Latest news with #Liebow
Forbes
01-04-2025
- General
- Forbes
Return To 'Tally's Corner': Poor Men And Jobs Today
In January 1962 a graduate student in anthropology at Catholic University, Eliot Liebow, signed on as a field researcher for a study set in a low income, African American neighborhood in Washington DC. Utilizing a technique he had learned of 'participant observation', Liebow went regularly for the next 18 months to a Carry-out shop on the corner of 11th and M, where he embedded himself in the lives of the neighborhood men who gathered at the shop. He befriended them, joined them for social events, followed their experiences in and out of jobs, and visited them when they were in jail. In 1967, Little Brown published his field notes as a book, Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men. Within a short time, the book would become a social science publishing phenomenon. It would go on to sell over one million copies, be reprinted multiple times (including a 2003 edition with an introduction by William Julius Wilson), and be widely adopted in college and university classes. Its core narrative about low income men, a dysfunctional subculture, and the power of a job to change this subculture, would help give rise to a burgeoning workforce system. In 2025, the unemployment of low income men (of all races) is at the top of the policy agenda of foundations, think tanks, and workforce groups—and a main topic of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve's 'Economic Mobility Summit' this month. As has been widely noted, the labor force participation rate of all working age men, 25-54, has been declining since the 1960s, with the decline most pronounced among lower income men without postsecondary education. Tally's Corner today provides a valuable long term perspective on low income men outside the job world. Its narrative, the power of a job in altering behaviors, has been validated in good part by workforce programs over the past six decades. But as industry structures rapidly change, the narrative is incomplete, and requires additional elements going forward. Let's start with revisiting Tally's Corner. 'The New Deal Carry-out shop is on a corner in downtown Washington D.C. It would be within walking distance of the White House, the Smithsonian Institution, and other major public buildings over the nation's capital, if anyone cared to walk there but no one ever does, Across the street from the Carry-out is a liquor store, The other two corners of the intersection are occupied by a dry cleaning and shoe repair store and a wholesale plumbing supplies storeroom and warehouse.' When he first arrives at the Carry-out in early 1962, Liebow meets Tally, 31 years of age, who is one of the regulars. Through Tally, Liebow comes to meet some twenty other neighborhood men who frequent the shop from time to time, coming to 'eat and drink, to enjoy easy talk, to learn what has been going on, to horse around, to look at women and banter with them, to see 'what's happening' and to pass the time.' Liebow writes with a novelist's eye for detail and dialogue. He enjoys the camaraderie he is able to develop with Tally and some of the other men (Sea Cat, Richard, Leroy). He appreciates the willingness of the men to open their lives to him. At the same time, he does not present the men as heroes or generally worthy of emulation. Rather, his descriptions emphasize the disorganization and dysfunction that characterize relations that the men have with women, with children they have fathered, with other men in the neighborhood, and with employers. With rare exception the men are portrayed as exploiters of women in their lives, unfaithful in marriages, in and out of relationships, drawing on women financially. They neglect children they have fathered. Disputes with other men in the neighborhood can erupt in violence at any time. The men have some paid work, but the work is often intermittent as well as low paid. Tally works as a semi-skilled construction laborer for six or seven months a year; Richard in janitorial jobs, Leroy as a parking lot attendant, The other men have sometime jobs as laborers, countermen, stock clerks, dishwashers and delivery drivers. For the men, though, work generally is a low priority. Liebow explains: 'Putting aside for the moment what the men say and feel and looking at what they actually do and the choices they make, getting a job, keeping a job, and doing well at it is clearly of low priority. Arthur will not take a job at all. Leroy is supposed to be on his job at 4:00 pm but it is already 4:10 and he still cannot bring himself to leave the free games he has accumulated on the pinball machine in the Carry out. Tonk started a construction job on Wednesday, worked Thursday and Friday, and then didn't go back again. On the same kind of job, Sea Cat quit in the second week., Sweets had been working three months as a busboy in a restaurant, then quit without notice, not sure himself why he did so.' Most of the book is an ethnography of the men's behaviors (with chapters structured by relations, 'Husbands and Wives', 'Lovers and Exploiters', 'Fathers without Children', 'Men and Jobs'). In a concluding chapter, though, Liebow seeks to tie together these behaviors to a common cause: the inability of the men to earn enough to support a family, the inability to be 'the man of the house', to assume the provider role he knows he should play. 