The Work Participation, Placement, and Support Services Program, operated for the BCDSS, includes a mandatory 3-month Work Experience (WEX) Program Internship. The Druid Heights Community Development Corporation (DHCDC) has been a valued WEX-site for several years, recently providing workplace-readiness internships for seven KRA customers.
Since all of the WEX participants had expressed interest in developing their own businesses, Azalee Fisher, DHCDC Community Outreach Director, offered them the opportunity to enroll in an Entrepreneurial Training Program founded by Dr. Lela Campbell, and directed by Katrina Leonard, both from the Workforce Development Center of A Step Forward Inc.
Several small-business development specialists contributed to 6 weeks of Personal and Business Development, and 4 weeks on Executing Your Business training, with sessions focused on branding, computer skills, developing websites, designing business cards, financial literacy, effective network marketing, and producing professional collateral materials.
Four trainees presented their businesses, offering products already developed for sale to the graduation-ceremony attendees. A fifth graduate received once-in-a-lifetime training with the head chef at Friends Grille for a hands-on, realistic perspective on restaurant operations.
KRA congratulates these aspiring entrepreneurs on their accomplishments, and is pleased that the first cohort’s success led to a second program that began this month.
