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Quarterly Report
July 2019
CREATE QUALITY JOBS CENTRIC BRANDS SELECTS DOWNTOWN GREENSBORO The 109,000-square-foot Gateway Building on South Elm Street officially has anchor tenant. Centric Brands is a New York City-based apparel firm that will bring 213 jobs to downtown Greensboro. “These are the type of well-paying, creative jobs that are great for our community and for downtown,” said Brent Christensen, President & CEO of the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce. Andy Zimmerman, owner and developer of Gateway Building, told Triad Business Journal that Centric Brands Inc. has signed a lease for approximately 50,000 square feet. "It's a big deal for me, it's a big deal for the city and it's a big deal for Centric Brands," Zimmerman said. "I think that they will also perhaps attract other apparel and textile brands. Other companies will want to locate here because of them and Kontoor and other textile and clothing companies in the area. I'm really excited to see Centric grow in Greensboro."
TALENT DEVELOPMENT GUILFORD COUNTY SCHOOLS TO LAUNCH 5 SIGNATURE CAREER ACADEMIES IN AUGUST Guilford County Schools is launching five Signature Career Academies this fall for students interested in career pathways in specific fields. The Academies are small schools within schools that provide cohorts of students common Career and Technical Education courses, industry certification opportunities, career and college advisement and mentorship, and career-specific learning experiences. The district has been working for more than a year to launch the first phase of career academies. In early June 2019, school teams comprised of 37 teachers, principals, and district leaders participated in the first two of four days of Signature Career Academy Externship-based workshops to get ready for the fall. The workshops were coordinated with staff support from the High Point and Greensboro Chambers of Commerce and the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro. Workshops were facilitated by consultants with the Southern Regional Education Board and were funded by grant dollars from the Eastern Triad Workforce Initiative. The first two workshops occurred on the campuses of UPS and Lenovo. In August, the remaining two workshops will occur at Kao and Procter & Gamble. Employers relayed the importance of developing positive relationships with employees and how that impacts morale and work productivity – which directly paralleled the schools' discussions about the importance of positive relationships in schools and classrooms. We look forward to continuing our work alongside Guilford County Schools in developing an educated and well-prepared talent pipeline.
STARTING AND GROWING OUR OWN FIRST LAUNCH CAPITAL FUND ANNOUNCES FIRST INVESTMENT David Horne ran into a series of snags paying people who did contract work. Some methods were too old school, while others were unnecessarily complex. “It was handwriting checks or using online bill pay, or trying to use really sophisticated HR software that was designed for larger companies, or payroll software,” Horne said. He finally found software that fit the bill for Honestly, his Greensboro-based marketing, advertising, design, and software business. Then a larger company acquired that software and shut it down. At that point, Horne decided it was time to create his own software that would keep him, his contractors, and the IRS happy. “We validated how to handle compliance with 1099, and getting all those things filled out,” he said. “And then, too, we heard from freelancers who said they were still getting paid by checks. There was a desire on the freelance side to have direct deposit.” CrewPay was the result. He and his team spent nights and weekends in 2018 working on it, with a strong push beginning in December to get it up and running this year. “As it became a priority, we realized it could move faster with some help,” Horne said. He had already done some work with local agencies that work to boost entrepreneurs, including serving as a mentor for LaunchLab. CrewPay became the first company funded by First Launch Capital Fund LLC, the angel fund managed by Launch Greensboro. The startup is in the final stages of its quality-assurance process, with “a handful of customers waiting for us to flip the switch,” Horne said. “Having the relationship with the Chamber is great, and knowing their commitment to helping grow local businesses, we felt like it would be mutually beneficial,” he said. Article by Eddie Huffman first appeared in the March 2019 issue of grow Magazine.
2019 SIGNATURE CAREER ACADEMIES The Academy of Biomedical and Specialized Health Sciences @ The Academy at Smith The Academy of Transportation, Distribution and Logistics @ Western High School The Academies of Computer and Information Science @ Kearns Academy & Northeast High The Academy of Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering @ Smith High School