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Anyone waiting for Washington to fix their problems is likely to bewaiting for a long time. The news lately feels like some sort ofconspiratorial plot to turn us all into anarchists, delivering asteady rebuke to the concept of effective government action. Elevated joblessness rips at the American soul while Washingtondevotes itself to raising obscene amounts of campaign cash. Theodds that a meaningful job creation initiative will emerge from thecapital before November are roughly equivalent to those ofDominique Strauss-Kahn becoming pope. But while the center of national power may be a void, creativepeople in myriad localities are increasingly taking matters intotheir own hands, forging innovative solutions to vexing problemstearing at their communities. In the Cincinnati area, an entityknown as the Strive Partnership -- a fusion of about 300 local, non-profit, social serviceagencies, foundations, school districts, universities and privatebusinesses -- has organized to prepare area young people with theskills needed to embark on successful careers. Since coming into existence six years ago, the partnership alreadyhas produced dividends -- higher retention rates at participating universities andimproved reading levels at local schools. Young people need jobs, and area businesses need capable workers.Schools need effective strategies to increase their graduationrates. Social service agencies traditionally pursue distinct areasof focus, from boosting preventative health care to stemming gangviolence. But before the Strive Partnership, all of these actorsoperated independently, with little coordination and no centraldatabase to highlight the problems that needed tackling mosturgently. "It was spray and pray, investing in a lot of stuff and hoping itworks," says Jeff Edmonson, the partnership's former executivedirector, and now managing director of the Strive Network , a new entity exporting the Cincinnati model to other communities,including Boston, Houston and Seattle. "Investments were fallinginto a black hole in terms of educational outcomes. You wouldaddress third-grade reading and then your high school graduationrates would go down." The principle behind the partnership is both elegantly simple andadaptable to local circumstances: Put concerned people in one room,agree upon statistically definable goals, and then coordinateaction and spend the dollars to hit the targets. "The ultimate goal is to see these outcomes consistently trend inthe right direction," Edmondson says. "You are essentially creatinginfrastructure to make sure that investments are focused in theright areas." But the significance of this success goes beyond the Cincinnatiarea, highlighting the sort of pragmatism and creativity that weneed to draw on nationally if we are to have any shot at diggingourselves out of this formidable hole. Organizations like theStrive Partnership are an effective response, presenting a usefulstrain of resourcefulness, and an antidote to the paralysis of ourtimes. Its existence flows from the same human impulse that createdthe federal institutions that now seem so feckless: When peoplewith shared interests join together to pursue solutions to societalproblems, those problems become more manageable, and the availableresources more potent. Regular readers of this column have divined that I am suspicious ofanything that smells like a feel-good initiative for its own sake.I am dubious of supposed fixes to our underemployment epidemic --from the Obama administration's faith in the innate bounce-backproperties of the market, to the Republican notion that prosperitystems from handing out tax cuts to the ultra-rich. I don't buy the oft-repeated canard that we can ride job trainingback to full employment, as if high unemployment were merely amismatch between available skills and open positions. And I confessto being distrustful of philanthropy, which generally seems morelike an exercise in public relations than a coherent strategy toaddress problems. For all of these reasons, I am viscerally prone to questioning anyorganization that aims -- as the Strive Partnership does -- toelevating "every child, every step of the way, cradle to career."(Right, and after that, on to putting every retiree in a beachfrontmansion, while delivering world peace for good measure.) But cynicism never fixed a problem (not unless you work for JonStewart). Simply bemoaning the pitiful state of our politics andcomplaining about the hopelessness of these times is no solution.In the next few months, I'd like to use this space to explorepromising efforts at confronting deep-seated problems -- first,efforts aimed at job creation -- in the hopes of identifying whatmight work on a bigger scale. I'd like to hear from you, if youhave suggestions about what to spotlight. The problem with the state of American life is not that we'vebecome a nation of lazy dolts who have squandered our frontierlegacy. It is not that we have become selfish, small-hearted andinured to the troubles afflicting our age (though you can get thatfeeling, if you look to national events to define us.) The problemis that we have been unable to mobilize our best ideas in theservice of what can only be called the greater good. Ourintelligence and decency have somehow been walled off from ourpolitical sphere. But the more local you go, the less this feels true. The sort ofpublic-private partnership they have forged in Cincinnati is nopanacea, but it is more than something. And it is a crucialreminder that we do have people in our midst who have effectiveideas about how to get the country back to work. Energetic and passionate, Edmondson is inclined toward technocraticlanguage. He distills most problems down to issues of metrics, asbefitting someone sprung from the educational reform movement, withits emphasis on numerically based assessment of teachers --sometimes ignoring the fact that teachers in low-income areas oftenfunction as social workers, with mere test scores failing tocapture their impact. In a recent TEDx Cincy talk , Edmondson notes how the Strive Partnership's database can tellfrom the minute that a child is born that both parents are working,flagging that some child care will be needed. Good enough, but inOhio -- as in most states -- subsidized child-care programs have been slashed dramatically , relegating many low-income families to endless wait lists. Simplyidentifying a need is a very different thing from satisfying it. Yet when I put this criticism to Edmonson, suggesting that thismight be a case of his faith in the process masking the reality ofscarcity, he offers up real life examples that challenge thischaracterization: When Ohio cut funds for low-income child careprograms, the Partnership immediately recognized the need, and onekey member -- the United Way -- stepped in with alternativefunding. But could the rise of public-private partnerships further weakensocial faith in government just as we may need it most? Will thecitizenry further embrace mindless tax-cutting and the dismantlingof public education, taking heart that Bill Gates and the UnitedWay can attend to life's problems? Edmondson doesn't buy it, and let us hope that he is correct. "When we're in this new normal when we know a dollar has to gofurther than it did before, we have to start thinking in a newway," he says. "We're not going to see people shirk theirresponsibility. We're going to see them wanting to get involved. Inhistory, good ideas have stuck around, and typically they havestuck around because they have worked.". We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Industrial Touch Panel PC , Open Frame Touch Screen Monitor for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Open Frame LCD Display.
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