations of supported work
options, which could encourage TANF and WIA joint efforts.
The
economy will inevitably slacken, and new venues for training and hiring those
with lasting challenges to employment will be increasingly important to
welfare-to-work efforts. As
programs realize their obligations to those who remain on the rolls or whose
prospects of returning to TANF are high, and as PRWORA reauthorization looms
closer, their receptivity to supporting businesses that offer a job haven for
such individuals should also increase.
Design Principles
Social
purpose businesses take different forms.
Most are not explicitly created for profit, though some have been able
to generate revenues sufficient to be self-sustaining after a subsidized
start-up. Some are for-profit
businesses with important training components, but with substantially limited
long-term hiring capacity. Some
are boutique operations that employ a very few—and may attract only a small
clientele responsive to the social goals of the operation.
Some are venues for major training efforts or long-term employment,
often based in long-term contracts with major corporations.
All are generally difficult to develop, but the star performers are
just that—showcases for the parent organization and models that can provide
the mix of support that
hard-to-place individuals need for long-term job success.
Choosing
a balance between training and long-term employment, profit and not-for-profit
structures, long-term sustainability or subsidy by the parent organization or
other sponsors, and the competing objectives that each choice exposes, are the
substance of the discussion below. Most
ventures expose a tension between the potentially competing goals of training
individuals with multiple barriers, and the economic viability of the
enterprise. The principles
advanced here attempt to maximize both goals, with two points in mind.
The overarching goal of the venture ought to be long-term
self-sufficiency of those who will not succeed in the regular labor market
without a level of support not usually found in more typical job and training
programs. Economic viability
should be of concern only as it is important to sustaining these job and
training objectives—that is, a product that has no market, will, of
necessity, cease to be able to fulfill its social mission.
Planners need to remain mindful of both objectives as they try to
identify initiatives that are worthy of TANF expenditures.
We
suggest five governing principles, which in more or less balance will serve
both the objectives of training and placement and of economic viability:
·
Commitment
to the goal of transitional, or in some cases permanent, employment for
individuals who are unlikely to be served by mainstream employment and
training programs;
·
Capacity
to maintain social supports necessary to employment for those with multiple
barriers;
·
Commitment
to principles of business success along with the social mission;
·
Control
over a market niche;
· Expectation of subsidized start-up and possible continued subsidy, either for required expansion, or for the added cost of remedial employment services.
We
distinguish between businesses that aim principally to generate income to
further the social purpose of the parent organization, and those advanced
here—designed to provide training or work preparedness for individuals who
would not be accommodated in more traditional employment and training
programs, and to maintain an enduring commitment to either long-term
employment or extended training or social supports to individuals who would
otherwise not be employed.
We
do this for two reasons. First,
the population of interest is the hardest to place—those who will not be
able to find jobs without special assists and who will likely need help beyond
TANF time limits. We cast the net
broadly to include individuals with mental health, learning disabilities,
substance abuse, physical disabilities, language barriers, and particularly
co-occurring disorders and other conditions including criminal records that
might cause them to fail in more traditional employment programs. There are myriad other programs for training, employment or
economic development for low income populations and there is little
justification for duplicating these efforts; rather the aim here is to create
additional capability for serving the hardest to place.
Second, TANF is principally a safety net for income and social support
and will remain the last resort for individuals who do not succeed in
mainstream employment and training programs or in regular employment.
Although TANF can support a variety of employment, training and
supportive services, and coffers are flush at the moment, it seems
inappropriate to use TANF funds to support ventures that at a future date may
have only marginal relationship to either the target population or the basic
income support that those funds were intended to ensure.
Training/employment mix. Social purpose
ventures can vary in the proportion of trainees to permanent employees and in
the degree to which they graduate trainees into long-term employment within
the business. Although training
slots can be a dynamic resource for clients of the parent operation,
employment slots may be quickly exhausted for others coming up through the
pipeline. Unless the business is
continuously expanding, its ability to train, and then hire, those same individuals will be inherently limited.
Another
question is whether the business can support a workforce consisting largely of
trainee-level workers. Some
ventures have found that core staff must be professionals independent of the
training function (as in some gourmet food and bakery businesses).
Others have found that a preponderance of unskilled/trainee staff may
restrict operations to small scale, potentially less efficient levels.
Alternatively, one could argue that if the overall organization is
large enough, it can diversify (as Pioneer does), and some of its multiple
segments may be able to sustain the training of more challenged individuals.
A
related question is how many individuals with special needs, whether trainees
or permanent employees, the business can support, and how long they can be
retained. A program aimed at the
hardest to place TANF recipients may need to stretch training over a
considerably longer period than many businesses can tolerate.
Long-term
employment. Whatever
the mix of training and employment, participants' long-term employment needs
to be a consideration in business design and individual employment planning.
Training designs need to pay adequate attention to transitioning into
permanent employment for those who can go on to other work, and to developing
skills that are transferable.
For
example, small organic gardening businesses have been used to train and employ
the homeless. They require
limited capital investment in site and equipment, are relatively simple to
operate, and provide a supportive environment to those with limited skills and
large personal issues. But they
commonly employ very few numbers, at relatively low wages, and may offer
little skills training for future employment (see Emerson and Twersky, 1996).
In
most cases, social purpose ventures will need to work in tandem with other
training and placement components of the parent organization, or with local
workforce development programs in order to assure continued employment.
·
Capacity
for sustained social supports
Businesses
that train or place individuals with multiple challenges must also be able to
integrate needed services into participants’ working experience, often
directly at the worksite. This
can mean both configuring worksite designs to accommodate special needs, and
establishing good institutional and personal connections to service providers,
both on-site and through community and provider networks.
It also means maintaining complex missions and a self image related
both to business development and operation and to social service.
As the Roberts Foundation experiences attest, organizations that
understand the variety of social needs of participants but also their role as
employers and market producers, may be more able to develop a viable social
purpose enterprise than those who have only provided social services, only
trained, or only been employers in the regular labor market.
Worksite
designs.
Worksites may need to be designed to accommodate physical limitations of
participants as well as psychological needs.
Special strategies for supervision, allowing for regularly scheduled
breaks and other adjustments of work pace that can accommodate physical or
emotional limitations, need all be taken into account (see Job Accommodation
Network for variety of strategies). The
extent to which the worksite is sheltered from interaction with the outside
world may be an important consideration.
