2012 Annual Report - Albany Chamber of Commerce

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Strive Thrive
Annual Report
2012
Our Program
In 1999, Forbes Magazine identified Albany, Georgia as the nation’s “fourth poorest metro in America.” The rankings, while
disturbing, helped to shine a light on a very serious and real problem of disparities in economic prosperity, social inclusion,
access to capital, educational attainment and regional economic development that has been both endemic to Deep South
communities and systemic in areas of large African American populations. As the years progressed, the statistics worsened.
Albany, Ga., now shows 25.2% of individuals and 39% of families living in poverty; 73% of those families have five or more
children; 59% are unemployed; 39% of County School System students did not finish high school; and, 80% of children
qualify for free/reduced lunches. More recently, our Congressional District was ranked as one of the 10 most impoverished
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Our community is in crisis, with disproportionately high poverty rates among minority populations and a subsequent
correlation to a diminishing, qualified workforce. Adding to the stresses of an impoverished populace, the region has lost
industry in recent years with large manufacturers such as Cooper Tire Company closing their doors in 2009 and relocating
elsewhere, taking with them thousands of jobs. It is statistically proven that where there is low student performance, an
untrained and non-motivated workforce and an ineffective community development system, a community fails to prosper.
The overall impact of poverty is realized by the Albany region’s inability to attract industry and grow the existing job market.
With dismal reports about the local workforce and worsening reports about diminished capacity and waning industry, the
Albany Area Chamber of Commerce stepped up in 2010 to launch a community-based, regional effort to ensure all people
in the Albany area, particularly those who were economically and socially disadvantaged, were provided opportunities to
fully engage in regional prosperity and governance over their own futures.
S2T has shown dramatic community success and has been recognized nationally
as one of the most unique business models to address workforce development.
In fact, the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce is the only business advocacy
organization in the country to adopt and utilize this unique initiative as an
economic and business development program. The Strive2Thrive campaign
addresses tangible disparities in social and economic prosperity and has been
primarily successful due to its broad-based appeal, support and engagement of
differing but integral constituent groups such as elected officials, leaders in
business and civic champions. The regional capacity of the campaign is
evidenced in the composition of the board of directors, advocates in local
government, including the newly-elected mayor of the city of Albany (Dorothy Hubbard), and the
buy-in of the local business community.
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Board of Directors
Cynthia George, Chairman, CEO, Artesian Consulting
Dr. John Culbreath, Vice Chairman
Barbara Rivera Holmes, Director of Marketing & Existing
Industries, Albany-Dougherty EDC
Ben Barrow, Treasurer, President, LRA Constructors
Mary Ligon, Chief Consultant and Coach, Mary Ligon etc.
Catherine Glover, Secretary
Daniel McCarthy, Executive Director, Albany Housing
Authority
Charlene Glover, Senior Pastor, Trumpet of God Ministries
Lauren Ray, Executive Director, Phoebe Foundation
Dave Wallace, Executive Director, Albany Area YMCA
Bernée Long, Entrepreneur and Head Coach, The BE Team
Since 2010, 58 low-income families (including a total of more than
150 men, women, and children) enrolled in Strive2Thrive with a
desire to overcome poverty and become self-sufficient. Out of
those families who have enrolled, 50 families have successfully
completed Getting Ahead and graduated into “Circles” where they
have been or are waiting to be matched with Allies who have
committed to offer ongoing support to the Circle leaders as they
continue their education, training, and professional goals. That’s an
88% success rate!
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2012 Strive Thrive Annual Report
Strive2Thrive Staff
Our Progress
Ausha Jackson
Jamaal Diggins
Alvita Swain
Vincent Alston
EDUCATION
Acting Executive Director
Program Assistant
Intensive Services Coordinator
Circles Coach
The number of families who are actively enrolled in
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Our Services
Getting Ahead
Ausha Jackson
Acting Executive Director
During a 16-week course, entitled “Getting Ahead in a Just Getting by World,”
participants discuss the issues surrounding poverty and develop a personal plan
for moving out of poverty.
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By the Numbers
• Percentage Increase in Educational Enrollment: 55.5 %
In 2012 the number of
Individuals who graduated and received
o
o
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Circles™
Upon graduating from Getting Ahead, participants have the option to become
Circle Leaders and be matched with 2-4 Allies, or volunteers, who have
committed to offering on-going support as the Circle Leader begins achieving
his or her goals.
GED
Associate Degree
Bachelor Degree
Master Degree
Doctoral
GED
Associates Degree
Bachelor’s Degree
Masters Degree
1
2
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1
INCOME
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No. of families who obtained new jobs in 2012:
6
Intensive Services
Intensive Service Coordination involves case management for children and
adults with complex special needs. Participants with complex special needs will
receive specialized case management that involves multiple service providers
collaborating to develop, coordinate, and manage the implementation of an
integrated plan to meet the identified needs of the family to support goal
achievement. Other programs include: Health and Wellness, Parenting Classes,
and Disability Support Services.
