- This month on The Spark, our theme is "Fostering Resiliency."

We'll learn more about an open enrollment, public tuition-free charter school network of five schools serving the North Memphis area, a nonprofit community development corporation, serving south Memphis and the greater Memphis area and a playbook designed to help small businesses PROSPER.

We'll also share a special moment from our Spark Awards 2021.

- From our very   beginnings in 1954,   Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance   has been built on the values   of customer service,   leading with integrity and   supporting our community.

We believe in promoting   the positives,   encouraging engagement   and leading by example   to power the good.

Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance is honored to be a presenting sponsor of The Spark.

- (male announcer)   Additional funding   for The Spark   is provided by   Meritan, United Way of   the Mid-South, ECOP,   My Town Movers, My Town   Roofing, My Town Miracles,   and by SRVS.

- Ever been excited   by a new idea?

Inspired watching   someone lead by example?

When we talk about   creating change,   we start by sharing the   stories of everyday heroes   who are making a   difference in their own way   so we can learn   and do the same.

I'm Jeremy Park and   this is The Spark.

[upbeat music] They're are charter school network serving the North Memphis area.

We're here with the CEO of KIPP Memphis Public Schools, Dr. Antonio Burt and let's start Dr. Burt, give us a little bit of perspective nationally, and then locally with the efforts for KIPP Memphis Public Schools.

- Yes, thank you, Jeremy.

Nationally, KIPP Memphis is a part of a national network of KIPP school, which roughly serves in over 45 cities across multiple states across the US.

Here locally in Memphis,   we have five schools as a   part of the KIPP network,   primarily serving students in   the North Memphis community,   primarily touching   approximately around   two thousand students   and families.

- And so you have five schools, talk about some of the things that make you unique in terms of earlier start, later finish, lower student to teacher ratio.

What are the things that make you unique?

- Yes.

Great question.

Definitely everything that you mentioned, you know, we start school earlier.

We end the school day a little later, so it allows our kids to have more time on task   with their teachers.

We also do extended programs,   whether it be after   school programs,   Saturday academies as well.

This summer we're   gonna implement some   of those programs   for our summer learning   that was a part of the   early KIPP history as well.

But more importantly, we have a smaller teacher/student ratio.

That's important to ensure that all kids learning needs are being met, but more importantly, their teacher are able to go in depth around those academic deficit areas or areas that need a lot of strengthening to accelerate learning.

- Talk about technology and the one-to-one ratio for the students.

- Every student has a device.

So we're proud of the technology that we have, not only inside the buildings, but across every classroom.

We were able to purchase   Chromebooks for our students.

So learning can take   place at school,   but learning can also be   extended at home as well.

And it helps us in regard to   an instruction perspective, being able to ensure that we're maximizing all of our instructional learning time across the networking school to school.

- You are tuition free and public, but what does it mean to be a charter school?

- Yeah, so a charter school is different from a traditional school because a charter school really has more autonomy around from a programming perspective, what type of resources and programs will go inside the school to meet the educational needs, but also around, you know, what will be the area of focus of the school?

Will the school focus on STEM?

Will the school have a focus on like foreign languages?

And there's less, you know, bureaucracy from the different layers in order to be able to implement certain programs.

It's not the where, you know, traditional district, you have different department that has a certain level of requirements that you have to meet those department needs.

Whereas a charter can design its charter the way it see fit, to best meet the needs of the students in this community.

- You yourself have gone through a program called New Leaders and really equipping you to be even more successful as a leader.

Talk about that experience and how that relates to you stepping in as CEO and refining the culture, and carrying that leadership across the teachers and the principals within KIPP Memphis Public Schools.

- Yes.

Great question.

You know, if you think about KIPP, KIPP has been in Memphis since 2002, so this August we will be approaching a 20-year anniversary.

And then just like with any organization, you know, if you stay in a place for a long period of time, you go through a lot of iterations.

So at this current time across the network, it's a point where we're really analyzing, you know, what do we commit to, to the North Memphis community?

What are our core beliefs, core values and how do we strengthen those core beliefs and core values across the network?

And if I had to align that with my training, my training is focus on going on, going into schools, doing an in depth SWOT analysis around what are strength, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and then building a plan of action.

