Call For Grassroots Effort Against Jobs Crisis

WASHINGTON - Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, was a featured speaker at the Summit on Jobs and America’s Future held at the National Press Club, an opportunity he used to call for a grassroots movement led by the people most affected by this economic crisis: the poor, the unemployed, the underemployed and people of color. The Summit, hosted by the Campaign for America’s Future, focused on generating bold ideas for creating jobs and sustainable growth. 

Mr. Bhargava shared the Center’s vision for a building a national grassroots movement that seizes on the passion and energy seen in workers in Wisconsin, Ohio and a multitude of other states. “There’s tremendous pain in our country, but there is also tremendous appetite for action and a whole lot of courage. So, how do we take that to scale in a way that changes the conversation and breaks through the dishonest conversation that too many elites are having in Washington?”

Mr. Bhargava laid out a four point strategy for building the movement: 1. Develop a common story and big idea such as a good job with dignity for everyone; 2. develop a set of big ideas to animate movement energy; 3. Generate ideas for action locally and federally; and 4. Hold 10,000 house meetings with at least 10 people each over one weekend.

“The moment is bigger than any of us,” Mr. Bhargava said. “What I do know is that if we can make a bold leap of imagination quickly, we can turn this country around faster than anyone imagines is possible.”