Starting in Our Own Backyards: How Working Families Can Build Community and Survive the New Economy

Lily Huang, a bench scientist, occasionally takes a 'sick day' to volunteer in her three-year-old's childcare center, but her supervisor says 'no' to a regular volunteer commitment. Mike Hallowell, a production worker, coaches his son's Little League team, but he can't get to afternoon games since being promoted. Yet Helen Rafferty, a middle manager, is able to volunteer in her children's elementary school now that her company introduced an alternative work schedule. In Starting In Our Own Backyards , Ann Bookman uses these stories to challenge our understanding of the current structure of work, family time, and community involvement. For close to five years, Bookman gained access to the lives of forty biotechnology workers and their families. She documents how their inflexible schedules strain their family lives, and how their lack of job security has propelled them to seek support outside of the workplace. She discovered that these workers are building new forms of community to buffer the ups and downs of the 'new economy'. They are creating durable support systems - via childcare centers, religious institutions, schools, neighborhood groups, and parent-to-parent networks - countering the view that community involvement is declining precipitously. Bookman argues that current debates about civic engagement can only be resolved by understanding the new realities of work and family. These changes demand that we expand social responsibility for families, strengthen community institutions, and develop new models for combining paid and unpaid work. And as she shows in her vivid and perceptive analysis, employers, unions, government, faith-based institutions and community groups all have a role to play in supporting working families and reinvigorating civil society.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Introduction: The Engine That Could Part I. Work, Family and Community in the New Economy Chapter 1: New Terrain for Work and Family: Making the Community Connection Chapter 2: How Friendly Is the Family-Friendly Workplace?: A Look at the Biotech Industry Chapter 3: All In the Family: It's not a Private Affair Part II. From Family Connections to Community Involvement Chapter 4: Community As A Starting Point: Place and Participation Chapter 5: More Than Roads and Bridges Chapter 6: Childcare and Other Building Blocks of Civil Society Chapter 7: The PTA Is Not The Problem Chapter 8: Not By Bread Alone Part III. Investing in Community: Everybody's Business Chapter 9: The Trials of a Full-time Working Mom: Or How I Became a Part-time Worker and a Part-time Community Activist Chapter 10: From Backyards to Corporate Boardrooms and Beyond: All Stakeholders Welcome Chapter 11: The Call of Community: Vocation and Avocation Appendix One: Methodology Appendix Two: The Family Friendly Community Index Index

About the Author :
Ann Bookman is Executive Director of the MIT Workplace Center. She is a social anthropologist and author of a number of publications on women's work, work and family issues, unionization, and family policy. Bookman has held a variety of teaching and research positions and has also worked in government. As a presidential appointee during the first term of the Clinton administration, she served as Policy and Research Director of the Women's Bureau at the U.S. Department of Labor, and as Executive Director of the bipartisan Commission on Family and Medical Leave. She is co-editor of Women and the Politics ofEmpowerment.

Review :
"As Ann Bookman eloquently tells us, the struggle isn't just to accommodate our work and our families; it's also to be active citizens in our communities. How successfully we manage all three will determine the shape of our nation and the future of our children. This is a deeply thoughtful and perfectly timed addition to one of the most important discussions of our time." -- Robert B. Reich, Professor of Social and Economic Policy, Brandeis University, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and author of The Future of Success "Starting In Our Own Backyards paints a beautifully realistic portrait of the busy work and home lives of today's middle and moderate income two-wage-earner and single-parent families. At the same time, the book can be read as a graphic sociological analysis of contemporary urban and suburban communities and workplaces." -- Herbert J. Gans, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University and author of Democracyand the News "With insight and clarity, Bookman portrays the lives of working Americans as they strive to combine work, parenthood, and contributions to their communities. She adds considerations of community to the work-family debate and brings the realities of work and family to the ongoing debates about U.S. civil society. This book is a must-read for participants in both discussions." -- Theda Skocpol, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Government and Sociology, Harvard University, and author of DiminishedDemocracy "A very welcome addition to the research on working families. By offering a new definition of community and by illustrating how essential communities are to surviving and thriving, Bookman has moved the field of work and family life forward." -- Ellen Galinsky, President, Families and Work Institute, and co-author of Ask the Children "The stories of the people here are both unique and universal. This book is a must read for scholars and citizens concerned with working families, with civic engagement, and with the challenges of contemporary living." -- Phyllis Moen, McKnight Presidential Chair in Sociology, University of Minnesota and author of It'sabout Time "Ann Book tackles the intransigent problems of middle class working families from a new perspective-that of the community. Starting in Our Own Backyards is an insightful study and a fresh look at an old problem." -- Louise Lamphere, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, and co-editor of Situated Lives "The clarity and realism of this book makes it an excellent addition to the work-family literature." -- Anthropology of Work Review, Vol. XXVIII, No. 3