Alvita Swain
Intensive Services
Coordinator
Personal Development
Increase in Income
•
•
•
Strive2Thrive’s Personal Development series includes activities that help Circle
Leaders increase their self-awareness and identity, develop talents and potential,
and contributes to the realization of dreams and aspirations.
6 months – 27.98%
12 months – 40.37%
18 months – 68.86%
Other
Professional Development
Based upon feedback from local business leaders and professionals, S2T offers
a 16-week training to develop the core competencies necessary for success in
both education and work environments.
Percentage of Increase in Reliable Transportation: 60.0%
Percentage of Increase in Safe, Affordable Housing: 83.3%
Percentage of Increase in New, Opened Savings Accounts: 33.3%
AWARDS ...
Financial Literacy
Jamaal Diggins
Program Assistant
Strive2Thrive offers an 8-week financial literacy series covering basic financial
topics developed by the Federal Deposit Insurance (FDIC) MoneySmart
curriculum. Topics of discussion include predatory practices, how credit scoring
determines interest rate, subprime lending, payday lending, title loan programs
and mortgage flipping to name a few. This helps Circle Leaders avoid entering
into credit transactions that are priced beyond their capacity to repay.
The Albany Area Chamber of Commerce and
Strive2Thrive took home big honors at the 2012
American Chamber of Commerce Executives
(ACCE) National Convention.
The Chamber’s unique workforce development
program, which seeks to partner working
professionals with Albany-area families living in
poverty, won the Gold Communications in
Excellence Award by the ACCE, before being
www.strive2thrive.org
named Best of Show in its category. Albany beat
out the Prince William Chamber of Commerce in
Virginia for the top honor.
S2T was also named a finalist in the Alliance for
Regional Stewardship (ARS) Organizational
Champion Award. Only three chambers nationwide
were named ARS finalists, a nod to the Albany’s
success in demonstrating the principles of regional
stewardship including innovation, creating livable
communities, social inclusion and collaborative
governance.
Jeanetta’s Story...
Strive2Thrive helps families create new and better lives
Jeanetta Miles very easily could have become a statistic. She'd lived a
life, after all, that had broken many of her peers, swallowed them whole
and spit them out as victims. But unlike those around her on some of
Albany's meaner streets who wound up in prison, hustling drugs or dead,
Miles found salvation of the sweetest kind. That she found it essentially
by accident makes her story all the more compelling.
"I was a gang
a lot of pressure. He
member, I was a
took his frustration
leader," Miles told a
out on (his children),
crowd of rapt business
telling us we'd never
leaders at the Albany
be able to accomplish
Area Chamber of
anything. I believed
Commerce's recent
him."
Strive2Thrive Rise N
So much so, in fact,
Shine Breakfast. After a
Miles started spending
beat, though, she
most of her time in
added, the hurt in her
the streets, running
subdued voice obvious,
with gang members
"I was a nobody."
and growing more
But Miles just
and more convinced
happened to be
that she'd found a
attending GED
"replacement family"
preparation classes on
that cared for her.
the day that members
Soon, she accepted
Chinelo Ochie, Architectural & Mechanical Drafting Instructor at Albany
of the Chamber came to
their antisocial
Technical College, explains a class assignment to Jeanetta Miles.
talk about a new
activities as her
program designed to
destiny.
Miles was born in Albany in 1982 to
help struggling families battle their way
"When my parents pushed me out, I
parents with little education and
out of poverty. Intrigued, Miles felt she
had nothing and nobody," she said. "I
"having trouble making ends meet."
had nothing to lose.
went to the streets, and the streets
She was ridiculed by her peers at
"My whole life had been a struggle,"
became my teacher. We fought ... we
school because she wore only handshe said. "I had children whose father
did wrong things that it scares me to
me-down or second-hand clothes, and
was never around, and it just hit me
even think about now."
she soon became expert at "taping up
that it was time to leave the streets
Left alone with two children and no
my shoes" so she could get another
alone. I wanted a better life. I wanted
hope, Miles decided, for the sake of
year out of them.
my children to have a better life."
her kids, to look into classes that
"Wow, I suppressed these memories
So Miles signed on for the Chamberwould allow her to obtain a high
for so many years," Miles told the Rise
sponsored Strive2Thrive program,
school equivalency diploma. A short
N Shine gathering. "My fear of being
determining that she wanted a change
time later, she was introduced to the
judged caused me to shut down."
in her life.
Strive2Thrive concept.
The frustration of her parents'
"What they were talking about
The adjustment was not easy.
appealed to me immediately," she said. poverty led them, as is so often the
"When Jeanetta started the program,
case, to strike out at their offspring.
"I realized that, with the help of some
she did not trust anyone," Miles'
caring people, I could change my life. I Miles was soon convinced she would
primary ally, Kimberly Griffin, said. "It
"never amount to anything."
saw an opportunity to get away from
was a gradual process, but she
"My mom was there, but she really
the things that had been holding me
eventually came to see that there were
wasn't," Miles said. "My dad was not
down my whole life. I saw a way to
people (in Strive2Thrive) who truly
fully educated, and that put him under
make things better for my children."
cared about her as a person. That was
something she'd never experienced
before."
