Unknown Speaker 00:19 Ask aspects of Elizabeth Martin counselor Unknown Speaker 00:41 public policy National Center for Children application Unknown Speaker 01:45 My name is telecommunications and I'm looking to sort of do business which is basically import experts to focus on businesses in countries which right now we're importing articles from Africa and basically it's jewelry, fashion accessories etc our focus in the United States is to help them to Unknown Speaker 02:32 develop economically Unknown Speaker 02:35 to focus on Unknown Speaker 02:38 because in the United States Unknown Speaker 02:50 my sister is our first she's usable Unknown Speaker 03:00 and I'm here to find out Susan, I Unknown Speaker 03:15 found that it's often useful to start by distinguishing additional characteristics of purchase Unknown Speaker 03:34 and what do you think about I think we often find that we talk about women and community economic development it is and what economic development means in communities that there's some visions that we have about what occurs when economic development activities going on. So if you could just help us think with you, what comes to your mind when you hear the term economic development, community development and community economic development? What comes to your mind? Okay, which one Unknown Speaker 05:38 said local merchants Unknown Speaker 05:48 outside our city. Unknown Speaker 07:13 strengthen family Unknown Speaker 07:28 understand any kind of configuration want to establish what kind of empowerment Jimmy under traditional economic so that's what I mean being empowered is that flexibility one of the other things then we look at traditional economic development we talk about employment where what is the source of additional Unknown Speaker 08:55 income additionally employment nature Corporation whereas subsidizes or if Unknown Speaker 09:17 there is a major important constituted community, it's something as you said that evolved out of a community's education and a community means that has been identified by the Unknown Speaker 09:32 third you can find examples of large corporations, projects with corporations. Typically, those are the exception that's the thing you don't always think of entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship in traditional economic development as much as meaning like creating a small So if you think of SBA as a traditional development branch of the US government, then small business doesn't consider that the scale small business you're talking about, typically, in traditional development Unknown Speaker 10:16 is Unknown Speaker 10:20 a scaled up from what was typically taught here. This is good. This is not Yeah. And this is, as we get into talking about models, this is the informal sector, for the mom and pops, whereas this may be mom and pops, but as often larger. Typically, you're you're not a player in this kind of small business unless you're able to leverage even soft skills like that overhear you're talking. Unknown Speaker 11:01 In terms of community economic development, you're talking about moving out of that smallest area into some of the higher Unknown Speaker 11:09 the whole continuum. We talked about some of what's what happens with the way that finally happens. Part of the reason that you end up looking at every small scale is because first of all, the amount of money that's been channeled into players haven't been large enough to support this kind of developments in smaller cities. When you when you can model cities programs, there was a lot of capitalization of corporations, multimillion dollar projects. Nowadays, you don't see Unknown Speaker 11:57 this changing, Unknown Speaker 12:00 essentially, yeah, and that's some of the stuff that we can really say that this is what I was looking at traditional, traditional growth for a company as opposed to. Unknown Speaker 12:22 But I think the point to be made about community economic development, even though those companies may grow and expand their expected outcomes, expected benefits are focused on the community as opposed to focused on individual. Unknown Speaker 12:38 Yeah, I mean, if you want to draw, like a good example of a distinction, you know, under under Johnson administration, we'll get a lot to develop. What followed after Nixon was the black and minority entrepreneurship, which was very much started. Words, the whole approach in the model cities was really there and community involvement and new definition of problems Unknown Speaker 13:15 and empowerment as opposed to individual empowerment. Unknown Speaker 13:22 So, historically, we've talked about community development as a field, We pinpoint small cities in the Johnson administration as the starting point of CBD as a field necessary. Unknown Speaker 13:43 I pick two other terms, one term was a both participation and empowerment, and to distinguish between traditional and Community Economic Development, participation by who, for who gets to and in terms of empowerment, empowerment, from individual to impairment of group by means of showing that the group is left with resources, that it not only can control, but which the group as an entirety, understand that it will benefit. So it's a control of resources and the utilization of those resources for the benefit of as opposed to the participation of the entire body Unknown Speaker 14:41 in the determination Unknown Speaker 14:42 of the use of those resources, as opposed to the infusion Unknown Speaker 14:46 of capital, which primarily benefits largely the owner of a major corporation, the shareholders of that corporation and the people who are employed and the real use of those resources. If the resources are taken out, so there's no focus on maintaining Unknown Speaker 15:07 what we talked about what kind of usage is typically, you know, traditional development, you look at a community and look at it, essentially as what kind of resources does it have to support the business, both in terms of the market as well as resources to provide the credit for community economic development perspective to start by saying, what are the needs? And what What resources can we can bring to bear on? And then what are the things, we have to look for ways to get access to the gap? So, essentially, there's some of the same types of skills but for different. Discussion. So let's look at the status of women. I'll just run you through some statistics, some may replicate some of what you heard this morning. But just to quickly give you some, some background. Unknown Speaker 16:29 And I think the background is important, as what we both have discovered in our work is that if we're talking about transformation of community, accuracy, the statistics, because I think that we're really talking about a transformation, not just just change, that you can't do that without talking about the people who currently reside in those communities, and who are disenfranchised, disempowered, those individuals aren't. So anybody, they're talking about community economic development, at the beginning point of their conversation is not women. They really aren't talking about communities, that they often we find ourselves in conversations about economic change, without going to next steps and we will Who are we changing things for that we always have to go back to the populations who have who are poor, who are going to be affected and programs and those Unknown Speaker 17:23 so there's just the statistics that I'm quoting you a lot of them are coming from a variety of sources sources on this summer from the WAC stats woman to Action Coalition, summer from See, keystroke to learn accountants, some news articles and such. So if there's anything specific with the way 74% of women work in pensions 33% of Unknown Speaker 18:03 women I believe Unknown Speaker 18:12 the average annual earning of women is 22,000. These will probably be nice. Women of Color earn 42 cents less per dollar earned by white. women earn 66 cents for every dollar earned. This is actually crept up slightly statistically. Yes. 76. Man. Well, it's so creepy. 