Bracelets for Jobs
When we were at home in the US, I noticed this display in several Starbucks.
Normally when I have seen bracelets for sale, they've been to fund raise, raise awareness, or honor someone. I wasn't sure which of these purposes the Starbucks wristbands served. Were they seriously raising money to create employment, a function usually served by financial institutions? Or simply raise consciousness of unemployment, something that most Americans I would think, by now, would know something about? Or, worst of all eulogize the end of job creation in the US?
According to their website, Create Jobs for USA is part of the Opportunity Finance Network, "a national network of community lending institutions that invest in opportunities to benefit low-income, low-wealth and other disadvantaged communities in the U.S." It does bear a passing resemblance to Micro-Credit, with the donations pooled to provide loans to small business owners that have difficulties securing capital from regular institutional setting. The loans are a much larger scale, than say, Kiva's.
Unemployment in the US is not news, and while I admire anyone for coming up with a job creation solution, I can't help but think this falls under the "Throw Spaghetti Against the Wall" heading. Seriously, that's what we have, wristbands for job creation?
Normally when I have seen bracelets for sale, they've been to fund raise, raise awareness, or honor someone. I wasn't sure which of these purposes the Starbucks wristbands served. Were they seriously raising money to create employment, a function usually served by financial institutions? Or simply raise consciousness of unemployment, something that most Americans I would think, by now, would know something about? Or, worst of all eulogize the end of job creation in the US?
According to their website, Create Jobs for USA is part of the Opportunity Finance Network, "a national network of community lending institutions that invest in opportunities to benefit low-income, low-wealth and other disadvantaged communities in the U.S." It does bear a passing resemblance to Micro-Credit, with the donations pooled to provide loans to small business owners that have difficulties securing capital from regular institutional setting. The loans are a much larger scale, than say, Kiva's.
Unemployment in the US is not news, and while I admire anyone for coming up with a job creation solution, I can't help but think this falls under the "Throw Spaghetti Against the Wall" heading. Seriously, that's what we have, wristbands for job creation?
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