Programs will also need to decide how much public exposure is appropriate to
the business, and how to configure the work site to be able to respond to
client issues while balancing considerations of customer perception and
customer service.
Integration
of business and social service missions. In order to tailor
working conditions, those concerned with training or job content or job
placement need to work in concert with those concerned with product or service
operations. Those responsible for
running the business must also feel some direct responsibility for the social
mission of operation. The concept
of “blended management,” developed by the Corporation for Supportive
Housing, in which staff responsible for residential building management and
those responsible for delivering social services are integrated and
cross-trained, may be a good model to reference.
Further,
individuals with multiple barriers may take a long time to develop a secure
foothold in work. Businesses may
need to apply a different lens to workforce decisions in order to accommodate
longer training or employment requirements.
Similarly, TANF agencies can, properly, apply longer time horizons to
providing non-cash supports, which are not constrained by time limits to cash
benefits.
·
Commitment
to economic viability
Despite
the reality that both business and social purpose must exist simultaneously,
the demands of the business—a product of competitive price and quality and
in demand, timely delivery of services from knowledgeable and personable staff
—must permeate business and management planning, fundraising, and
organizational culture. To the
outside world the social purpose may be largely peripheral, whatever its
commitment to that purpose is in the abstract.
Consumer demand must be independent of the venture’s larger social
purpose; and sustainable only if the product is comparable in price and
quality to what can be bought from mainstream suppliers. Experts in social entrepreneurship talk about the short-term
durability of so-called “cause” marketing and the importance of marketing
quality products, both for enduring sales and in order for program
participants to avoid a feeling of diminished self-worth and exploitation.
To
be economically viable, business and social objectives need to be well planned
and executed, including the relationship of the business venture to the parent
organization. Commitment to
economic viability may mean separating the business from the parent
organization, which may protect the tax exempt status of the parent
organization, protect the liabilities of both parent organization and
business, and importantly, create an environment for participants that
emphasizes personal capacity and deemphasizes need (see descriptions of JUMA's
Ben and Jerry franchise in Emerson and Twersky, 1996).
Economic viability may also come at the expense of training objectives;
varied training experiences, which attempt to address different learning
curves and multiple training gaps, may be more difficult to sustain than more
narrowly focused training designed to serve the needs of the business.
·
Control
over market niche
One
way of assuring both long-term economic viability and flexible training and
placement options is to control a market niche. Producing a unique product, producing a product (or service)
of uniquely high quality, or partnering with a member of the corporate
community to gain exclusive control of their outsourcing are all ways to
control a market niche. Such
partnerships, it has been noted, can also afford access to managerial
expertise to assist in business planning and operations (Emerson, 1997).
IndEx
in Tulsa OK, for example, became a sole source provider of fishing rods for a
major national retailer. The sole
source arrangement allowed them to mix half-day classroom training with
half-day work experience in real production manufacture.
Home Care Associates, begun in the Bronx NY, identified a market need
for reliable home health care workers in an industry plagued by low wages and
high turnover. It used its own
training institute and worker-owned cooperative to field graduates of markedly
superior reliability, thereby becoming the source of choice for the local
visiting nurses association, and able to command higher wages than industry
standard. In general, control
over a market niche may govern the ability to pay higher wages—an important
consideration for long-term placement of TANF recipients who will have
difficulty succeeding in the regular labor market.
Another
way to control a market niche is with aggressive marketing strategies, both
using traditional direct sales appeals and by advancing ideas that indirectly
create a market for the product. The
Green Institute, for example, which is engaged in building deconstruction
services and recycling, has worked aggressively with public officials to
promote state taxes designed to encourage recycling of building materials, and
similarly, the scheduling of building permits to encourage recycling.
Choosing
a product. Three
criteria might guide product choices. The
first is the ability to produce a high quality product (or service) to
maximize profitability and to enhance participant self-esteem. The second is the potential for competitive advantage to
maximize long-term viability. The
third is training potential, reflected in skills match of the client
population, and potential and quality of future employment.
That said, common sense, as one expert noted, may go a long way in
helping sort good product options from those that will have little long-term
promise.
Products
may serve a social purpose directly (e.g, green environmental activities), or
be indistinguishable from mainstream suppliers. Product choice may impact wage levels, benefits and prospects
for advancement, and may therefore serve the underlying social objectives more
or less well.
Different
products will also generate different funding interest; offering a product or
service that is not inherently attractive to free market ventures could prove
a useful strategy. For example,
green environmental ventures, such as lead abatement (particularly in public
or subsidized housing), brownfield or abandoned building cleanup, and building
deconstruction (potentially a major activity for public housing and military
installations), might not easily attract private capital but might be very
attractive to public agencies, serve an important public purpose, and generate
jobs for a long period of time. Similarly,
transportation, child care, or home care for disabled family members of TANF
recipients, can fill market gaps while employing a population otherwise not
employed in the private sector.
The
Institute for Local Self-Reliance has helped local organizations partner with
construction and demolition firms to transpose simple demolition into
deconstruction while creating training and apprenticeship opportunities in the
building trades for inner-city low income individuals including TANF
recipients. Demolition training
can take only 4 to 6 weeks and women have been especially successful
candidates. They argue that the
massive funding allocations for demolition in the HOPE VI program and HUD's
mandate to reduce solid waste should easily support deconstruction training.
HUD has funded a study of the feasibility of tying public housing
deconstruction to economic development, training and small business
opportunities.
In
any case, starting from scratch to identify potential products is probably
unrealistic for TANF agencies; but they might help existing businesses expand
where a product has a good record of success, or help businesses consider new
opportunities for outsourcing. TANF
and workforce development agencies can also look to fill gaps in local
services that would benefit poor and low income families, and they can look
for opportunities in the public sector—in
city and county government, and among service providers—to use their clients
and training capabilities to provide services.
They can then seek expert help to determine the market feasibility of
filling those gaps.
·
Balancing
Profitability and Continued Subsidy
Analysts
of social purpose ventures speak of a "double bottom line," a
concept that formally acknowledges the dual objectives of social service and
business profitability in the calculus of analyzing financial performance.
For some the concept forces recognition of social purpose and the needs
of client/trainees in a context otherwise singularly focused on business
objectives. For others it is a
way of remembering commercial feasibility, profitability and business
constraints when social objectives would otherwise dominate their vision.
