BL: Mission Main Street Grants is a grant program organized by JP Morgan Chase Bank where they will be awarding grants in the amount of $100,000 to twenty (20) small for-profit businesses. This is already exciting news because typically when you hear of grants you think that you need to be a non-profit to qualify.  However, in this case, you must be a for-profit to qualify. I really couldn't miss this opportunity to participate because there is always a need for cash to fuel new projects that will grow the business and expand our Bottomline. One of our projects that we would like to see get off the ground is the opening of our Job Preparedness Center. WLS has a dream of opening a Job Preparedness Center where individuals, especially the long-term unemployed can come to get retooled for the 21st Century workforce. I had occasion to observe, through my interaction with long-term unemployed individuals, that quite often the programs that have been set up to help them do not cater to individuals with drastic career change needs. Furthermore, in situations where individuals want to start over doing something new, they are often denied. I would see a woman who was laid off from her previous corporate job who wants to leave that line of work and get into the construction industry because she's always wanted to go into that field.  Or the IT professional who has been unemployed for so long that his certification has expired and now wants to reinvent his career as a truck driver. Or even the truck driver who wants to get into computers or nursing. These individuals would often be very frustrated because the programs that are set up to help them do not allow such drastic career changes. Many times the drastic change is driven by lack of opportunities in their current fields and so they just want or need a fresh start.  The WLS Job Preparedness Center will cater to these individuals who want a fresh start but cannot afford the cost for the training and/or testing needed to earn their new certifications and credentials. Being one of the Winners of the Chase Grant will be an immense jump start to getting that project off the ground.

SA: Why is this project so important to you?

BL: When I was unemployed in 2009 and early 2010, I became intimately familiar with the plight of those struggling to find work with no success.  I was one of them!  Their story is my story and just as I was able to find a way out of it, I want to help others do the same.  Not everyone will be able to or even want to start a business of their own.  But whatever their vision for their future we want to help them figure out ways it CAN happen, versus crushing their spirits with reasons why it can't.  We want to truly help individuals find their way back to work.  And not just by pointing them to job boards, but by also providing training in the technical skills needed for their new careers, and the soft-skills needed to be successful in today's workplace.  To do that we need to establish a center that will supply the tools and resources needed so that individuals can have a one-stop location to meet all their professional development needs.  Being the winners of this $100,000 grant will help us on the path to accomplishing this dream.  We have started a scholarship program to assist 5 individuals with achieving certain technology certifications which would then make them more marketable to would-be employers.  This grant could assist in ensuring we can meet and exceed that goal, as well as helping others rebrand themselves and start brand new careers.

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