C-BIZ Summer 2019

It’s all our business.

SUMMER 2019

Nurture capital infuses the local food system

The business of small batch production

ELECTRIFY YOUR COMMUTE

CHECKING IN ON CHARLOTTESVILLE'S SCOOTER EXPERIMENT

JAUNT’s CEO surveys the transit landscape

RIGHTTO THING DO THE

Making it as a social media strategist

Charlottesville’s civic and business leaders are embracing diversity and inclusion because it's good for the community—and the bottom line.

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SUMMER 2019

HackCville cultivates creative tech skills.

23

Natasha Kalergis on leveraging online connections.

THE PITCH

11

Small batch producers navigate microenterprise life.

BRIANNA LAROCCO

40

IN THIS ISSUE...

15

27

SANJAY SUCHAK

Aqua Cville aims for the triple bottom line.

Diversity matters

Diversity and inclusion may seem like trendy corporate buzzwords, but local leaders (like the Collab in a growing CFA Institute’s Kelli Palmer, above) inventory of are making it real, showing co-working spaces. how these programs can be both good for the community and good JAUNT’s CEO for business.

17

18

looks to the future of public transit.

Cover photo by Amy and Jackson Smith

308 E. Main St. Charlottesville, VA 22902 (434) 817-2749 ■ c-ville.com c-ville.com/cbiz

EZE AMOS

STEPHEN BARLING

Book it: What are local biz leaders reading?

24

Slow Money Central Virginia helps small-scale farmers grow.

32

SCOOT OVER University towns like Charlottesville are seemingly ideal locations for the growing “micro-mobility” trend. So how are scooter rental companies Lime and Bird performing?

C-BIZ, a supplement to C-VILLE Weekly, is distributed in Charlottesville, Albemarle County and the Shenandoah Valley. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. Editor Laura Longhine. C-BIZ Editor Jennifer Pullinger. Copy Editor Susan Sorensen. Creative Director Bill LeSueur. Editorial Designer Max March. Graphic Designers Tracy Federico, Lorena Perez. Account Executives Erica Gentile, Lisa Hurdle, Theressa Leak, Chris Till, Beth Wood. Production Coordinator Faith Gibson. Publisher Aimee Atteberry. Chief Financial Officer Debbie Miller. Marketing Manager Anna Harrison. A/R Specialist Nanci Winter. Circulation Manager Billy Dempsey. ©2019 C-VILLE Weekly.

C-BIZ 7

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8 C-BIZ

C-BIZ 9

MEDICAL PROFILES MEDICAL PROFILES MEDICAL PROFILES

PEDIATRIC ASSOCIATES PEDIATRIC ASSOCIATES PEDIATRIC ASSOCIATES OF CHARLOTTESVILLE MEDICAL PROFILES OF CHARLOTTESVILLE OF CHARLOTTESVILLE EXPERT PEDIATRIC CARE – SEVEN DAYS A WEEK EXPERT PEDIATRIC CARE – SEVEN DAYS A WEEK EXPERT PEDIATRIC CARE – SEVEN DAYS434.296.9161 A WEEK 1011 East Jefferson Street | Downtown |

PEDIATRIC ASSOCIATES c 1011 East Jefferson Street | Downtown | c 434.296.9161 1011 Jefferson Street | Downtown OF CHARLOTTESVILLE 1522East Insurance Lane, Suite A | North| Office | c 434.974.9600 c 434.296.9161 1522 Insurance Lane, Suite A | North Office | c 434.974.9600

1522 Suite A || North | c 434.974.9600 2411Insurance IvyEXPERT Road |Lane, West Office 434.296.8300 c CARE –Office SEVEN DAYS A WEEK 2411 Ivy Road | PEDIATRIC West Office | 434.296.8300 434.296.8300 2411 Ivy Road Court | West| Office |c c 71 Jefferson Zion Crossroads | c 540.406.4100 71 Jefferson Court | Zion Crossroads 1011Court East Jefferson Street | Downtown c |540.406.4100 c 434.296.9161 71 | Zion Crossroads | c| 540.406.4100 www.charlottesvillepeds.com wJefferson 1522 Insurance Lane, Suite A | North Office | c 434.974.9600 www.charlottesvillepeds.com wwwww.charlottesvillepeds.com 2411 Ivy Road | West Office | c 434.296.8300 71 Jefferson Court | Zion Crossroads | c 540.406.4100 What w services and treatments are offered at www.charlottesvillepeds.com

Whatservices services and treatments offered What and treatments areare offered at at Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville?

Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville?

Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville?

Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville is a private practice clinic Pediatric Associates ofand Charlottesville ainprivate practice clinic Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville is a isprivate What services and specialize treatments are offered at whose doctors, nurses staff thepractice care ofclinic infants, whose doctors, nurses specialize in care the care of hours, infants, whose doctors, nurses andand staffstaff specialize in have the ofoffice infants, children, adolescents and their families.

We daily Pediatric Associates ofWe Charlottesville? adolescents families.

We have children, adolescents andand theirtheir families. dailydaily officeoffice hours, aschildren, well as evening and weekend hours forhave emergencies.

All ofhours, our Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville is a private as well as as evening andand weekend hours for emergencies.

Allpractice ofAll our as well evening weekend hours for emergencies. of clinic our physicians are certified by the American Board of Pediatrics.

They whose doctors, nurses and staff specialize in the care of infants, physicians are certified by the American Board of Pediatrics.

They They physicians are certified by the American Board of sub-specialties Pediatrics. also have fields of interests in certain pediatric children, adolescents and their families.

We have daily office hours, also have fields of interests in certain pediatric sub-specialties also have fields of interests in certain pediatric sub-specialties including adolescent care, allergy, asthma, attention deficit/ asadolescent well as evening and weekend hours for emergencies.

All of our including care, allergy, asthma, attention deficit/ including adolescent care, allergy, asthma, attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), diseases, physicians are certified by infectious the American Board ofanorexia Pediatrics.and They hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), infectious diseases, anorexia and and hyperactivity disorder also have ofa few. interestsinfectious in certaindiseases, pediatric anorexia sub-specialties sports medicine, tofields name(ADHD), sports medicine, to name a few. sports medicine, to name a few. including adolescent care, allergy, asthma, attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), infectious diseases, anorexia and Whatspecialty specialty services are offered Pediatric What services offered atat Pediatric medicine, to name aare few.are Whatsports specialty services offered at Pediatric AssociatesofofCharlottesville?