The double bottom line also exposes the typical struggle to meet
training and employment objectives while attending to product quality,
sustaining a market niche, and generating revenues to plow back into the
operation.
What
may be sacrificed to maintain commitment to both social purpose and product
quality is profitability, absent continued subsidy either by the parent
organization or outside funding sources.
Social purpose ventures typically need subsidies for pre-development
and start-up. Start-up
subsidies can underwrite feasibility studies, market analysis and development
of the business plan. Subsidies
can continue for strategic planning, expansion and professionalizing the
business. They may also continue
to support the operating costs of training, social supports, and salary and
expenses that are inherently higher because of the mixed mission and broader
responsibilities to trainees and employees.
Many
programs that are deemed successful have yet to achieve
profitability—revenues commonly do not break even with costs for as much as
five years. But most make a goal
to be self-sustaining part of their business plans.
Many factors will determine what kind of return on investment a
business can expect and whether it will need continued subsidy.
For example, businesses that rely heavily on trainees for production
will often not produce income that breaks even with cost, and will need some
subsidy for the long term. Businesses
that are intended as job creation vehicles in areas of geographic isolation or
times of economic contraction may be less concerned with long-term
profitability.
Aiming
to break even. There is some controversy about whether the goal of
any social purpose venture ought to be making a profit or at least breaking
even with operating costs in order to eliminate the need for subsidization.
Some argue (especially Emerson and the Roberts Enterprise Development
Fund) that in an environment in which government support is ebbing, it is the
obligation of social purpose businesses to be independently sustainable.
On the other extreme, some research suggests that businesses designed
to train disadvantaged individuals will rarely break even, which could call
into question the appropriateness of such ventures altogether (Nye et al,
cited in Wallack, 1999).
Another
perspective holds that traditional cost benefit analyses, which measure return
on investment, distort the proper measure of performance.
Because these ventures serve a set of larger social purposes, such
purposes should be factored into the assessment of return on investment to
inform funding and subsidy decisions. As
with other education and training efforts for disadvantaged populations, these
efforts will likely cost more than the trainees' output will generate in
revenue from product sales. If
the return on investment is measured in its larger social context, the efforts
may easily be self-justifying.
One
such analysis (See Wallack, 1999) suggests four kinds of returns on which to
assess social purpose ventures: financial returns to the employees or trainees
(a function of the number of jobs directly created, the number of outside
placements, and the wages earned); public cost savings through increased tax
revenues and reduced service costs; quality of life returns (e.g., improved
sense of self-efficacy and quality of life); and financial returns to the
owners. While some of these may
be difficult to measure, this perspective broadens the traditional measures of
profit on which to hold projects accountable.
It may also guide the design of evaluations necessary for program
monitoring and quality improvement.
We
would argue that even in attempting to serve hard-to-place welfare recipients
a calculus and balance sheet that is mindful of a break-even point is a good
planning tool to set goals, impose discipline on cost monitoring and assist in
fundraising efforts. But TANF
funds ought to be used to support only those efforts whose express purposes
are to train, and potentially employ, recipients who will not succeed in
mainstream employment and training programs.
Continued subsidy is as justifiable in this context as it is for
mainstream employment, training and other remedial services. However, it may be necessary to demonstrate to foundation and
public funders that the business is performing a training or employment
function otherwise unavailable in the provider community.
Further,
many ventures have endured because they hold contracts with public agencies to
supply a product (e.g., environmental services) or provide client services
(e.g., transitional housing, vocational training, mental health or substance
abuse services), that in turn defray the costs of the venture.
Indeed, some ventures segregate funds so that gross receipts from the
business pay trainee and most operating costs, but other labor costs are
assigned to the contracts they hold to serve a designated group such as mental
health clients. Clients may
themselves be sustained by SSI or, for our purposes, TANF benefits.
So to some extent profitability, sustainability and subsidy are
artifacts of the accounting model.
Operating Elements
Business
Models
Different
business models offer different opportunities and challenges.
Businesses may be sheltered workshops, offering long-term employment,
many accommodations to enable individuals to work, and often little contact
with customers. A sheltered
enterprise may qualify for funding under the NISH (formerly National
Industries for the Severely Handicapped) program. In the context of TANF,
attention needs to be paid to the long-term prospects for above minimum wage
and wage advancement. Also, there
is increasing interest, particularly among advocates in strategies that
integrate individuals with disabilities into mainstream work settings, using
on-site job coaching or other means.
Businesses
may also compete alongside of other providers in the open market.
They may be franchises, in which the basic business design is dictated
by the corporate franchiser, and the product has been fully developed and
market tested. The franchiser may
also offer technical assistance, and wave franchise and other fees as part of
their endorsement of the social purpose goals of the organization.
Businesses may also serve the parent organization directly, such as
with landscaping or janitorial services.
And businesses can be cooperatives, in which participants become
shareholders in the business.
Businesses
can also be configured as microenterprises, geared specifically to individual
client ownership. Microenterprise
creation can be a component of larger ventures, in which training would
include microenterprise development, business management and capital
investment. For example, bakery
and food catering businesses might be configured to help some trainees start
their own small (perhaps at-home) businesses that supply food services.
Or training could be geared to internet-based work that could
ultimately provide work for home-bound individuals, either disabled themselves
or caring for disabled family members. TANF
policies around work requirements, time limits, treatment of income and
resources, supportive services, and perhaps the application of maintenance of
effort funds would be structured to support both participation in the training
and the start-up time necessary for microenterprise development.
Businesses
of any type can integrate variations of supported work into their design, so
that the rigors and stress of work are introduced gradually, and other special
supports are provided that augment employee supervision.
Whatever the type, the challenge is usually, in the end, to compete
alongside for-profit businesses, not fully protected by the parent
organization’s non-profit status, a pre-fabricated franchise, or niche
marketing for a social cause.
A
wide variety of businesses have been developed as social purpose ventures,
many well suited to training or employing those with limited skills and a
range of other personal challenges. Food
service and landscaping businesses have been mentioned earlier.
Sorting and packaging businesses have been often cited as well suited
to those with limited skills and a tolerance for regimentation and tedium.
Different businesses offer different training options—from low
stress, soft skills development to highly skilled and demanding operations (as
in Pioneer’s sheet metal fabrication).
