Introduction
In many ways, The Rainier Valley represents one of the most diversified Seattle neighborhoods. Overall, it hosts sixty culturally and ethnically diverse population groups, ranging from African, Asian, and Latin American refugees and immigrants to American-born ethnic minorities (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). They speak more than twenty different languages in addition to other cultural and religious distinctions (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). It showcases the complexity of the situation – not only is it difficult for service providers to account for all peculiarities, but it is also a problem for Rainier Vista unity. In this context, the financial issues experienced by the majority of households – both emigrated and American-born – become even more challenging to address systematically.
Stakeholder Analysis
The complexity of the situation imposes several requirements to consider to develop a respective response. Judging by the Rainier Vista setting’s context, there are numerous stakeholder groups present in the scenario. Thus, to contextualize the available information and establish the position of each involved stakeholder group, it is necessary to determine their essential needs and interests. According to Saha et al. (2021), such situations require a thorough stakeholder analysis. It will simplify and generalize the data, providing a comprehensive overview of the problem.
In addition to the target population, several institutions have different power levels and responsibilities in the given case. This fact implies the further complexity of stakeholder dynamics (Wojewnik-Filipkowska et al., 2019). Consequently, the decision has to be made regarding the total or particular stakeholder inclusion. Wojewnik-Filipkowska et al. (2019) state that all associated stakeholders must be considered when the equal distribution of the project’s costs and benefits presents the analysis’ primary concern. However, only the most influential stakeholders should be included when the concern is mainly centered around program effectiveness (Wojewnik-Filipkowska et al., 2019). In light of the given Rainer Vista situation, the latter option proves to be more appropriate.
The last decision required for the stakeholder analysis to take place is the choice of its general framework. So far, the problem evaluation has yielded two central stakeholder dynamics present in the case – the interest dynamics and the power dynamics. If these were put on the respective axis, it would create a power-interest grid (Ahmadi et al., 2019). This grid categorizes stakeholders into four separate domains: players, context-setters, subjects, and crowds (Figure 1). Players possess a high amount of power and high interest. Context-setters are the stakeholders with high power and low interest. Subjects have low power levels in contrast to displaying high interest. The crowd represents low levels of both power and interest.
Power-interest grid
Players
Two leading players are involved in the given case – the Jobs Plus and Washington Works (WAS) organizations. Jobs Plus is an organization responsible for the initiative to address the problems of people living in public housing sites (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). Their National Demonstration Project spanned over seven cities across the U.S., including Seattle and the mentioned Rainier Valley (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). Jobs Plus hired WAW – a local non-profit organization – to address the unemployment feature of the general program.
Before the given case, WAW had already displayed highly qualitative performance in the employment training provision. Specifically, WAW was known for its innovative approach, high customer retention levels, and consequent graduation rates (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). It is also important to mention the contractual agreement between Jobs Plus and WAW – the latter would receive payment following a pre-set number of program applicants (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). These organizations possess high power levels due to Jobs Plus being in charge of the initiative and WAW being responsible for direct implementation. In addition, their high interest is explained by the same reason in the case of the former and by the latter’s reputation and financial success at stake.
Context-Setters
Regarding the context-setters, Refugee Women’s Alliance (REWA) falls into this category. Jobs Plus decided to hire this local non-profit organization, anticipating linguistic challenges posed by the Rainier Vista community (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). In contrast to WAW, REWA has been present in Rainier Vista for 20 years and has already proven its worth to the residents. Moreover, their contractual agreement with Jobs Plus implied payment for the number of hours spent with applicants. Consequently, REWA does possess a high amount of power due to its responsibilities; however, the interest level is significantly lower than in the players’ case.
Subjects
Immigrant households of Rainier Vista represent subjects in this stakeholder analysis. In their current state, they rely on welfare to pay for the rent and other life necessities. The increase in personal income through employment would improve their quality of life. However, there are several significant concerns, such as skill gaps, language barriers, bias, and peculiarities of transitioning from welfare to employment (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). Firstly, these people were unable to find jobs due to skill gaps. Secondly, despite some subjects having the needed education levels, they faced language barriers. These barriers, along with the need to adapt to a new environment, presented a major concern for refugees (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). Thirdly, language barriers complemented the general bias toward non-American applicants, including age, race, ethnicity, religion, and other factors that affect the employer’s perception. Lastly, the fact of employment implied changes in policies affecting the rent cost in public housing sites. According to the case study, even a low-income job resulted in increasing rent (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). In summary, the subjects display a high interest in the project and lack the power to invoke change.