Charlottesville?

Associates Associates of Charlottesville?

What specialty services areservices offered atan Pediatric PediatricAssociates Associates also provides specialty with on-site Pediatric also provides specialty services with an on-site Pediatric Associates also provides specialty services with an on-site Associates of Charlottesville? audiologist, adolescent nurse practitioners, lactation consultants audiologist, adolescent nurse practitioners, lactation consultants audiologist, adolescent nurse practitioners, lactation consultants and newborn nurse practitioners.

Our hospital affiliation is and newborn nurse practitioners.

Our hospital affiliation is with Pediatric Associates also provides specialty services with an with on-site and newborn nurse practitioners.

Ouradmit hospital affiliation is with Martha Jefferson Hospital where we newborns audiologist, adolescent nurse lactation consultants Martha Jefferson Hospital where we practitioners, admit newborns andand sicksick Marthaand Jefferson Hospital where we Instructional admit newborns and sick children.

Many ourdoctors doctors Faculty atisthe newborn nurse practitioners.

Our hospital affiliation with children.

Many ofofour areare onon thethe Instructional Faculty at the children.

Many of our doctors are on the Instructional Faculty at Martha Jefferson Hospital we admit newborns and the sick University Virginia where they do research teach medical University ofofVirginia where they dowhere research andand teach medical University ofpractitioner Virginia theyand do research and teach medical children.

Many ofwhere our doctors are on the Instructional Faculty at the students, nurse practitioner students and resident physicians. students, nurse students resident physicians. students, nurse practitioner students University of Virginia where theyand do resident research physicians. and teach medical students, nurse practitioner students and resident physicians.

Now Open Now Open Now Now OpenOpen Pediatric Associates is excited

Providers at Pediatric Associates of Charlottesville: Providers at Pediatric Associates Charlottesville: Providers at Pediatric Associates ofof Charlottesville: Providers at Pediatric Associates Charlottesville: PHYSICIANS (From Left to Right): Carlos E.of Armengol, Jr., MD

PHYSICIANS (FromLeft Left to Right): Carlos E. Armengol, Jr., MD PHYSICIANS toBouber, Right): Carlos E. Armengol, Jr., MD Lori W. Balaban, MD | (From Gemila H.Left MD | Alaina Brown, MD PHYSICIANS (From to Right): Carlos E. Armengol, Jr., MD Lori W. Balaban, MD | Gemila H. Bouber, MD | Alaina Brown, Lori W. Balaban, MD | Gemila H. Bouber, MD | Alaina Brown, MD Sheila F. Davis, MD | Jay M. Gillenwater MD | Teresa H. Hashisaki, MD MD W. Balaban, MD | Gemila H. Bouber, MD |H. Alaina Brown, MD to announce the opening of its Sheila F.Lori MD | Jay M. Gillenwater MD | Teresa Hashisaki, SheilaAmanda F.Davis, Davis, MD | Jay M. Gillenwater MD | Teresa H. Hashisaki, MD Jones, MD | Sarah E. Knight, MD | Amy Malek, MD MD Pediatric is excited to announce opening Pediatric Associates excited to Through announce the the opening of of itsits Sheila F. Davis, MD | JayMD M. |Gillenwater MDMD | Teresa H. Hashisaki, MD fourth location in Associates ZionisCrossroads. continued regional Amanda Jones, Sarah E. Knight, | Amy Malek, MD MD Amanda Jones, MD | Sarah E. Knight, MD | Amy Malek, Katherine D. Mika, MD | L. Paige D’A. Perriello, MD | Marion Szwedo, MD Pediatric Associates is excited to announce the opening of its fourth location Zion Crossroads.

Through continued regional fourth Pediatric location in Zionin Crossroads.

Through continued regional Amanda Jones, MD |Perriello, Sarah E.MD Knight, MDSzwedo, | Amy Malek, MD Katherine D. Mika, MD | L. Paige D’A. | Marion MD growth, Associates strives to provide convenient access to Katherine D. Mika, MD | L. Paige D’A. Perriello, MD | Marion Szwedo, MD A. Robert Trundle, MD | Paul P. Wisman, MD | Karyn E. Wolfe, MD fourth Pediatric locationPediatric in Zion Crossroads.

Through continued regional growth, Associates strives to provide convenient access growth, Associates to provide convenient access to to Katherine D. Mika, MD MD |MD L. Paige Perriello, MD Marion MD Robert Trundle, | Paul Wisman, MDMD | Karyn E. Wolfe, MD MD exceptional pediatric care. The strives office, located at 71 Jefferson Court, A.A.Robert Trundle, | PaulP.D’A. P. Wisman, | |Karyn E. Szwedo, Wolfe, growth,exceptional Pediatric Associates strives to provide access toCLINICIANS (From pediatric care.

The office, located 71 Jefferson Court, Left to Right): Casee Dorsey, | Jennifer A.(From Robert | Paul P.PNP Wisman, MDFontenot, | Fontenot, Karyn E.PNP Wolfe, pediatric care. The office, located at convenient 71atJefferson Court, isexceptional now accepting appointments.

CLINICIANS LeftTrundle, to Right):MD Casee Dorsey, PNP | Jennifer PNP MD is nowpediatric acceptingcare. appointments.

(From Left to Right): Casee Dorsey, PNP MS, | Jennifer Fontenot, PNP The office, located at 71 Jefferson Court, CLINICIANS Kelly Vincel, CPNP (not pictured) Marian Fredner, CCCA/FAAA isexceptional now accepting appointments.

Kelly (From Vincel,Left CPNP (not pictured) Marian Fredner, MS, CCCA/FAAA CLINICIANS to Right): Casee Dorsey, PNP | Jennifer Fontenot, PNP Kelly Vincel, CPNP (not pictured) Marian Fredner, MS, CCCA/FAAA is now accepting appointments.