Recycling businesses can be sophisticated and skill intensive, or
rudimentary (e.g., collection and resale).
Different businesses offer different wage levels and operating costs,
not necessarily correlated with the level of training.
For example, at Youth Industry in San Francisco, youths walk suburban
neighborhoods hanging bags on residents’ doors to solicit unwanted household
goods, for later van pick-up, and some wind up in their thrift store for
resale. The (relatively low
level) recycling operation pays slightly higher wages than Youth Industry’s
more skill intensive bicycle repair business, because the only opportunity for
advancement is to crew leader (Emerson and Twersky, 1996).
Planning
and Start-Up
TANF
and workforce development agencies can support ongoing businesses or they can
join in at the ground stage of venture development. The time it can take to develop a business may argue for TANF
agencies to associate with ongoing ventures.
In either case, the planning process and the documents that reflect it,
as described here, are good measures of the probable viability of the venture
and whether TANF involvement is a wise choice.
TANF and workforce agencies may want to behave no less cautiously than
would other lenders—financial institutions, foundations, or others—in
assessing the wisdom of the venture.
In order to determine market niche, financial base,
start-up and ongoing subsidy needs, staff/trainee mix and other details of the
operation, programs need a substantial amount of technical expertise.
Experts can also help create realistic timeframes for pre-development
planning, to assure that adequate planning and appropriate goals and
expectations underlie the decisions to start up or to change direction.
Some organizations have business acumen in-house or an entrepreneurial
bent in their staff or founders, but it is commonly necessary to hire
consultants or get help from advisory services geared to assisting non-profit
organizations. University
business schools might also offer help. Those
that cannot make use of technical expertise are almost invariably less
successful.
Organizations, however, need to develop a good
understanding of the business on their own in order to make effective use of
outside help. Questions such as
how closely the business fits with the mission of the parent organization,
TANF, or WIA, how many training slots can be created and what in-house or
other long-term employment is likely to result, should frame the advice of
outside experts.
Job
creation potential could be assessed in terms of labor intensity, number of
jobs created, job quality and attractiveness to the target population, skill
development and prospects for future employment. Criteria for evaluating the economics of the business can
include labor and equipment needs, start-up costs (low costs can limit
financial liability and hasten start-up), regulatory constraints, need for
continued subsidy from the parent organization or other sources, and capacity
for revenue generation for the parent organization.
Profit-making potential would include existing or potential customers
and competitors, and the ability to access the intended customer base, track
customers, and serve them in a professional manner. This is likely to require a sophisticated business and
accounting system sometimes beyond those used in social service operations, as
well as marketing and promotional activities.
Other important criteria include the ability to obtain the management
and staff necessary to run the business and to access needed services for the
participants. (See Majeska in Roberts, 2000 for a full list of questions to
help guide this phase of planning.)
As
with the choice about finding technical help, organizations can choose between
a careful development phase—including market analysis, feasibility study,
and procurement of seed money—or a costly learning phase with the business
underway. Although it can take a
long time (as long as two years), analysts of social purpose ventures
emphasize the critical importance of pre-development planning for the rigor it
imposes on planning the venture, assessing the upheaval it may cause the
parent organization, and for the window it creates for making a no-go decision
on the venture. As part of the
process, planning ought to assess the resources available in the parent
organization, including the focus, interest and knowledge of current
management and board, access to expertise, and the ability to sustain
financial risk.
Training
and Support Strategies
Selecting
participants. Characteristically, participants in social purpose
ventures have come from a ready pool of clients in a parent organization
serving individuals with special needs. For
TANF, the challenge of identification of individuals who would benefit from
special work settings is different and substantial.
TANF agencies are struggling to find screening and assessment
strategies to better sort for disabilities and other long lasting impediments
to work. Some rely less on formal
instruments than extensive training to educate and sensitize staff to domestic
violence, substance abuse, and other potential barriers to successful
employment. Learning to flag
responses to routine intake questions (such as, “…my husband or boyfriend
doesn't want me to work") may also help uncover these issues, and many
have forged alliances with vocational rehabilitation, mental health and other
specialists to team up for evaluations.
Whatever
the tool, the environment within the agency and between staff and clients
needs to be conducive to revealing personal difficulties that will impede work
success. Clients need to feel
that help rather than punishment (e.g., loss of children to child protective
services, humiliation, spousal abuse) will result.
Identification and assessment is more likely to require an iterative
process than the application of a simple tool administered at a discrete point
in time. For some clients, the
need for a supported work experience may be indicated by many failed work
experiences, and TANF staff need to craft ways to be alert to such patterns,
either on their own or with the help of other experts.
Also, formal assessment to identify limitations and remedial strategies
to address them takes a long time. For
example, a VR counselor may be only able to fully assess three or four
individuals in a day.
As
an overall strategy, TANF agencies might consider reviewing all those who have
been exempted due to disabilities, reviewing the circumstances of welfare
leavers who have returned to the TANF rolls, or, where caseload decline has
been precipitous, reviewing the entire caseload to try to identify individual
issues that might explain their inability to leave and point to appropriate
remedies. Looking for issues that
may be interrelated (e.g., diabetes, obesity, hypertension, back pain) may be
useful in understanding how employability is compromised and what
accommodations could enable work.
Training
and supportive services mix. Worksites
may provide a variety of emotional and physical accommodations on site, or, as
is frequently the case, be largely indistinguishable from businesses or work
sites within the industry. Training
slots may also be staggered so that a core of experienced individuals always
staff the operation. Decisions
about how to configure training, staff and other support will need to strike a
balance between the needs of the clients and the ability of the business to
sustain such support.
Sometimes
the balance may be achieved by separating certain training and service needs
from the work-site. For example,
trainees at the Rubicon Bakery work only 15 hours per week, and fill the rest
of a 40-hour work week attending to responsibilities such as meeting with
their case manager and job developer and participating in job search
activities in the agency's career center.
Career advancement (e.g., resume writing, job choice decision-making),
and life skills training, such as personal finance management counseling —a
commonly felt need among program directors— may be integrated
into the training regimen within the worksite, or separated from what
takes place at the worksite, and even farmed out to other providers.
Some
regimens have as little as 4 to 10 hours of work per week because trainees are
not psychologically able to do more, filling in the rest of the time with day
treatment for mental illness or substance abuse, or with nothing specific.
