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<br /> <br />2 <br />Scholarships, and Mr. Watts said yes, that tuition is a stumbling block for many <br />people. <br /> <br /> Mr. Huja said he would be interested in finding out the number of people <br />who start a business as a result of going through SBDC. <br /> <br /> Responding to a question from Mr. Norris about the Micro-Loan Program, <br />Mr. Watts said staff felt the cost was too high for the numbers helped with the <br />proposal made by Piedmont Housing Alliance. He said the suggestion instead <br />was to put $15,000 in for a small pilot program. <br /> <br /> Mr. Norris said his preference instead would be to support an effort to <br />assist small businesses to find capital. He said the key is to make sure our efforts <br />are reaching people who have not had access to help before. <br /> <br /> Mr. Huja said there were three micro-loan attempts previously by the City <br />and they were all failures, and all tried by PHA. He said it is a good concept, but <br />the work required is not worth the benefit. He said he would oppose a micro-loan <br />program. <br /> <br /> Mr. Norris said CRHA is on the verge of securing grants and he hopes <br />they will be able to restart their Family Self Sufficiency Program. He said these <br />programs should be woven together and not duplicated. He said we should also <br />work closely with PVCC and the One Stop Center. He said if and when the Self <br />Sufficiency Program gets restarted we should dovetail with that. <br /> <br /> Ms. Karen Waters, Executive Director of Quality Community Council, <br />noted that there are many low income residents who are not public housing <br />residents that would not be involved. <br /> <br /> Mr. Norris noted that they would be eligible for other programs. <br /> <br /> Dr. Frank Friedman, President of Piedmont Virginia Community College, <br />said the focus should not be on classes, but on programs that at the end will result <br />in people being employed if the goal is employment. <br /> <br /> Mr. Huja said his concern is that we may do a lot of training with no job at <br />the end. He said we need to work with employers. <br /> <br /> Mr. Watts said one issue is there are not a lot of jobs out there right now. <br />He said hopefully there will be more jobs when the economy turns. He said the <br />focus should be on providing trade skills, and technology and medical training. <br /> <br /> Dr. Brown said that on the other hand he sees people trying to figure out <br />how to pay for classes and day care. He shared Ms. Waters’ concern about <br />limiting the program to CRHA, but he said that may be appropriate for a pilot <br />program. <br /> <br /> Ms. Amy Kilroy of CRHA, said that as CRHA moves to redevelopment of <br />Westhaven, the consultants are committed to hiring public housing residents. <br /> <br /> Ms. Edwards said it is important that we make sure we provide <br />meaningful classes. She said we should explore opportunities in health care since <br />the demand is high. <br /> <br /> Ms. Joy Johnson, Hardy Drive resident, said that programs that use federal <br />funds are required to hire a certain percentage of low income residents. <br /> <br /> Responding to a question from Dr. Brown about the Apprenticeship <br />Program, Mr. Watts said that with City projects we want to make sure we open <br />jobs up to anyone legitimately looking for a job. He said the idea is for the City <br />to pay for some apprentices using a temp agency. <br /> <br />