Kelly Vincel, CPNP (not pictured) Marian Fredner, MS, CCCA/FAAA www.OurHealthCharlottesville.com www.OurHealthCharlottesville.com6565

www.OurHealthCharlottesville.com 65 www.OurHealthCharlottesville.com 65

Small batch sustainability

AMY AND JACKSON SMITH

Local makers think macro while staying micro

C-BIZ 11

Hair Cuttery Mailbox Express Sentara Family Medicine Lee Nails Sally’s Beauty Sprint Primary Eyecare Great Clips Bank of the James Verizon Select Medical Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa Planet Fitness iFixt Royal Nails Spa Verizon Mathnasium COMING SOON: Trend Salon, Soul Food Kitchen & Pikasso Swig Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Panera Bread The Ultimate Shopping Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and Dining Experience Jersey Mike’s Timberwood Tap House Krispy Kreme ABC Liquor Mattress Warehouse PetSmart A.C. Moore and Crafts GNC Dollar Tree Wegmans Dick’s Sporting Goods NOW OPEN Chimm, Extreme Pizza & Mochiko Field and Stream COMING SOON Basil Havertys

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JOURNEYMAN ELECTRICIANS &

JOURNEYMAN ELECTRICIANS, MASTER ELECTRICIANS WANTED & MASTER ELECTRICIANS Needed for work in Charlottesville, VA. Candidates must be safety conscious, reliable, willing to work, and punctual.

Full benfits available including 401K,vision, HSA, medical, & dental. Pre-employment drugscreen and physical required.

Must be able to read blue prints and run EMT conduit proficiently. Competitive pay; salary commensurate with experience in the commercial electrical trade.

Apply online at www.designelectricinc.com Design Electric, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Needed for work in Charlottesville, VA. Candidates must be safety conscious, reliable, willing to work, and punctual. Full benfits available including 401K,vision, HSA, medical, & dental. Pre-employment drugscreen and physical required. Must be able to read blue prints and run EMT conduit proficiently. Competitive pay; salary commensurate with experience in the commercial electrical trade.

APPLY ONLINE AT WWW.DESIGNELECTRICINC.COM 12 C-BIZ

AMY AND JACKSON SMITH

The Pitch>Small biz

By Lisa Martin

P

roducers of handmade or uniquely sourced goods often start with an idea, a shoestring budget, and word-ofmouth buzz to launch their dream. Whether scaling up or staying small, here are three who have made it work.

Stephanie Williams started La Vache Microcreamery, her gourmet caramel enterprise, after the ‘08 downturn temporarily dried up her architecture business. Amping up a family favorite recipe with high-end ingredients like brown rice syrup and grass-fed cream, plus flavor varieties like citrus, lavender, and salt, Williams first offered her candies at City Market. “They went like hotcakes,” she says, and her patrons spread the word.

Williams can make a batch of 208 caramels, including hand-wrapping, in about 90 minutes in her certified home kitchen, and distribution is all by mail. Marketing is not her strong suit, she says, but the confection sells itself. One order of wedding-favor caramels (graced with custom-printed labels) generates dozens of new customers, and her product is now in gift shops and gourmet stores across six states. With a strong word-of-mouth network, “I’m as busy as I want to be,” she says.

Mad Hatter hot sauce’s inventors made the original concoction of spicy peppers and extra-virgin olive oil in a Vitamix and gave away the chunky “supercondiment” to friends in 8-ounce Mason jars. After securing FDA approval, their first buyer was Market Street Market in 2013. It

was “right on the cusp of the local food movement,” says co-founder Nathan West. “We call it farm to bottle.” With help from UVA’s iLab incubator, which gave the fledgling company space to work, grant money, and marketing strategies, Mad Hatter vaulted into Whole Foods Market as part of its local products promotion.

In the early, lean years, the company produced batches of sauce at local restaurants during off-hours, and still barters around town for cold storage for hundreds of pounds of Red Savina peppers, grown locally at Bellair Farm. “Now we have a ‘just-in-time’ manufacturing facility in Free Union to produce orders as they come in,” says West. Next up, Mad Hatter is ready to bring its brand, which “represents a healthy lifestyle with an edge,” nationwide.

NorthShea co-founder Charity Malia Dinko moved to the U.S. from Ghana nine years ago, and recalls that even her McDonald’s job wages gave her a leg up. “I was better off than the people I left behind,” she says, “so I started the business to help the mothers and children.” Dinko began importing the shea butter that Ghanaian women painstakingly extract from the kernel of the shea nut, and created scented varieties to sell as body butter in the U.S., providing better wages to the workers back home.

Now selling its products online and in local boutiques, NorthShea’s next challenge is to provide equipment to ease the labor-intensive processing in Ghana, and to market the raw shea butter to artisans in the U.S., making a small but powerful difference in Dinko’s native land.

Nathan West co-founded Mad Hatter hot sauce “right on the cusp of the local food movement.”

“WE CALL IT FARM TO BOTTLE.” MAD HATTER CO-FOUNDER NATHAN WEST

C-BIZ 13

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The Pitch>Bookshelf

Book it What local biz leaders are reading

Need insight to spark new thinking about your company, help you reach the next level of success, or give you a boost in creativity? We can all use a little inspo sometimes, and more often than not, we turn to books for answers. Whether you favor the feel-good vibes of Jen Sincero’s You Are a Badass at Making Money, the uplifting leadership lessons of Stacey Abrams’ Lead from the Outside, or the go-it-solo musings of Paul Jarvis’ Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business, there is an inspirational tome for everyone.—Jennifer Pullinger

We asked a few local professionals to share what’s on their bookshelf: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink “Dan provides the reader with applicable concepts for any stage in their career and life. The book reminds of the need to take frequent breaks, allowing us to remain productive. It provides you with scientific concepts, such as best times to make decisions or have meetings, when to begin something—sometimes you may have to start over in order to get the desired result.

I highly recommend this book to those who are looking for more structure in their day and life.”

—Zikki Munyao, Founder, Munyao Consulting, LLC

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling with Anna Rosling Rönnlund and Ola Rosling

PHOTOS: COURTESY SUBJECTS

“With so much negativity in this world, it describes our data biases that give us a bleak outlook of the world—and it shows that things are better than you think. There is a test online and at the beginning of the book to set the tone and shed light on these points—if you don’t have time to read the book, start with the quiz! It serves as a reminder that we all need to update the facts and information we consume and that context is key.”

—Valeria McFarren Piper, President, Chaski Global Strategic Communications

Human Resource Development (sixth edition) by Jon M. Werner and Randy L. DeSimone “I actually appreciated reading about the research and philosophy behind employee training and organizational development.

Of particular interest was the chapter entitled Employee Counseling and Wellness Services. My own career was interrupted two years ago because of a mental health crisis and I had to quit my job. Had my employer and I understood how depression and anxiety negatively impacted my sense of success at work, I may have been able to take a leave of absence instead of quitting altogether. I look forward to applying these and many other best practices in HRD as my career progresses.”

