Holding Up the Economy: The Social Sector as Workforce Infrastructure
As a social sector member of the Design Economics Coalition, Jody Levison-Johnson leads Social Current, a national network of nearly 1,800 human service organizations, and its Five & Rising movement to change how the sector is funded and valued. Where workforce policy treats childcare, behavioral health, and housing as separate problems, Levison-Johnson treats them as one system that decides whether people can keep working at all, a system she and Suzanne Smith call “the workforce behind the workforce.”
What alternative measures beyond GDP or monetary value do you use to evaluate community well-being?
Rates of poverty, Annie E. Casey Kids Count measures, employment statistics, general health statistics
In what ways have you seen social capital and connections create economic value that traditional metrics miss?
In general, I think there is a lot of effort made by the social sector to allow people to be employed or keep them employed. The recent article I wrote with Suzanne Smith that ran in The NonProfit Times illustrates this point. The social sector is the infrastructure of the country’s workforce.
Read: America’s Workforce Strategy Has A Blind Spot: The Social Sector
How do you help communities recognize and leverage their social capital for economic resilience?
Social Current works with organizations that provide critical human services in communities across the US and Canada. We offer an array of supports to help these organizations be the strongest they can possibly be. Creating partnerships, leveraging relationships, pointing out their contributions to their community’s economic well-being are all part of what we encourage in the organizations we come into contact with.
About This Interview
Design Economics Coalition members complete a self-interview exploring how their work connects to the three tenets of design economics: acknowledging change, embracing creativity, and cultivating literacy. These responses help connect professionals across sectors who are working to evolve economic systems.
Interested in joining the coalition? Contact us to learn more about membership.