That same approach is supporting me as I walk into the new role as CEO and KIPP doing an in-depth diagnostic across the network, but across school to school, and to really develop a plan of action for each individual site, but also for the network as a whole.

- What makes you excited when you look at the statistics, the success that you're having for the students, and the community at large, what makes you excited for the future ahead?

- Yeah, so, you know, if I think about where we are, the future ahead, and what that looks like from like how we really can leverage where we are, I think, you know, we are a stable force that have committed to community,   a community that has often   been overlooked in a lot   of different aspects,   so I'm excited about   strengthening the partnership   between schools and community   as well, but more importantly,   I'm excited about   the possibility around   what can we do from   an academic perspective   to really make a true model or a true example around school choice and Memphis, and say, Hey, when you take on a challenge, when you address the challenges head on, this can take place in Memphis.

This can take place in a zip code has often been one of the most challenging zip codes in regard to academic performance.

And this is what we need to do not only here, but across the country to support our students in these type of environments.

- I know you're very focused on partnerships.

How can the community help?

How can we partner with you?

- Yeah, so we're definitely looking for partnerships.

We really want to be a true, true neighborhood, but a true partnership to where a school is really just a staple of the community.

And so you definitely can reach out, Kippmemphis.org.

It has on the site, it talks about how you can really solicit support to the team, solicit support to the network, but more importantly, partner with us as we tackle these issues, that's currently plaguing the educational landscape here in our county as well.

So definitely visit Kippmemphis.org, email me directly, aburt@kippmemphis.org.

I would love to partner, I would love to collaborate and I would love to like be a thought partner or solicit your support as we try to transform lives of our students in North Memphis.

- Well, Dr. Burt, thank you for all you and your amazing team do.

Thank you for are coming on the show.

- Thank you.

I appreciate it.

[upbeat music] - They're a community development corporation serving the south Memphis and greater Memphis area.

We're here with the President and CEO of The Works, Inc., Roshun Austin, and Roshun, how are you doing?

And lets start out, give us a little bit of history for The Works Inc. - I'm great, thank you.

The Works Inc., was founded about 24 years ago.

It was an initiative out of St. Andrew AME Church, about a two square mile area in south Memphis.

It was created to address   the affordable housing needs   in that specific geography.

It expanded over the years   based on the desires and needs   of our neighbors, what we like   to call them, in the area.

And so most recently we've   expanded even further by merging with one of our sister organizations, another nonprofit, Neighborhood Preservation, Inc, which was created to address some intractable problems specifically around blight and problem properties, and they were already our partner in that work.

And so we joined forces to do this work more.

- What does a community development corporation do?

Go ahead and add a description around what you do.

- So, they're very broad, it depends on where you are in the country, but the history of community development corporations really date back to the sixties in the Northeast US or the New England area, even if I think about Boston.

And so they do a lot of things.

So a lot of people in the South think first of affordable housing.

So we are the developers and   owners of affordable housing,   but community development   corporations do serve   comprehensive needs for   families, so they may have,   they may be the owners of   health centers in some places,   they own theaters,   they're landlords for   commercial developments,   but they actually really   prime the pump in the stress   neighborhoods and bring in   often market rate developers where there has been disinvestment in no development for decades.

And so as a result, you know, we are grocers.

You know, I say, we play a grocer on TV.

We do a lot of work around health and equity.

We built, we developed a   pocket park, we do work around   health equity and green   space and policy work   and infrastructure improvements   and public improvements   along our streets, bike   and pedestrian amenities,   and so we do a lot   of different things.

And often that's in   partnership with whether it's government, for-profit industry, and develop with developers and contractors or other nonprofits and philanthropic organizations.

- Give us a couple of, not necessarily success stories, maybe that's not the right phrasing, but give us a couple of stories of impact recently for you.

- So I like to think, and one of the reasons NPI joined forces with The Works is a project we did in Frayser, and it was a part of the Frayser Neighborhood Initiative, an anchor based strategy around schools.

And so we just completed 146 units, and it's not really just completed.

The pandemic throws time off.

So a year ago we completed 146 units of affordable housing for very low and extremely low income families.

So those are families that are 60% and below the area's median income.