25% of households with male breadwinners and female homemakers and then 75% of full time working women 37% of full time working men earn less than 40,001 Out of five families are edited by women this was Unknown Speaker 19:12 and just to add to that, there's something called the feminization of poverty index which looks at the proportion of poor families that are maintained by women who are living alone and who are poor and 54%. It's the highest it's ever been in the history of the country, but 54% of women maintain families are living in poverty. And 61% of all poor families with children are in poverty. And for black families, that number is 83%. Unknown Speaker 19:51 Another interesting statistic is when you look at men and women from the seniors in the workplace and women Men tend to earn $1.10 more per hour for five years assuming compared to women positions. Women tend to get 25 to 35 cents per hour. Women of Color are 42 cents less per hour compared with white women after five years. So it's not even just a question of where people get jobs, it's a question of what they're getting. Unknown Speaker 20:44 We heard a lot about the women on welfare statistics, and one of the presenters this morning, but essentially women on home relief receive this is from a 1993 article in dollars and cents women on how we receive about Grant $53 per month per adult. This was in New York City with the recording in New York City spends $2,300 per month to Haussmann health care, that is what can be done to make this permanent, affordable housing. 50% of women on welfare are there because of men fail to pay child somebody that goodness, referred to this morning but wasn't specifically, and then father's in the US this is based on all their families $24 billion. Unknown Speaker 21:46 Now, obviously, the other side of this is that you also need to recognize that some of those Unknown Speaker 21:59 other things just to set that context all the time recommended transformation. persistent poverty is also characteristic of urban communities that are trying to utilize economic development strategies to transform themselves. Among and this is very characteristic of people. among black families, 83% of the black families that were poor in 1987, we're still poor night. For Latino families. 82% were poor and IT related state, we have beggars, we're still poor in an 87, we're still important. So there is very limited opportunity without some kind of economic development focus in those communities to move people out of poverty, because the traditional mechanisms now that are being talked about in terms of people just don't want to work and you say, you have all this economic activity, the economy's doing better. But people in communities who are persistently poor, are not being impacted by these economic changes. Therefore, we have to look at persistent how we impact persistent poverty. And one of the means to do that is by looking at where people are living, and the characteristics of individuals who are in those communities. The other thing is that in addition to economic poverty, there's also hidden property. In the hidden properties are the properties of housing, the properties of healthcare, and the poverty of childhood caused by childcare. 40% of the people who are poor are doubled up. They are in a household that if you look at the statistics, and you look at household income, that household doesn't show it up as poor, you get five or six families living together working, so the household income is high. But when you separate those, those families are third of the women who are living with their children by themselves are not included in the poverty statistics that look at household income, because they've doubled that with other families. And a woman who is working and spending $3,000 a year on childcare, which probably represents 20 to 30% of her yearly income is impoverished by anybody's measure. This is not included in the poverty statistics. And also the we know that the income of 70% of the 40 million people who don't have health insurance just below the poverty line. And we see that people's incomes are being depleted when they do have income, they call them an ability to say because they don't have health care. They're impoverished because of they have to draw these resources. And also, their bodies are depleted when they don't have any savings. So there there's this physical thing additionally, apartments, they live in doubled up spaces. So there's overcrowding, they live in conditions and community with it is just a constant overlay of conditions that traditional economic means will not enable them to benefit you. So we have to also consider these hidden impoverished conditions and community and why traditional economic development doesn't work, and how you have to look to community economic development as a response. Unknown Speaker 25:37 So taking those, all those statistics in mind, let's look at what some of the responses have been, how different women's groups and other groups are working to address their fear. One thing that's important to point out when we're thinking about this there's, it's it's important to distinguish between what's referred to as community based organization organizations, media organizations, and grassroots organizations. When you think about who the players are there, there are some developers in the field who are community based, but in a lot of ways, the way they look the way they act in adulthood projects are very much following a more traditional blueprint approach to development where they will have planners on their staff, and strictly see the community as clients. Unknown Speaker 26:59 And sometimes as participants, because they may have a hearing, I think that suffices for participation. Unknown Speaker 27:10 And at the other end of the continuum, you have grassroots organizations where you will have low income women working together often in unpaid substandard stipend, in order to virtualization off the ground. They'll be running this certification, wonderful world survey 80,000. Here, at Phil, they're doing very good for being able to do what they do. So there's, there's quite a range. And that's the hard part. And all that is, women's groups that are trying to work typically have a much harder time than the people who are in the mainstream, or what I refer to as mainstream or community based organizations, in part because of other assaults. And that's what groups like this have a really important, we wouldn't be able to access Unknown Speaker 28:39 into other things, which I think he wanted to mention. Somebody mentioned education earlier, the lack of opportunities for low income women to benefit from higher education. This empowers them in terms of their ability to be represented, even if they have grassroots organizations. They don't have the skills and