TANF agencies may need to be creative about how they maintain
accountability to the work requirement while accommodating individual
variation in work tolerance. While
on the job, however, work expectations should be clear and trainees held
accountable to those expectations; staff need to keep good records both to
keep trainees accountable and to assure that trainees get the help they need
for medical or other issues.
Work
accommodations. Work
may be designed with specific needs and limitations in mind and case managers
need to be sensitive to a broad array of problems to help work supervisors
make adjustments in training and work supervision.
One
approach might be to identify tasks within existing jobs that can be performed
by those with limited skills, and reconfigure job descriptions and staffing
patterns in order to transform or aggregate those tasks into whole jobs.
Majeska and Portis (in Roberts, 2000)
point to the need for rewards to boost self-esteem and confidence, and
to the utility of gradually increasing responsibility as a tangible way of
reinforcing motivation. Using
multiple level position titles that denote increasingly senior status would
underscore that strategy, and offer steps for promotion and incremental wage
increases.
Programs
that serve individuals with mental illness have found that cognitive
impairments may make job memory a particular challenge.
Supervisors may find they need to use an extraordinary amount of
repetition of simple instructions. Similarly,
a psychiatric break that precipitated a referral to treatment may mask
underlying learning disabilities and attention deficit disorder that warrant
work accommodations, and screening tools for psychiatric evaluation will not
pick these up. Training curricula
may need to be designed in short spells and stretch over a longer time period
in order to be successful.
Supervisors
may also need to address issues around social functioning, irritability,
coping with stress and fear of the workplace.
Some individuals, particularly those with recent prison experience, may
need special help dealing with frustration and anger, dealing with authority
and dealing with co-workers. Strategies
for dealing with these and other fragile individuals include introducing
stress gradually, avoiding isolation, and building in mechanisms for peer
support, such as group meetings. Some
businesses configure work crews so that at least half are peer
counselors—trainees with longer experience who can support newer trainees. Strategies commonly used in vocational rehabilitation to
address emotional or physical challenges include various forms of job coaching
and mentoring. In some settings
job coaches can be assigned to as much as daily, half-day, on-site
companioning for the first few weeks of work to help individuals new to
employment get accustomed to a job, address challenges as they arise, and
suggest appropriate adjustments on the spot.
At Rubicon, trainees, new employees, and more senior employees working
side by side may serve a similar purpose.
The Job Accommodation Network (JAN, see Resources)
has analyzed a wide variety of physical, medical, and mental conditions with
respect to their effect on work, and offers a set of generic questions to help
employers identify the presence of disabilities and specific work
accommodations that can make employment possible.
Suggestions for adjusting work pace, work and task scheduling and
supervisory interaction may be broadly applicable to issues that arise with
individuals with poor work histories, difficulties in adapting to worksite
demands, and the need for more than the usual intervention of supervisors.
Integration of
work supervision and case management. Although
the menu of supportive services may be similar to other employment and
training settings, the degree to which business ventures need to integrate
case management directly into work supervision may differ substantially.
Employers may need to establish effective relationships with case
managers in public agencies, case managers and work supervisors may work as a
team, or work supervisors may be chosen explicitly because they possess the
interpersonal skills required for dealing with fragile individuals.
Business managers may need to maintain their own ready reserve of
personal contacts to call upon when crises arise.
An important consideration is the degree to which
personal issues should be exposed at the worksite, and individuals with such
issues treated differently from other members of the workforce.
For some individuals, the process of rehabilitation may depend in part
on transitioning out of social service client status.
Programs may want to draw a clean line between commonly occurring
workplace issues that can be addressed by work supervisors, and those that
properly require greater sensitivity, privacy and confidentiality protections
delivered and safeguarded by separate employee assistance program (EAP) staff.
But such staff may require training (as Goodwill has done) beyond that
normally found in EAP personnel.
Services to address issues peripheral to work
performance may be delivered apart from the training or worksite, potentially
creating a needed buffer between the business and a trainees' personal issues.
But staff in the business may still need to pay special attention to
their relationships with the parent organization or social service provider
agencies to ensure that clients are monitored appropriately and that needed
services are delivered. This may require attending to the fine details of service
scheduling, coordination, and monitoring on behalf of the client, and meeting
routinely with providers to ensure that the relationship between the business
and the service provider is mutually understood.
Funding may play a central role in how case management
and support services are configured. If
the parent organization is separately funded to provide vocational training or
supportive services to its general client population, the business' labor
costs may be substantially reduced, though still allowing for special
supervisor training or EAP staff to respond to participants' special needs on
the job.
Long-term
employment. Training and work experiences should serve long-term
employment objectives. Placement
efforts should be well thought out and start early to assure that those hired
in the business who can advance elsewhere receive the necessary assistance to
find those better or higher paying jobs.
Many social purpose ventures pay only minimum wage to trainees, making
advancement up and out an important component of the training.
Formal measures of productivity (such as Goodwill and NISH have
devised) can serve as a tool of rehabilitation and help trainees increase
their wages over time and understand the advantage of moving on to other
employment. Majeska and Portis
(Roberts, 2000) point to the need for frequent feedback on skill
development—including soft skills development.
Programs should use standard and easily understood evaluation forms,
give tangible examples of what it means to perform at satisfactory or
unsatisfactory levels, and tie a client’s progress to a placement plan so
that she understands the goals and her progress toward reaching them.
Programs must also decide how much of an
individual’s work limitations are appropriate to communicate to a
prospective employer. It may be
helpful to disclose some limitations, and in other circumstances, suggesting
appropriate work accommodations to the trainee may be a better strategy than
biasing prospective employer relationships.
Staff who provide vocational counseling should be well trained in how
to protect confidentiality while helping the client secure a supportive work
environment. For placements in
which psychological or other issues, such as criminal records, are made known
to employers, success may depend on promising active monitoring and follow-up
to relieve the burden on the employers to respond to issues that arise once on
the job.
Staffing.
Staffing
configurations are the embodiment of the dual objectives of social purpose
ventures. These businesses are likely to need a mix of staff that includes
those with experience in business, social services, counseling, psychology,
substance abuse and the range of challenges that the client population
possesses, as well as experience in dealing with the bureaucracies—both
foundation and governmental—that provide funding.