Crowd
The last stakeholder group consists of the Rainier Vista population of American origins. They experience mostly the same problems as the subjects do. In particular, they struggle to find proper employment and are concerned with the policy changes regarding their housing. However, due to the involvement of immigrants and refugees in the project, they deem the offered support solely as language courses and cultural adaptation (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). Consequently, these stakeholders possess both low power and interest levels.
Program Analysis
The program implemented by REWA works as intended in terms of linguistic support. Its main strengths include solid experience in advocating for immigrant and refugee rights and various language-specific training courses (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). However, it lacked experience with employment-oriented training due to its linguistic specialization. Unfortunately, the collaboration between REWA and WAW to address this weakness failed to bear fruit.
In turn, the WAW program proved to be utterly inefficient in the Rainier Vista diverse setting. Their main strengths included the wide range of personal qualities affected by their approach, such as the applicant’s individual, personal, and spiritual preparation for future employment (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). In addition, the program’s strict schedule promoted responsibility and self-management qualities. However, these factors were not able to flourish due to several reasons. First, the program was mainly focused on women proficient in English (The Electronic Hallway, 2005). Consequently, it hardly applied to the rest of the Rainier Vista population. Second, some program requirements were too demanding for the immigrant and refugee populations. For instance, it neglected the applicants’ past, which was almost impossible in the case of refugees who experienced the terrors of war. Moreover, the expected dress code and low cultural and religious awareness caused many respective complications. However, since WAW’s reputation is at stake, it is doubtful they would deliberately agree to implement changes to their approach.
Final Recommendations
Based on the presented research, it is possible to make several propositions that might improve the current program’s state. The general population issue can be described as two-dimensional: language and employment. In this context, the decision to oblige involved high-power stakeholders in addressing both dimensions regardless of their previous expertise does not seem correct. Firstly, it results in the poor provision of both types of services. Secondly, it discourages the whole group of crowd stakeholders due to certain perceptions and biases. Therefore, the implemented programs should be split into separate services and delivered accordingly.
Another proposition is more specific since it concerns the WAW practice in Rainier Vista. According to Lannen and Jones (2022), rigid programs that ignore applicant perceptions, practices, and values are not adaptable to the participant’s individual needs. In addition, Terziev et al. (2018) stress that the participants of the program, despite their diverse expectations and requirements, are one of the critical components of the program’s success. Considering WAW’s poor previous performance in Rainier Vista, it becomes apparent that some changes are required in their famous approach. In particular, the increase in cultural awareness among WAW workers and the facilitation of the program’s rules and requirements seem appropriate in the given case. Overall, Jobs Plus should reconsider the contract with WAW – renewal should only be allowed if WAW agrees to implement changes. Otherwise, the mentioned problems will persist and hinder the Jobs Plus initiative’s success.
References
Ahmadi, A., Kerachian, R., Rahimi, R., & Skardi, M. J. E. (2019). Comparing and combining social network analysis and stakeholder analysis for natural resource governance. Environmental Development, 32.
Lannen, P., & Jones, L. (2022). Scientific accompaniment: a new model for integrating program development, evidence and evaluation. Journal of Children’s Services.
Saha, M., Chauhan, D., Patil, S., Kangas, R., Heer, J., & Froehlich, J. E. (2021). Urban accessibility as a socio-political problem: A multi-stakeholder analysis. In Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (pp. 1-26). Association for Computing Machinery.
Terziev, V., Banabakova, V., & Georgiev, M. (2018). The social program as a part of development strategies. International Economic Relations, 132. Web.
The Electronic Hallway. (2005). “Making work pay” for Seattle public housing residents: Jobs Plus and the challenges of serving a diverse population. University of Washington.
Wojewnik-Filipkowska, A., Dziadkiewicz, A., Dryl, W., Dryl, T., & Beben, R. (2019). Obstacles and challenges in applying stakeholder analysis to infrastructure projects: Is there a gap between stakeholder theory and practice? Journal of Property Investment & Finance, 39(3), 199-222. Web.
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