Economic Edge

Special Project: The Economic Edge

At a time when a monumental economic crisis is affecting all of our lives, and there's new, cryptic reports and numbers coming from the government and Wall Street every day, it is becoming more difficult to figure out how the recession is impacting our communities.  At KALW news, we're working to change that.  We're pleased to announce the launch of our new project, designed to tap into the power of our collective voices. We're calling it "The Economic Edge: Documenting the Downturn." The goal: to cover how the economic crisis is affecting you and your community.

We need your help to make it happen. We aren't asking for money, just a little bit of your time. The project will combine the efforts of our reporters with those of people from all over the Bay. That's where you come in.

When was the last time you went to a neighborhood watch meeting? Or a merchants’ association meeting? Are old businesses on your block closing up? Are new ones starting up? Or maybe you have a story that one of our reporters should be covering. We can't spend time in every corner of the Bay Area that we would like to reach. Now you can lend us a hand, and take an active role in representing and engaging with your community.

We've made the process easy: report back to us via the phone at 415-264-7106, join a Street Team, chime in on a Fixipedia discussion, or become a Community Correspondent. Have you lost your job? Find resources and information at our Resource Amalgamator.  

We want your stories and your ideas. Together, we can make an impact on our community!

The Economic Edge: Four Strategies to Cover the Bay Area Economy

• Fixipedia and Community Correspondents– These solution-based pages tap the innovative, entrepreneurial minds in the Bay Area. The goal is to brainstorm ways to deal with the employment and unemployment struggles KALW has documented through the Economic Edge project. It’s simple: we’ve created the online space, and now invite you to contribute ideas and comments on how to navigate unemployment, improve job skills, find new jobs, and, together, rebuild a healthy economy. We will magnify the impact of these suggestions by bringing them to government, businesses, and the general public. If you are interested in becoming a community correspondent, weigh in here.
• Resource Amalgamator– a portion of our website has been built out to provide links to research on employment trends, free job search and skill-building tool kits, job skills workshops through partner organizations, and local job-hunting websites.
• Crosscurrents Street Teams– Our Street Teams are community reporters, KALW listeners, students and anyone else who wants to help cover the economy.  Street Teams hit the streets with their cell phones and notebooks, asking questions like “how do you know there is a recession?” and “how is the unemployment crisis affecting you?” They phone in reports from the field, write blogs, and record stories and impressions.  Everyone is invited!
• Reported Stories– Finally, will increase reporter-generated coverage of employment-related stories in our region. We will deepen that coverage by following tips from our citizen reports, and providing background and context to the experiences that the community has brought to light through the Fixipedia and the Street Team efforts.