Partners of the Americas Legislative Fellowship Report for Russell Hicks April 6, 2013 to April 23, 2013 Professional Background: Russell Hicks is a social entrepreneur, and teaches social entrepreneurship to youth in order to deliver 21st Century skill-sets, business planning and the triple bottom –line for values-driven business models. Mr. Hicks serves as owner and C.E.O. of Ebony Suns Enterprises, LLC, a sustainable consulting business that provides program development for schools and non-profit organizations and project management for private-sector companies in the green economy. Russell Hicks graduated with a B.B.A. in Business Management from Howard University in Washington DC, and has over 12 years of career experience in economic development and education through business consulting, strategic planning, program development, training and mentoring youth, community organizing and connecting students and entrepreneurs to professional resources. He currently mentors over 30 youth entrepreneurs on a rotating basis through various green industry sectors that include organic apparel design and merchandising, sustainable real estate, and eco-tourism. Russell Hicks recently was named one of Philadelphia’s Most Innovative Entrepreneurs by the Philadelphia Daily News/Inquirer and one of Philadelphia’s Most Influential 10 People to Watch Under the Age of 40 by the Philadelphia Tribune. His business, Ebony Suns Enterprises, LLC was awarded a $20,500 grant from the Knight Foundation for Black Male Engagement in 2012. Mr. Hicks is proud to serve as Partners of the America Legislative Fellow and an active member of the Partners of the Americas, Pennsylvania-Bahia Chapter. Overview of the Legislative Fellowship in Bahia, Brazil: Russell Hicks served his Partners of the Americas Legislative Fellowship in Bahia, Brazil with the Office of the Mayor of Filadelfia, Bahia and the Tourism Department of Bahia in Salvador, Bahia between April 6th through April 23, 2013. The goal of the fellowship with Tourism Department of Bahia was to explore how the state government of Bahia works with American business owners to promote tourism in Bahia. The opportunity to work more closely with the local government of Filadelfia, Bahia aimed to develop social entrepreneurship projects that would impact youth and adult population s through economic development, access to education, and tourism.
Results and Impact of the Legislative Fellowship: Russell Hicks met with Mayor Antonio Barbosa dos Santos Junior of Filadelfia on April 8th and April 9th in Salvador at the Chamber of Commerce of Bahia, as well as Sergio Gomes, Director of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce. Mr Hicks presented his Legislative Fellowship project, The Sustainable Business Center de Filadelfia, Bahia, which is a small business center to generate economic development through social entrepreneurship training, and access to higher education for youth and families in Filadelfia, Bahia. Russell Hicks attended the Brazil National Tourism Conference in Salvador hosted by BahiaTursa at the Jardim Armacao Convention Center on April 10 th-April 12th. The conference hosted American tourism operators to attract business to Bahia, Brazil. Russell Hicks represented Partners of the Americas and business owners from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to establish business relationships for investment in Bahia, Brazil. Mayor Barbora Jr personally picked up Mr. Hicks on April 12th in Salvador, and drove along with Miriam Souza and Joaquim Fonseca Junior of Partners of the Americas’ Bahia Chapter to Filadelfia, where Russell Hicks was greeted very well. He spoke to the community at an official mayoral address to a public audience of over 150 residents in Filadelfia.
Throughout the fellowship experience with the Mayor of Filadelfia, Mr. Hicks was given access to public information, and witnessed transparency while working with staff at the Office of the Mayor at City Hall in Filadelfia, Bahia.
Russell Hicks had an opportunity to engage youth and adults at a community resource fair on April 15, 2013 that hosted over 500 residents to provide access to resources for agribusiness, education, social services, and health care. This event reflected the accountability of Mayor’s administration in serving the needs of community stakeholders throughout the county.
With translation assistance provided by the host organization with the Mayor’s staff, Russell Hicks interviewed over 15 youth and adult entrepreneurs in industries that included agribusiness, hospitality, food processing and distribution, engineering, and information technology. One success story is documented at www.apprjacare.blogspot.com.br, which highlights the business of Paraiso De Polpa(Paradise if Pulp). Paradise of Pulp processes and distributes various fruit juices, unique to Bahia, to local and regional markets. The conclusion founded by Mr. Hicks through assessment and interviews with business owners, and touring rural farms in Filadelfia was that the primary way to expand business opportunities and foster economic development is to provide more access to fresh water through investment in small wells for family businesses as well as irrigation infrastructure. This would allow for farmers and entrepreneurs to increase agribusiness and create jobs. Also there is a need to engage youth in business ownership, and provide platforms for generating alternative energy during drought seasons to enhance economic development in the municipal areas of the city of Filadelfia, Bahia.