capacity to enable them to participate equally because they haven't benefited from higher education. And secondly, because of occupational segregation, if they are working, and they all contributing their resources to the voluntary initiative, they don't have the funding base that would allow them to have significant impact. And so we do work with them to happen in churches, or wherever we will pay for experienced groups to host them less experienced to learn a programmatic area. And you also do this institute bringing these women together to take workshops and courses on topical areas as well as organization development to strengthen their own capacities given their lack of educational abilities and their lack of resources to have marketing effectively. Did I say something? Yeah, I don't know Unknown Speaker 29:54 if it's stupid across the country. So universities, just like this. To increase the use of practice because the costs of all the colleges so horrendous ever commuter call University and we all fall over I always wonder am I Pollyanna ish? Like thank you that as the increase in his mycologists is highly technical or vocational vocational is relations with ages Unknown Speaker 30:41 and they have heard this Unknown Speaker 30:45 exceed but the numbers came home and all of our colleges This is so increased so much that it's putting very big pressure on administrations Unknown Speaker 30:58 because it's an ironic situation or walk in to get the cut more Unknown Speaker 31:11 faculty which was Unknown Speaker 31:16 and I bet those same women who are trying to run a small scale community action every day can actually have a chance yes to help Unknown Speaker 31:40 Yeah, I think what you're describing is actually happening in a lot of state governor privatize privatize? guy you know, he's appropriate. Unknown Speaker 32:14 That's, that's me likes to tell. Unknown Speaker 32:18 But he's got in our politics really nervous. Because I'll tell you right now, for a non resident students goes to the University of Massachusetts, it costs more to go there. Because there are people who come to us because we're private. Unknown Speaker 33:01 And so what we like to share also with eating because some of your examples of how women in communities have begun to respond to all of these statistics in the conditions that we've described. And it was their three essential or four central goals that project the Ms. Foundation started the collaborative Fund, which assisted organizations that granted technical assistance opportunities, training opportunities, and loans to low income women, women of color, who want to start their own businesses in community and the organizations, we look at them as Community Financial, their community based organizations somehow evolved from grassroots organizations that are now acting as financial intermediaries, they are acting almost like human banks that are making loans to low income women. And that it wants to continue with a great majority of low income women who want to start a business because traditional economic development and the goals have been empowerment and redefine empowerment as the individuals increasing the individual choice and autonomy. Building self esteem, because we believe that there's a rippling effect, personal self esteem, spills over into community self esteem, because the individuals become actual community leaders. And empowerment also means the ability to participate in workplace decisions and that's where we get supported so cooperatives, for the organizations and the communities there's also economic justice. That means we are trying through self employment to increase opportunity for the building of ownership and wealth and assets. among low income people in low income communities, economic justice also means that we're trying to facilitate a process that will create symbols of community development through the building of these community institutions. And as you mentioned, economic growth and economic diversification by creating jobs, and increasing individual productivity. And so what we did was fun to Team organizations around the country. Some of them looked at what we call sectors that were influencing the economic activities in such sectors as daycare, tourism, home health care, and small farms. And so sector development means when you're looking at a particular category of economics, and we found that by funding women's businesses in these groups, there has been a certain significant ability to impact community. Our project of women's economic development lose economic development in Missoula, Montana. The state of Montana's tourism industry was not is not there yet. The timber industry had been the primary source of employment throughout the state, the mining industry is declining significant number of layoffs, people who have been dependent on his husband school for work in the lumber industry, and now facing devastation in a small community that has built around these volumes and there's no economic. So they decided to initiate a statewide Tourism Program among small scale businesses, to see if that could generate jobs. They have funded restaurants along major tourism highway, because people drive along these routes to get up to the CDL got to go fishing. Lots of people from California because of the reduction in jobs, they're moving to Montana, and setting up smaller scale, businesses incubator that incubated with small scale businesses and several of them may be banding together to form a business community data processing or a sibling of computer chip things you don't really need to be in nearby. So they are also funding women who provide daycare support for the business activities. They're funding, breakfast in home. Unknown Speaker 37:45 All of it in the furniture guy businesses, and all of it as a result of looking at what wasn't working and saying what can work where there are opportunities. And looking at what we often don't find community based economic trends. What does the trends say? Are potential growth areas that we can guide women to be involved in so they create a job for themselves that will be long term? Then we find something called the acre fantasy. The acre family Unknown Speaker 38:23 is a community development Unknown Speaker 38:24 corporation. In a primarily like Tina Lowen Shamir Coalition for venerate, right. Acre is a project of that CDC. And the CDC has been building houses traditionally, in a low income like Tina, and now Asian communities southeast mid Southeast Asian and Latino. And what did they have to work with was it had lots of people with lots of children's wanting to go back to Johnson a lot of being impacted by the welfare reforms in the state of Massachusetts where people are sort of being pushed to find jobs. So how can we better work? How can we create business opportunities for women in their communities around this? Back around this, this, this this occurrence, so they have funded a network? home daycare operators who are Latina, they're just having a graduation so first time Southeast Asian women who in the beginning wouldn't lead you to live with anybody. So now they have they have a waiting list of 100 people, and they are graduating in their first Southeast Asian day home daycare operators who are not only taking care of Asian kids but taking care of a Latina and nobody's speaking. But they have now created about in just three years in a very small section and the community will be able to think