It’s Friday at the Local Knowledge Blog, and while normally that would mean another multi-thousand word exposé on parking on Cooper Street (I kid — love you Kunkle and Jared!) [and don’t worry, we have more Cooper Street parking coverage next week] I thought today I’d talk a bit about some of the social things on my radar in Camden over the next week or two. Plus, in light of the comments about hiring made by Holtec CEO Singh, I want to talk a bit about the benefits of hiring locally. 

So first of all — the fun stuff! Here’s a few of the social events on my calendar in Camden: 

Camden Supper Club is back up and running. Next supper is Thursday, Sept. 27th, and we’ve got a new (for us) restaurant queued up: 

If that’s not enough #CamdenFoodie action for you, Camden’s Center for Environmental Transformation is doing a fundraiser to raise awareness about food waste: 

This is a great event that benefits @Camden_CFET in #Camden.
Help us spread the word. Tickets 1/2 price for Camden residents. https://t.co/GcewOmedVN pic.twitter.com/aKFx9bSJ6H

— Phaedra Trethan (@CP_Phaedra) September 17, 2018

 

And, if you’re more of an arts person, check out this amazing upcoming theater move event on Monday Sept. 24th at the Ritz Theater (just outside of Camden, but Camden’s own Vedra Chandler has been involved with the organization). Here’s the (beautiful) trailer: 

And here’s the link to the Facebook event. 

Lastly, Cooper’s Ferry is producing a series of things to do in Camden for South Jersey Mag (it’s unclear to me if this is paid content or an invited series). 

I read the article carefully. I have, at times, been pretty critical of Cooper’s Ferry for stuff like this. It’s a difficult spot for the organization to be in — Cooper’s Ferry started with an explicit mission to develop the waterfront. Though it’s made obvious efforts to expand its efforts to include Camden neighborhoods, the organization is deeply synonymous with downtown, and deeply invested in downtown. Combine that with its long-time leadership (some of which has now departed) being (ahem) white, and not from the city, and the organization’s instincts have reflected that lack of close ties to the community. Over the years since I moved to Camden, that’s been tangible in the geography and orientation of their work.

But it’s something the organization has worked on. The Connect the Lots program is designed to at least link downtown activities with other neighborhoods. The movies in its movie series have been more culturally appropriate, as has music at events, all of which has led to more resident involvement. More grassroots type businesses feel involved or promoted at events too. 

It’s not hard to recognize that these changes are linked to Cooper’s Ferry’s hiring of a more diverse staff that has roots in Camden, and even includes a Camden resident or two. Simply put, being from somewhere, and being somewhere, matters when part of the job is to connect to communities in a city. Those residents and Camden natives are pulling a lot of water for an organization that was long seen as out-of-touch and is now changing that reputation little-by-little.

And that’s he thing missing from the Holtec discussion. Holtec sees its turnover as a community failure. But just as with Cooper’s Ferry for decades, it may be that management is missing the opportunity to connect to community in meaningful ways that can help business. And Holtec is almost certainly blind to the ways its own lack of diversity at management or board levels undermines its business. Talk to other small businesses in the city (and I hope to have more content/interviews about this soon) and you’ll hear that their Camden residents are often the most loyal and hardworking employees, particularly residents grateful for a second chance who are making the most of it. When Holtec sees high turnover, the first instinct shouldn’t be to blame a community based on widespread and discriminatory generalizations. It should be to ask what it is about this workplace that is failing to connect to this element of the community, and what opportunities are missed when that happens. Because we know that diversity works. 

Have a nice weekend!