'The way in which the man makes a living and the kind of living he makes have important consequences for how the man sees himself and is seen by others; and these, in turn, importantly shape his relationships with family members, lovers, friends and neighbors.' To Liebow, the integration of the men into the social and economic mainstream can only come through jobs that are steady and pay a decent wage. Though Liebow does present a dysfunctional streetcorner subculture, he argues that this subculture will change as there are changes in the employment status of the men. The book ends with a call for a new jobs strategy aimed at low income men—though Liebow is vague on the what forms this strategy should take. Liebow spent his career after the publication of Tally's Corner mainly as a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, where he rose to chief of the Center for the Study of Work and Mental Health. He wrote one additional book, a profile of women in homeless shelters in Washington DC, published in 1993. He passed away in 1994 from cancer. According to his widow, Harriet, he kept in touch with the men of Tally's Corner, but never wrote about them again. Tally's Corner and other influential books of the 1960s on low income men and jobs (The Other America, Employing the Unemployed ) would help give rise to a greatly expanded publicly funded workforce system. Federal workforce funds would skyrocket from $450 million in 1964 to $2.6 billion in 1970. In the early years, the War on Poverty workforce and community action programs squandered much of the money, spending with little or no accountability, and no required outcomes (novelist Tom Wolfe would capture the folly of these programs in his 1970 essay, 'Mau-Mauing the Flack Catchers.'). But by the late 1970s, a reset was in place, with clearer metrics in terms of placements, a closer tracking of spending, stronger links with real employers. Since the 1980s, the workforce system has continued to improve: sharpening employer connections and sector strategies, widening workplace learning and apprenticeships, expanding retention structures. The system since has borne out Liebow's ideas on the power of a job. Various individual and group counseling therapies would be put forward over the years to bring the men of Tally's Corner into the social and economic mainstream. None would yield the positive behavioral impacts that would come with placement and retention in a job. Such placement was often accompanied by on-going counseling and supports. But it was the job, not the counseling and supports, that was the main driver in helping low income men find a confidence, structure and organization in their lives, as well as economic gains. Job opportunities and even job placements did not succeed with a significant segment of the men, who dropped out of job programs or jobs after a short time. Mental health conditions, cognitive gaps and developmental disabilities, personal and lifestyle values downplaying steady work, all undermined job success. But any job strategies need to take these factors into account, and recognize the limitations of even the best-designed programs. And sometimes those who drop out, come back as they mature or find themselves ready to take advantage of opportunities—a point made often by the longtime workforce practitioner John Colborn. Revisiting Tally's Corner and the workforce system it helped spur are starting points for thinking about employment strategies today. Despite the positive impacts of workforce programs, these impacts have been overwhelmed by other economic and social forces over the past six decades impacting and impacted by low income men. These forces have been oft-noted in the media and academic literature: the shifts in industry structure, particularly manufacturing; the widening eligibility and growth of benefit programs, especially SSI and SSDI; declining marriage rates, substance abuse disorders and levels of incarceration. They have brought us to the current state in which the progeny of the men of Tally's Corner are more numerous than ever. The current workforce system for these men, its customized training and placement services, represents a foundation on which to build in the next years. Yet, a broader rethinking of the system is in order, reflecting industry shifts and the rebound of the blue collar economy, the role of wage mobility, advances in the behavioral sciences and neurosciences, and lessons from the successes of welfare reform. Among the questions to be asked, as part of this rethinking: Can work requirements for low income men succeed in ways that welfare reform has succeeded for low income women? Welfare reform changed the culture of welfare offices into employment hubs, and achieved many successes in identifying the strengths of low income unemployed women and assisting them into new confidence and jobs. Can the same be done for low income men who are on various forms of public assistance? Can the workforce system more fully take advantage of the rebound in America's blue collar/practical economy? As Gad Levanon, chief economist at Burning Glass Institute, notes in a post this past week regarding blue collar/practical economy occupations, demand for workers in these occupations is growing, even as demand for workers in tech, finance and other white collar jobs declines. Can the workforce system more fully take advantage of this shift through apprenticeships, career technical education? Can the workforce system capture the advances in the behavioral sciences and neurosciences? Over the years, the system has tried various counseling and therapies to address behaviors by low income men that undermine job success. Outcomes have been modest. But science's understanding of the brain is at an early stage. Going forward advances in brain science may help shape more effective interventions, relevant to the workforce system. Can the workforce system build better mobility structures? Mobility for low wage entry level workers is a goal that has befuddled workforce practitioners for decades. Yet it is in such mobility that may be found improved labor force stability for low income men, as well as movement into the family-supporting jobs that Liebow envisioned. The men of Tally's Corner today are facing a more complex and challenging job world than the job world of the 1960s. The workforce system will need to adapt, even as it keeps sight of the first principles of jobs and behaviors.
