Last Tuesday, the WorkPlace Inc.”™s Bridgeport telephone lines were down for an extended stretch.
The workforce investment board”™s CEO Joe Carbone doubts it was the result of calls jamming the switchboard in the wake of a “60 Minutes” segment on his organization”™s solution to extended unemployment ”“ but confirms the calls are flooding in nonetheless.
An estimated 11.7 million people viewed the Feb. 19 edition of “60 Minutes,” which included a segment on Platform 2 Employment, Carbone”™s program targeting those who have drained their 99 weeks of federal unemployment benefits.
For the past year through Platform 2 Employment (P2E), Carbone has been leaning on area companies to offer short employment stints footed by P2E, while raising money for the program from area businesses and nonprofits.
Carbone”™s bet? When that “internship” is up, companies will want to keep those workers on rather than part ways. To date, just more than half of the program”™s 100 participants have nailed down permanent work at companies such as Bridgeport-based Career Resources and Shelton-based Lex Products.
The WorkPlace is now readying a second year of the program ”“ and overnight has become a national model and Carbone even a hero to some, judging from hundreds of comments on a CBS chat board online.
“The other night I told the group ”¦ this is probably the best example of the power of a village that I have ever seen in my life,” Carbone said. “I can see it just on the basis of scanning where the calls are coming from and who they”™re coming from ”¦ It”™s coming from foundations, social services agencies, Congress.”
A parade of participants answered questions from CBS News anchorman and “60 Minutes” contributor Scott Pelley on the day-to-day pressures of being so long without a paycheck and the toll it takes on one”™s self-esteem. As “60 Minutes” pointed out, people who have exhausted their nearly two years of unemployment benefits face an unspoken bias among some recruiters ”“ if they haven”™t been able to get a job in their profession this long, something must be amiss.
“There”™s no doubt,” P2E participant Frank O”™Neill told Pelley. “I mean, I”™ve seen it in print ”¦ I”™ve actually seen, ”˜If you are unemployed, you need not apply.”™”
But Carbone said the “need not apply” sign flashes most ominously in the minds of unemployed people themselves, recalling the fear and complacency that took root in his own psyche earlier in his career when he went more than eight months without a job.
“The word ”˜platform”™ is very, very carefully used,” Carbone told “60 Minutes.” “They”™ve got to look at this as sort of a way station. It”™s very unlikely you”™re going to get back into the exact kind of work that you did before. And it”™s totally unlikely that you”™re ever going to be earning what you might have earned before. But you got to start somewhere ”¦ and you”™re not alone.”
Carbone said he never had a moment where he felt like a lone voice in the wilderness, crediting Fairfield County companies and foundations for helping to build Platform 2 Employment to the point where it could use “60 Minutes” as a springboard to the nation. He will speak next month to workforce development professionals from around the country at a Washington, D.C. conference.
“This county ”“ every aspect of it ”“ rose to the occasion,” Carbone said. “They were buying into an endeavor. They knew this wasn”™t going to have a huge impact on our local economy (but) they knew that this was something that could have a national impact.”