—Mary Coleman, Development Director, City of Promise (Coleman is currently enrolled in James Madison University’s online program for Human Resource Development & Management.)

C-BIZ 15

Roofcrafters Inc.

Earns Esteemed Angie’s List Super Service Award Consistently high level of customer service

Roofcrafters Inc. has earned the home service industry’s coveted Angie’s List Super Service Award, reflecting an exemplary year of customer service to members of the local services marketplace and consumer review site in 2016.

Angie’s List Super Service Award 2016 winners have met strict eligibility requirements, which include

an “A” rating in overall grade, recent grade, and review period grade. The SSA winners must also be in good standing with Angie’s List, pass a background check and abide by Angie’s List operational guidelines.

“Here at Roofcrafters, in addition to the BOCA Building Code, we adhere to our own set of in-house specifications developed during my

forty years as a Roofing Contractor.

With over one million squares installed,we have adopted the motto of the sage, “Think like a raindrop.”

Whether you’re thinking about replacing your old roof, performing a thorough roof maintenance, or merely fixing a pesky leak, think Roofcrafters Inc” —Damon Galeassi, President

434-831-2368 dgaleassi@yahoo.com VA Class ‘A’ Contractor

www.roofcrafterscharlottesville.com A Certified Roofing Company 30 years Licensed & Insured Roofing Contractor ITC Certified Level 1 BBB “A” rated contractor.

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The Pitch>#WorkFlow

The future of work Shared spaces abound in C’ville

By Jennifer Pullinger

STEPHEN BARLING

T

hroughout modern history, certain movements have changed how we work—the Industrial Revolution, the birth of the personal computer, and more recently, the arrival of social media. These transformations have also changed where we work (and even when we want to work).

Are you an anti-9-to-5-er who likes working for yourself?

An entrepreneur who isn’t ready to commit to an office lease? Or maybe you’re a side hustler, freelancer, or teleworker who likes the flexibility of working wherever you want, but still craves connection and collaboration?

Then coworking has probably crossed your mind. And Charlottesville—as small of a city as it is—is replete with shared work environments and options to suit various work needs and styles.

Studio IX, co-founded in 2014 by Natalie and James Barton in a former textile factory on Second Street, was one of the first co-working spaces to hit the scene.

“In the modern digital renaissance, information technology has created new industries and new options for organizing ourselves,” James Barton says. Out were factories and corporate offices, he adds, and in were home offices and coffee shops. Then coworking spaces came along to fill in the gaps, “allowing people to share resources and, more importantly, experience connection as well as personal and professional growth through daily engagement with communities of peers.”

At Studio IX, you can grab a $30 day pass, or choose from a menu of four different memberships, including $800 to $1,500 monthly private office options. Workers gain access to such amenities as high-speed internet, soundproof booths for private calls, conference rooms available for booking, all the freshly roasted coffee you can guzzle, and a light-infused industrial work space.

Five years later, recognizing the trend was still on the rise, Barton founded his second coworking endeavor, Vault Virginia, in a former bank building on the Downtown Mall. At the multi-floor, 25,000 square foot Vault, day passes are $50, while on the high end, private office memberships run up to $700 to $2,500 per month, with various options in between.

“Studio IX and Vault Virginia are both focused on creating ideal work experiences for our members,” Barton says. “Beyond the essential furnished, open workspaces and private offices, there are shared kitchens, meeting rooms, multi-purposed gallery spaces, event spaces—and in development, functional ‘labs’ for various kinds of creative production.”

Barton says Studio IX and Vault Virginia members tend to be freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small teams, or those who work remotely for larger organizations.

James Barton of Studio IX and Vault Virginia says coworking spaces help fulfill the needs of the modern worker.

“STUDIO IX AND VAULT VIRGINIA ARE BOTH FOCUSED ON CREATING IDEAL WORK EXPERIENCES FOR OUR MEMBERS,” JAMES BARTON

While it doesn’t bill itself as a coworking space, Common House, a Downtown Mall social club and gathering space, is also a place where members can break out their laptops and work communally.

“Often freelancers and entrepreneurs [and so on] are working from home or hopping anonymously between coffee shops,” says Derek Sieg, Common House co-founder.

“Membership to Common House compliments the freedom you get from a freelancing [or] self-employed job with a full slate of curated programming and social opportunities that can lead to a friendship or collaborator or some well-timed inspiration,” he says.

If you are looking for something a tad homey-er, The Farm House in the 10th and Page neighborhood offers co-working studio space to artists, entrepreneurs, and community leaders.

Next on the horizon: hedge fund CEO Jaffray Woodriff’s tech incubator, the Center of Developing Entrepreneurs, now under construction at the west end of the Downtown Mall. CODE will have co-working space on two floors of its multi-story structure. “It will have it’s own little sanctuary [and] it’s own entrance,” says Andrew Boninti, president of CSH Development, which is building CODE for Woodriff.

But you’ll have to wait a bit longer to get in there—construction of CODE is estimated to be completed in spring 2021.

C-BIZ 17

The Pitch>Q&A

Steering the bus JAUNT’s Brad Sheffield looks to the future

F

rom its origins in 1975 as a public service corporation transporting elderly and disabled customers, JAUNT (that’s Jefferson Area United Transportation) has grown to cover a six-county, 2,600-square-mile service area while welcoming the general public onto its 85 vehicles. Recently, the organization has been expanding into commuter routes for areas underserved by public transit.

JAUNT’s 29 Express Shuttle, for example, travels between Hollymead, UVA, and downtown Charlottesville for $1.50 a ride (free for UVA employees and students). And in August, it will launch the Crozet Connector, with service between Crozet and UVA Grounds. We talked to CEO Brad Sheffield about how JAUNT fits in to the transit landscape, and where it’s headed.

C-BIZ: How is JAUNT growing beyond its original mission?

The core of what JAUNT was and is and will be is very focused around paratransit for disabled and elderly passengers. Once our growth in that area stabilized, we could focus resources on rural areas, where our service is open to anybody. This doesn’t outweigh our core services.

It’s a new area we’re able to focus on because we’ve stabilized our core.

Can you tell us about the new Crozet Connector service?

The route will be added on as a layer to the demand-based approach [in which customers arrange rides in advance as needed]. That curb-tocurb approach works well for those who can’t walk or access a common bus stop. The Connector is looking at those who might walk or drive to a common parking lot or downtown Crozet and catch the commuter route, which gets there faster.

Looking ahead, what is the place for JAUNT in the local transportation landscape?