is over about 100 have graduated. But this is a small scale operation that doesn't have much money. But thinking we could do this in lots of small communities or small areas of communities, the number of self employed people and all of them are making above men. And because of the state regulations in Massachusetts, they can hire people. But if they go beyond 60s, they can hire assistants. So they're creating jobs for other women and their businesses. There's also in Philadelphia, that's a network of things. But in Philadelphia, there's a cooperative women who own a daycare center. And that's the child space daycare center in the Mount Airy Germantown section of Philadelphia to gain a low income, using the skills that people have, and then providing the training for them in terms of the medical aspects of taking care of children, but their central base and they own the data, they share in the dividends that come to them. After years employment, each person can pay to become an owner of the daycare cooperatives, and they will have they are on their second site now. And they will have created jobs for nearly 50, about 50 Women in that. And so those two are sector based approaches, then we have a home health care, which is the the cooperative home health care in the Bronx, another large scale Latino population, primarily women who don't speak English well, who are given training in English as a second language. They own the clock within 365 Women who American these jobs yourselves as members of this philosophy, and what they do we know that this aging population, there's a pot increasingly a population need to pivot because of disability. And they are training. And both in the home healthcare and today we're traditionally, health benefits aren't typical. Women are accessing healthcare for healthcare benefits, at the same time creating jobs for themselves, becoming owners in a company and businesses that they are owners that are becoming community institutions, the daycare center cooperative, and they are part of the Chamber of Commerce, they're working on revitalization of the with the business, local business owners on that street, on revitalizing it doing a high speed enhancements to get people to come to the streets. The people who drop their kids off, are given information on these businesses, so they wanted to shopping, they could go to this businesses on the street. So there is a synergy being created among the small scale enterprises and making them with other business activities. That leads to the improvement of the streets, and it spills over to the improvement of the other surrounding Unknown Speaker 43:06 in the case of corporate Unknown Speaker 43:09 spin off. And that was because they were paying above the standard for wages, it became clear within the New York, Greater New York area that that the best workers are going to Congress. So there was creaming happening, which essentially forced the industry standard pay scale. So that's something Unknown Speaker 43:39 and the childcare cooperative. On this morning, you heard about the word you are worthy wait to the day for daycare, awkward, and they were have been instrumental nationally, because one of the other things we recognize as important is that you empower people to change their economic status, we also empower them to change the political restrictions that impact our content. So all of these projects involve some kind of policy. And you have to advocate for something that improves the quality of the workers who are involved in your product, or the community. Unknown Speaker 44:17 So this is an issue that I was concerned about, that as long as you're operating our private businesses, they can easily be used against each other, you know, in other words, rather than collaborative competitive relationships can unfortunately be established and need to be played off against one another. Right? So I thought it was interesting that you said that wages were in fact decreasing. Would you say that's typical or because often in fact, they can be laid off against one another, and wages thereby force down? Unknown Speaker 44:55 The people that I that I work with my colleagues feel terrific When they look for trends, this is obviously a starting point is what is what is the target? What kind of job training are we going to need to bring in in order for them to work, whatever. And so there's there's a tension there. Because if you truly try and work with with people who've been on welfare for for then typically you're working with people who may have limited work. And so then if you think about entry level jobs for people who say homemaker whatever reason childcare, and homecare are areas where women Okay, so it's not by accident. Those are areas that group life and dissemination society tries to work with because they're they're working with a constituency. There's a nice there's a group that I gave you an article on this woman healthy women. And they've also been trying to work with the same population. The other areas where we see women wanting to do some development are typically the handicraft stuff to do with Unknown Speaker 46:41 this reservation, versus women for promise came together they were able to get they found that a lot of the women were very good at sewing. Unknown Speaker 47:15 And this is what they want to do the business. One of the things that is described in this article for economic justice, their project has been creating a set of micro enterprises to very small scale visual businesses bringing together Unknown Speaker 47:41 small what they call micro forms. Unknown Speaker 47:46 Part of what I like about that is that we're migrating again, following more traditional helping individuals with Co Op development, you're actually helping a group teaching people skills are part of business. It's not just how to how to solve but how can work effectively together results which are important skills are awesome. And in the case of women, Justice kinds of cooperatives. Unknown Speaker 48:26 One is with a group of Ethiopian women here to make it very successful. They do a lot of cooking conferences, community organizations Tufts University management or another crisis fears was a group of women who were in Unknown Speaker 49:07 the corporation roster last year, they had a group of women one issue always, but because the housing could not be officer children, regulation, let's say straight with your children living in houses that they wouldn't allow them to provide childcare. Unknown Speaker 49:34 We do know that you get addicted. Unknown Speaker 49:39 And so this morning we're saying well, this is what we were interested in doing. This is what this is a skill we have to do this well. Unknown Speaker 49:50 Women for economic justice Unknown Speaker 49:51 essentially working with them and working. Recognize that the only way to effectively For us, the problem of Kobe's care was for them to create a business where essentially they go on site to community meetings, conferences, neighbors that wants to hire them in to provide childcare, or short term purposes, they'll come in morning. Unknown Speaker 50:28 And they say some very successful as well, they've been there for group has worked in part because of reflecting on what some of them were saying earlier today. This is a group of women who wanted to work but they wanted flexibility. They wanted to work certain hours, but not other hours, some of your evenings, not during the day, because