Local Focus : Western Wayne Oakland County Association
President Gary Reggish and the members of the Western Wayne Oakland County Association of REALTORS® are well aware of Michigan's economic and housing market crisis.
And they think they might have a way to help — create jobs for the unemployed.
Reggish said while more than 600,000 people have lost their jobs since 2000, legislators are still talking about raising taxes to fix the economy rather than employing people.
“How come there is no buzz about how we can create jobs?” Reggish, owner/broker of Remerica United Realty in Novi asked. “What time is more ripe than today? The opportunity is greater than ever to create jobs in Michigan.”
To get the ball rolling, WWOCAR hired a research team out of Grand Valley State University to conduct research and get facts before starting Jump Start Michigan, a project intended to partner with governmental agencies to spur activity in Michigan's economy. The project assessed and analyzed Michigan's economic and housing market situations, and also led to the creation of the Entrepreneurial Rejuvenation for Unemployed Workers Program.
The program is what Reggish and the association members are pushing on legislators to help the unemployed find work.
“All those jobs are not going to come back so we have to help,” he said.
The basis of the ERUWP would be to help assess unemployed workers for “entrepreneurial attitude and possession of an entrepreneurial skill,” provide training for them through small business workshops and assist them in finding funding sources for the small business start-up. Reggish said while the manufacturing industry has taken the biggest hit, other fields such as medical and alternative energy are growing.
The program would be run through the Michigan Works! program and in cooperation with local county economic development organizations.
Dale Smith, executive vice president of WWOCAR, said they have talked to at least three legislators who seem interested in putting the program together, and that the pieces of the puzzle are in place, “it's just a matter of combining resources to make it happen.”
“It may not work, but it's our goal and we want someone to take a look at it,” he said. “It's an overwhelming issue and we hope to be providing the footsteps to start solving that problem.”
According to the study, the ERUWP could create about 3,500 jobs in a year and help move Michigan toward the national average for new business creation.
Reggish said the reason the REALTORS® association got behind the project was because the “rippling effect has an affect on everyone,” and he wants the public to take a call to action and get involved too.
“Our role is much greater than helping folks buy and sell houses,” Reggish said. “We want to help people keep their homes and thrive in Michigan.”
Members of the association met with select state legislators earlier this week, and Smith said they would get a response within 10 days with names of people who could sit down and discuss the project at-length.
For more information about the project and program, visit http://www.jumpstart-michigan.com/.
Source: Hometownlife.com