How does it fit in with newer services like Uber and Lyft?

JAUNT’s approach and level of service are highly unique. We struggle to find a peer for ourselves across the state or even nationally. That’s

18 C-BIZ

largely because, in the ‘70s, the area formed JAUNT before ADA services were a federal requirement. We provide a highly efficient and robust service, and while some systems just look at operating the buses, we’re looking at who we’re transporting.

The whole Uber/Lyft dynamic has challenged the industry to think about how we can provide a service. The on-demand transit technology is out there; it’s just emerging in the public transit realm. Our customers may not have to continue to call a day ahead. We’re making sure it’s an evolution of who we are, not just an additional service.

JAUNT is a partner in Perrone Robotics’ autonomous shuttle pilot program. What’s your goal for that venture?

We were approached by Albemarle to help Perrone explore into this market. Now that the technology is making its way into transit for fixedroute services, we need to make sure it’s not creating greater inequity. We wanted to be involved to help better inform the conversations.

I don’t believe in my lifetime there will be technology that can detect someone’s disability. That level of sensitivity or understanding is what we bring to the table. Does it mean that the divide gets bigger—the fixed-route cost drops significantly and the paratransit continues to cost the same? If it shifts to where those who rely on something like JAUNT are further marginalized, that’s a problem.

How can JAUNT be part of the larger goal of reducing local carbon emissions?

Electric vehicle technology hasn’t made its way into the type of vehicles we operate, but it’s getting there. It’s cost-prohibitive for us right now, but the more localities like the city place an emphasis on the importance of it, the more the industry will invest in making that a priority. What infrastructure needs to be in place for charging and maintenance, and how can we go after the funding that could help provide those resources?

We are of significant-enough size that we should be thinking about what we can do differently. JAUNT can lead the way, but it’s got to be a regional commitment.

AMY AND JACKSON SMITH

By Erika Howsare

JAUNT CEO Brad Sheffield is leading the paratransit organization into the 21st century, exploring new fixed-route services and other innovations.

C-BIZ 19

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The Pitch>Creativity

Start me up

HackCville director Chip Ransler (center) helps students develop the skills to spark innnovation and future startups.

HackCville nurtures tomorrow’s entrepreneurs

By Carol Diggs

A

re entrepreneurs born or made? Doesn’t matter to Chip Ransler, executive director of HackCville—he’ll take someone who has an idea, or wants to make a difference, and fan that spark to flame.

Although HackCville may sound like a cyber threat, Ransler says “to us, ‘hacking’ is a positive—finding quick, efficient, low-cost ways to solve problems.” HackCville’s participants (mostly UVA students, although local residents are welcome too) learn or hone technology skills and apply them to social, economic, environmental, or health-related challenges.

Out of its community “clubhouse” on Elliewood Avenue, HackCville runs six programs: Skills (courses in software development, photography, data science, web design, videography, or graphic design); Hustle (four two- or threeweek group projects in idea generation); The Pioneer (online storytelling and video production); Launch (summer internships focused on software engineering, marketing, or data science); Start-up Trips (weekend site visits); and the Elliewood Fellowship, which supports top HackCville graduates in launching their own business ventures.

“...TO US, ‘HACKING’ IS A POSITIVE— FINDING QUICK, EFFICIENT, LOW-COST WAYS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS.” CHIP RANSLER

While not a UVA program, HackCville does have multiple support lines from UVA—founding sponsors are the Galant Center for Entrepreneurship at the Mcintire School of Commerce, UVA’s Data Science Institute, and the Quantitative Foundation; partners include the i.Lab in Darden’s Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Ransler, a UVA and Darden grad who has co-founded several start-ups, says “the way we learn here is very different,” but complements the traditional university classroom.

“There are myths about entrepreneurship,” says Ransler.

“You CAN teach the skills if you put people through experiences that expose them to uncertainty and help them work through it. We create a sandbox where people can try things out and risk very little—low-cost, low-key, no grades.”

So is HackCville a tech gig or entrepreneurs’ boot camp?

Both, says Ransler, and a recruiting tool as well: “We teach skills that make people technically competent, and then we put these smart people into start-up companies that can actually use their help.”

Over the last two years, Ransler says, HackCville has placed 154 participants in internships at 81 companies—and that’s just in Charlottesville. Its website reports 50 percent of those interns keep on working with their companies after the internship ends, and many are hired full-time.

HackCville has grown 10-fold in the last two and a half years, both in revenues and in number of participants, Ransler says.

“We’re so invested in creating that next generation of people—both people who were students in our program and are now teaching in it (including HackCville’s Chief Operating Officer Daniel Willson, UVA ’16), as well as those who stay in the Charlottesville area and help build our start-up economy.”

C-BIZ 21

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The Pitch>Digital

Attracting eyeballs Natasha Kalergis helps clients unlock the potential of social media

By Jennifer Pullinger

Social studies So how can local businesses squeeze the most juice out of all things social? Kalergis shared a few recommended tactics.

1. Make it real. Find real-world, experiential ways to get people to interact with your product or service (like a QR code or selfie backdrop) and talk up your business on social media. “People talking about how great you are is so much more powerful than you talking about how great you are,” says Kalergis.

2. Be engaging. Devise calls-to-action, like a tagto-win contest inviting customers to tag their friends to enter to win.

“What happens is that becomes exponential exposure, because those three people, each of them tag three of their friends, and each of them tag three of their friends, and that can literally become hundreds and hundreds of people seeing this one post,” she says.

3. Get organized. “In order to have good social media marketing, you need something to talk about,” says Kalergis. “But in order to have something to talk about, you need to have some on-going programming or calendar that organizes how you think about what is happening,”

COURTESY SUBJECT

I

f your business isn’t on social media, some say, it doesn’t exist.

It’s only been a scant 13 years since social media hit the mainstream. Yet as “new” as social media still is, it has become so pervasive in our lives that most businesses today need it to compete and thrive. For companies that are on the social grid, some take a bootstrap, DIY approach, while others rely on the strategic thinking of agencies like Bantam Social Media, a digital marketing and advertising firm on Market Street, founded in 2015 by Natasha Kalergis.

With a background in the creative arts—including a dual degree in photography and journalism from Virginia Commonwealth University—Kalergis says she was drawn to marketing and advertising as a career because of the creative variety and mix of disciplines business affords.

“I’ve always been very entrepreneurial and interested in businesses and what makes them work, and what makes them scale, and what makes a flash in the pan versus a long-term legacy—a business that stands the test of time,” Kalergis says.