they have other family members who can be around to take care of their children. Some of them work during the day or some Sundays. Typically, some of the members of their Co Op will work. Part of what they've tried to do with their model working with they have gotten jobs. And so they're providing job training women how to run their business. So the first two years of businesses are actually profitable. After two years, they then work to spin them off. sensually for the first few years, women's economic justice uses their offices as if it was like a small business. They can use programs from for business calls coming in, they have office space for her business out of the office, the women for economic justice staff provide the training but also help with the books. And basically work with the women very closely, they use a lot of fallen women volunteers, professional women were admitted to the work to help. Train train the women as so that by the end of two years, they were involved. They're at the point where the first product they started or one thing that's really been hindering this process is the number of users. And in trying to stay longer as aggressive, Unknown Speaker 53:02 as as successful building Unknown Speaker 53:05 assets, whether you are working part time, businesses being forced to because if assets are transferred to the business, justice, it will force them to make a choice my survival off the very top it has to be part of what they're trying to figure out, Is this your way to structure ownership. So that will allow transition. Unknown Speaker 53:41 Please read this and realize that was the adverse effects. Effects on Unknown Speaker 53:54 hardware, because unless there's an effort to try and address this nationally, essentially, what's happened with a lot of groups have tried to do this is to go for a wake state by state basis. And here's the successful number of students Unknown Speaker 54:14 and one of the groups we support them women's self employment project in Chicago, gotten a waiver from the state. They are working primarily in housing developments with women who were only in DC with creating their own businesses. And one of the things we also found important about their work is to create a membership. So all the women who are on FTC, they are operating their businesses, they're also a member of what they call reset, and the women are all called the section on women. And so it's very important for you know, this building of self esteem and building strength. And the women now one of the women in the group gotten a contract to do work with the Spiegel one of them started selling shoes out of a suitcase to go around to Have office buildings and sell shoes. She her son and I are running a shoe store in Chicago, in the community. So they've now had her policy person on their staff to work on these policy initiatives. And they're all in care, mostly Brian has set up a committee on welfare reform they represented on the committee. So you have not only the ability to impact vocally, they just hosted a briefing for all of the city wide state legislators on welfare reform, and business development and community development, which is a phenomenal success. So you have this this built in kind of system for policy and advocacy work. And it takes that kind of day to day involvement functioning, to do Unknown Speaker 55:46 this is going to be to the extent that they're talking about welfare reform, this is an area that I think needs to be addressed. There are women on welfare who want to walk away from the security of health benefits for their children. To start off with this stretch where there isn't that security. Unknown Speaker 56:11 And unless you have a waiver, because as a welfare recipient, you can only have $1,000 asset, where if you got a typewriter or computer or when you're over the limit, so you can be kicked off public assistance. So you have to get that waiver be in a state where the waivers in effect, Unknown Speaker 56:29 for even a car, or even a car, the women doing the daycare business, found that in order to women's here around to all the different offices, particularly since a lot of their business demands come from offices, companies, suburbs, for women to get there. They have a car, well, the business can't own a car, because that lactic acid, an acid, the women, so what what's happening is that women recognize justice as bought car holds title to car, cars for the purpose of Unknown Speaker 57:04 transparency and loopholes in ways. How is it being addressed? What we hear people talk about here? It seems well, the guy was eliciting an absence. And how we bring these Unknown Speaker 57:27 issues to bear on these Unknown Speaker 57:30 policies. No one seems to be stressing or addressing the fact that there aren't a I gather, there's women who are wealthy that want to go back to work or have some idea that I put them back out there in the workplace. But I stopped by these kind of ridiculous side by side tracks that they have to then find a loophole to, to kind of straddle how we as well, this is getting off the track this conference, in a way and Unknown Speaker 58:16 why don't have the conferences, but I can tell you one of the things we've done when we had this institute, we had women there ASC recipients, DC recipient, as well as the program, people working with them in these programs, spent nine hours and came up with an alternative alternative piece of legislation. Or it's called a for impairment of family. And there's a group in Washington called Why or opportunities. We put them all together in Washington to speak with the President's welfare reform. And wow, Washington is continuing to get input and we'd be delighted from input of any organizations about revisions to legislation affects women, if we come up with a wider opportunities for women sitting ronto in Washington, DC, she can see you the legislation that we drafted, you can give her your own ideas that she's plugged into the welfare reform committee. So there is that kind of advocacy work going on with low income women talking with itself and saying what they'd like to see. Instead, disorganization works National Guard what is the construction, construction industry Unknown Speaker 59:51 basically the communities because they take some Well, yeah, maybe a way that we're getting off in some of the wealth Unknown Speaker 1:00:00 was in the very beginning of problem. But there is a group in New York called the non traditional employment for women organization that is providing training around job creation through the trades. It is so difficult for women in the trades have set up their own businesses, none of the groups we're working with have actually been entrepreneurial initially. Because the first thing they needed to train and new does provide that kind of training, but then they need a pretty good chunk of money or restart because of the equipment. And we just have not because that laptop, you know, most of the people have immediate needs. So the nobody pays you to go for training. I mean, you may know of some ways but our programs start with people who may come with some skills in doing plumbing, and then we be able to assist them with setting up the plumbing business. But most of the businesses that we've worked with in the service sector and not many in non traditional areas, although the pace is much more challenging. And new is about the only lie I know about hard headed women in Chicago that's