How Decide DeKalb is Supporting Small Business Owners in Underserved Communities

Transcription:

Mark Collier:
Welcome into The Playbook, Geoffrey.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Thank you so much, Mark, and it’s good to see you again. Mark and I, and I’m not afraid to share with everybody, that we are former colleagues, actually.

Mark Collier:
Yes, we are. Yes, we are.

Geoffrey Lofton:
We spent many years there at the SBDC. And so I’m really excited to be able to participate in this on The Playbook. I’ve seen so many people be able to participate on that and I’m glad for that opportunity.

Mark Collier:
Absolutely. Well, Geoffrey, for those who are not as familiar with you as I am, kind of give me a little bit of your background and history and kind of your role at Decide DeKalb today.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Wonderful. Well, yeah, so as Mark mentioned, my name is Geoffrey Lofton. I am a University of Georgia grad, proud University of Georgia grad.

Mark Collier:
Go dogs.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Go dogs, those national championship winning University of Georgia grads. And so I’m really excited to, of course, about my experience there.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Also my background at the SBDC, where I spent six years as a program coordinator. Also a business advisor, working with businesses across the state of Georgia on really any aspect of owning, operating and managing their small business.

Mark Collier:
Absolutely.

Geoffrey Lofton:
And so this new role, I’ll just roll straight into that.

Mark Collier:
Yes. Yes, please.

Geoffrey Lofton:
This new role is actually, and I’ll go ahead and brag on Decide DeKalb. This is a brand new role at Decide DeKalb. Decide DeKalb is taking the lead in equitable economic development.

Mark Collier:
I love that.

Geoffrey Lofton:
And so as an equitable economic development program manager, my responsibility is to develop programs for the underserved areas in the DeKalb County. And so those areas include south and east DeKalb, as well as along the Beaufort highway corridor.

Mark Collier:
Very good. All right. Well, fantastic. So I’m going to start with the basics. What exactly is Decide DeKalb, and why is it important to DeKalb County, the existence of the organization?

Geoffrey Lofton:
Absolutely. So Decide DeKalb Development Authority is the economic development arm of DeKalb County.

Mark Collier:
Okay. Very good.

Geoffrey Lofton:
And so we partner with all 13 of our cities as well as our local chambers in the Metro Atlanta Chamber. And we also partner with our utilities to deliver programs and resources to the small businesses and citizens of DeKalb to really spur economic development, connect them with well, high-paying jobs, as well as to increase the quality of life in DeKalb.

Mark Collier:
All right. So tell me a little bit about that specific role and what that role brings to Decide DeKalb.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Absolutely. So it’s really taking a deep dive into the needs of these underserved communities who feel like they’ve probably been left behind a little bit.

Geoffrey Lofton:
And so what I am doing is I am taking, in my role in working of course, with my wonderful team at Decide DeKalb, I am taking our resources to really go into these communities, assess and listen, really listen to their needs.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Not make assumptions about what they need, but to really hear what they need, hear what they are looking for and develop programs, funding programs, educational programs, whatever they may need. Develop these programs built around those needs to help bring them along in this development process.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Oftentimes we see where development reaches communities, and it leaves those communities behind. And so we don’t want to do that. We want to grow and develop with the community. And so we build around their strengths and what makes them unique.

Mark Collier:
Right. Well, that makes perfect sense because I make 21 year resident of DeKalb County. I live in North DeKalb, so I have seen the disparity between North DeKalb and South DeKalb. So I am very, very pleased to hear this new role was created, and you’re the perfect person to feel that role, so.

Geoffrey Lofton:
So thank you so much. Thank you so much, Mark.

Mark Collier:
All right. So other than outreach to communities and kind of gathering input on what the community needs, how does Decide DeKalb work with businesses? And what resources are available for small businesses within DeKalb County?

Geoffrey Lofton:
Absolutely. So we have a wonderful, and I do mean wonderful, team of folks who are really focused on working with our small businesses and connecting them with the resources that they need to grow and expand. We have our Business Retention and Expansion Manager, Imani Beckles. She works with those businesses who are looking to grow and expand DeKalb County.

Geoffrey Lofton:
We also have a senior business attraction manager named Sunny Anderson, and she works with the businesses who are looking to start and locate here in DeKalb. So there’s a lot of projects that you see in DeKalb that those two ladies are really kind of behind the scenes, making things go.

Geoffrey Lofton:
We also have Jen Hagler, she’s a redevelopment specialist for us here at the Decide DeKalb Development Authority. And we actually had the pleasure speaking yesterday. And she is a catchall. She does some of everything. So our tax allocation districts, running the Brownfields loan program, among other things. I don’t even want to limit what she does. Sure. But she’s a great resource as well.