And so that was very impactful in an area where you had not seen investment in multifamily for years.

There are a lot of, there's a lot of multifamily there, but no new construction,   but this was a major rehab,   almost $18 million invested   for those families.

So that's a big one I   like to talk about a lot.

- What are some of the current projects right now on your plate?

- Oh, we have so many projects on our plate.

And so we are waiting on a mobile grocery.

And so it's a 46 feet long   trailer that will be towed   by a F-450 and we'll take it   into the neighborhoods   where we work that   are food deserts.

We are doing the phase one and the site work for a subdivision for home ownership in south Memphis.

It's about 35 units and it's a shared equity type of home ownership.

We've started the architectural plans for a senior development across from the 146 units in Frayser.

Steve helped us take on a new initiative around the Washington Bottoms, you know, it's 10 to 12 acres in the middle of the city that was cleared for a big box that they never used, and so we're gonna do some urban agriculture there.

We're doing a huge initiative in the Klondike neighborhood,   and I think people   know that now.

We haven't made an   official announcement,   but we're doing the development   of both single family   and small multifamily   housing for families in the neighborhood.

And the biggest one in terms of number is the redevelopment, mixed use redevelopment of the Northside High School, which we should be closing sometime late in the spring on the New Markets Tax Credits, and so that's, you know, fifty million plus development of almost three hundred thousand square foot former high school, and so that's a big one, that'll be a big shiny project that people will notice, even though they may notice some of our smaller, you know, seventeen million [chuckling] deals.

That's a big one that, and people like to say a mini Crosstown.

It's not very far from Crosstown.

It's about a third of the size of Crosstown.

And it'll have residential, you know, some commercials, some nonprofits and hopefully some startup businesses from the neighbors that already live in Klondike.

- How do your efforts play a role in increasing resiliency in our community?

- So I think that's an interesting question.

Often our organizations focus on and I say transactions, and so it's the physical side of us doing work.

And so when you, I think of resilience,   I think about people.

And so I can build   all of the houses,   and do all of the commercial   buildings and build grocery   stores and have pimped out   trailers that take groceries   across the city,   but I really have to   have focus on the people.

And so a lot of our initiatives and efforts we've been talking about at the beginning of the year with our combined staff is around how do we serve people and make sure that they have a better quality of life and they're resilient.

And so we've been looking at, you know, some things that you see trends across the country like guaranteed income, and how do we really move the needle?

It's a focus on those people, those families, and whether they're, we don't do a lot of work around children, but if we're touching the family, we're touching children in some way.

And we have partners who do better jobs with children than us, but we want them to be resilient.

And so we start to really attack this generational poverty issue that impact our city in a very negative way with such a high poverty rate.

- Well, where do we go to learn more about The Works, Inc?

- So we can, you can go to our website at www.theworkscdc.org, and then we'll be putting out a lot of material in the coming months.

We are working with a public relations firm and we have an on staff communications person to get the word out.

We were just having this conversation this morning about how do we get word out about the units that are available for rent to potential tenants?

Our mortgage program, how do we get more people to know that there is financing available for them to purchase homes if they're ready or eligible to purchase homes?

So we're gonna have, hopefully be on a lot more TV shows and radio shows and get word out, advertising print media, maybe do a commercial to get the word out wherever the people are.

We want to get to the people so that we can serve them in a better way.

- Absolutely.

Well, Roshun, thank you for all you and your amazing team do.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thank you for having me.

[upbeat music] - The Spark Awards annually recognize and celebrate individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the community.

The 2021 recipient of   the Nonprofit Award   for organizations with a   budget under $1 million   is Memphis Shelby PAL.

- Memphis Shelby PAL   stands for Memphis Shelby Police Activities League.

It is an independent nonprofit organization founded in 2017 as a juvenile crime prevention program.

Right now we are   the only PAL chapter   in the state of Tennessee.

We serve over 2000   kids in Shelby County   and surrounding counties,   DeSoto and Tipton.

We partner right now with   Memphis Police Department   and Shelby County   Sheriff's Department.

And those officers   serve as coaches,   mentors, volunteers   within our program.

Our philosophy is bridging   the gap between kids, cops,   and community.