working with hard headed women and non traditional employment for women which is in New York Yeah, I have we have an article about parquet women if you're interested in trains with a project Unknown Speaker 1:01:41 you actually probably one of the most controversial relationships to try trying to do work if you're trying to work with Union prevailing wages it's very hard to come in with a project and it's been very hard to get in in parts of the country where what what you're what you're up against is trying to do projects where you're going to have to have going back to the unit as a co op but if you have wages like the state of Massachusetts typically the lowest without subsidized major subsidies project Coalition for better acreage trying to target now Christ is allowed to do rehab unit in an area where outside of that particular community you can easily find available housing comparable appreciate that. Unknown Speaker 1:03:27 And again, Wayne, which was a major employer in Lowell, Massachusetts, is now it's Unknown Speaker 1:03:34 it's there, but it's not nothing on a scale of one to one Unknown Speaker 1:03:40 cent bankruptcy or Unknown Speaker 1:03:41 something. Yeah, well, it's real. And so this is a real dilemma for TfL they're getting they got some some tickets to grant housing but essentially they're looking at a situation where they're trying to stabilize the community. They want to increase homeownership. They have a track record of housing they probably know for something that's a mixture of lands cross with housing coops for regional housing, they haven't even gotten that far whether they're doing but essentially what they've run up against is that the only way that projects gonna work this is a completely turn down your tenant and go with something prefab modular I want to give you Unknown Speaker 1:04:45 two more examples of things I think are really a great examples of community responses. One is rigid cracks. There's a crack philosophy called watermark in Camden, North Carolina is the largest employer in the county over three o'clock. because people mostly I'd say 95% of low income women belong to the cooperatives. They make baskets, they make hand carved wood things. They make jewelry, they make placemats to make any kind of thing. And they sell to some of the things are sold to Smithsonian Institution. They are making some things that are sold for making buttons, campaign buttons, the Ralph Lauren. They are making things that as Reebok and they got an offer, and over the years, it's been in existence like 20 years now. And they have pumped over $22 million. And given the wages earned by the corporate members, and the purchases of items that they have a shot $20 million in that community, the largest employer and taking this people skills that the only things that they know how to do and so what happened was a spree came to them and because they really written up, we've been recently on QVC television. They they're doing fabulous things and all this I mean, it's evolved over 20 years but because to people who aren't just retired classwork say what can we do? It's free Corporation came to them and say, Well, can you make some sweaters for that they didn't have the capacity at that time to train because they also trained people if you don't know how to do anything, they will teach you how to make lampshades how to do stenciling they will teach you. So it's pretty sick. Can you make the sweaters for us and they couldn't make the sweaters that went to another one of our projects, the Center for Economic options in West Virginia. Can you take on this when we think we have a lot of people in West Virginia. So we think we can get on? Well, not only now has that project spun off, it's an independent project 50 We are making living. I mean way above new waves 30 band melody handling sweaters for the esprit Corporation, they set up a small farm we funded them set up a network of 1000 small farmers across the state, some of whom happened to go shoot grant motion, courage. Unknown Speaker 1:07:43 The raising machine, taking the wool off the sheet, the women are spinning the yarn, make the sweater. And if you look in the spring catalog that those sweaters that you see they're made by the women. And also from the small farm. There are people who make jams. There was one woman and his wife, he was unemployed he called the woman over to say from the pocket. You know, my wife and family and income are not working. So the woman notice the wife sin bear, copy something from a trace stuff. But she was making baskets from out of the tree stuff. And he asked me what is your why she asked What's your wife? And he said to her that of course. Oh, wow. What she turned out to be doing is making it a baskets. I don't know if any of you heard of the Greenbrier resort. It's a very exclusive. Well, the gift baskets that are now in the green bar of prom, this woman can't work. And everything in the basket is made by somebody. That dried flowers, the jams that are Finnegan, all made by Pete the 1000 people in this network. They're all computerized now. One new town just got to the Farmers Home Administration to get an old school ahead of federally approved kitchen. Pay $1. For the school building. They got to set up a small farm incubator. So everybody who can make something but they can't get it to the place where it's going to be retailed, they're going to get a band and go round pick it all up. It's going to come to the kitchen. The baskets will be prepared. They got to do catalog every Are you finding Unknown Speaker 1:09:30 it people are joining together to find? The group Unknown Speaker 1:09:41 now in Washington that is exploring health insurance for the self employed is just beginning But everybody's waiting to see what the federal programs going to come up with. So as of now there are plans. There's an organization called The Association for enterprise opportunity to happen or isn't national organization represents all of these groups around the country. And we're looking at working with this group in Washington. And it's we have a policy person in Washington, who's helping us to look at this issue. But nobody wants to take it to anything until the Federal Council Unknown Speaker 1:10:13 is part of what's tricky when you try to do health insurance. You can't you have to work with an organizational structure membership, where you've come together for a purpose other than to provide health insurance. I've worked with a project this sort of way. Essentially, what we found was that when we tried to do it by just creating a membership organization with self employed state, and then for the purpose of providing insurance that we weren't able to structure financial insurance, we have to create a large enough Unknown Speaker 1:11:01 getting combined a couple of crops, David Unknown Speaker 1:11:07 privatdozent state that insurance is regulated at the state level. It's very hard. It's a tricky thing. Unknown Speaker 1:11:18 And the women who had the cooperative in North Carolina, and they are they have explored. But still the cost means what are you going to give up money for when you're making $35,000 Change your family? It can cause for a family of $600 a month. That's a lot to come out of a third year. So they have just a second to put down before. They're just waiting until the federal Unknown Speaker 1:11:47 courthouse corrupts people for wages. I mean, I grew up in Philippines where crafts is a way of why