A
critical element both at the leadership level and on the shop floor is
business experience, either operating a business or formally schooled in
business and finance. Business
experience may be further differentiated into those who can undertake broad
business planning and fundraising, including knowledge of legal and tax
issues, and mid-level management skilled in financial management and
accounting. Students of social
purpose ventures note the additional need for senior mentors from the business
community, including those with general management expertise and those with
experience and connections in specific industries and markets (Proscio, 1999).
There
may be inherent differences in organizational culture between business
organizations and social service organizations. Some argue that social service organizations have ambiguous
goals and the difficult task of effecting change in people, have imprecise
technologies and uncertain staff-client relationships, and frequently lack
reliable measures of effectiveness. Business
rewards risk-taking, quick changes, prompt feedback and prompt error
correction—which may be incongruent with the needs of the client-service
relationship. (See Flannery and
Dieglmeier in Roberts, 2000).
These
points are particularly relevant when considering how to inject a business
perspective into a social service mission.
Mechanisms for integrating the two perspectives ought to be part of
pre-development and ongoing organizational efforts. Practitioners report that social purpose ventures may create
substantial upheaval in the parent organization, high staff turnover resulting
from the tension between social mission and business requirements, and the
need for forced realignment of those not best suited for new responsibilities
or new perspectives. TANF
agencies may need to be assured that the venture has already achieved some
level of stability or be prepared to weather the transition.
We
distinguish here between managerial levels, including board and CEO level
staff, and worksite or work crew configurations, which in a large organization
may be well distanced.
Several
attributes have been identified as necessary at the director or board level.
These include a vision of the effort, financial expertise to set and
monitor fiscal goals, sensitivity to market forces, the ability to drive the
operation and advance the business, and support for the social services that
the target population will need. Some
analysts of social entrepreneurships suggest that success often depends on
having someone who is schooled in the technical and mechanical aspects of
planning and operating the business, but who can champion the business to
potential lenders, staff, and, ultimately, clients.
Sometimes that individual is imported into the organization to develop
the venture. Non-profits may need
to think creatively about how to structure compensation packages to attract,
and retain, high quality leadership. (See Brauer and Tatos in Roberts, 2000).
Worksite
staff. As with other training programs for clients with
multiple challenges and poor work histories, work supervisors must deal with
the range of skill, attitudinal and family issues that impact clients' ability
to perform on the job. Businesses
may seek supervisors who are sensitive to the complex set of issues that
participants present, but make a clear distinction between staff responsible
for training and work supervision and those responsible for support services,
counseling, or remedial help such as in language or math.
At Pioneer two EAP staff are assigned to each work site, and
supervisors may also be able to recognize problems in their employees from
their own experiences, but case management takes place at the program's
residential facilities. Common
Ground Community's Ben and Jerry's ice cream shops take pains to buffer the
customer from workers' personal issues, relegating some trainees to back of
the store operations until they are ready to interface with customers.
Whatever
the delineation between business and social service staff, many programs
report the usefulness of cross-training so that each is sensitive to the
special needs that this population presents.
Cross-training also assures that business and service staff are equally
invested in the dual mission of the organization, and will make accommodations
to fulfill that mission. Cross-training
might also help staff (and by extension, funding agencies) understand their
different vocabularies and program approaches in order to develop new program
strategies that are comfortable to all.
Monitoring
and Evaluation
Since social purpose ventures answer to dual
objectives, it is important that they put in place a system for routine
performance monitoring that captures both training and employment performance
and market performance. Formal
measures of productivity are also especially important to assure that these
businesses do not underestimate operating costs and improperly underbid their
services.
Performance monitoring should also include a formal
evaluation strategy to inform investors (either private parties or the parent
organization itself) whether continued subsidy is justified.
The evaluation should help tell whether the social purpose business was
instrumental in serving individuals who are not characteristically served in
traditional employment programs. If the overarching question is whether the
social purpose venture helped individuals not served in traditional training
programs—that the benefits would not have accrued in the absence of the
program—then the overall evaluation would need some way of establishing that
participants would not have been served in traditional programs, and moreover
that the specific training and services received in the program (business)
accounted for their outcomes (e.g., higher wages, reduced public benefits).
Even without a formal impact evaluation, which would attempt to tell
the specific impact of the program on the progress of participants, an
analysis of the specific strategies developed for accommodating the needs of
individuals with multiple challenges would go a long way to helping programs
develop new approaches to serving this population.
Cost/benefit
analysis is another tool that, it has been suggested, is more appropriate than
a traditional profit/loss statement for assessing these ventures.
Costs could include direct grants and subsidies (e.g., from government
agencies, foundations or private corporations), loans and interest fees
(including the lost income from a below-market rate loan or grant), and
in-kind contributions (e.g., technical assistance for payroll, legal or other
management services, space and supplies from the parent organization, case
management and other supportive services to trainees or employees).
Benefits could include direct business revenues, tax revenues generated
by newly employed participants, higher wages resulting from program
participation, and reduced use of cash or other public benefits and services.
(See Wallack, 1999, for a detailed discussion and analysis of 14 social
purpose ventures using this methodology.)
Some Programs in
Operation
Chicago
Christian Industrial League
operates the largest homeless residence in the Midwest for men, women and
families. From a minimal capital
investment and single crew landscaping contract with the City of Chicago, they
have grown to a $3.5 million landscaping business, with 15 to 20 work crews.
Each crew leader supervises four to five groundskeepers.
They also currently have a contract to employ unemployed parents of
children in the Chicago public schools. Trainees
can be employed for up to two years, during which time the League provides
soft skills and job readiness training and Service Masters provides technical
training and supervision and technical expertise for the business.
Trainees are selected by case managers after 3 to 6 months of life
skills training, counseling, assessment and in-house work assignments in their
food service, housekeeping and resale activities, with up to 50 percent
attrition both prior to entering the landscaping business and on the job. The
considerable structure, including meetings with case managers at least weekly
to start, may select out some potential participants.
Wages
begin at $7.25 per hour and increase over the year, and monetary incentives of
$0.25 per hour for good performance are collected by participants at the end
of the season. Because
individuals may work part or full time and the work is seasonal, the business
has flexibility in fielding work crews and participants can receive other
training and certification through a separate grant from the Chicago Botanical
Gardens. The costs of the Service
Masters partnership and business expansion were supported by maintaining a
quality product at competitive prices, and the additional city contracts
allowed them to establish a line of credit with a lender.
Contact Noel Jackson, 312/491-2030.
