Social Return on Investment

WHAT CAN BE REMEDEE’D?

SUPPORT HEALTHY COMMUNITIES AND STRONG BUSINESSES. Governments routinely spend millions of dollars supporting business development in the name of job creation and neighborhood revitalization. In recent years, however, state and local governments have begun attaching job quality standards to subsidy deals. Such laws encourage real economic development by recognizing that healthy communities can be created with low-wage, part-time jobs. Healthy communities create healthy workers and families that can help support a vibrant economy. In Los Angeles, as Mayor Villaraigosa has noted, ‘ultimate prosperity will be determined on the laptops of small-business owners.’  Of the main goals for the city’s prosperity and continued success will be to attract and retain small businesses at every turn.  The city to date has brought in $17 billion of new construction into L.A. and has created 140,000 well-paying jobs.  However, the area of focus is on encouraging the city’s start-ups and smaller enterprises. 

INVEST IN TRAINING AND EDUCATION. The country’s increasing reliance on technology has made investment in training and education a crucial component in moving people out of the ranks of the low-income middle class. Job training should be used to help people secure good jobs with career ladders, and should be targeted to those communities that need it the most. Creating training opportunities must go hand and hand with raising the wage floor, as seven of the ten fastest-growing occupations in Los Angeles pay less than $8.50 an hour.  Another tenet of the both the city of Los Angeles and the state of California is training people for the jobs of tomorrow.  The Mayor has indicated that over the last four years the city has laid a foundation for economic growth and progress in workforce development strategy – millions of additional dollars will be invested in summer youth jobs programs, partnerships with non-profits, local businesses and the Chamber of Commerce to secure new jobs, and creating training centers within community colleges (WorkSource Centers).

EXPAND ACCESS TO HOUSING. The housing situation in California is worse than in most of the country, and the cost of housing in Los Angeles has been rapidly escalating as the economy continues this haphazard decline and growth. The federal government needs to fund more housing vouchers to allow low-income households to compete in the private rental market, and local governments need to ensure that developers pay for the true social costs of their projects by linking all new development to the creation of affordable housing. Again, as the Mayor has pointed out in his speech, ‘the [city needs] to confront and reinvent the way this city provides services to the poor:  by refocusing efforts on programs that work; and reviewing each investment to make sure that it meets the highest standards of transparency and accountability.’

IN SHORT – REMEDEE FEELS NOW IS THE TIME TO CREATE A REMEDEE CENTER, a one-stop place where individuals and clients can come and find and/or research answers to their everyday problems related to the recession, in a safe, holistic and nurturing environment.  The city, state and federal governments are behind the need to help individuals, and there is no better time to get on the ground running with their support to tackle the complex and very necessary task of getting Los Angeles back on its feet.