Capturing the Big Ideas to Create More Jobs

In 2010, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the University of California, Berkeley, brought together more than a dozen leading experts from various fields and challenged them to develop innovative ideas for short-term job creation. The W.K. Kellogg Foundation later came on board and the project, now known as Big Ideas for Jobs, released its first round of ideas at a Washington, D.C., forum in November 2011.

But project leaders Bob Giloth, a Casey vice president, and Karen Chapple, a Berkeley professor, wanted to go further and tap into promising ideas that were already being implemented at the local level. Communities and governments across the country have been feeling the effects of job losses and are trying a variety of creative approaches to get people back to work.

The Big Ideas for Jobs website launched as a portal where elected officials, as well as business and local leaders, can learn from one another, discover new ideas and develop a community where everyone can highlight what’s working. The site’s State and Local Government section, for example, features job-creation proposals from governors and mayors. The Community and Business section highlights what local businesses are doing to help the economy. And you can join the conversation, too, by sharing your community’s successful job-creation strategies or becoming a guest blogger.

The site has three main sections:

• The original Big Ideas for Jobs section
• Job-creation ideas from state and local governments
• Job-creation ideas from communities

As the economy changes and the needs of our workforce evolve, this website serves to jump-start a meaningful national conversation on sound solutions to job creation. Big Ideas for Jobs released a new round of ideas from experts earlier this year and hopes these proposals will spur more innovation to connect people to jobs.

To learn more about Big Ideas for Jobs, contact Tamanna Mansury.