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    A Job a Day, a Business a Week

    “We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work, when the wages of honest labor will liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.”   −Barack Obama, 57th Presidential Inaugural Address, Jan. 21, 2013

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    Having just returned from Washington DC, I am inspired by the president’s words and I am excited to share with you how the Economic and Community Development Institute is going to embark on a tremendous initiative partnering with the Huffington Post, the Skoll Foundation, Crowdrise, and the McKinsey Group.

    Arianna Huffington has this to say about the endeavor: “… a project with real potential to make a dent in the crisis that has left more than 20 million Americans unemployed or underemployed. In coming up with a name for this project, we wanted to conjure that barn-raising spirit that has always been part of the American DNA. So we’re calling it JobRaising.”

    From a pool of hundreds of applicants from across the country, Columbus-based ECDI was chosen as one of the finalists to compete in The Huffington Post-sponsored JobRaising challenge. ECDI is known for its success working with individuals, businesses and the community right here in Central Ohio, and this initiative provides national exposure for this vital resource.

    jobraisingchallenge

    The JobRaising Challenge measures success by an organization’s ability to raise capital through social networking. Powered by Crowdrise (a popular online charity website co-founded by Edward Norton), ECDI and other finalists are raising money now through March 1. The organizations are competing for prizes up to $250,000 to support job creation in their market.

    Think globally, act locally; this is not a passing trend. If we want to create a diverse and robust local economy, we have to support organizations like ECDI and encourage others to the same today! A few minutes and a few dollars is all it takes to cast your vote for Central Ohio as a national leader in job creation.

    This challenge will help ECDI to continue to do the critical microenterprise work of putting Ohioans back to work, says Steve Fireman, president and general counsel at ECDI.

    “We encourage local businesses and individuals to donate through crowdrise in support of ECDI’s mission of creating a job a day and a business a week,” says its founder and CEO Inna Kinney.

    For more information, visit the JobRaising Challenge site Crowdrise.com/ecdi-jr.

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