COMMUNITY-BASED OPPORTUNITY NETWORKS
A community is more than just a place to live, work, and raise a family. It consists of many interacting and mutually dependent players - individuals, groups, organizations, and institutions - that cooperate and compete with one another.
You can easily identify these players in the Yellow Pages of your local telephone book.
Examples of such players include:
| Banks/financial organizations | Hospital/clinics |
| Schools/training groups | Public health groups |
| Colleges and universities | Doctors/health professionals |
| Retail/wholesale businesses | Transportation firms |
| Direct sales businesses | Construction firms |
| Churches/temples/synagogues | Temporary employment firms |
| Nonprofit organizations | One-Stop Career Centers |
| Volunteer organizations | Staffing/placement firms |
| Federal government agencies | Auto dealers/suppliers |
| State government agencies | Real estate/property firms |
| Local government agencies | Shippers (UPS, FedEx) |
| Military bases/associations | Communication firms |
| Professional associations | Courts/judicial centers |
| Clubs/community groups | Substance abuse centers |
| Media groups | Mental health/wellness groups |
| Law firms/lawyers | Contractors/consultants |
| Law enforcement/security | Restaurants/food outlets |
These players should be viewed as opportunity structures for finding jobs through informal, word-of-mouth channels. They become important networks for locating job opportunities. The following figure illustrates the dynamic structure of communities and how the key players interrelate:
Take a yellow highlighter and identify those community players (color the circles) you plan to contact and interact with during the next month as you conduct a community-based job search.
SOURCE: Adapted from Ron Krannich, Ph.D., The Military Spouse's Employment Pocket Guide (Manassas Park: Impact Publications), pages 9-10. Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. Copying strictly forbidden.