Common
Ground Community
operates three Ben and Jerry's ice cream franchises and a special events
facility, as part of their supportive housing and job training program for
formerly homeless and other special needs populations from over 60 supportive
housing providers in New York City. Employment
slots in their franchises consist of 20 hours per week of paid work and 20
hours of off-site training for 6 months, with the last 2 months focused on
placement preparation. Sites have
one salaried manager, one or two shift supervisors, and about five trainees.
The first franchise is now self-sustaining.
To
the customer, the franchises are indistinguishable from others, with much of
the training focused around customer service.
Other issues that arise are addressed largely off-site by vocational
counselors. Many worker issues are not dissimilar to those of other
entry-level workers, and managers are selected for their management
experience, but are trained and sensitive to the needs of this special
population and allow for frequent evaluation and interaction with counseling
staff. Although the product is
fully developed by the franchiser, the business must undertake the same
pre-development process (e.g., business plan, analysis of site feasibility),
which can take up to two years, and rely on foundations and other subsidies
for start up costs. Ben and
Jerry's must approve the planning but waves its franchise and management
training fees. Contact Toby Sherman, 212/768-8989.
Conard
House, Inc.,
which provides residential and vocational services for psychiatrically
disabled and homeless adults, operates two cafes serving beverages, pastry and
light lunches, and a janitorial business.
The cafes each provide 15 paid trainee positions at minimum wage, in
baking, kitchen preparation, counter work and cashiering. Conard House
Janitorial started as a 9-month training program serving their residences, and
after 18 months began marketing its services to other non-profits and
for-profit facilities. Services
include floor treatment, restroom and office maintenance and window cleaning,
and the program trains in these services as well as management.
The first two years were subsidized with foundation and Community
Development Block Grant funds. Stanford
University’s Alumni Consulting Team (ACT) helped with marketing and
expansion. Identifying their
competitive edge and aggressive marketing focused on product quality and
social purpose helped them withstand local competition.
The first café broke even after 8 years. Vocational trainers are
funded by a long-standing city department of mental health contract,
substantially reducting labor costs to the business so that gross receipts
from the business can pay for other operating and trainee costs.
Training
is part time, 4 to 10 hours per week, to accommodate low work tolerance and
low confidence, which also protects SSI earnings limitations.
Other time may be spent in treatment or attending to personal needs
such as looking for housing, or unstructured, though staff tries to keep watch
on activities, appointments, medication and other needs.
The intended 9 month training regimen may stretch to years, as needed.
The program uses long-term trainees as peer trainers, who constitute
both a major portion of the workforce and are highly competent trainers,
eliminating the need for job coaching or job shadowing.
Contact Richard Heasley, 415/864-7897.
Golden
Gate Community,
in San Francisco CA, provides food and shelter for homeless individuals, as
well as transitional housing for homeless women and children, all of whom are
in substance abuse outpatient treatment.
They now operate a profitable silk screen business, which generates
revenues for the program and trains residents, and which they settled on after
experimenting with several different businesses, regrouping and getting
funding and technical assistance from foundation sources.
Women stay in the housing for 12 months, avoiding foster care for their
children, and are moved into jobs in the business after 4 to 6 months of
treatment. Most find other
employment after the year, though some choose to stay on as permanent
employees. The program tries to maintain the same number of slots by
growing the business, though it is difficult even in this successful operation
to strike the right balance between the graduation needs of clients and the
business' need to minimize turnover. The
business has up to ten employees at a time and three managers (for sales,
office and art) with a mix of experiences (one is from the industry, another
is a former client), which allows them to be invested in both the business and
social objectives of the enterprise. One manager deals with trainees' personal issues as they
arise. The silkscreen business
was self-sustaining within 4 years. Contact Randy Newcomb, 415/552-1700.
The
Green Institute, in Minneapolis MN, used neighborhood resistance to a
solid waste transfer station to enlist city support for an environmental and
on-the-job training program in building deconstruction, with funding from a
combination of private, local, state and federal grants.
It now operates three businesses that support its training objectives:
a retail store for building salvage and construction materials, with about 14
trainees; a business that trains and employs 14 people in building
deconstruction and sells materials on location or in the retail store; and an
award-winning, 64,000 square foot Eco-Enterprise Center, which also rents
space to businesses that will hire their target population, and which
generates $3 million in revenues annually.
The retail store was almost self-sustaining within 3 years.
The county supported initial market research, but they have worked to
develop a customer base through outreach to contractors, architects and
designers, by conducting classes in basic building repair and construction,
and using a communications and marketing staff for direct mail, print and
cable TV. They segmented their
customer base into gentrification and historic preservation, landlords, low
and moderate income homeowners, second-home owners, and advocates of green
consumer habits. Most of the
board lives and works in the neighborhood, creating an informal network that
also sustains the business.
Deconstruction
trainees earn $8.50 per hour plus tools, clothing, and transportation costs,
but the program encourages them to move up and out into jobs with contractors
or labor unions where they generally earn over $10 per
hour after one year, which also expands the ability to train new
enrollees. With a 15 percent
local unemployment rate compared to 2 percent in the metropolitan area they
consider all of their clients hard to serve.
Trainees are culturally diverse with major language barriers in a
business in which safety issues are paramount.
Rather than aggressive case management, they address barriers as they
arise with, in their view, talented, sophisticated supervision and access to
over 100 organizations for transitional housing, and remedial services.
Contact Michael Krause, 612/278-7110.
Pioneer
Human Services,
a non-profit organization in Seattle WA, operates several enterprises to train
and employ individuals who are largely on work release or just out of prison,
or are substance abusers. They
also operate several residential facilities for work release clients, and one
for substance abuse recovery, with a full complement of counseling and support
services. Businesses include
specialized sheet metal fabrication under a longstanding contract with Boeing
Aircraft, a subassembly (packaging) and distribution service affording low
skill jobs for those with severe challenges, a 20-state food buying service
for food bank and other non-profit food service organizations, a warehousing
service, and a line of food services including institutional food services,
executive catering, and a public restaurant (in Starbucks headquarters in
Seattle). The $50 million
combination of businesses produces annual surpluses that can be put back into
the program.