Unknown Speaker 1:11:57 I so called Unknown Speaker 1:11:59 Tropical craft I was able to see underneath it was a major, major place where crafts are done. And I hate to say it, people are fair. Well, they did this. This was much more typical, and also say Albuquerque where my parents live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, you can go down to Old Town in Albuquerque and buy Indian jewelry made by some named craftsperson. And you'll pay a fortune but then for every name crafts person, there's 100 Indians working for next to nothing. And we want to know how do you how do you will? Yeah, that's my question is how do you raise wages on crafts, Unknown Speaker 1:12:40 handcrafted, refined, fine, more workshops, or much more of its market opportunity, watermark, and craft cooperatives was able because of quality of product. They make high quality, crack. It's not the kind of thing that we eat, paste, paste again. And because they're in catalogs, they have their own panel. So then that national distribution, they are now on Unknown Speaker 1:13:08 television. So it sounds like marketing, as well as Unknown Speaker 1:13:13 its market opportunities. That's the that's the key. And then the Native Americans who we're working with who are on the Lakota reservation and making Jones Act, they're having a very toxic, they couldn't quality, the even the local tourist place would take their craft items and working with women would just learn how to do this, because they couldn't deliver the quality. So what did you do? You are hopefully, they're being trained now to make higher quality items, then we're going to something else we're going with social venture network is a network of companies like Ben and Jerry's Body Shop, socially conscious company. We're putting together a catalog for that because they attended to provide opportunities for these small scale entrepreneurs to sell on a national level. And with the endorsement of an organization that says, we know this quality is fair. And we think that they put the miles interested coop America's interested in data putting in larger markets, it can't have them, they're competing with the main class people in Albuquerque out of the colon, they wouldn't stand a chance. So we're providing some additional marketing outlets for our endorsement. So that people sort of think that some some credibility and our name substitutes for or Co Op Americans may substitutes for that as a really main practice, and they'll find more of an interest in Unknown Speaker 1:14:48 us a little bit different. Unknown Speaker 1:14:49 I mean, aren't you talking about the fact that you have some of these people that they have to sell to someone who's made no money and they're not making any money? Unknown Speaker 1:15:00 are similar to the music industry for every name musician musicians playing in the subways. Unknown Speaker 1:15:09 But you give them an alternative marketing outlet that's what you do you give them an alternative way to sell their product so that they don't have to make the name their product but somebody I say yeah, cutting out the middleman absolutely Unknown Speaker 1:15:28 totally exploited by the middleman absolutely they sell the stuff for Song not knowing the difference I'm gonna get smart 20 times for the patients Unknown Speaker 1:15:42 and their communities with the same they will tomorrow because nothing is none of that money is going back into the place they Unknown Speaker 1:15:48 are it is our Unknown Speaker 1:15:50 international development what's what's developed is an alternative trading which is really targeted at looking for ways to return the maximum amount of profit that you make and and with those groups, some of them will have a preference to specifically work with coops bringing the kids to the garden there's a number of groups that are doing stuff like that probably people's when it comes to mind basically works with people from the Americas catalog that they're also working with Unknown Speaker 1:16:42 Yeah, cuz you're right. I mean, traditionally to traders and exploitive? Oh, absolutely. Unknown Speaker 1:16:47 fine to me, you know, third world or, or those skills value. Unknown Speaker 1:16:56 The traditional attitude of giving the Indians Unknown Speaker 1:17:02 value. That's why Unknown Speaker 1:17:04 people like like Lisa and her partner, I've met a number of women, particularly who are trying to do projects where they're working with, with soft communities, places like Africa, or Latin America, to work with a group of women to develop a product that they will then work with South communities in the United States. Low income non white communities to then take the product and then market. So so there's that kind of south south. Unknown Speaker 1:17:46 We're working we're working on right now. Unknown Speaker 1:18:04 And the coop, the concept of cooperatives is much more. Always, people are more aware of it in the developing countries than they are here. Because our whole culture is built on this individualistic approach straight to benefit. So we don't think I have what's going on. Right now. Unknown Speaker 1:18:27 That's one thing to start with differentials, promises that Unknown Speaker 1:18:44 you should go talk to count down at Watermark Awesome. Yeah, we Unknown Speaker 1:18:49 have a surprise from Uber. It takes me four days to make a bet you have a student right now. That should be going for always Unknown Speaker 1:19:20 would just like, tell me your name again from the childcare project. But just like you said, education of ourselves. The Lakota woman has done about tambien, which they took to a trade fair. And then they would retail for like for what everybody says, but for Native American practices, too. Because we have not been educated about the value of compensating people for clients. Unknown Speaker 1:20:00 So, we talked a lot about job creation. We haven't talked about. Well, there's a couple of talking about looking at college. We haven't talked about financial strategies. And there's really noteworthy and exciting when we, when we think about how do you create institutions to support traditional development, we talk about commercial banks, talking about credit in terms of survey individual months, we'll come back and talk about credit unions, three step surveys, more significant than credit, itself, which there was some very good development from the time that Brady when his office essentially appears on the credit unions as a way to provide access to credit that's shut off because they wouldn't charter for adventures. So there was a point right and stop talking about Unknown Speaker 1:21:44 in the later years of the Bush administration, Unknown Speaker 1:21:50 largely, the watch was Chicago, there was a realization that we could amend existing charters to create Unknown Speaker 1:22:06 some of us thought that when we were able to clip in Washington that would get easier because the same room as tobacco and the related crisis of some of the credit metrics, what we're finding is it's still very hard to get those not impossible, but but, but it hasn't gotten easy. So the key search that we've tended to use in terms of creating financial institutions a covenant forming community, this is probably the strongest tool can you want to tap into social investment Unknown Speaker 1:22:52 looking for people who Unknown Speaker 1:22:53 are willing to take chunks of money and put them into fires and earn money either market