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
School buses are hard to come by these days, so this district bought one off Craigslist
Chief Financial Officer Dave Montoya wasn't kidding when he said Poudre School District was looking far and wide for available school buses to upgrade its aging fleet. While discussing a purchase order for 17 new buses — at a cost of more than $2.5 million — with the Board of Education at its meeting Feb. 25, district officials acknowledged that PSD found a used school bus locally on Craigslist last spring that is now being driven more than 170 miles a day. 'Yes, PSD just acknowledged that it bought a bus on Craigslist; we're proud of it,' Superintendent Brian Kingsley said. New school buses have been hard to come by in recent years, said Montoya and Dan Weaver, PSD's vehicle maintenance manager. PSD is still awaiting delivery of five buses that were ordered more than two years ago, Weaver said. So, the opportunity to purchase a bus that could be put on the road immediately was more appealing than ever when a technician in the transportation department saw the listing on Craigslist and brought it to Weaver's attention. Weaver scoffed at first but then took a closer look. He had seen this particular school bus from the road while driving past the Rist Canyon Inn in Laporte and said it looked to be in good condition. 'Then I started reading about it,' Weaver said. 'It had low mileage, it had a Cummins engine, Allison transmission — all the things that we look for in lasting products — and, basically, it was like I'm going to give it a shot.' More: Poudre School District shares plan for allocating mill-levy money to support small schools It also had wheelchair accessibility with a wheelchair lift, engine braking, automatic tire chains and seats on track rails, allowing them to be reversed or removed, as needed, for different seating configurations. Allan Liebow, the owner of Rist Canyon Inn, agreed to allow PSD to take the bus to its shop in April 2024 and spend as much time as it needed to look it over. Weaver was also able to contact the previous owner, Aurora Public Schools, and discuss its maintenance and repair records with people in its transportation department. The Aurora district had received a good deal on a large quantity of new gasoline-fueled buses and needed to offload some of its existing diesel-fueled fleet, and sent this particular bus — a 2013 Freightliner Thomas Built Saf-T-Liner C2 rear-wheel drive, with a wheelchair lift and capacity for up to 56 passengers, according to the 2022 auction listing — to public auction with others. The sale price was $13,500, Liebow and Weaver each said, about $150,000 less than what PSD would pay for a comparable new bus. And it only had 80,810 miles on it — more than 100,000 fewer than the average bus in PSD's aging fleet. Liebow said he was praised like a hero when he went to PSD's transportation offices to complete the paperwork on the sale. He found two other buses at public auction that he has modified and now uses to shuttle guests to and from local hotels to weddings and receptions at Rist Canyon Inn and was glad he could help the district 'save some money and fill a need,' he said Feb. 26. Liebow 'was a really nice guy, really helpful, and he was proud it was going back to a school district and being put to good use,' Weaver said. 'We've been using it as one of our go-to vehicles.' The bus, No. 320 officially, but better known as 'Craig,' is serving one of the longest routes in PSD, picking students up along U.S. Highway 287 within a half-mile of the Wyoming border and bringing them to Poudre High School and back each day. In between the morning pickup and afternoon drop-off, driver Jon Pixler also picks up students at Putnam Elementary School and drives them home to various locations in north Fort Collins, stretching as far east as the Maple Hill neighborhood just west of the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Pixler says he's put about 20,000 miles on the bus this school year, driving more than 170 miles each day. 'It drives pretty much like any other bus,' Pixler said after dropping students off at Poudre High on Feb. 26. 