The
350 trainees stay 6 months to 1 year, are about half women, may have spotty or
no work histories, criminal records, and about sixth grade reading and math
skills. The program uses two EAP
staff at each work site. They
find that those in residential recovery services are more fragile, not as
successful, and would not meet the standards for a regular business. Unskilled
starting trainees earn $6.50/hour and 80 percent leave for other work. Those who graduate into the businesses earn above market
wage. Pioneer offers consulting
services to non-profits in enterprise development. Contact Mike Burns, 206/766-7022 or www.pioneerhumanserv.com
Rubicon
Programs,
based in Richmond CA, serves
homeless, mentally disabled and very low income individuals and families, and
has over twenty years of experience operating businesses that train or employ
their clients. Rubicon
Enterprises now includes three businesses—landscaping, a wholesale premium
dessert bakery, and home health care. These
are successful profit-making businesses operating throughout Northern
California, and in the case of the bakery, beyond.
One evaluation projected subsidies over 10 years to be $8.4 million,
and projected revenues to be over $14 million.
The businesses provide training in all fields in which they operate and
employ 100 people full time, 80 percent of whom came out of trainee positions.
Many trainees are also placed with community employers.
In
addition, Rubicon has a painting and a janitorial training program that serves
Rubicon's 10 residential sites and 4 commercial buildings.
The landscaping program serves a mix of clients, including
hard-to-serve TANF recipients with mental health and substance abuse issues
under three Welfare-to-Work grants, mental health referrals from Vocational
Rehabilitation, and some homeless. Training
is customized and self-paced. It
offers the opportunity to focus on soft skills or target job-specific skills
in a setting that replicates a landscaping business.
Contact Rick Aubrey, 510/231-3927 or www.rubiconpgms.org
Stitches
Technology Sewn Products Job Creation Center, Inc., in Los Angeles CA, trains welfare recipients using
half-day work and half-day training (e.g., for language and life skills) for
26 weeks. Trainees earn $6.00 per
hour, with incentives that raise wages to about $8.00 per hour. They began in
April 2000 with seed funds from local businesses and donated fabric, now have
an HHS JOLI grant, and expect to place 50 trainees every 6 months.
State-of-the-art sewing equipment facilitates technical proficiency and
upward mobility. They partner
with Cal State University for language classes, and with Guess and Eddie Bauer
to buy their product and employ their graduates.
They conducted market research to identify suitable products, and
selected a varied product line (from simple promotional tote bags to tailored
shirts and pants) to permit cross-training. Work crews consist of 15
operator/trainees ("associates")and 2 supervisors.
Training is in teams to promote motivation and technical skills and be
more nurturing. Retirees mentor
trainees, and EAP-type case managers, generally off-site, address other
issues. The TANF case manager
deals directly with the associate with little supervisor contact.
Contact Clotee McAfee, 323/846-7250.
References
Dion,
M. Robin, Michelle K. Derr, Jacquelyn Anderson, and LaDonna Pavetti. Reaching
All Job-Seekers: Employment Programs for Hard-to-Employ Populations. Mathematica
Policy Research, Inc. October 1999. http://mathematica-mpr.com
Contains discussion of specific populations and strategies to serve
them, with program examples.
Emerson,
Jed. Beyond Welfare Reform: Moving From
Rhetoric to Reality. Roberts Enterprise Development Fund. March, 1997.
Emerson,
Jed and Fay Twersky, eds. New
Social Entrepreneurs: The Success, Challenge and Lessons of Non-Profit
Enterprise Creation. Roberts Foundation.1996. http://www.redf.org Detailed
case studies, with experiences useful to those contemplating such initiatives.
Plimpton,
Lisa and Mark Greenberg. TANF Policies
in Nine States: Implications for Microenterprise Initiatives. Aspen
Institute. March 2000. http://www.clasp.org
Proscio,
Tony. A Double "Bottom Line":
Lessons on Social-Purpose Enterprise from the Venture Fund Initiative.
Roberts Enterprise Development Fund. June 1999.
Roberts Enterprise Development Fund. Social Purpose Enterprises and Venture Philanthropy in the New
Millennium: The Box Set, Volumes 1-3. 2000. http://www.redf.org/publication/pub_theboxset.html
Wallack,
Joshua. Must Social-Purpose Businesses
Break Even? Unpublished paper, Harvard Business School. Spring 1999.
Resource Contacts
Goodwill
International, for many experiences in job accommodations for individuals with
disabilities or other barriers to employment.
Contact James Van Erden, 301/530-6500.
Institute
for Local Self-Reliance. Working
with local governments and community-based organizations to use building
deconstruction to train and develop union apprenticeships in the construction
trades. Contact Neil Seldman,
202/232-4108.
Job
Accommodation Network (JAN). Provides technical assistance on job
accommodations for persons with disabilities.
800-ADA-WORK or http://janweb.icdi.wvu.edu
Job
Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals (JOLI) Program.
Provides grants to non-profit organizations for local enterprises that
will create jobs for welfare recipients and other low income individuals. HHS/Office
of Community Services. http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/joli/welcome.htm
Kauffman
Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. Supports
several initiatives to develop entrepreneurial capabilities in low income
communities, including the Venture Fund Initiative to expand social purpose
businesses in six-cities. http://www.emkf.org
Local
Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). Provides
grants, loans and equity investments to CDCs for neighborhood redevelopment. http://www.liscnet.org
NISH
(formerly National Industries for the Severely Handicapped) assists non-profit
and community organizations who employ individuals with severe mental and
physical disabilities to get government contracts under Javits Wagner O'Day
Act set-aside program. http://www.nish.org
President's
Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. http://www50.pcepd.gov
Urban Enterprise Fund.
Provides loans, management assistance, and access to corporate networks
to create supported work opportunities for individuals with disabilities,
ex-offenders, substance abusers, and disadvantaged youth, and are the first
venture capital fund for welfare-to-work efforts. For resources and on-line assistance in business planning.
Contact Doug Kenshol, 312-322-3000 or http://www.urbanenterprise.org.
U.S. Small Business Administration. For general
information and district offices,
Women's
Business Development Center. Offers
business plan assistance, financial analysis, and loan packaging to
women-owned businesses. http://www.wbdc.org
The author thanks the many individuals directly involved in programs who shared their experiences and insights, and Jane Fischberg of Rubicon Programs, Doug Kenshol of the Urban Enterprise Fund and Brad Turner of Goodwill International for their very thoughtful review comments.
The Welfare Information Network is supported by grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human
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