Cops putting down   their police equipment   and picking up whistles   and just letting the youth   see them in a different light because they see them every day in their neighborhoods policing.

They see them at their schools policing.

So we wanted to just shed a different light on our officers   and just let them   know that, you know,   they are there to help us   and not just to police us.

We have about 2000 youth   that come through our program   and the ages are five to 18.

We have mentors, we   have peer mentors,   those kids that age out,   or those older kids at being   able to come in and mentor   the younger kids, we utilize   them as youth coaches.

Sometimes they come out, they come back and they wanna be coaches.

We have coaches right now, coaching children that have come through the program.

During the pandemic, we didn't   want the youth to lose focus.

We didn't want them to feel   like, hey, you know, it's over.

We can't do so we came   up with creative ways   to keep them engaged.

On Tuesdays,   we had TikTok Tuesdays where   the children would actually   send in their   recorded Tik Toks,   so things of that sort.

Just seeing the children, once they go through our program, seeing them as adults,   young adults,   just seeing that them telling   stories of how grateful   they are for anything that   we may have done for them   while they were   in the program,   and just listening to some   of their success stories, because they always tell us that it could have gone another way for them in life, but because of this program, they were successful in life.

[soft, bright music] - It's a playbook designed to help small businesses prosper.

We're talking about the Greater Memphis Chamber's, "Small Business Resiliency Playbook."

We're joined by Dotty Summerfield Giusti, and she is with Summerfield Associates, Inc. And she's the co-chair of the Greater Memphis Chamber, Small Business Council.

And let's start out, Dotty, talk about what led to the creation of this "Small Business Playbook."

- Thanks, Jeremy, thanks so much.

We all know that in March of 2020, everything stopped and it stopped for small businesses worse than it stopped for everybody.

Small businesses aren't lucky like large companies.

We don't have a built in CFO, a VP of marketing, an attorney.

We sure don't have an internal technology department.

So in the fall of 2020, Beverly Robertson, who owns a small business herself and is president and CEO of the Chamber said, "What can we do?

"Let's put a program together   for small businesses.

"We know they want   to be resilient,   "but we also know   they need to prosper.

"We need to return   to prosperity."

So we picked 50   small businesses from   across the spectrum,   chamber members,   non-chamber   members, for-profit,   not-for-profit because   everybody was faced   with the same problems.

Did I do it right?

Am I gonna come through this?

What do I need to know?

What do I need to do?

So we developed a series of   about five or six meetings.

We called it our PROSPER   Series that focused   on perspective,   refocus, operations.

Where I'm at financially?

Do I have a good relationship?

Do I have a budget?

Is the budget right?

Am I gonna come through this?

Systems, am I ready technology   wise and if I'm not,   how do I get there?

People, our most   important asset.

Are they ready to work remote?

Can I bring 'em back?

How do I keep my team, my   team through all of this   and engagement,   not just my people, my   customers and my partners.

Then we reset,   but for resilience   to return to prosperity.

That was the embryo,   those six meetings.

And out of that, we wanted   to create a playbook, something that we can virtually reach back off that shelf and bring down.

We live in Memphis.

You know it as well as I do, we're gonna have another, whatever.

It's gonna be an ice storm.

It's gonna be a thunderstorm.

It's gonna be gosh, willing and not another pandemic, but something's gonna happen.

We're gonna have another crisis.

So am I ready?

Something that we can reach to virtually or not virtually and keep in one place, all of those tidbits that we learned through PROSPER.

And then as we move forward, more information will be added to that.

So out of the PROSPER Series came the Playbook for Small Business Resiliency.

- And you went through obviously the acronym for PROSPER.

For you as a small business owner, what's something that you learned and obviously looking at this playbook, how has it already helped you?

- Well, I can tell you it helped me, but let me tell you what I heard from one of our PROSPER and Small Business Council members last week in a meeting.

He said, "Do you remember when we were talking "about operations and we said you got a budget "and everybody's gonna budget for the good years, but we need to budget for the bad years."

So this small business, not for profit, budgeted for a great year in 2022.

And then all of a sudden we got hit with Omicron.

So what did you do?

He reached back to his playbook and he pulled down his disaster budget and said, "Okay, I can make it if we happen again."

