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Turning Small Business Dreams into Reality: Mayor’s Jumpstart Academy · Inside West Palm Beach

• 0:09
  Welcome to the City Center podcast.
• 0:11
  I'm Jerry Marcelo.
• 0:13
  The pandemic created a time of fear and uncertainty for everyone.
• 0:18
  Along with the obvious health fears came a period of financial uncertainty where Americans from all walks of life had to recover from lost jobs and dwindling savings,
• 0:29
  West Palm Beach was no different with able workers left idle by the financial paralysis caused by COVID.
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  From that time,
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  a new program was created a program to help individuals get back on their feet financially and make dreams of having their own businesses.
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  A reality.
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  It was a program that is called Mayor's Jumpstart Academy to talk about mayor's jump start Academy and all that's involved.
• 0:56
  We have Charlotte Wright community building and engagement coordinator,
• 1:00
  Charlotte.
• 1:00
  Welcome.
• 1:01
  Thank you,
• 1:02
  Jerry.
• 1:02
  This is an amazing project.
• 1:04
  Can you give us an overview of what's involved?
• 1:07
  Absolutely.
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  The mayor's jump start Academy is truly an initiative of Mayor Keith James and it was birthed out of an opportunity that happened during the COVID time era where our entrepreneurs truly did not understand how they were going to make ends meet because of COVID and the way that you know,
• 1:28
  shops closed down So because our mayor comes from a background with entrepreneurs and small businesses in his,
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  in his heart,
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  he says we have to do something to help our small businesses in the city.
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  Thus,
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  mayor's jumpstart academy was birthed.
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  We all remember the pandemic.
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  We all remember how scary it was both economically and and health wise as far as during that period of time,
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  what was the driving force that really lit the flame for the Academy?
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  As I said,
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  with the mayor hearing all of the plight and getting all of the concerns coming from our residents through our small business department.
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  How are we going to make ends meet how we're going to survive through this,
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  truly,
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  really laid on his heart?
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  And because we knew that the funding could not come out of the city itself because of the mayor and his connections throughout the world,
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  not just in West Palm Beach,
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  there was a foundation that stepped up to the plate and offered to be our inaugural sponsor for Mayor's Jump Start Academy.
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  How,
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  how,
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  what was the process?
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  How did you find people to become involved in the in the academy at the beginning of this?
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  They identified again,
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  um entrepreneurs,
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  how did they identify those?
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  These were entrepreneurs that probably called the city to ask for help?
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  The mayor being the brilliant man that he is and the man of influence that he is made phone calls,
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  had connections and says,
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  how could we help our community out of that came a March 10th.
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  Matter of fact,
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  it was March 10th,
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  2022 was an informational session.
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  That session drew in multiple residents to hear about this mayor's jumpstart academy.
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  So it was an informational session if you will.
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  And out of that,
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  I understand there was so much excitement that that went out into the neighborhoods that went out into the community and then an application was formed.
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  So after they filled out that application,
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  10 cohorts were selected to be in the inaugural class I see.
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  So the people who would fill in the form and and apply for to be involved in the academy,
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  were they already business people or were they just aspiring entrepreneurs who are interested in getting started?
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  Um There was such a mixture,
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  Jerry,
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  there were those who wanted to start a business but had no idea how to even get started.
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  So it was a a very varied class.
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  So there were those who had just truly had a dream and a desire.
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  And then there were those that already had the dream,
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  the desire and the decision and have already been in in the infant stage.
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  But again,
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  because of COVID had to just stop.
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  So it was a combination of,
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  of all of those that were a part of that inaugural class that participated in this nationally accredited program called Co dot Starters.
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  They provided the curriculum that walked them through another one of the partners was Justine Peterson that identified what the credit needed to look like for your business.
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  To help our entrepreneurs understand how to be attractive to outsiders,
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  how to be attractive to grants,
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  how to be attractive to other partners that might want to partner with you for your business.
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  So how was this information imparted?
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  Was it,
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  were they classes?
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  Did you have speakers?
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  How was it handled?
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  So,
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  the mayor's jumpstart Academy is set up to be a 10 week process.
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  With Co dot Starters being the identified curriculum,
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  we have certified facilitators that are trained by Co dot Starters to be a part of the cohort.
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  So each session comes with a theme based on those facilitators,
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  they decide which sessions they want based on their subject matter expertise.
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  And then each class,
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  we have an entrepreneur in the community that identifies with that particular session,
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  topic to come in and speak to the class,
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  giving real life experiences of what it's like to be an entre Irene.
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  We are very intentional with not doing big business um guest speakers but doing entrepreneurs so that they can share the the good,
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  bad and ugly of being an entrepreneur with the current class.
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  See,
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  that's really,
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  I think very important is that you're bringing in people that can really connect with the student or the the cohort at their level at their level of experience and give them some feedback as opposed to someone who's involved with a whole different style of business.
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  So that's really very cool.
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  So and so what kind of,
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  what kind of uh success have we had with the program?
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  Oh Jerry,
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  that's such a great question.
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  So right now,
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  currently out of former cohorts,
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  we have identified him,
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  we call him uh chef Thai.
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  He is doing very well at the green market with his company called the Cookie Box and is doing amazing and getting great recognition throughout not only the city but the county,
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  his packaging,
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  he learned all of this through the cohort of how to truly be attractive to your,
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  your target market.
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  And he's doing amazing work in an art called Bittersweet.
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  The mayor has been highlighted in this magazine and in that art in that article,
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  they also highlighted other of the graduates that are doing amazing work.