Filadelfia, Bahia is such a special place with so much potential to grow into a major tourist attraction over the next 25 years. Just like Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Filadelfia, Bahia is the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection. With the leadership of Mayor Barbosa Junior, Filadelfia could take advantage of its family culture to develop a niche in the tourism industry, and its natural resource to become a leader in the green economy by producing clean energy for surrounding counties in Bahia. The impact of the fellowship experience leads to a few recommendations for the city of Filadelfia in the areas of culture, education, and economics that include: Culture- 1) developing a central park area where houses and carriages would ride tourists around to nearby restaurants and destinations in the city, 2) brand signature food dishes only known to Filadelfia like baju, caja, and baked goods made from cassava, and 3) have a mascot for Filadelfia, and host regional youth sports competitions in soccer, capoeira, basketball and golf to make Filadelfia more marketable. Education – 1) implement recycling programs in schools, 2) train youth in S.T.E.M. to engineer better ways to handle drought seasons, and 3) grant youth access to higher education at federal and state universities as well as foreign exchange opportunities in the United States. Economics – 1) utilize technology to facilitate to the best way to bring fresh water to the county, 2) increase the agribusiness of selling more fruits like mangos, coconuts, bananas, ubom, and guava, and 3) create a production labor force of shoes and apparel to regional and international markets. These recommendations led Russell Hicks to develop a project during his fellowship that would culminate sustainable concepts, and centralize the resources to impact Filadelfia, culturally, educationally, and economically. Legislative Fellowship Project: The Sustainable Business Center de Filadelfia, Bahia is the fellowship project that Russell Hicks presented to provide a value-add to the stakeholders of the city of Filadelfia. The Sustainable Business Center de Filadelfia, Bahia is a small business center that provides social entrepreneurship training, financial resources to establish business ownership, and access to higher education in Bahia and the United States for youth ages 12-18, and 18-25, as well as sustainable industry workshops for adults between the ages of 25-40. Over the next four years, at least 300 youth and adult students will receive comprehensive and intensive social entrepreneurship training at the Sustainable Business Center de Filadelfia, Bahia to develop 21st Century skills that prepare them for the green and global economy. The Sustainable Business Center de Filadelfia, Bahia will be developed on a campus with stateof-the-art facilities equipped with a commercial kitchen and cafÊ, event space, multi-media
studio, fashion showroom and production studio, a technology laboratory, equipment repair shop, and recycling facility. Students taking social entrepreneurship training at The Sustainable Business Center de Filadelfia, Bahia will sell fresh produce at farmers markets, merchandise organic apparel and accessories to retail outlets at shopping malls, and host fundraising events and festivals to generate income. Benefits and incentives for students taking social entrepreneurship training at the Sustainable Business Center de Filadelfia, Bahia include gaining 21 st Century skills, connections to mentoring and immersion experiences in their career field of choice, job creation, economic development through business ownership and tax income for cities and municipalities, and access to higher education at universities in Bahia and beyond. At the end of program cycles at the Sustainable Business Center de Filadelfia, Bahia students will compete in a business plan competitions, judged by bankers, lawyers, educators, and program sponsors, and have access to micro-financing loans to start their business and/or have the opportunity to attend universities in Bahia or Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States with the support of Partners of the Americas. Next Steps: Russell Hicks will continue to work with Miriam Souza of Partners of the Americas in Salvador, Bahia to make connections for funding this project from SEBRAE in Brazil, the Chamber of Commerce in Bahia, various foundations, matching funds from private-sector corporations and banks, along with high net-worth individuals in Brazil and the United States to invest in economic development in Filadelfia, Bahia. This project will provide an economic development model for municipalities throughout Brazil and other countries in Latin America. Russell Hicks also looks forward to working with Partners of the Americas at headquarters in Washington DC to generate support for this Legislative Fellowship project through the United States Department of State. This project also has synergy with other Partners of the Americas programs. The Aganar program for education, employment and entrepreneurs is a good fit with Sustainable Business Center of Filadelfia, Bahia, as well as the Farmers to Farmers program. The Youth Ambassadors Network could also do service learning projects with students in Filadelf ia, and utilize Partners Connect to create follow-up. Lastly, universities in Bahia like the Federal University of Bahia could become a Partners Campus to develop foreign exchange programs with the Wharton Business School of University of Pennsylvania, Acadia University or Temple University to help tutor youth in Filadelfia, Bahia to build up to the Sustainable Business Center of Filadelfia, Bahia. This Legislative Fellowship project aims to create tangible impact and exchange of international business and education through the Sustainable Business Center of Filadelfia, Bahia.
The Mayor of Filadelfia has already met Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania while in S達o Paulo, and will arrange to meet with the Mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during an upcoming visit to Philadelphia and Washington, DC to generate support for this project presented by Russell Hicks, Legislative Fellow with Partners of the Americas.