Park Hills, Dexter, Cape Girardeau, Ste. Genevieve, and Sikeston are all cities that Operation Jump-Start has recently touched. However, in January, the latest small business training classes kicked off in Portageville, Mo., at the University of Missouri Delta Center. Two classes were taught by Bill Vickery, Director of Entrepreneurship at Southeast Missouri State University, and 28 students graduated from the program on February 26, 2008.
Previous statistics boast that Operation Jump-Start has an 80% graduation rate with the minority population hovering around 35%. The course in Portageville, however, shattered the current statistics with its graduation rate of over 90% and a minority population of 100%. Graduates were all from the counties within the Southeast Missouri Economic Development Alliance (SMEDA). The results were so exciting, it led to an in-depth discussion of the statistics.
"We asked ourselves what was different this time,” said Gina Harper, training coordinator. "One person’s name was repeated during those conversations,” Harper said, “and it was Marene J. Austin. Working with her and her company has made all the difference."
In December of 2007, Harper said, Austin contacted Buz Sutherland, SMEDA Executive Director, to discuss ways to increase pride, wealth, and commitment in the Southeast Bootheel. Austin, founder of Choice, Inc., said she was searching for someone to partner with her to plant some seeds of hope in the economically depressed region of the Bootheel. Sutherland recommended Vickery and the Operation Jump-Start program. Sutherland also suggested the Delta Center as a training location. Within six weeks, the small business trainings were a reality.
"Marene has been a valuable resource for us in our southern counties,” Harper said. “She has many contacts in the area and she is always looking for ways to help us promote our program. Her connection to the Bootheel community has been so important to the success of these classes and the students.” Austin, who is originally from Caruthersville, stated that it takes more than one person to accomplish great things.
She said, “The collaboration between my company and the Innovation Center in Cape Girardeau has been invaluable.” Denise Word, a recent graduate from the Portageville course, has owned a barbecue restaurant for about a year in Howardville, Mo. If Word is awarded some grant funds to expand her restaurant, she said she will use the money to purchase industrial-grade equipment, and discontinue using the ‘household-quality fryers, grills and appliances I have now that are really slowing me down when I’m trying to serve customers.”
“I have never seen a more motivated group,” Vickery said. “It really was rewarding to see them complete the process."
"We will all have bright futures as a result of this collaboration,” Austin added. "I want to thank Buz Sutherland from the Delta Center in Portageville who introduced me to Bill Vickery ...we were able to dream together and make this training happen.”
For more information about Choice, Inc., please visit www.choice-inc.org or call the Memphis office at 901-367-7565. The partnership with Choice, Inc., will continue with plans for another course in Portageville or Caruthersville in April/May 2008, Harper said.