After college, in 2011, she landed a job with local ad agency Payne, Ross and Associates (now Blue Ridge Group), and worked her way up from intern to communications director. “That was really when social media started. The landscape started to change for businesses,” she says.

It was then that Kalergis knew she would have to leave small town Charlottesville to learn how to maximize this evolving communication phenomena to full effect. Kalergis ultimately moved to Minneapolis, taking a job at Olson (now ICF Next), a leading advertising agency, developing and executing integrated social media marketing campaigns for bigger brands, including Supercuts and McDonald’s.

“I got to do really cool ‘pet influencer’ campaigns for Bissell vacuums, where we’d send celebrities Bissell vacuums and work with their pets’ Instagram accounts to show how the Bissell is so good at picking up the pet hair,” she adds. “It was really an incredible experience for me and I wouldn’t have been able to have that opportunity in Charlottesville.”

But the pull to return home was hard to resist, and her entrepreneurial spirit was beginning to lead her down a different path. “So I started taking on some side clients outside of my agency gig. And that grew and grew until I was able to leave that job and just work for

Natasha Kalergis, founder of Bantam Social Media, says her team is always looking for ways to innovate and help businesses grow through social media and digital marketing strategies.

myself as a subcontractor for these companies.” Soon after, she returned to Charlottesville and founded Bantam.

Business grew quickly. Today, Bantam has five full-time employees and several subcontractors who are involved in everything from graphic design and copywriting to search engine optimization. Bantam’s client roster has included Apex Clean Energy, Darden School of Business, Rebecca’s Natural Foods, Virginia National Bank, and Ragged Branch Distillery.

Whether it’s tapping a new app or devising innovative uses for existing platforms, Kalergis says her team is always looking ahead to the next big thing. “Where else is people’s attention, and how do we capitalize on that creatively?” she says. “Where are the eyeballs? And just because the eyeballs are there, a lot of times, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze depending on the client’s industry.”

C-BIZ 23

A zero-interest loan from Slow Food CVA allowed Erica Hellen and Joel Slezak of Free Union Grass Farm to buy additional equipment and animals.

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BRIANNA LAROCCO

The Pitch>Finance

Locally grown Fertilizing small-scale farming

By Carol Diggs

EZE AMOS

M

ost small farmers could use a little green.

That’s the idea behind Slow Money Central Virginia, a micro-finance nonprofit that helps local small farmers grow.

The venture is affiliated with the Slow Money Institute based in Boulder, Colorado. Named in tribute to the slow food movement, the Institute provides what it calls “nurture capital” to help build sustainable local-food economies.

Slow Money CVA co-founders Hunter Hopcroft and Michael Reilly met through the local food advocacy community. After a few years in finance, Hopcroft launched a specialty grocery store in Richmond; he’s now special projects manager at Ellwood Thompson’s Local Market there and a partner in JM Stock, an organic whole-animal butchery in Charlottesville. C’ville resident Reilly had worked in banking/finance and corporate broadcasting, but always had an interest in food sustainability. In May 2018, they launched Slow Food CVA. “Government agricultural support and our financial system exclude small-scale farmers,” says Reilly. “They don’t get access to [the support] other kinds of small-scale businesses do.” The niche Slow Money CVA serves is organic producers that could grow with a relatively small infusion of capital. Its initial offering: S.O.I.L. loans (for

Slow Food CVA co-founder Michael Reilly says the organization gives supporters a way to invest in the local food movement.

Slow Opportunities for Investing Locally) in the $5-8,000 range for 3-5 years at 0 percent interest.

Yes, 0 percent – that’s where the Slow Money model is different. “Our supporters are both investors and philanthropists,” says Reilly. “With their charitable contributions, they are investing in the future of the local community. If you’re really interested in supporting the local food movement, now you can actually provide funding for local producers.”

One of their first beneficiaries is nearby Free Union Grass Farm, which produces pastured proteins (beef, pork, and poultry). Partners Erica Hellen and Joel Slezak knew Reilly from his work in food advocacy; when they had the chance to make some farm improvements, Reilly saw a S.O.I.L. opportunity.

Most of the loan went to buying equipment and animals from a nearby farm that was closing.

“We could have put the expenses on our line of credit,” Hellen says, “but no interest was attractive—otherwise we might have put off the purchase.” Now the farm has additional fencing equipment, a cattle head gate, and rollout nesting boxes (which means cleaner, fresher eggs, less breakage, and far fewer hours spent collecting and washing them).

Slow Money CVA has held meet-and-greets to explain the concept and let local farmers talk about their challenges. Long-range plans? An offering called Peer-to-Peer Lending, where donors can deal directly with farmers and work out affordable loans for minimal interest (2-4 percent)—or maybe free organic farm products?

Farm facts: Albemarle County and Virginia

Agriculture is the largest private industry in Virginia, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, with a total economic impact of $70 billion annually. Meanwhile, “[less] than 16 cents of every consumer dollar spent on food actually goes to the farmer,” per the VDACS. (Data is from 2017.)

Virginia overview

▸ Total number of farms in Virginia: 43,225 ▸ Average Virginia farm size in acres: 180 ▸ Total land in farms in Virginia in acres: 7.79 million (equal to 31 percent of Virginia’s total land area of 25.3 million acres) ▸ Market value of Virginia agricultural products sold: $3.96 billion

SOURCES: VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE AND CONSUMER SERVICES (VDACS.VIRGINIA.GOV/PDF/AGFACTS.PDF) AND UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (WWW.NASS.USDA.GOV)

Albemarle County overview

▸ Total number of farms in Albemarle County: 913 ▸ Average Albemarle County farm size in acres: 200 ▸ Total land in farms in Albemarle County in acres: 182,781 (equal to 39.6 percent of the total acreage in the county) ▸ Market value of Albemarle County agricultural products sold: $29.6 million

C-BIZ 25

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Car wash business expands, but keeps it local

Aqua Cville Hand Car Wash owner Jeff Kamrath is a former UVA baseball player who see his business as way to be an active participant in the community.

By Erika Howsare

L

ast April, Jeff Kamrath opened Aqua Cville Hand Car Wash on Emmet Street, and the weather promptly turned against him. In his first year in business, he says, “It rained 41 percent of the days we could have been open.”

That was far from ideal, but Aqua Cville made it to its first anniversary anyway. “We designed the business to be able to sustain an incident like that,” he says. Low startup costs and flexible employee scheduling helped the business weather the storm.

