By Tom Orr
“People don’t want a pill, a plan, or a program. What they want is a job, a home, and a date on the weekend.”
– Brent Matthews, RecycleForce
You may be old enough to remember the sea change in workforce development when the federally-funded cash welfare program underwent major reforms. New legislation set time limits on assistance and mandated work requirements for able-bodied recipients, causing a chain reaction in the delivery of workforce services across the country. I was working for the Indianapolis Private Industry Council at the time and was invited to San Diego to review proposals for the provision of welfare-to-work services. It was a heady, intense experience.
I recall a moment during discussion when one of the reviewers casually remarked that services should focus on helping people move along a continuum. He called it “ABC – Any Job – Better Job – Career.” That simple phrase nearly took the top of my head off. Sadly, I don’t recall the gentleman’s name but I credit his brief remark for renewing the focus of my own efforts from that point forward. It encapsulates so well what I believe to be the mission of all workforce development practitioners – facilitating work attachment and progression through experience and skill development to self-sustaining, satisfying employment.
The ABC model began to crystallize in local practice here in Indianapolis a few years later when RecycleForce, an employment social enterprise, and its alternative staffing division, Keys to Work, incorporated ABC into their philosophy of “Work: Responsibility and Reward.”
During the same period, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) launched a national initiative called Financial Opportunity Centers, working with neighborhood-based organizations to deliver a comprehensive bundle of asset-building services. LISC encouraged employment coaches to adopt the ABC philosophy in their efforts with low-wage workers. Here in Indianapolis, ABC was taken up by EmployIndy (the workforce board for Indianapolis-Marion County) and the Mayor of Indianapolis has also referred to it as his preferred approach to helping people find sustainable jobs.
The ABC model has found its best expression at RecycleForce, serving persons returning from jail and prison to civil society. With its emphasis on immediate work attachment in a short-term transitional job (the “any job” component), RecycleForce provides paid on-the-job training and professional certifications leading to temp assignments in the competitive labor market through its staffing division (a “better job”), with a goal of securing career-path employment in a number of local growth industries.
Hence a casual remark 20 years ago in the context of welfare reform has become an organizing principle in the world of workforce service delivery. Because ABC leads with work, it resonates with Brent Matthews’ comment at the head of this post. Most people understand that work is the foundation for whatever else they choose to do in life. The goal of workforce development should be to help people turn work into vocation and to live productive, satisfying lives.