In the Driver's Seat - christopher reardon

13Linda: We modeled our training after theSTRIVE program in New York, whichtakes a tough-love approach. George, ourtransportation supervisor, already had thatmentality, and he tried to instill it in thedrivers. Then my staff and I actually spenttwo weeks at STRIVE, and after we cameback, we had the drivers go throughsimilar training. We also trained them inhow to interact with riders and how toidentify problems. We even required newdrivers to sit in on the week-long trainingthat the participants went through. Thatway they got to bond with the riders. Theyalso learned how to identify problemsearly on and relay that information backto us so we could follow up and find outwhy, for example, somebody was missingwork, showing up late, having an attitudeor having a problem with a co-workeror employer.Chris: What in particular made the transportationchallenging?Mandi: What we ended up doing wasexpanding our catchment area so wecould recruit more clients and expandingour employer area so we could locate avariety of jobs. But both of those areaswere spread out all over the area, whichwas what made it so hard to get thetransportation piece to function efficiently.Chris: How helpful were employersand business groups in identifying jobopenings?Mandi: We worked a lot with the SoutheastBusiness Partnership. In the beginning,that’s where we established a lot of strongemployer contacts. We placed ads in someof the newspapers, like the Business Ledger,and I think that helped us establish a goodreputation with the employers. Then oncewe started working with an employer, theywould refer us to others. That’s how ouremployer pool expanded. In the beginning,we had a job developer. In fact, we hadtwo different job developers, and whenthe last one left, we did not replace thatperson because we didn’t need to. Jobleads were just coming in.Roz: We struggled at first because thebusinesses where we intended to placepeople needed workers with more hardand soft skills than the people we wereable to recruit. After we expanded ourrecruitment area and began targetingdifferent kinds of businesses, we were ableto make better matches, and the employersgrew more receptive.Linda: The business groups have been greatto us, particularly the economic developmentauthorities, the private industrycouncils, and the business partnershipout at BWI, the Baltimore-WashingtonInternational Airport. They all love theconcept of Bridges, and economically it’sa success for them because they need toget people to work. Employers are threateningto leave the county if they can’t getworkers. So they look at Bridges as a viableeconomic tool in getting people to workand helping the employers to be happy.Chris: How did the jobs you found in thesuburbs stack up against what was availablein the city? Did the pay and benefits justifythe longer commute?Robert: The economy has caused a lot ofpeople to fall off from Bridges becausethey can get jobs in the city. And whilesome of those jobs don’t pay as much,when they add in being closer to their kidsand being in a neighborhood that they’refamiliar with, the differential in the wagesdoesn’t seem quite as much.Linda: In Baltimore there are jobs in thecity, but they’re more entry-level, minimum-wage-typejobs with no benefits,working at a hotel. If you work at a hotelin Howard County, you’re going to bepaid three, four dollars more, and you’llget benefits.Mandi: In the beginning, everyone thoughtthat the suburban jobs were going to bethese great, high-paying jobs with excellentbenefits. I think it’s good for the clients tohave options and to give them support toget to those options, but I don’t knowthat the jobs are all that much better inthe suburbs.