Mark Collier:
Well I can see, I mean, obviously when you’re engaging businesses, more businesses locate to DeKalb county or expand, that creates jobs.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Absolutely.

Mark Collier:
And jobs are not only a driver of economic development, but they also reduce some of the negative things with the community, like crime rate and unemployment rate and those things, so.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes, sir.

Mark Collier:
So you guys’ efforts are much needed and much appreciated.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Absolutely. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Mark Collier:
All right. So let’s talk about some of the hot button issues that are within DeKalb, kind of that businesses bring to Decide DeKalb, and kind of, how do you direct them? A business comes to you, “Hey, we’re concerned about this or that.” How do you receive that information? And then what action do you take behind it?

Geoffrey Lofton:
Wonderful. Well, one of the things that we do is we partner with folks who can offer technical assistance for those folks.

Geoffrey Lofton:
So we’ll start with the issues that a lot of people bring to us. One of the big ones… and Mark, you know this, I’m sure many people have sat in this seat over the past two years and spoke about this, and it’s workforce.

Mark Collier:
Absolutely. Workforce development. You’re absolutely right.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Yes, sir. And so that is one of the biggest issues that we hear. We work very closely with WorkSource DeKalb, one of our great partners within the county.

Geoffrey Lofton:
One of the cool things about WorkSource DeKalb is if you actually as a business owner, if you use them to hire… so if you go through them and they help you hire people, the folks that you hire through WorkSource DeKalb, WorkSource DeKalb will help them get to work.

Mark Collier:
Wow.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Yes, sir. So they will, if that’s MARTA vouchers, if that’s paying for rideshare apps such as Lyft or Uber, they will help them get to work.

Mark Collier:
Interesting. Now I also heard of a program, I don’t know if it’s still in effect. But they offer to pay a certain portion of an employee salary for a number of weeks. Is that program still active or is that not an active program anymore?

Geoffrey Lofton:
Well, and that kind of leads me to my next answer there.

Mark Collier:
Okay.

Geoffrey Lofton:
So we actually are in the process of hiring someone for workforce development. And so that would fall under the purview of one of our workforce development manager at Decide DeKalb. But so on that, I’m not sure, but that is something that we can definitely look into for you.

Mark Collier:
Okay. Well, very good. All right. So I know businesses, they’re looking to either grow or expand. And there are a lot of counties out here vying for those businesses to come.

Mark Collier:
So kind of a, as you well know, differentiation is the holy grail of all business models. So why should businesses look who locate DeKalb County?

Geoffrey Lofton:
Yes. Well, this is one of my favorite questions to answer, because it gives me an opportunity to brag on the county that I’ve been able to call home now for six years. And so one of the things that differentiates DeKalb is that we have a young, educated and diverse workforce.

Mark Collier:
Those are all pluses.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Absolutely. And so we’ve got folks that are hungry. So again, we have a young, educated and diverse workforce. We have access to mass transit, so a good MARTA presence here in DeKalb County. We also have access to our major interstate channels.

Mark Collier:
Absolutely.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Yes, sir. So folks can get to and from work quickly and easily. And then we also, one of my favorite things to mention is that DeKalb County is the number one place in Georgia to do film.

Mark Collier:
Ah, I wasn’t aware of that. Okay.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Yes, sir. 60% of the film permits that have been applied for in the state of Georgia are applied for right in DeKalb.

Mark Collier:
That’s interesting, very interesting. Because the film business is burgeoning. It really is. They’ve got a big studio going up in the old General Motors plant in Doraville. I know that’s one of the emerging studio production facilities, but I had no idea that DeKalb was the number one [crosstalk 00:10:06].

Geoffrey Lofton:
Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Credit to our team, Shelbia Jackson, in the DeKalb Entertainment Commission. Her entire team, they worked tirelessly and they are well-respected in the film industry for going above and beyond to make DeKalb one of the easiest and best places to engage in film.

Mark Collier:
All right, I love it. So for businesses that want to get in touch with your organization, what’s the best way to reach you and others within your organization?

Geoffrey Lofton:
Absolutely. So we are available, I mean, we are accessible through all of our major channels, so we have social media. But you can check our website at www.decidedekalb.com. And you can feel free to… You’ll actually see our team listed with all of our contact information there.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Please feel free to reach out to us if you’re in DeKalb and you’ve got some concerns and got questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us and we’ll help you find those solutions.

Mark Collier:
Fantastic. Geoffrey Lofton, program manager at Decide DeKalb. I want to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come in and talk about the wonderful things that your organization’s doing to advance the economic development of DeKalb. I just want to give kudos to you, and keep doing your good work, man.

Geoffrey Lofton:
Absolutely. Thank you so much, Mark.

Mark Collier:
All right.