Kamrath, a former UVA baseball player who had previously worked remotely for a New York-based sports tech company, founded the car wash because he felt “the urge to be an active participant in the community. I wanted to provide a service, provide jobs, and ultimately tax revenue.” Car washes run in the family: Kamrath’s brother owns two in Texas. “It was a natural fit,” he says.

The nitty-gritty, day-to-day aspects are plenty demanding; Kamrath realized early on that his brother’s businesses would not necessarily serve as models. “The demographics, weather, and buying habits are different in Texas,” he says. “We had to learn for ourselves.”

Still, Kamrath sees his most important challenge as balancing profitability with idealistic goals. “We want to be custodians of

the environment and the community,” he says. As he gears up to open a second business—this one an automated car wash, as yet unnamed, on 29 North—he’s working as much as possible within the local economy.

“Working with local businesses is a no-brainer,” he says. “Local civil engineers, architects, general contractors—those are all companies and businesses we want to support. They’re providing jobs to their employees and their taxes contribute to the economy.”

He’s even been able to source much of the car wash’s specialized equipment from Charlottesville-based Washtech, which distributes regionally.

Kamrath has already publicly committed to go easy on the environment through the Better Business Challenge, run by the Charlottesville Climate Collaborative. Water use, of course, is a big issue in his industry. “Our hand wash system uses less water than washing a car at home,” he says. “We can reuse the same water for 40, 50, or 80 cars.” The automated tunnel wash system in his new location will reclaim up to 90 percent of the water it uses, and Kamrath says that’s a place where good business intersects with stewardship: “We’re always going to be looking to mitigate our impact and be smart fiscally,” he says. “People assume those things are in conflict, and they’re not.”

C-BIZ 27

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NEW MOBILITY HITS THE ROAD

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among lots of other vehicles. “There are two things you have to worry about,” he says. “One, doors from parked cards opening suddenly, and two, people crossing the streets not on crosswalks.” He says that when afternoon traffic is at a standstill and he’s moving in the bike lane, “if someone is crossing in the middle, darting between cars, you won’t see them until they pop out in front of you.”

Does the city need to up the number of available scooters? “No,” says Stumpf, “I’d say they should impose stricter penalties on those who abuse the rules,” such as leaving the scooters mid-sidewalk or on wheelchair access ramps. “Occasionally you’ll show up to the location on the map to find that the scooter is inside someone’s apartment,” he said. “That, to me, should be a one strike and you’re out situation.”

The last six months have been a learning process, says Jason Ness, the city’s business development manager, who has worked with UVA’s scooter program to coordinate “no go” zones where scooters are not allowed, such as the Lawn and the Downtown Mall. “Our job is to balance the needs of the private entities with those of residents and city government.”

“The fee money collected by the city is earmarked for additional pedestrian and bike infrastructure for things like signs to let people know where they can and can’t ride, and designated parking corrals to keep scooters in safe areas,” says Poncy.

Charlottesville’s scooter trial run ends in July when the program will be evaluated and city officials will decide whether to increase, decrease, or eliminate the vehicles. “We’ve been doing an online survey of both riders and non-riders to get feedback on the program and have gotten about 2,200 responses so far,” she says. “As you would expect, the people who ride really like it, and those who don’t ride are very skeptical. We honestly don’t know what’s going to happen.”

JOHN ROBINSON

mart-tech companies Lime and Bird introduced dockless electric scooters to Charlottesville late last year, as new “micromobility” options have swept in to urban areas nationwide. Forty-six percent of vehicle trips in the U.S. are under three miles, and scooters are fast, green alternatives to climbing into the car.

Smaller cities with university populations like Charlottesville are ideal for scooter travel because of the proximity of workplaces, residential areas, restaurants, and nightlife. A trip from the Corner to Sprint Pavilion is a 30-minute walk or 10 minutes by car, but it’s an eight-minute scooter ride, costing only a few dollars and avoiding the hassles of traffic and parking. The city introduced a pilot scooter program in December and residents have been quick adopters of the new technology.

“The scooters are getting a lot of use, much more than we expected, especially since the program launched in the middle of winter,” says Amanda Poncy, Charlottesville’s bike and pedestrian coordinator. Both Limes and Birds nationally average three to four rides per vehicle per day, but in Charlottesville that number is well above eight. Few accidents or acts of vandalism have been reported, which the city attributes to its controlled rollout of the program, announcing clear rules ahead of time and limiting the number of scooters deployed—100 each for Lime and Bird.

Eric Stumpf, who works at UVA and lives just off the Downtown Mall, began riding a Lime scooter to and from work most weekdays soon after they appeared on city streets. “It’s about $2 to $2.30 each way, and I can usually find one as soon as I leave the building,” says Stumpf. “In the mornings, they are reliably available in designated areas, like by the park.” Zipping past Main Street’s rush-hour traffic on a scooter is both time-efficient and cost-effective—an Uber would cost between $8 and $12 for the trip.

Riding is easy—download the app, find a scooter on the map, scan it with your phone, and take off. Helmets are recommended but not required, and riders must stick to roads and bike lanes, not sidewalks. Prices vary between cities, but here Lime charges $1.00 to unlock the scooter and 15 cents a minute for the trip. When deciding be-

tween a scooter and, say, an Uber, riders consider factors like weather, distance, whether they mind getting windblown, and how much they’re willing to spend. “I could take an Uber, which is more expensive, or the trolley, which is slower, but most days I enjoy the fresh air and the fun of the acceleration on the scooter,” says Stumpf.

Despite market optimism about the concept, the per-unit economics of dockless electric scooters are difficult. The vehicles cost $400 to $500 each and are expected to last only three to four months on the streets due to heavy use or losses from vandalism and theft. Bird and Lime pay subcontractors between $5 and $6.50 per scooter to retrieve them and charge their batteries during low-use hours (often overnight) and to relocate them to more visible areas of town, and to perform routine maintenance and repairs as needed.

Add in overhead costs such as credit card fees, marketing, insurance, and required payments to municipalities—both Lime and Bird pay Charlottesville a $500 application fee and $1 per day per scooter simply for the right to operate in the city— and scooter expenses often outstrip revenue on a per mile or per ride basis until the vehicle’s cost is fully depreciated.

