In the Driver's Seat - christopher reardon

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19because it’s the kind of training theemployer needs, not what an agencythinks employers need.Chris: How do you reconcile your dualloyalties to the clients and employers?Linda: We’re fair; we understand thatthere are other social issues that affectsomeone’s ability to be successful on thejob. That’s why we set up systems where wecan be supportive. They can come to us ifthey have a problem. We can go out andtalk with the employer and the employeeand provide conflict resolution andnegotiate on behalf of the employee.We’ve been successful in that area. But upfront we let the employees know, you can’tgo out there and act a certain way. Thereare already barriers and stigmas andstereotypes of how city people are. Youcan’t go out there and play into that.
20THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD?Our main job developer is a white guy,and sometimes employers level with himand say they’re not very keen on doingbusiness with us. It was fairly clear why.—Robert CarterDispelling Urban and Suburban MythsAs Bridges got under way, one recurringconcern centered on the prospect thatinner-city workers, most of them membersof a minority group, might face discriminationin the suburbs. These fears wereborne out most trenchantly at a restaurantoutside Baltimore, shortly after severalBridges participants began four weeks ofpaid training in food service and restaurantmanagement. The training was meantas a prelude to jobs at a related franchisein a neighboring county, but a small groupof white people who lived near the trainingfacility found the mere presence of blackmen from East Baltimore intolerable. Inprotest, they circled the restaurant anddelivered a message warning the trainees—who were not there at the time—not toreturn. They identified themselves asmembers of the Ku Klux Klan.There may be legitimate reasons to questionthe merits of reverse commuting. Eventhe project directors, after investing afew years of their time, expressed somequalms. Yet the form of opposition thatposed the greatest threat to Bridges wasneither the informed criticism of transportationand workforce developmentprofessionals nor the avowed racism ofthe Klan. Rather, it was the more subtleapprehension that many suburbanresidents, employers, and co-workersmight feel toward outsiders of anotherrace or social class.As it turns out, 95 percent of the Bridgesparticipants were members of minoritygroups. But while each of the projectdirectors reported some isolated problemswith cultural biases, these incidents didnot always conform to expectations. Forone thing, the stereotypes sprang fromevery direction, coming from suburbanresidents, employers, co-workers, andclients alike. Denver’s Mandi Huser evenrecalled how a well-meaning staff member,by raising the issue of discrimination sofrequently, sowed doubts in employers’minds and nearly made it a self-fulfillingprophecy. The most frequent problemsarose between co-workers, as with blacksand Hispanics at a hotel near Denver andat a factory just west of Chicago. On thewhole, though, the cultural biases thatBridges encountered proved to be temporaryobstacles, not insurmountable barriers.Linda: We probably spent the first yearbreaking down those barriers of perceptionand stereotypes. When the Ku KluxKlan came out, people were frightened.We said, “How are we going to deal withthis?” After consulting with the trainees,we decided to avoid further confrontation,and we stopped sending them out there.We found someplace else for them to gobecause we didn’t want to put anybody’slife in jeopardy. Actually, the employerlet the Bridges participants completetheir training at the franchise in HowardCounty, where they soon joined theregular staff.Chris: What about more subtle forms ofdiscrimination?Linda: They exist, but I think over the lastcouple of years the situation has improved.Initially, we were viewed as a social programthat bused people from the city and to theemployment sites in the suburbs. What theemployers recognized, after they gave usa chance, is that our clients are just likeanybody else. They were actually moreambitious than some of the employeesthey were hiring on their own. After awhile they forgot they were Bridges toWork participants. That’s why we don’twant to market it like a social program.Don’t do us a favor. Our participants arejust as good as anybody else if you givethem a chance.Chris: Did their co-workers know they werepart of this program?
Page 2 and 3: I N THED RIVER’ SS EATFive local
Page 4: 1CONTENTS3 Foreword:Getting to Work
Page 7 and 8: 4CONTRIBUTORSAbout the project dire
Page 10 and 11: 7INTRODUCTIONVoices of ExperienceTh
Page 12 and 13: 9challenges by expanding and contin
Page 14 and 15: 11so we’re looking at some other
Page 16 and 17: 13Linda: We modeled our training af
Page 18 and 19: 15A Snapshot of the ParticipantsAt
Page 20 and 21: 17drunk or whatever, that affects t
Page 24 and 25: 21Linda: Yes, they saw the van when
Page 26 and 27: 23into the suburbs and employers ar
Page 28 and 29: 25Mandi: In Denver, very few progra
Page 30 and 31: 27Robert: Well, take the Safer Foun
Page 32 and 33: 29HEADS OR TAILSMany of them would
Page 34 and 35: 31The concern was the integrity of
Page 36 and 37: 33• Discrimination: The marketpla
Page 38 and 39: Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Private In
Page 40 and 41: 37U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING ANDURB
Page 43: Public/Private VenturesThe Chanin B

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