When officials at the St. Patrick Center hatched the idea of shifting some of the center’s resources from the homeless to a support group for the recently unemployed, they estimated an effort serving perhaps 600 people for maybe a few months.
That was a year ago.
Today, the result of the center’s brainstorm — the Go! Network — boasts a membership database of 2,400 names (and counting). It has an open-ended commitment to continue serving the unemployed until the so-called jobless recession runs its course. And its organizers hope to expand it to other cities.
"To me, it’s been life-changing," said Caren Libby of Wildwood, who started attending Go! Network meetings after leaving her part-time job more than a year ago.
"Go! Network has given me the opportunity to utilize social media and make contacts."
Libby had been doing promotions for UniGroup Inc. in Fenton when she started seeing hints that her job was about to be eliminated or its hours sharply cut. Now, she has almost enough freelance marketing work to qualify as a full-time businesswoman, she says. Her business grew substantially after she volunteered to do marketing work for Go! Network.
"That helped me tremendously to grow my skills," she said, and helped her meet business contacts she wouldn’t otherwise have encountered.
In fact, Go! Network’s concept has proven so successful that St. Patrick and the internal subsidiary overseeing it, Celtic Creative, are actively pursuing public and private funding that would expand the program to six other U.S. cities: Cincinnati, Louisville, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Columbus and Memphis.
Dan Buck, the executive director of the center, said the model — giving employees displaced from professional positions a place to meet and address the myriad problems associated with joblessness — will work elsewhere.
"Outside of professional organizations, there (are few) community-driven comprehensive networks for out-of-work professionals," he said.
Buck and Chuck Aranda, the head of Celtic Creative, acknowledge they were unsure what lay ahead as they set the groundwork for the Go! Network on a budget of $200,000 in late 2008.
What they did know is that the recession, then reaching full speed, demanded some sort of response.
"Personally, we all knew somebody who was hurting," Buck said.
And he figured St. Patrick Center, with its track record of creating employment opportunities for the homeless, was in a good position to do something about it.
"We were finding a lot of people in this position who didn’t know where to go or what to do," Aranda said.
"They needed a professional environment."
Buck and Aranda figured on 100 or so showing up at the group’s first meeting, in early February 2009 — barely a month after the idea for the support group was first broached.
The 200-plus who spilled into the St. Patrick auditorium were the first clue of what lay ahead.
Aranda and Buck are quick to deflect credit for the Go! Network’s popularity and successes.
Much of the funding, they note, has come from corporate sources (including Anheuser-Busch) with a big boost from the United Way.
In the same manner, it is the members themselves who determine the focus of each Tuesday’s meetings and the topics addressed — many dealing with the financial and emotional toll of unemployment — in small group settings.
"St. Patrick Center didn’t drive the train," Buck said. "We just created the track."
Since last February, that line has brought 118 human resources executives from 46 area companies to Go! Network functions. Academics, mental health professionals and others have also paid visits.
So far, what Buck calls a "connector system for multi-skilled professionals" has played a part in helping 26 percent of the group’s members land jobs.
"What’s unique about this is the community response," Aranda said. "It shows what can happen when a combination of stakeholders in a community come together to help this population."
It’s time, he and Buck say, that other communities hard-hit by the economy have the same opportunity.
Buck flew last month to Washington where he met with Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, and U.S. Department of Labor officials about establishing Go! Networks — or variations there-of — in Kansas City and the five other cities.
Aranda and Buck said the St. Patrick Center would provide the wherewithal, the infrastructure and the existing Go! Network website (GoNetworkSTL.com) as a template.
The government would provide funding, perhaps from the Federal Recovery Act. The United Way, Buck said, has already expressed a willingness to join forces with St. Patrick in setting up programs in the six other urban areas.
Aranda stressed the networks in all cities will follow the lead of St. Louis by emphasizing the creation of new jobs by promoting start-up entrepreneurial efforts.
Whether the Go! Network lands one other city or all six on the wish list, Aranda said the objective will remain as clear as it is simple: "It’s responding to the needs and helping the people themselves respond to those needs in a difficult time."
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