or below market and money it gets confused by traditional measures of investment as being a recent year investment testing communities in fact, because you're you're working in part based on community profiles and working with people that know or at least are experienced while there were through the recession because of some of the money being made there were some losses factors with one central bank some very bad losses that has to do with bad decisions that could have taken them down they were solid enough that was at a time like five banks fail so I'm a very strong advocate Unknown Speaker 1:24:24 in the value chain business Unknown Speaker 1:24:38 they're not No they're not like that. They're usually they're there they get I can tell you in terms of the cancer was a co worker of mine was involved with land cross and the land trust recognized that they needed money to be able to attract additional clients. I think this may be, in part, what happens in Unknown Speaker 1:25:05 other parts of the country. Unknown Speaker 1:25:09 So essentially, people were looking for ways to create some alternative financing, that we then be used as subordinated debt. On putting deals together. Unknown Speaker 1:25:23 Sometimes foundations who have groups have been called that make project related investments PR, they will make investments in organizations that are capitalizing Unknown Speaker 1:25:37 on and then the other source are individuals Unknown Speaker 1:25:43 who are able to polish. Unknown Speaker 1:25:48 And you can stipulate what kind of magistrate and what are the most important orders. Lot of foreigners have taken their pension. And it's been a very effective way of bringing Unknown Speaker 1:26:12 money. Buy stuff. Unknown Speaker 1:26:20 Essentially, you're Unknown Speaker 1:26:21 pooling your money, and you're sort of expecting a certain level of return on it. And he said, the market rate for a below market rate, and you commit those funds to this organization that says he's going to engage in community projects. Unknown Speaker 1:26:37 That's what should be an organization that was just trying Unknown Speaker 1:26:40 North Carolina selfhelp is going to have a loan, they have a loan. In New York City, the central I think central Brooklyn number is set up as a credit union, I don't know that there is a loan, the Harlem loan there is Unknown Speaker 1:27:00 in terms of the ability like corporations Unknown Speaker 1:27:09 know, they are actually their financial intermediaries. Because essentially, foundations, church groups and individuals Unknown Speaker 1:27:22 who their money may have a board of directors, they have a board of Unknown Speaker 1:27:25 directors, they have to be very careful that financial records, they have to go through independent audit in order to be accountable to the foundation, investors. And it's just like the Unknown Speaker 1:27:39 goose that actually we've been working with them and making the loans when they have regulated by the government. Now, they independent financial organizations. Unknown Speaker 1:27:46 So and that's why they are still probably our strongest investors. Because unlike banks and credit unions, they don't have to deal with tremendous amount of paperwork. Unknown Speaker 1:28:01 So it's their social investment that really is a motivated person, he's Unknown Speaker 1:28:09 a respected soundboard community agency could develop this community loan fund. They could be Unknown Speaker 1:28:21 the catalyst for organizing. Yes, yes. But they would probably have to show that it had some history in being a community development organization. Unknown Speaker 1:28:38 The ones that I'm familiar with, or some people who had financial experience before they were a bank, or anybody wanting to become involved in doing community work. And you went around and spoke to people who were in bed, private investors or social investment groups to make investment to help you capitalize this funny Unknown Speaker 1:28:58 story with three different groups. Unknown Speaker 1:29:02 There's a national association, based in Philadelphia National Association. Well, there's there's hopefully there will be one, there's legislation that's in Congress that is strongly supported by the administration, Unknown Speaker 1:29:26 community development financial institutions. Unknown Speaker 1:29:30 And what it can do is that, if it goes through in its current form, will enable community development funds to qualify and be registered as community development, financial institutions, and the federal government will then I think it's dollar for dollar match, Unknown Speaker 1:29:56 but then you have to meet certain criteria and already big organs. nations that have been acting as community development, financial institutions for membership, they have certain criteria for you can't have so much money. If you're at programmatic money coming from the federal government, they limit that you have to raise so much of your equity. So that Unknown Speaker 1:30:17 doesn't extend to the science of gender and race. Unknown Speaker 1:30:22 Well, it's male dominated. I could say that and, yes, the hamsters Unknown Speaker 1:30:29 on phones directed by women. Unknown Speaker 1:30:32 But women are very excited. They're very vocal. And most of them own sort of self help women, a woman and a man Yeah. As they are one of the leaders of the North Carolina, the self help credit union in North Carolina is one of the leaders in this field of Community Development Financial Institutions of Cape, the key Kate McKee is Unknown Speaker 1:31:01 Raleigh Durham, but they have offices around the state. Unknown Speaker 1:31:11 And it's a growing movement is it's it's a growing movement that Unknown Speaker 1:31:16 they actually started out to be a community Unknown Speaker 1:31:18 credit in their case. Unknown Speaker 1:31:22 And also tried to do some loan fun activities work Co Op development, and microfinance and micro business development. And what happened in their case is that there's very favorable state legislation which enabled them to very quickly become statewide. We're working and they become very fast as a development institution. Big inverted, we're looking now it actually has the distinction of the first chartered. Unknown Speaker 1:32:05 St. Mary's came last few years to come know better than fact, when I went to get my first Harlem they told me my husband at Posada boy I yelled at them because I said you should not ask me the stuff you of all people. You should know better. They have a new chief executive officer, gentleman who comes out of traditional bank, but his in recent years has grown to really understand and appreciate one of my co workers working very closely with theirs looking to essentially redirect St. Gary's focus away from the more traditional savings. We're calling to become a statewide protection. They're working in consultation with the National Federation. They're looking at whether they can and then there are things that Well, one thing is they're doing regardless of what happens. It's harder Unknown Speaker 1:33:28 working capital Unknown Speaker 1:33:36 pure lending, which is Unknown Speaker 1:33:37 free through individual Unknown Speaker 1:33:42 and micro businesses together as a group that determines when when we all make a decision about the group if the group made the wrong decision to not get future loans without the obligation but we've worked a lot with Unknown Speaker 1:34:09 you