One of Memphis Mayor A C Wharton’s priorities got the spotlight in January when he hosted a jobs forum in a crowded conference hall at the Benjamin Hooks Central Library. Wharton was seeking clarity on where the region stands, and what it needs to change in order to retain and expand its workforce.“One of the major takeaways from this forum was our need to do a better job of connecting the dots,” the mayor said in a statement to the Greater Memphis Chamber.

“There is a real need to ensure that local resources and job training opportunities are helping to create a more seamless connection between the unemployed and underemployed, and those employers and businesses in need of skilled workers.”

Leaders in the local employment arena affirm there is a greater need for effective communication about what is available and what is possible.

Further, these officials say, there is a particular need to encourage minority businesses that can grow and thrive in a competitive marketplace beyond traditional mom-and-pop enterprises. “There are so many different and disjointed organizations here in Memphis that need to get together and collaborate on the things we are doing,” says Jim Russell,executive director of the taxpayer-funded Workforce Investment Network.Russell, who left the agency this February, took over about a year and a half ago when the agency was coming under criticism for having to return unspent money to the state. Russell has been working to fix the problems and raise awareness of WIN. “When I came to this position, I used the slogan: ‘The best kept secret in Memphis,’ and told people we didn't need to be that,” he said. “We need to get out in the community and let it know what we do, what we can pay for.”

Wharton agreed. “WIN is a powerful employment resource that has historically underperformed when considering the local jobless rates and the advancing needs of new and expanding businesses,” the mayor says. “Even with positive changes that have occurred, WIN is not more universally known and utilized despite the tremendous need for the services they provide. I am hands-on in helping to change this and in making sure this invaluable program is operating at its highest level.”

WIN has a fund for training and retraining dislocated workers, as well as a youth program. Russell says he’s also started a new business service for people who have lost their jobs and have more than a high school education. “We will work with them and try to provide stipends to let them know that finding a job is a job,” he says. And in covering other ground, Russell says WIN has recently started working with apprenticeship programs “that are excellent job opportunities for those who are not going to college.”

Russell has been working with Cedric Divine, Apprenticeship and Training Representative at the U.S. Department of Labor in making that happen. Divine says WIN’s use of an apprenticeship strategy offers great advantages. For one thing, he says, “apprenticeship is employment from the very first day.” Going to school, Divine says, may not always be the best answer: “You’re just going to school without the promise of a job.”

Divine is also concerned that going back to school for training may not always teach the student the latest technologies being used in the marketplace. Apprenticeship addresses that by getting people directly into jobs, he says. That market is ready-made for the available labor pool.

“We have too many people unemployed that have a great basic skill base,” Divine says. “What I mean is those who want to come to work every day — be the first one there and the last to leave and follow instructions well. We're not talking about management. We're talking about getting in the door.” Furthermore, Divine says, even if the pay is comparably low for an apprenticeship, a salary isn’t the main point. “The biggest thing I hear now is people … over 30 can't find employment because everybody's thinking they want to get paid all these high salaries,” he says. “That's not always true – a lot of people just want to go to work. They're not that concerned with the income.” Divine is among many Memphis officials who say there needs to be greater awareness at all levels.

Luke Yancy III, President & CEO of the Mid-South Minority Business Council, says better public knowledge would increase the understanding of the importance of minority business growth. “What needs to happen is a public conversation,” he says. “We can’t think that if majorityowned businesses are OK then the city is OK. Unless all businesses prosper, the city won’t do well.”

Because statistics show that the largest segment of the poor tend to be minority, the need to grow minority businesses becomes crucial. Census statistics indicate about one in four Memphians live below the poverty level.

Tomeka Hart, President and CEO of the Memphis Urban League, says there needs to be a strategy for economic development and wealth creation that specifically targets the African-American community. “African-Americans are 65 percent of the Memphis population but they also have the highest percentage of poverty,” she says. “The community can’t thrive if its highest population demographic is also its highest demographic in poverty.”

She adds, “We have to create economic opportunity to connect those in the greater population to the jobs with the entrepreneurship skills so they can create wealth for themselves and their families, and thus for the community.” She also says that it’s essential for agencies and employers to all work together for the best results.

“Where we appear to be missing the mark is aligning all the resources and availability of training and actually connecting that with the people who need it,” Hart says. She says that bureaucracy can be a hindrance to getting people trained and into jobs.

“I could go train and release a classroom of fully trained people on computers that know Microsoft Office, but if I can’t connect them to an available job, that still presents a challenge,” she says. It’s essential to ensure agencies, employers and potential workers know the realities and resources of the job market for strategies to be effective.

Yancy, of the MMBC, says that it’s not just about getting jobs generally, but about creating an economy that nurtures the currently-underutilized resources of Memphis. Successful minority businesses in the inner city, he says, are critical. As they prosper, he says, “people buy homes, buy goods, crime goes down and you end up with people who take care of the neighborhood.”

Even more crucial is that minority businesses become competitive in a larger market. Yancy says that scalable businesses —those that can grow in capacity and adapt to the marketplace — are the key to minority growth.

Yolanda Dillard, director of core development for MMBC and director of the Center for Emerging Entrepreneurial Development (CEED), says that minority businesses must be able to compete with major businesses on price and service. “We’d like to grow companies in excess of $30 million in revenues and with 150 or more employees so we can make the list,” she says, referring to Black Enterprise magazine’s annual “B.E. 100” roster of the largest African American-owned corporations in the United States.

Business sectors currently growing that are being aided by CEED include metal fabrication, railroad construction and commercial pest control.

Summit-Brantley Building Innovations, a manufacturer of panels for building construction, is among the companies helped by CEED. It’s one of those highly adaptable firms that typify the kind of growing enterprise being sought – it’s involved throughout the construction process, starting with design and continuing into engineering, manufacturing and building.

“We need large minority businesses that can employ people who have more of a stake in the business,” Dillard says. “They’ll be able to compete on prices, quality and service.” And what’s more, when there are more minority firms competing, companies doing business with them are going to save money.

Melvin Jones, CEO of the Black Business Directory in Memphis says that even with various agencies involved in encouraging business, it remains up to minority businesspeople to resolve the issues. “The African-American business community is going to have to structure itself so that it can do two things: train and mentor the new generation, and put together a capital pool to loan them money,” Jones says.

A considerable effort is going into all elements of the local community working together to expand opportunities for African-Americans on all levels.

Methodist Le Bonheur CEO Gary Shorb has served on the boards of Memphis Tomorrow, the National Civil Rights Museum and the Greater Memphis Chamber, among others. In 2009, he was named the Model Diversity Corporation CEO of the Year by the Mid-South Minority Business Council. The Model Diversity Corporation Initiative, part of the MMBC, also includes AutoZone, FedEx Express, First Tennessee, International Paper, Memphis/Shelby County Airport Authority, Pinnacle Airlines, ServiceMaster and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The goal, Shorb says, is to address “how we can more effectively engage minority businesses and really try to build them up —not just by giving them business but by working with them to give them every opportunity to earn the business. That's worked very effectively from our perspective.”

Shorb says his hospital’s contracting with minority business has increased four- to five-fold over the past five years. “In many ways,” he says, “we've only just begun.” Mentoring and education are key to making the concept work, particularly as larger organizations can use their heft to bring it about.

“What really changes the dynamic in Memphis is when a number of the big business enterprises and organizations reach out and engage more of the minority business community.” Shorb says. “My sense is there's good momentum around that now, which is a good sign for Memphis.”