Month: August 2008

Ok, I’m done with Sudhir Venkatesh’s “Off the Books” and there is one thing (among many) that is a subject that I found interesting, the neighborhood as a source of income. In the underground economy of his book residents are making side income by making meals, hosting gambling parties, selling products in the park, shade tree auto repair, and the such. With “Tally’s Corner”, I got the hint that neighborhood income was preferable so a man could keep an eye on things at home. Anyway, I think back to one or two neighborhood meetings that I have attended where someone (a resident oldtimer) expressed a desire for the community/ neighborhood to provide jobs or employment or income for residents.
Maybe that’s expecting too much of the neighborhood if it is to produce jobs. DC isn’t an industrial town. Shaw, is mainly a residential area with some commercial corridors (U St, 14th St, and a bit of 9th St). Besides, in successful neighborhoods residents get their wealth from other parts of the city and the region. Of the self-employed persons I know in the neighborhood, a job/ client in the neighborhood is nice, but not necessary. Others who have decent jobs work elsewhere. They work downtown, in Dupont, out in NoVa or Maryland. Not since college have I worked in the same immediate area as my work (TA, work-study in the library, etc), so as an adult I lived close of enough for a reasonable commute but not close enough to walk. I never expected or demanded that the job be that close to the house. Come to think of it I like a certain distance to help with the work/life balance.
As far as work goes the neighborhood does provide something. It provides good transportation, or more specifically RELIABLE transportation, so I can get to work on time. It is close enough so the commute is reasonable.

Something has been bugging me about the whole Summer school jobs program, and I can’t put my finger on it.
When I was in high school (over twenty years ago) I remember the people of Bob Evans coming to my high school and recruiting for wait and kitchen staff. I remember applying and being disappointed when my friend Michael got a job and I didn’t. That did get me applying to other jobs and I got my first job working at Winn-Dixie. There were labor laws out there regulating hours so there wouldn’t be a conflict with school. I held that job from the time I was a junior in high school till I was almost a junior in college.
My younger cousins in Laurel, MD were on a similar track, working for national food chains (you want fries with that?) in their junior and senior years in high school.
So I’m wondering, don’t DC high school kids get jobs for the rest of the year? I understand that in Summer there is this ability to work more than 10 hours a week, and students are available during business hours. But what’s going on in DC that discourages kids from working the rest of the year?
I got a lot out of my year round high school job. I learned about balancing school, work and home. I experienced taxes being taken out of my paycheck. I learned how to be a good cashier and offer decent customer service. I got job experience that helped with later, more ‘professional’ grown-up jobs. And I got about $60-$70 a week.
So really are kids in DC not working the rest of the year? A part-time job keeps you out of trouble, gets a few dollars in your pockets, and allows you to excerise work habits on a regular basis.