The Working World has coined a development strategy that creates quality, lasting jobs anchored in local communities. Over six years of work, we have invested more than $2 million dollars in job creation with a 95%+ project maturation rate, without ever creating debt in the neighborhoods we serve. We started in Argentina, where we showed that our methods could work, then proved that they can be replicated in Nicaragua, and now, with our latest office in New York, we are out to bring innovative 21st century job creation to the U.S.

Arriving to Argentina in the wake of an economic crisis that had unemployment as high as 25%, we noticed that the small and mid-sized business sector, which creates up to 60% of jobs in developed economies, was relatively absent. Large businesses do not have trouble getting financing even in poor countries, and now, thanks to microcredit, tiny enterprises are starting to get access to credit as well. It is precisely these in-between businesses that have the most trouble accessing the financing they need. This phenomenon has been dubbed the “missing middle.”

Combining our innovative approach to microcredit with our emphasis on workplace democracy, we were able to reach this “missing middle” in Argentina, creating jobs rooted in local communities and based on principles of equality and justice. After four years spent fine-tuning our model, we opened a second branch in Nicaragua to see if our acquired knowledge could be applied in a different context. Two years later, having shown that our model was indeed both durable and replicable, we have again expanded to a whole new, challenging context: New York City.

Despite being the wealthiest country in the world, for more and more people the United States is no longer the land of opportunity it once was. Official unemployment hovers around 9%, with many analysts placing the rate at closer to 15%. This downward pressure on the labor market is of course uneven, with immigrant groups, minorities and women increasingly being forced to work longer hours under worse conditions for less money. What’s worse, poverty rates have risen above 20% throughout much of the country, meaning there are millions of people who cannot pull themselves out of poverty in spite of holding down a job. The result is a double employment crisis: there aren’t enough jobs, and the ones that exist don’t always provide people with the chance to lead a decent life.

While part of this results from the current economic crisis, there is no denying that quality job creation in the 21st century is a great challenge faced by this generation. What’s needed is a forward-looking approach to creating quality jobs that last. And that is exactly what we at The Working World believe we’ve hit on.

We create jobs using a model that merges savvy investment with a socially conscious orientation. The jobs we create are rooted in justice and anchored in local communities, where workers are able to improve not just their income but also their quality of life. The businesses we build are robust and dynamic, and the women and men we help are taught business skills they will be able to use for the rest of their lives. Our results back up our talk: 21st century job creation is here to stay.