Project GATE: A self-employment option for laid-off workers Posted on 20/9/7/31
SOURCE: AVERY JOURNAL-TIMES
When the folks at the Rural Center wrote a grant last June to apply for U.S. Department of Labor funding for an entrepreneurial program, they had no idea how good their timing was. Although the recession had already begun in June 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis, the financial meltdown in the banking industry, and the massive job hemorrhage were still to come.
Fast forward to April 2009 when funds for Project GATE (Growing America Through Entrepreneurship) became available in North Carolina and when the state's unemployment rate stood at 10.5 percent.
"This plan was built long before we knew how much we'd need this program," said Leslie Scott, director of the Institute for Rural Entrepreneurship at the NC Rural Economic Development Center. "The funds came at a time when the need couldn't be any higherÂwhen we have historic numbers of dislocated workers."
GATE is a demonstration project through the Department of Labor to test the viability of self-employment for rural laid-off workers. GATE provides coaching and scholarships for custom training to help people plan and start their own businesses.
Although the Project GATE launch happened around the same time as Recovery Act funds began filtering in, GATE is not a Recovery Act program. But workforce development professionals are finding that it's a good complement to Recovery Act-funded services for the growing numbers of laid-off workers. Among the no-longeremployed workers they are serving at JobLink Career Centers are some individuals who would like to start their own businesses.
GATE delivers services in two ways: GATE counselors are working one-onone with potential entrepreneurs at eight community colleges serving 13 counties, and Raleigh-based Don Miller is handling the other 62 rural counties via phone and Internet counseling. Miller serves all seven High Country counties.
As of July 14, 90 days into the project, more than 160 people had already been accepted into the program. "In our proposal, we said we would serve 720 people in three years," Scott said. "I don't think we'll have any trouble meeting the performance benchmarks."
Because the program is a demonstration project, there is a control group, so one-fourth of applicants (one in every four) will not be accepted into the program. Non-acceptance has nothing to do with the business idea, the person who's applying, or any other subjective factorÂit's purely based on randomization by a third party. Those who are not accepted receive a number of referrals to other entrepreneurial sources that can assist them. But despite the potential for being randomized out, odds of acceptance are better than good, and people are taking advantage of the opportunity.
Acknowledging more demand for the virtual counseling than he anticipated, Miller said he is already working with 38 clients. Of those, "two are nearly in business already, two are well along and two more will take a little longer, but their plans are realistic and doable. So a half-dozen people have a pretty decent shot at getting off the unemployment roles by creating their own jobs," he said.
The virtual counseling has proven to be an effective service delivery method. "I had some concerns about how to build relationships over the phone," Miller said, "but I've found that people with a high potential for success are more gregarious by nature. My weekly check-in turns into a real dialog. The telephone hasn't been a hindrance at all. Plus, we have a lot of e-mail exchanges."
Miller said the small business centers at community colleges across the state are key partners in GATE'S success, and he connects each of his clients with the director of the local small business center. The GATE scholarship pays for training at the local level, and that training can be basic to highly specialized, depending on the entrepreneur's needs.
For example, one of Miller's clients is a laid-off accountant who has identified a specific niche for her business: forensic accounting. Over the years, she has helped churches locate problems in their books when the accounts just haven't seemed right, and GATE is paying for the additional training she needs to turn her past volunteer work into a solid credential, building on her long-term experience in the corporate world. "When it comes to finding irregularities in financials, she will know all the tricks," Miller said.
But not everyone who calls Miller knows what he or she wants to do. "Eight out of ten people build a business on what they do well," he continued. "One of my jobs is to help them see what they've done before in a different light."
"But a blank sheet doesn't scare us at all," Scott added. One of the first exercises in the structured training program is to identify unfilled community needs and determine if the would-be entrepreneur can meet any of those needs by starting a business. Another of Miller's clients is establishing a muffler shop in a community where that service is not available.
The program's quick launch has been driven in part by local advocates who promote the opportunity. One of those advocates is Workforce Investment Act case manager Stephanie Gaspard who works at the JobLink Career Centers in Watauga and Avery counties. Gaspard has referred two of her clients to GATE, both received scholarships and both are working with Miller on business plans and loan applications. "If we had a Stephanie in every rural community, we'd have a steady pipeline for GATE," Miller said.
"Here's my philosophy," Gaspard said. "If you can't find a job; make a job."
"When I'm going through career development with my customers," she continued, "if [starting their own business] is something that keeps coming up, I feel we owe it to them to refer them to GATE. I feel that's a viable option. What's important is that people get the services they need."
To learn more about Project GATE, click to www.ncprojectgate.org, call the JobLink Career Center in your county, or call Don Miller at 919-212-4235.
SOURCE: AVERY JOURNAL-TIMES
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