Miles said she drew strength from
volunteers like John Culbreath, who
said, "We've seen a lot of ships set sail
in Albany. Some of them have sunk to
the bottom of the Flint River, and some
of them are just drifting along,
floundering.
"But this ship has set on a course of
eliminating poverty, and by God, that's
what we're going to do."
Trusting, however, was not
something Miles did easily.
"Yeah, I was a little stubborn at first,"
she said. "People had let me down so
much in my life, I was not ready to
open myself up to the possibility that
someone actually cared about me,
wanted to help me. And it was so hard
for me to talk about the life I'd always
been ashamed of."
But Griffin and other Strive2Thrive
volunteers persisted. And little by little
they wore Miles' protective veneer
down. And slowly her life started to
turn around.
"I changed my mindset," Miles said.
"I put all the stuff in my past behind
me; I let it be my past."
The former gang member, long
abused by society and — even more
hurtful — by the ones she loved,
suddenly saw some light at the end of
the tunnel. She got her GED. She
enrolled in Albany Technical College's
Architectural Drafting and Design
program. She found a new place for
her and her two children to live.
“
I was a gang
member, I was a
leader, ... I was a
nobody.
”
Jeanetta Miles told the
crowd at the Srive2Thrive RNS
She's working at Albany Tech now
and is four classes away from
graduation. She's paid off half the debt
she built ("I'm so proud of myself!")
and she's working to get a vehicle that
will allow her the freedom that has so
long eluded her.
"God has helped me," Miles said.
"Strive2Thrive has helped me. I'm
ready to graduate from Albany Tech
and start my own architectural firm. I
want to be one of the people who
helps others like Strive2Thrive helped
me. I believe there is hope for our
community because I have
experienced it. I've seen what can
happen."
That, S2T organizer Cynthia George
said, is what makes volunteers' efforts
so rewarding
"These wonderful people, their
mental fortitude, they continue to
inspire all of us," she said. "We realize
that whatever effort we put into this,
our community — Albany — will reap
the harvest."
Miles, meanwhile, is now the face of
Strive2Thrive's efforts, the embodiment
of what can be accomplished with the
help of dedicated volunteers. She says,
though, that more work needs to be
done.
"I speak for everyone who's been
helped by Strive2Thrive when I say we
appreciate the community's support,"
she said. "But there's more that can be
done. We need more allies; we need
more volunteers. I'm proof of what can
happen; I'm proof of what it means to
reach out to another person.
"If someone had given me the help
I've gotten from Strive2Thrive when I
was growing up, I'd be much farther
along than I am now. But I thank God
for the struggles I've been through.
Now I know I can use those struggles
to help others."
Thank you to our sponsors, Phoebe
Community Visions and SB&T, for
making the Strive2Thrive RNS possible.
From left: Ausha Jackson, Director Strive2Thrive; Kimberly Griffin, Ally of the Year Winner; Cynthia George, Co-founder
Strive2Thrive; Jeanetta Miles, Jane Willson Family of the Year Winner; John Culbreath, Co-founder Strive2Thrive
Thank you to all of our
individual sponsors and partners…
We appreciate you!
Strategic Partners
Albany Area Chamber of Commerce
Albany Area Community Service Board/ASPIRE
Albany Area YMCA
Albany Housing Authority
Albany State University
Albany Technical College
Dougherty County School System (DCSS)
Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital
Marine Corp Logistics Base (MCLB)
United Way
Community Partners and Supporters
AB&T
Albany Community Together, Inc.
Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB)
Albany-Dougherty EDC
Albany Herald
Albany Journal
Albany Police Department
Albany Primary Health Care
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
Artesian Consulting Company
AmeriGroup
Camp Grace (Roberta, Georgia)
Carmike Wynnsong 16
Central Monitoring
Chili’s Bar & Grill
City of Albany (Mayor Dorothy Hubbard)
Crime Stoppers
David Smith’s Auto-Land
Destiny Transportation
Dougherty County Family Literacy Council, Inc.
Dougherty County Public Library
Faith Community Outreach Center
First United Methodist Church
Fox 31
Friendship Missionary Baptist Church
Golden Corral
Goodwill Industries
Greater 2nd Mt. Olive
Little Caesar’s
M&M Mars
Mcknight Loretta Haley Fdn
Nawic of Albany GA Ch. 65
Parents for Change
Pinpointing Your Purpose
Porterfield
Proctor and Gamble
Rhema Word Cathedral
Rotary Club of Dougherty County
Saving Grace Ministries
Stop the Violence
Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE)
The McCormack Foundation
Southwest Georgia Project
The University of Georgia – Dougherty County
Cooperative Extension
Trumpet of God Ministries & Training Center
Union Baptist Church
University of Georgia Dougherty County
Cooperative Extension
Vocational Rehabilitation
WALB
Well Care
XI Chapter Delta Kappa Gamma