Connecting Lives with Livelihoods
“The gap between people and opportunity isn’t as wide as it seems—it just takes the right bridge,” says Ridge Schuyler, the founder and CEO of Network2Work USA and Dean of Community Self-Sufficiency Programs at Piedmont Virginia Community College. Schuyler is building that bridge with a program that is lifting families out of poverty.
Schuyler’s epiphany came when he was district director for Congressman Tom Perriello during the 2008 recession. “People would come into our office saying, ‘I just need a damn job,’” he recalls. Yet in the Charlottesville area, opportunities seemed out of reach for those most in need. Determined to better understand local economic challenges, Schuyler co-authored the Orange Dot Report, revealing that nearly 30% of local families struggled to meet basic needs. This work laid the foundation for Network2Work.
Now housed at PVCC, Network2Work offers training and support to job seekers while connecting them with employers ready to hire. The secret lies in the network’s “Connectors,” a model inspired by the Obama campaign’s grassroots strategy. “If you can use well-connected people in neighborhoods to talk about something as abstract as an election, why not use the same method to talk about something as tangible as a job?,” he says.
Under Schuyler’s leadership, Network2Work has expanded to other community colleges and achieved remarkable results, including a 107% average wage increase for participants. Some of Schuyler’s motivation is rooted in his own upbringing, watching his single mother face discrimination in the job market. “At the end of the day, people just want to raise their families in decent conditions. If we can help them get there, that’s what matters.”