You've got your unemployed friends and family and want to help. One thing you know they've got to do is research -on jobs, on locations, on career options, on education. You wish you could help them.
Ok, so go do it.
You're a geek, an otaku, a fan. You live in a world of information and are probably insanely good at researching a few things if not a lot of things. You probably have a terrifying amount of knowledge about some important subjects.
So, help those looking for work by assisting them with research.
I'm not saying do it all for them – though in some cases it may make sense that they "outsource" to you. I'm saying help out where you're really good to help them get the information they need. GO where you're most needed, and most critical.
Don't worry too much about doing their job for them. In these tough times life's challenging enough as it is.
So go on and find out what technical skills they need, or use your freakish knowledge of demographics to find them an ideal city. Go and apply your typing skills and ability to network among geeks to find out about good career options.
Go and apply those research skills. As long as they're willing to listen, helping them out is an option.