'It's been a good bus so far.' Voter-approval of a debt-free mill levy in November has allowed PSD to begin updating its aging fleet of school buses. The average PSD school bus is 16 years old and has 183,000 miles on it, Weaver said. By the end of the school year, the average mileage will increase to 198,000. About 30% of PSD's buses are more than 20 years old, noting the Colorado Department of Education recommends but does not require buses that are more than 20 years old to be taken out of service. PSD owns 179 school buses, Weaver said, including 12 that have been taken out of commission because they need expensive repairs that aren't worth making on buses that old and eight others that are out of service undergoing long-term repairs. PSD buses drove more than 2.1 million miles during the 2023-24 school year, Weaver said, while serving a district that spans more than 1,800 square miles — or about 1 ½ times the size of the state of Rhode Island, First Services transportation consultant Colton Graham told the Board of Education during a remote presentation Feb. 25. Working with Montoya, Weaver began developing a replacement plan designed to refresh PSD's bus fleet over the next 10 to 15 years, using money from the debt-free mill levy that was approved to help cover the costs of maintenance and replacement cycles. The goal, he said, is to make what is now the average age of the fleet — 16 years old — the maximum age through a gradual update. Replacing too many buses at one time, Montoya said, could create a problem for others 15 years or so down the road when they would all need to be replaced again. So, the plan is to upgrade the fleet incrementally, beginning with the 17 on the purchase order that was approved unanimously by the seven-member school board during the Feb. 25 meeting. Lingering supply-chain issues that began during the COVID-19 pandemic continue to limit the availability of new school buses, Montoya and Weaver said. As a result, PSD abandoned its plan to stick to a single supplier while soliciting bids in January for new buses. Availability was a significant factor, even if it meant paying a bit more money. And what the district chose to buy are 17 buses from three different vendors, made by four different manufacturers. Here's the breakdown: Five 77-passenger 2025 Thomas Class C diesel buses from Midwest Bus Sales, equipped with engine-braking systems and automatic tire chains, for $144,860 apiece. These buses can be delivered within 60-90 days of receipt of the order, the vendor said in its bid. Five 47-passenger 2026 Blue Bird Class C diesel buses from Colorado West Equipment, equipped with front air-conditioning, integrated five-point harnesses, engine braking systems and automatic tire chains, for $151,332 apiece. Buses will be delivered within 6-8 months of receipt of the order, the vendor said in its bid. Five 33-passenger 2026 Blue Bird Class C wheelchair-accessible buses from Colorado West Equipment, equipped with air-conditioning, integrated five-point harnesses, engine-braking systems, automatic tire chains and track-mounted removable seats for versatile configuration options, for $166,797 apiece, Buses will be delivered within 6-8 months of receipt of the order, the vendor said in its bid. Two 14-passenger 2025 Collins Class A gasoline buses from Davey Coach Sales, with air-conditioning and integrated five-point harnesses, for $109,848 apiece. These buses should be delivered within 4-5 months of receipt of the order, according to the bid. All of the buses come with five-year or 100,000-mile engine warranties, and all but the 14-passenger buses come with seven-year unlimited-mile transmission warranties. The transmission warranty on the 14-passenger buses is for five years or 100,000 miles. Weaver expects the five buses PSD ordered in January 2024 to be delivered within the next month or so, he said. Two of those buses are 77-passenger International Class C diesel buses, and the other three are 33-passenger Blue Bird Class C buses, he said. Montoya said the district continues to work with Highland Electric Fleets about the purchase and maintenance of two electric school buses through an Environmental Protection Agency grant that the district was awarded in January 2024. PSD has not entered into any contracts through that grant, Montoya said Tuesday night, and the status of the grant funding under the administration of President Donald Trump is not clear. Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest for the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@ and This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: PSD turns to Craigslist in search for available school buses to buy