For me, I've been doing what I do for 40 years.

I'm in the people business, but I've never run a business where I have not been in the same room with my staff since March of 2020, except for once.

So how do I manage them to be upbeat and happy about what they're doing?

And those lessons on engagement and people have stood me in good stead through this.

Hopefully my staff seems to think so too, 'cause they're still happy and love doing what they're doing.

- I know for the Greater Memphis Chamber, the majority of the businesses are small businesses.

So how does this play a role in the Small Business Council with the Greater Memphis Chambers efforts overall?

- So the small businesses, smallbusinessresiliency.com site, although not part of the Small Business Council, the Small Business Council is still gonna continue to do programming.

We did 14 programs in '21 and the videos of those, the synopsis will live on that smallbusinessresiliency.com site where the Playbook lives.

So as we go forward, as we plan for the beginning of the year, what are we doing about workforce, which is an upcoming?

What are we going to do?

All of those programs from the Small Business Council will reside on that site.

And hopefully we'll answer question from our small business community and you're right, it's 80% of the chamber members and it's about 75% of all the businesses in Memphis and Shelby county.

- When you look at the road ahead for, you know, 2022 and beyond, talk about "The Small Business Resiliency Playbook" and really how that's going to create not only more resilience, but also more of a solid foundation for our small businesses and entrepreneurs looking ahead.

- And hopefully anyone can access "The Playbook."

It's online and it's easy to get to.

And it's easy to navigate.

Our small businesses may suddenly be set, as we said with operations, do I have a banker?

Do I understand what I need to do?

I'll go there first.

Let me look there.

And if I can't find the answer, then the Small Business Council is always gonna be a resource for the small businesses in our community.

When I first started my business a long time ago, my uncle who'd been in business since the '30s said to me, "I have three things to tell you.

"The most important thing, "make your banker your best friend, "make your banker your best friend and make your banker your best friend."

And thank goodness I've had that bit of advice, but that advice for me resides on the smallbusinessresiliency.com site.

So it's, there is a resource and a jumping off point and there for discussion groups.

We'll have discussion groups and rooms where if you've got an issue, bring it to the smallbusinessresiliency.com site, and we'll talk about it amongst ourselves and hopefully can come up with an answer.

- And talk about the website again, mention it, but this being a free resource for everyone to access and use as a tool, I think that's an important element of this.

- Absolutely it's smallbusinessresiliency.com and it's free to anyone.

You don't have to be a chamber member and you don't have to live in Memphis.

- Well, Dotty greatly appreciate all you and the amazing team do.

Thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing.

I appreciate it.

- Thank you very much, Jeremy.

[upbeat music] - Resiliency is defined as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties.

The process of adapting in the face of adversity.

Here in Memphis, we're known for our grit and grind, our ability to take on any challenge, to keep taking the punches and to get back on our feet and keep moving forward.

But for our commute to be truly resilient, we need to ensure that all of our citizens have access to support, to resources and opportunities that will allow them to not just persist, but fully recover, adapt, and start to thrive.

We're fortunate to have organizations like KIPP Memphis Public Schools to create joyful, academically excellent schools that are preparing students with the skills and confidence to create the future they want for themselves and their communities.

Or The Works Inc, which is helping to rebuild, restore and renew our communities families, and the environments in which the they live through housing, economic development, and social services.

And the Greater Memphis Chamber, which is giving small businesses free access to a playbook designed to help them prosper and become more resilient when crisis comes.

As we saw in this month's episode, fostering resilency takes a team approach.

It takes all of us being a spark.

So thank you for watching The Spark.

To learn more about each of the guests, to watch past episodes and to share your stories of others leading by example, visit wkno.org and click on the link for The Spark.

We look forward to seeing you next month, and we hope that you'll continue joining with us to create a spark for the Mid-South.

- From our very   beginnings in 1954,   Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance   has been built on the values   of customer service,   leading with integrity, and   supporting our community.

We believe in promoting   the positives,   encouraging engagement,   and leading by example   to power the good.

Lipscomb and Pitts Insurance is honored to be a presenting sponsor of The Spark.

[upbeat music] [acoustic guitar chords]