Lessons from Commonwealth Club's panel on using public-private partnerships to address jobs, education, and economic development

On September 20, 2011, the Commonwealth Club hosted a panel discussion on public-private partnerships and how they can be used to boost jobs, education, and economic development (see names of panelists below). The key points from the panel discussion were:

1. Partnerships are not just a monetary relationship, but a relationship in which the people in a community come together, identify the problems, and bring the necessary people to the table that can help address the problem.
2. Each sector (government, business, etc.) needs to re-think the roles they've played in the past and think about taking on different responsibility in the future.
3. Nonprofits need the government to be their voice and for corporations to invest in them, give them access to markets, and help strengthen their infrastructure (capacity building).
4. Other roles the government can play include getting peoples attention and creating incentives (being a catalyst) for partnerships.
5. To get more collaborations, organizational silos need to be broken down and instead organizations in all sectors need to look at problems with a team approach.
6. There needs to more discussion on shared issues in a community and employees need to hold their organizations accountable and push them to be part of these conversations.
7. Set goals and use this as a catalyst to get together - there's too much time spent on talking about and describing the problem and how hard it is to address.
8. There's a need for more convening across sectors with each organization really investing in the joint effort. 
9. Successful partnerships have real metrics and hold people accountable. There's failure when one sector tries to charge off in their own direction. 
10. How can people get involved? People and corporations can donate, volunteer, make in-kind contributions, and advocate on behalf of the public sector organizations.

The panel discussion brought together knowledgeable people that provided a good discussion on the wonderful uses of public-private partnerships to boost jobs, education, and economic development. With resources low and an elevated need for services, I hope that 2012 brings about more partnerships whether public-private or public-public.


On September 20, 2011, the Commonwealth Club hosted a panel discussion on public-private partnerships and how they can be used to boost jobs, education, and economic development. (Panelists: John Donahoe, CEO, eBay Inc.; Member, White House Council for Community Solutions, John Lee, Executive Director, The Bread Project, Nicole Levine, Executive Director, Women's Initiative for Self Employment for San Francisco and the Bay Area, Sid Espinosa, Director of Corporate Citizenship, Microsoft Corporation; Mayor, City of Palo Alto, Moderator: Sydnie Kohara, Broadcast Journalist) Source: Commonwealth Club of California

HirePatriots.com: Saving heroes through the power of community-wide partnerships

HirePatriots began as a response to a Marine who returned from Iraq to discover his wife and two small children living without utilities, due to his wife being laid off while he was deployed. He knocked on the founders’ door and asked: "Sir, Ma’am, I need to earn some money right away to get the electric and gas turned on in my home for my family. Do you have any work that I can do for you right now around your home or yard?"

 

And so in 2004 a free job board for residents and businesses was launched across America so that they could hire their local military, veterans and their spouses, either for One Day, Part time or Full Time: www.HirePatriots.com.

HirePatriots’ One Day jobs are the only employment safety net that our military and recently transitioned veterans have. Tens of thousands of US residents every year pitch in and help out by posting their chores and repairs when they need help.  In fact, so many residents embrace this program that HirePatriots received the “Visionary Award for Creating Economic Development.”

So pitch in today and Help Save a Hero. –Post your job(s) and hire a local US military, veteran or spouse today. Say thank you in a way that makes a difference. – Be a Hero: Save a Hero! – HirePatriots.com!

Read some comments from community residents who use the site here: http://bit.ly/9z0h0f

ResumeBear's new partnerships further aid job seekers

"Looking for work" seems to be a common theme these days and people usually turn to one or several online job boards to do so. One of these job boards is ResumeBear. In case you were wondering, this site's unique feature is their "real-time resume tracking" service which allows job seekers to "track" their resume after applying for a job (e.g. see if it's being read, printed). To help bring more services to their clients, ResumeBear has partnered with HirePatriots.com, TrustedID, and Resume2Hire. These three new partnerships will further help military veterans and their spouses look for work and job seekers in general prevent identity theft and get help on writing or improving their resumes from certified resume writers. There is no cost to use ResumeBear and most of its services.

These three new partnerships seem to be a given. If ResumeBear is to gain the edge over its competitors, it needs to offer its clients great services. With many people out of work, free job boards that offer great services not only benefits the company by attracting more clients but the community by putting people back to work.

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