No

No

No

No

No

CHAMPAIGN – For six years, Seon Williams has been cutting hair at The Whip Hair Designs. Two other stylists work with him at the barbershop on North Fourth Street.

But he might not have gotten the business going without help from the Community Collaboration for Economic Development.

That volunteer group encourages minorities and low-income people to start their own businesses. It does so by offering business workshops, mentors and even a loan program – and it plans to make a new push in 2006.

In 1999, Williams was still in school at Concept College of Cosmetology. He paid a visit to local businessman Robert Hambrick, hoping to get advice on opening a shop.

"I went up to Mr. Hambrick's office and told him I was struggling with 'How can I get my business started?'" Williams said. "He said, 'We have a program that's going to start up next year. Stick around, and you'll be one of the first to be enrolled.'"

Williams attended a series of weekly workshops and discussed his plans and aspirations with mentors from the group.

"I was working with Robert Hambrick, Joe Page, Thom Moore and Al Griggs," Williams said. "Those guys were instrumental in getting my business started."

Now many of those volunteers are at it again. The Community Collaboration plans to offer workshops and mentoring services again next spring, said Page, president of the group.

For several years, the organization offered workshops at the Ridgeway Center in northwest Champaign on topics including business basics, computer basics, credit repair and preparing business plans.

But now, after a quiet period, the group is ready to become active once more.

"We'll have a meeting in January, and we'll pull together volunteers and set up workshops and a mentoring program," said Page, who does training for Worden-Martin Inc. in Champaign.

The group will coordinate its efforts with other community agencies that help people start businesses, he said.

"We coordinate things with the University of Illinois, Parkland College, the Small Business Administration, the Urban League," Page said. "We try to make sure to work with and through these agencies so we're not duplicating things. We want to help facilitate what they're doing, rather than create new things that are counterproductive."

Alvin Griggs, treasurer of the Community Collaboration, said the group has located a place for an office and is looking for staff.

"All of us are volunteers ... and we want to find someone who can help do some of the administrative things," Page said.

Griggs said several area residents went into business as the result of previous workshops, and calls continue to come from people wanting advice on starting a firm.

The turnout for workshops was traditionally good, said Griggs, a retired educator who operates Colony Square Cleaners in Champaign.

"We didn't have one session with under a dozen people. Generally there were 15 to 20 people at the weekly sessions," he said.

Assistance went beyond class lectures.

"It's easy to tell someone to write a business plan, but in many cases you have to show them how," Page said.

Besides offering mentors, the group had a loan committee that reviewed applications for loans.

Thom Moore is secretary of the Community Collaboration for Economic Development. Other board members include Mable Thomas, Al Anderson and Avon Morgan.

Thomas estimated that between 125 and 150 people took part in Community Collaboration workshops and about 40 of them "moved on the idea" of launching a business.

She said participants were warned that if they thought operating their own business meant working less, they were mistaken. They should plan on tripling their workload and not having any profit or vacation at the outset, she said.

The Community Collaboration has received financial support from banks, as well as municipal, state and federal sources. Its workshop series was conceived by Robert and Hazel Hambrick, who operate Hambrick's Maintenance Service.

Williams said having his own barbershop has given him the opportunity to work with young people in the community and encourage their growth.

"It allowed me to work with some of the youth and tell them some of my ideas about life and about business," he said. "It set a big presence, me being a young guy and having a business."

Since Williams opened The Whip, Antonio Turner has been cutting hair with him. Odell Wesley became the third barber in the shop about a year ago.

No

No

No

No

The Champaign Unit 4 School District is holding a public meeting Tuesday to discuss traffic impact analysis due to construction on Booker T. Washington Elementary School. The meeting will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Columbia School Gymnasium, 1103 N. Neil St., Champaign.

Construction on the school, located at 606 E. Grove St., Champaign, will begin in early May, said Principal Asia Fuller.

Fuller said the school is being rebuilt as a science, technology, engineering and math magnet school.

“It’s very exciting and innovating,” Fuller said. “We’re hoping to attract at least 200 more students.”

M. Sharif Ullah, transportation engineer for the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission said the construction could potentially affect traffic in the area.

