Network in Your Area

Create local support and skill-sharing groups. From my research on Bait and Switch, I know unemployed, underemployed and anxiously employed people have a strong desire to get together and feel less alone. Unfortunately, most of the existing opportunities for getting together very much limit the discussion and often have some ulterior agenda – like religious proselytizing or recruiting people into expensive coaching arrangements. We can create grassroots networking and support groups that have the power to set their own agendas in a democratic – not top-down—way. I can envision people meeting to:

• Share stories. This is such a basic, obvious, thing to do, yet I never encountered it in my B&S research – possibly because the stories would necessarily involve a certain amount of anger and resentment – emotions that are strictly prohibited in the current “transition” culture. Yet there’s a place for anger, especially when it’s shared and leads to greater understanding of what’s going on and how we might take action.
• Share skills like resume writing and website design, as well as experiences with internet job searching, networking, handling interviews, etc.
• and of course, just have a good time. Meetings should feature refreshments and comfortable chairs!

Organizers in Seattle, Chicago and DC have written to me saying they were planning get-togethers. In Minneapolis and Ann Arbor, organizers have been creating ways to get together on the internet. I'll report on these activities when I get feedback.

Preliminary list of contacts . . . more to come:

Atlanta
ismail@7stages.org
jellocat@comcast.net

Chicago
bholland123@comcast.net

Miami
affinity7368@yahoo.com
hillary320@gmail.com

Key West
puckerwhentart@yahoo.com
Lynne@Bentley-Kemp.com

Milwaukee
mcotey@uwm.edu

New York City
john.w.welch@hotmail.com

Raleigh Durham
dnichols@bellsouth.net

Twin Cities
adler911@yahoo.com

Washington, DC
sumeto@verizon.net

Barbara

Check back here regularly for updated information.