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  The city has partnered with one,
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  a husband and wife that do uh printing.
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  So we've used them to do some of our printing for T shirts and the like there's another young lady that is a vendor here at the city working in the city that uh sells African art and African artifacts.
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  So she's always a vendor at different things throughout the city and partner with the city.
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  Those are just a few,
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  but I'm really excited that we also have a current cohort that's going through now,
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  that is also a vendor at the green market this year and she does uh various lemonades and popcorn and is doing very well in that program.
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  So you have people who have passion,
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  who have talent,
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  who have AAA product,
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  which is unique and desirable.
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  And so a lot of what happens here is they're given the information to tell people about it,
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  to market themselves and to,
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  and to be successful.
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  Would that be a good sort of summation?
• 7:55
  Absolutely.
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  What I do love about the mayor's jumpstart Academy is just that if you look up the word jumpstart,
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  you already have to have something to work with.
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  And the tools that are provided for them in the jumpstart academy is just that it's just like if you had to restart your battery.
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  Well,
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  you have to make sure first it's not a dead battery.
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  So we have people there that their businesses just might be dormant,
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  not dead.
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  That this is an opportunity truly just to jump start them and lead them in a direction that will happen to be successful.
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  So they start with the Mayor's jumpstart Academy,
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  but we have partnered with other programs that will continue to take them on.
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  They get their basics through the MJ A,
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  the Mayor's Jumpstart Academy.
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  But we encourage them to partner with the Urban League in their program to partner with our own in the city,
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  our small business that we have within our city,
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  that department to partner with other local uh partners that are with us and are supporting us that will take them to that next level,
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  posture them now to be able to be attractive to go go after grants that are in six figures and up partner them to be able to go after federal um partnerships and the like.
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  But the start is just with the mayor's jumpstart academy.
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  So,
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  ok,
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  you've sold me.
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  How,
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  how do I get involved?
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  How would someone come and get involved in,
• 9:13
  in the academy?
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  A lot of our success has been by word of mouth.
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  Most of it is by word of mouth.
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  But we encourage everybody to be a part of our website.
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  The city's website,
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  there is a nugget that is on the website that keeps up with what we're doing in each class and it will always be very current.
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  If you wish to be a part of the mailing list,
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  you can go to that,
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  you can click on Mayor's Jumpstart Academy and it will take you right to that section and you'll be a part of our mailing list.
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  If you become a part of our mailing list,
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  the next opportunity for applications to be open will be there and once it's open,
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  then you apply and then we go on from there and start your journey from there.
• 9:58
  Ok.
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  So the idea would be to get on this mailing list,
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  get the information and there will be the,
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  the,
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  the starting gun as it were that you'll know where to get.
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  Ok,
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  got you got you.
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  Well,
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  this is all very exciting and very important in the sense that it is giving great ideas and great products and opportunity to breathe and to be successful,
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  which is fantastic.
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  Um We have an opportunity here with this podcast for you to give a message to people who would be,
• 10:29
  who are becoming interested in wanting to hear more about the,
• 10:33
  about the academy and what's involved.
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  What would be the message you would like to share?
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  Thank you for this opportunity,
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  Jerry.
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  I would just like to share that this mayor's jumpstart academy is not just a learning experience,
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  it truly is a communal endeavor where each and every cohort plays a vital part in fostering the su success and the culture of what's about to come.
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  I am so excited about anybody that comes in contact with the mayor's jumpstart academy because we become a family.
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  I'm mostly excited,
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  not only about what happens in the current class,
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  but what will now take place as we grow our uh alumni and what that looks like on behalf of the city and on behalf of the culture and truly believing that our alumni will become the feet to the ground in truly promoting and emphasizing the importance of being part of this amazing mayor's jumpstart academy.
• 11:32
  Will some of your um alumni turn around and become teachers as well.
• 11:37
  Well,
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  I am so happy to say that our current class,
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  all of the facilitators are from a previous class.
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  Fantastic.
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  So you're they're giving back and helping it all grow.
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  That's fantastic.
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  That's fantastic.
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  Um Anything else that we want to talk about?
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  Absolutely.
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  I encourage everyone.
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  December 20th is our graduation at the Manda Library December 20th at 6 p.m. It will be our graduating class.
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  I welcome you to be a part of that class,
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  to come witness our entrepreneurs that will be graduating and to celebrate them.
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  And truly more than anything to become a customer of our graduates and the services that they offer.
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  I would also encourage you as a community to truly stay tuned to what's next.
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  And if you would like to be a partner,
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  I welcome you to contact me so that we can have that conversation of how maybe you business can partner with us to truly grow the mayor's dump start academy and the best way to learn more about the the academy and to find ways to get in contact with you would be through the city website.
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  Would that be correct?
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  That is correct.
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  That's W pb.org.
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  And there will be links on that page to Mayor Jumpstart Academy,
• 12:57
  Charlotte Wright.
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  Thank you so much for taking time to visit with us today and give us this information about this very important program.
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  It's a very exciting thing that you're doing.
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  Thank you for having me today.
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  Jerry,
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  the City Center podcast is produced by the City of West Palm Beach.
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  We hope you found today's discussion useful.
• 13:14
  And if you did,
• 13:15
  please subscribe.
• 13:16
  If you have any questions or comment,
• 13:18
  please write us at podcast at W pv.org.
• 13:22
  Thank you for joining us.
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  This is Jerry Marcelo.
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  We'll see you next time.