SUMMARIES OF JOLI PROJECTS
FY 1994
1. Missouri Creations is a project operated by the West Central Missouri Community Action Agency (WCMCAA), a non-profit community action/community development agency in St. Clair County, Missouri. The Executive Director is Charles Braithwait and the Project Director is Wayne Erwin. Missouri Creations will be a business established as a wholesale/retail business catering specifically to the tourist trade in Butler, Missouri for the purpose of marketing art objects, crafts and food products procured from newly created home-based microbusinesses. WCMCAA will identify and recruit AFDC recipient heads of households who are producing crafts and food products as a hobby and provide them with training and technical assistance to develop their talents and increase productions within a home-based business framework. Their products would then be sold through Missouri Creations. Training and technical assistance would also be provided to personnel employed by Missouri Creations. Some of the key interventions planned by WCMCAA in implementing this project include employment preparation training, covering basic and vocational skills training; job training in cooperation with private businesses designed to create and expand job and career opportunities for low income individuals in the retail sales and marketing industry; home-based microbusiness development assistance designed to assist entrepreneurs with all stages of business development; financial and technical assistance for the start-up expenses of Missouri Creations; seeking and obtaining sponsorships from business concerns in the community to contribute resources and technical assistance to the project. The project plans to get 80 heads of households into home-based business ventures and a further 40 individuals into jobs created by the development of Missouri Creations, for a total of 120 new jobs at a cost per job of $4,166.00. The grant amount is $499,962. The evaluation will be conducted by George Johnson.
2. The New Opportunities for Women in Enterprise (NOWE) is a project designed and operated by the American Woman's Economic Development Corporation (AWED) of New York City, New York, a national, non-profit organization that trains and counsels women in how to establish and run their own businesses. Suzanne Tufts is the President and the Project Director is Elise Moore. The NOWE project will be a collaboration of AWED, the Women's Center for Education and Career Advancement and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) that will implement a comprehensive program to teach low-income female residents of NYCHA developments how to establish income-producing enterprises. Low-income women enrolled in the NOWE project will be assisted with developing a business plan so that they can start their own business in NYCHA-related business, such as painting, construction repairs, maintenance, tiling, groundskeeping, etc. Such new businesses are also expected to generate employment opportunities for other project participants. Some of the assistance provided to participants in the project include: business training and business technical assistance; peer group support; "World of Business" training--an AWED program that combines group counseling and personal skills training; case management; social service support; and start-up financial assistance. In addition to these basic program elements, a number of participants will be enrolled in NYCHA's Contracting and Construction Training Program to learn the technical skills needed to establish a contracting business to become a vendor to the Housing Authority. In all, jobs for 123 people will be created over three years, at least eight would have started a business in the sectors associated with NYCHA by the end of the third year. The cost per job is $4,065. The grant amount is $500,000.
3. Bringing the Unemployed to Independence through Low-income Development (BUILD) is a project operated by Sunbelt Human Advancement Resources, Inc. (SHARE), a non-profit charitable and educational community development agency in Greenville, South Carolina. The Executive Director is Dr. Willis H. Crosby, Jr. and the Project Director is Calvin Bird. BUILD will be developed as a business that would be a provider of housing construction and rehabilitative services. This business will also be an owner of affordable renovated rental properties for low and moderate income individuals. As a small business venture, BUILD is designed to provide employment and training opportunities to low-income residents while seeking to revitalize and stabilize the target areas and to enable family economic self-sufficiency. To this end, BUILD proposes to create 44 full time, permanent job opportunities for low income or AFDC client residents living within the target area. BUILD employees will learn specific skills associated with the rehabilitation and construction business. In addition to skills and specific trade training, employees will receive high quality on-site training in skills needed to pursue a rehabilitation/construction career. The services that BUILD will provide will include rehabilitation of houses to be sold to low-income home buyers, leasing of rehabilitated neighborhood housing to low income families, rehabilitation of substandard housing for local government housing programs, and additions and alterations for private homeowners and small businesses. The cost per job will be $10,039 over three years for 44 jobs. The grant amount is $441,725. The evaluation will be conducted by Doriann Norwood.
4. The HOME WORK project is operated by the Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC), a private, non-profit organization in Barre, Vermont. Stephen Hedger is the Executive Director and Mary Niebling is the project director. HOME WORK is a self-employment micro-enterprise project whose participants will supply contracted products to small and mid-sized manufacturers in northern Vermont out of their home-based businesses. Participants will be provided with entrepreneurial training, self-employment training, vocational training, financing for equipment, and ancillary business financing. A clearing house will be set up to identify and collect data on all businesses in north Vermont that are potential buyers of home-produced products, as well as provide home-based business owners with up-to-date information. Most importantly, HOME WORK will organize new home-based businesses into a network that will build group participation and train participants in leadership development and team building skills, eventually provide additional supportive services such as group purchase of goods or services for participants and their businesses. A total of 105 participants are expected to benefit by this project over three years, at a cost per job of $4,650. The grant amount is for $488,192. The evaluation will be conducted by Dan Kagan.
