New TV series sets sights on chronically unemployed

A new series premiering on the Sundance Channel is aiming to put a fresh face on the overwhelming issue on the campaign trail and in Washington: joblessness.

On Thursday, the cable network screened in Washington its premiere episode of "Get to Work," a new series that focuses on the efforts of the chronically unemployed to develop the skills needed to get a job. The Hill was a media partner with Sundance for the event.

The program focuses on the STRIVE program out of Second Chance in San Diego, which provides basic job training to people who have consistently struggled to find and hold on to regular employment, including recently released convicts.

Among those touting the program are Robert Carmona, who founded STRIVE, and Lorenzo Harrison, senior executive for youth employment strategies at the Labor Department.

"We know what works, it's just a matter of staying committed to it," said Harrison.

Rob Smith, who appears on the program as a manager steering individuals through the program at Second Chance and also is a STRIVE graduate himself, also offered his take on the program, emotionally describing how the program changed his life after he grew up surrounded by drugs and crime.

While much of Washington, D.C., is away for the August recess, Sundance also plans to bring the program directly to the political world by showing it at both the Democratic and Republican conventions later this month.

According to the latest numbers from the Labor Department, there are 12.8 million people unemployed in the United States. While the overall unemployment rate sits at 8.3 percent, it is substantially higher for minorities, such as Hispanics (10.3 percent) and African-Americans (14.1 percent).

Furthermore, roughly 40 percent of the unemployed are considered long-term unemployed, meaning they have been out of work for seven months or longer.

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