"We must reinvigorate the conversations that many have forgotten about and regard as intractable." Those words characterized what Councilwoman Helen Gym considers the touchstone to building a 21st century workforce.
Smart and progressive policy making demands a holistic approach to serving communities. Barriers to viable career pathways are not the product of one hardship but the intersection of multiple disadvantages. While lack of credentials or work experience is a barrier that is clearly related to workforce readiness, other, less obvious, impediments also exist. Homelessness and housing instability, for example, create logistical barriers to job retention or even training program completion.
The Councilwoman has sought to cast a guiding light on a disparate array of issues, such as education, housing, infrastructure, and business accountability. “We have sought to inspire new ideas and shift off a hurtful trajectory,” she said upon reflection on her early efforts. True to her community organizer roots, Gym has sought out inspiration by connecting with a broad range of people to identify their priorities. She dismisses policy making as restrictive to technocrats, and has committed to effecting change through people-centric dialogue: "Change isn't about politics. Politics is the last place that change takes place.”
But for the dialogue to be purposeful, it means overcoming the stereotypes that distort focus and impede problem solving. For years, the Philadelphia School District has been engulfed by a prevailing narrative of a system in a state of massive disarray and chaos.
Stopping this wheel from spinning, however, will require tackling a multitude of issues, ranging from improving access to financing to easing the procurement process.
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Smart & Progressive Policymaking Demands a Holistic Approach