5. This JOLI Demonstration project is operated by the American Woman's Economic Development Corporation of California (California AWED) is a private, non-profit, community-based organization in Long Beach, California. The Executive Director is Judith Luther Wilder and the Project Director is Letty Herndon. The project will provide business training, technical assistance and financial assistance to low-income women to start and manage their own businesses. This will be achieved through a self-employment training program for low-income individuals and training and involvement in a revolving micro-loan pool program. Key interventions will include basic business skills training, which could include elementary skills whenever necessary; assistance in designing appropriate products or services; providing individualized and group counseling as needed; developing peer group support; developing opportunities for business networking through training, counseling and mentoring; establishing a mentoring system with successful business owners; assisting with legal issues and various regulations relevant to small businesses; providing a revolving micro-loan pool for financial assistance, in addition to assisting with establishing banking relationships and helping graduates qualify for credit and loans through conventional and nonconventional sources; and providing comprehensive case management. Over the three-year project period, 135 jobs are expected to be created, at a cost per job of $3,704. The grant amount is $500,000. The evaluator for the project is Mary Barton.
6. The Self-Employment Training Opportunities (SETO) project is operated by WomenVenture, a non-profit organization in St. Paul Minnesota dedicated to women's economic development. The President is Kay Gudmestad and the Project Director is Cynthia Paulson. SETO is a self-employment training program that provides access to training, technical assistance, business support services and loan funds to low income and AFDC recipient women. The project plans to create 72 new businesses that would generate 79 full time, permanent jobs. As a result of participating in SETO, participants are expected to achieve economic self-sufficiency through self-employment or through other employment. Interventions that will be implemented in this project include: a comprehensive participant assessment process; a revised and improved business training curriculum; and increased support services for business start-ups. The last component has proved to be of importance to the success of a project like SETO in WomenVenture's experience, as it provides technical and financial support, including one-on-one consulting with financial specialists and assistance with business plan development. The cost per job over three years will be $6,329. The grant amount is $500,000. The evaluation will be conducted by Christa Treichel.
7. The Bronx Educational Opportunity Center (EOC) is a collaborative project with the State University of New York Educational Opportunity Center and the World Rehabilitation Fund (WRF), which will operate the project. WRF is a non-profit organization based in New York City, New York, specializing in rehabilitation medicine projects. The President is James F. Garrett and the Project Director is Anthony Staros. The major objective of the project is to develop the capability of the Bronx EOC to train and place current welfare recipients as prosthetic and orthotic (P and O) technicians and later, to train and place P and O technologists, wheelchair repair and maintenance technicians, and wheelchair and adaptive equipment technologists. These represent three new kinds of positions in the health-care industry that had been previously non-existent. Technicians and technologists will be trained and receive certification in their specialties. They would easily be placed in jobs in the health industry in addition to having the capability to start their own business. The project expects to train at least 48 people as P/O technicians, some of whom could be further trained as P/O technologists. Other participants will be trained as wheelchair repair and maintenance technicians, with a number continuing training as specialized wheelchair and adaptive equipment technologists. All graduates would have acquired skills that are transferable to a number of other related industries. Up to 68 individuals will be trained and placed through this project over its three-year period, at a cost per job of $7,353. The grant amount is $499,996. David Vandergoot will conduct the evaluation.
8. This JOLI Demonstration project, micro-enterprise expansion project, is operated by the Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED), a private, non-profit community development corporation in Iowa City, IA. The President is Dr. John Else and the Project Director is Joan Hill. ISED will promote business expansion by targeting and providing technical assistance to existing micro-enterprise owners in the state of Iowa. The objectives of the project are : to assist 134 micro-level businesses to expand successfully, and to create 100 full time jobs for low-income individuals as a result of the expansions. The objectives will be accomplished through the provision of intensive one-on-one technical assistance and formal training as needed to micro-enterprise owners. This would involve assistance with business expansion plans, assisting with the psychological transformation of becoming an employer and all aspects of management, personnel and financial issues including, but not limited to, transition from self-employment to supervisor, marketing strategies, payroll, staff turnover, etc. It will also include assistance in accessing required financing. Follow-up assistance would include encouraging business owners to become members of ISED's "Business Club" to benefit from its networking and other support services. The three-year cost per job is $5,000. The grant amount is $500,000. The evaluation will be conducted by Dr. Catherine Alter.
9. Project Pioneer is a project operated by Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), a private, non-profit community development corporation based in Wiscasset, Maine. Ronald L. Phillips is the President and Karleigh Tara is the Project Director. The focus of the project is to assist 150 AFDC recipients and other low income individuals in Androscoggin County to get jobs at Pioneer Plastics. This will be achieved through customized pre-employment and pre-vocational education and training over three years. Simultaneously, Project Pioneer will provide funding assistance to support the business expansion of Pioneer Plastics, which would in turn create new jobs. Top priority will be given to the training components of the project, both to provide participants with adequate training for Pioneer Plastic's particular requirements, as well as providing them with adequate skills to enter the work force, thus making them more easily employable in general. Over the three-year project period, it is expected that 150 individuals will be placed in new jobs at Pioneer Plastics, at a cost per job of $3,333. The grant amount is $500,000. The evaluation will be conducted by Charles Morris.
10. Women Mean Business (WMB) is a project operated by the Women's Initiative for Self Employment (WISE), a private, non-profit organization that assists lower-income women in becoming self-sufficient through self-employment, based in San Francisco, California. Paulette Meyer is the President and the Project Director is Zenebu Bekele. WMB will train AFDC recipient women and assist them to become successfully self-employed. Key interventions will include a specially designed training program that addresses the particular needs of AFDC recipients such as low self esteem, basic skills and personal effectiveness. The existing WISE program will also provide a variety of training, consulting, support and lending services to low-income women entrepreneurs and aspiring women entrepreneurs. In addition to training, WMB will also provide support for business start-up and marketing assistance. A total of 63 new business are expected to be developed as a result of this project, with a total of 80 new jobs created, at a cost of $5,625 per job. The grant amount is $450,000. The evaluation will be conducted by Susie Bocoum.