“We received a request from the city of Champaign planning department to conduct a traffic impact study for the Booker T. Washington school,” Ullah said. “They are extending the school’s capacity by over 100 persons, and it was a concern for them what would be the impact on the neighborhood streets.”

Gene Logas, chief financial officer for the Champaign Unit 4 School District, said the school is being rebuilt because it is “old, outdated and doesn’t meet the requirements for teaching in the 21st century.”

“Some of the classrooms only have one or two outlets,” Logas said.

“The electrical capacity of the school was not large enough to incorporate modern teaching methods with all of the smartboards and computers,” he added.

Logas said the new building will cost $18 million.

“We’re getting the money from the one percent increase in sales tax that was approved last spring,” Logas said. “With the school district’s portion, we issued $86 million in bonds. The money that we get annually from that one percent increase will be enough to make the payment on those bonds over the next 25 years.”

Logas said the school is one of at least four the district will be rebuilding with the funds. He added that if the district is awarded the Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant, funds will be allocated to staffing the new school.

“We’re certainly hopeful that we get that grant, but nevertheless, we’re moving ahead with construction,” Logas said.

He added that students were temporarily moved to the Columbia Center, a former elementary school, over winter break.

Logas said students will attend Columbia for the next year and a half until the new building is complete in the fall of 2011.

Fuller said students have adjusted well to the temporary site and the transition was smooth.

“It wasn’t something that happened overnight,” Fuller said. “They had a chance to say goodbye to their school.”

She added that an open house at Columbia was hosted after the move was complete.

Fuller said the bus routes and number of students taking the bus have not changed drastically since the move to Columbia.

“We’ve allowed more kids to take the bus here because we don’t want them crossing railroad tracks or busy streets,” she said.

No

Parents, administrators and key stakeholders in the rebuilding of Booker T. Washington Elementary School attended a public meeting at the Columbia School, 1103 N. Neil St., Champaign, Tuesday to discuss the effect this construction could have on traffic patterns.

Former students of Booker T. Washington, 606 E. Grove St., Champaign, were moved to Columbia School over their winter break this year as the Champaign Unit 4 School District closed the school to rebuild Washington as a magnet school.

A heated discussion between parents and key stakeholders in the project took place as Arthur Culver, superintendent of Unit 4, lead the meeting.

The school (Washington) will be rebuilt as a science, technology, engineering and math magnet school, which seeks to attract families from throughout the district. The school’s capacity will be increased from a two-strand school, or two classes per grade, to a three-strand school, Culver said.

“It’s something that would be of particular interest to families in this community, and particularly for our nation as we move towards increasing our student achievement in the areas of science and technology,” said Doretha Simmons, director of human resources for Unit 4.

At the meeting, Culver said the school is not modeled after old magnet schools in terms of a selection or application process. Eighty percent of the seats in the new school will be reserved for students who live within the 1.5 mile radius mandated by district policy.

“If there are seats left over, they will offer them to students who live in other parts of the community,” Culver said.

Parents who attended Tuesday’s meeting clashed with school officials on many issues surrounding the rebuilding of the new school, including traffic and parking on Dunbar Court for residents.

Administrators countered parent concerns by ensuring that the new school will not take over parking used by nearby residents.

Sharif Ullah, transportation engineer for the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, said changes will be made to streets adjacent to the school that will reduce traffic problems.

“In our analysis, we have recommended to make the Grove Street segment in between Wright and Sixth Streets temporarily one-way during the school start and finish time, so that it would be easier for parents to drop off and pick up their kids,” Ullah said.

Ullah added that parent traffic will be directed to the front of the building, while buses will load in the back.

“We have suggested that buses should be taking Romine Street instead of Wright Street or Grove Street so that the buses will not interact with the parents,” Ullah said.

He added that safety of students is the biggest concern at hand.

A traffic study was presented by Mishauno Woggon from the Champaign Planning Department. Woggon said that 80 percent of students are bussed to Columbia, even if they live outside of the 1.5 mile radius mandated by district policy, due to railroads and busy streets in the area.

Woggon said a land swap occurred between Champaign and Urbana for property on Eads Street, which lies in Urbana but is needed for parking space at the new school in order to improve bus loading.

“The school sits on the edge of the municipal boundary between Champaign and Urbana,” Woggon said.