Start:ME Mentor Experience: John Chambliss

John Chambliss in action at a Start:Me session on the Southside.

Start:ME Atlanta has been on the Southside since 2018, and our board member John Chambliss has jumped in to be a mentor for all but one of those Southside cohorts. 

"Being a mentor is all about learning about an entrepreneur's business with them as we go through the sessions. There's nothing like watching a business owner build confidence and even more excitement about what they're doing,” John says.

John has lived in the metro Atlanta area his entire life. He first learned about the work of FCS’ through his mother, who purchased a home in Grant Park that FCS had built. He made his career in the real estate world, and throughout the early part of that time always kept having “first and second degree connections” to FCS’ work through that world and also his faith community. About nine years ago, he joined the FCS board of directors.

After a few years, he wanted to go deeper. “I was looking for something to do with my real estate background that could have an impact. Originally, I was thinking of a business incubator or a micro-lending program in Atlanta,” he recalls. He heard about Start:ME from the folks at Emory Goizueta Business School and then considered being a part of the program at its Clarkston location. When Start:ME launched on the Southside a year later, he was in! 

“At the end of the day, mentoring is most meaningful for both the mentor and the entrepreneur if you put the work in to create a relationship together,” John says. Now that Start:ME sessions will occur in person again, these relationships will form over tables during each session. Three or four cohort members sit together with two or three mentors at a table. Then, they tackle everything from calculating business overhead expenses to crafting pitches for business investors. 

John says that through these sessions, “You learn about the entrepreneur’s business together. That’s what mentoring is: you explore their business together. The more time you can get talking about how to apply the curriculum to their particular endeavor, the more fruitful the experience will be for both of you.” 

He particularly savors watching people craft their business pitches. “Once they define who their particular customers are and potential investors might be, everyone feels like they understand their business even more through and through, they start to have a new sense of confidence. This is what sets them up for a really great pitch. The excitement they build about what they’re doing is contagious!” 

Ultimately, John sees mentoring as a tangible way to come alongside South Atlanta and unlock new opportunities there. He says, “We get to create these really cool opportunities for the entrepreneurs together but the bonus result is strengthening the neighborhood marketplace for both sellers and buyers. We want people to see that they don’t have to leave this neighborhood in order to do business. We can create business opportunities right here that benefit neighbors.” 

If YOU are ready to come alongside a dynamic cohort of Southside entrepreneurs who are enriching the Southside, visit https://www.startmeatl.org/mentor. 

Celebrating a Great Time at the PGA TOUR Championship

We were thrilled to be among the beneficiaries of this year’s PGA Tour Championship at East Lake during the last week of August. Since 2004, East Lake Golf Club has hosted this exciting event. Each year, the top Golfers from around the world compete!

In March, the TOUR championship announced the creation of the HOPE shot Scholarship. It was part of a record $3.7 million charitable donation that was generated last year. The PGA Tour says, “The TOUR Championship, with the support of Proud Partners Coca-Cola and Southern Company, has raised more than $42 million for local nonprofits since the event was first staged at East Lake Golf Club in 1998, including its five charitable beneficiaries: East Lake Foundation, Focused Community Strategies, Grove Park Foundation, Purpose Built Schools Atlanta and First Tee – Metro Atlanta.”

We are beyond grateful for this strategic partnership and for the generosity of the PGA TOUR Championship. We congratulate all of the competitors and especially Rory McIlroy, who won this year’s FedEx Cup!

Partner Spotlight: Purpose Built Schools Atlanta

As a Purpose Built Communities network member, we know that high-quality education is essential to building an equitable and thriving South Atlanta. For our neighbors to flourish, we need a high-quality, neighborhood-serving continuum for student growth, learning, and achievement at every level. 

We also know that as an organization, we can’t do everything, and we don’t have to. When it comes to high-quality education in Historic South Atlanta, we focus on pouring into partnerships. We come alongside tremendous organizations like Purpose Built Schools Atlanta (PBSA).

“PBSA wants every child to know they have a community to support them in every avenue,” says Javan Wyche, Manager of Community and Student Engagement. After moving to Atlanta from Mississippi to attend Spelman College, Javan began to volunteer after-school with PBSA. She says, “I got to know the kids and I got to know the parents. I saw how neighbors had built their own networks and communities to sustain themselves, even in the face of so much inequity.” 

She sees PBSA and FCS coming together with these neighbor networks to strengthen their efforts. “FCS came into this neighborhood and didn’t try to do anything except harness what the community was already doing. PBSA is doing the same thing.

“When I walk into FCS’ building after school and see seven of my students laughing and attending a youth group, I know we’re aligned.” On the night Javan visited, the youth group was talking about community. Javan mused that giving young people a foundational belief that they have a strong community where they matter is essential. “Instilling that sense of confidence and support in a child can make them feel boundless. They can carry that strength wherever they go. It’s an experience that we instill at PBSA, and I know it happens at FCS, too.” 

At school, South Atlanta students enjoy thoughtful, project-based instruction and whole-child development. Javan even leads a weekly Urban Agriculture program at a 4-acre farm in the city. She laughs, “When I see a bunch of student showing up at 8:30am on a Saturday morning, I know we’re doing something right.” Students at the farm help to grow 4,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables. The produce goes to local families and even shows up in their cafeterias as lunch! 

“I didn’t know anything about farming, but PBSA saw me and believed in me, and so here I am. Now, I get to offer the same experience to our students. They’re learning how to grow food and feed their communities. They’re learning that they can do anything with their support system cheering them on,” Javan says. 

She likens the way FCS’ and PBSA work together like plants in the garden. She says, “It’s a symbiosis – the community school and the community structures like housing and economic development. Without either of us, it’s that much harder to thrive. Together, we’re building roots and connections. Students come to school, to the farm, and these same students walk to Carver Market after school and go home to a house their family bought through FCS. Collectively, we’re unleashing the power within us to do good here.” 

We are so grateful to be partnered with PBSA, who is building a more equitable, thoughtful, and flourishing South Atlanta every day.