Scooter companies expect some of these costs to go down with innovations such as swappable batteries and solar charging stations as well as better-built scooters, and industry competitors and collaborators seem undaunted. Uber plans to launch its own scooter line, powered by the 75 million Uber accounts already on smartphones, to offer scooters as another option in a menu of transportation choices. Autonomous vehicle startups are designing ways for scooters to move to charging stations at night by themselves, and Google is integrating Lime scooter locations into its maps app.

Stumpf, who has commuted by bicycle in New York City, is quite comfortable riding a scooter

Jason Ness, the city’s business development manager, has helped set up “no go” zones where scooters are not allowed, such as the Downtown Mall and the Lawn at UVA.

C-BIZ 35

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KING CE Using diversity and inclusion programs to build a better workplace

By Jennifer Pullinger

C-BIZ 41

s the U.S. population grows less homogeneous, organizations are increasingly seizing on opportunities to incorporate diversity and inclusion programs and policies—or in abbreviated corporate parlance, “D&I”—into their workplace cultures.

Diversity covers the spectrum of human differences, including age, race, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexuality, language, national origin, and socio-economic status.

Inclusion refers to a culture of belonging where your employees are heard, welcomed, respected, and treated fairly.

It means employees feel that their voice matters and adds value to the organization.

Here in our corner of the world, the civic and business community, including the City of Charlottesville, University of Virginia, and local Chamber of Commerce, have already taken steps to weave a more diverse and inclusive culture into the city’s fabric.

Fostering diversity and inclusion creates more opportunities for historically underrepresented populations to succeed, which is good for the community. But it’s also good for a business’s bottom line.

A wealth of research bears this out. The Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm, says “when companies and governments embrace diversity and inclusion as a critical driver of success, they are more likely to prosper and last.” A 2012 McKinsey & Company study revealed companies with diverse executive boards enjoy significantly higher earnings and returns on equity, while a 2015 McKinsey report, “Why Diversity Matters,” found that “more diverse companies are better able to win top talent, and improve their customer orientation, employee satisfaction, and decision making, leading to a virtuous cycle of increasing returns.” Deloitte has called D&I a “business imperative.”

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EZE AMOS

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DIV. & INC.

“BRINGING TOGETHER PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES, PERSPECTIVES, BACKGROUNDS...IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING,” ANDREA COPELAND-WHITSETT

“It’s the right thing to do” Andrea Copeland-Whitsett, director of member education services at the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, says diversity is part of Charlottesville’s strength. And when businesses have strong diversity and inclusion programs, it not only strengthens the business, but further strengthens the community.

“Bringing together people with different experiences, perspectives, backgrounds...is always a good thing,” says Copeland-Whitsett. “So when a business or an organization creates an environment where employees of all backgrounds feel valued, appreciated, and also have equal opportunities, you’re creating a strong employee base.”

Copeland-Whitsett says the white supremacist rallies in summer 2017 put the spotlight on Charlottesville, and it’s another motivating factor behind why businesses may be thinking even more about D&I. “A lot of companies, for good reason, have sat down and said, ‘What can we do to make things better, to make everyone feel welcome, to make this community aware that we don’t stand for exclusion, we don’t stand for racism, we don’t stand for what was on display August 11th and 12th?,’” she says.

D&I programs need buy-in from everyone, from the top down, to be effective, Copeland-Whitsett adds, and a company has to be genuine about incorporating it into the work culture because “it’s the right thing to do.” It can’t be a “one-and-done,” check-the-box kind of effort.

D

&

I

“Like any other program implemented in any business, in order for it to be successful, there has to be ongoing evaluations and assessments of that program,” she adds.

“The Leadership Charlottesville program that I run through the Chamber, I do it every year. Every year there has to be an evaluation of that program to ensure we are meeting the goals and fulfilling the mission. D&I programs are the same.”

The long game One of the top employers in the Charlottesville area is the CFA Institute, a global association of investment professionals headquartered on East High Street. The CFA has developed both internal and external programs aimed at promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“The aim of our diversity and inclusion initiative is to create a welcoming and safe work environment, where employees can flourish, no matter their background or heritage,” says Kelli Palmer, CFA’s newly appointed head of global diversity & equity and corporate citizenship. “It’s important to establish a culture of fairness, opportunity, and trust.”

To that end, the CFA created three internal “business resource groups” in early 2018—Institutional Awareness of Minorities, Women’s Initiative Network, and Pride at Work— to help “support employees from historically underrepresented populations and help foster inclusion across the

BRIANNA LAROCCO

A city priority Hollie Lee, chief of workforce development strategies for the City of Charlottesville, says programs that support diversity and inclusion have always been a priority of the city, but even more so in recent years. The need for them is there: While Charlottesville’s population is roughly 30 percent non-white, only a little under 13 percent of local firms were minority-owned in 2012, according to census data.

The city’s Minority Business Program, which supports businesses owned by minority or disadvantaged populations, was recently revamped and is now backed with additional funding, Lee says. That includes two new positions: a minority business procurement coordinator, housed in the Procurement and Risk Management Services Division, and a minority business development coordinator, supporting the Office of Economic Development.

Lee says in the future, the two new positions “will work hand-in-hand in order to create more business opportunities for minority-owned businesses in the city.” By creating these positions, she adds, City Council is demonstrating its commitment to supporting a more diverse business community.

Other initiatives, like Minority Business Week (September 16-21, 2019) and the newly launched Business Equity Fund—created to help minority-owned businesses obtain loans at a low interest rate and initiated by City Councilor Wes Bellamy—will offer additional opportunities for diversity and inclusivity within the business community.

Lee says the city understands that having a diverse mix of businesses, whether based on ethnicity or based on industry, is important to Charlottesville’s economy and tax base. “And it’s also good to have businesses that reflect your community. So [if ] businesses here in Charlottesville are not owned by diverse groups, then we’re not truly representing the makeup of our community.”

Andrea Copeland-Whitsett (opposite) says D&I programs must have buy-in from everyone to be effective.

Above, Hollie Lee oversees the city’s efforts to support minority-owned businesss.

organization,” says Palmer, specifically, women, minorities, and the LGBTQ community.

External efforts include the CFA’s annual conference focused on diversity and inclusion, as well as its Women in Investment Management initiative, which promotes gender diversity in the investment management profession through research, a peer network, and scholarships for women pursuing a career in investment management and who are interested in earning the CFA charter.

In fall 2018, the Institute also published a diversity and inclusion guide for the investment management industry, featuring 20 recommendations that firms can use to launch or develop a diversity and inclusion program. To assess its long-term impact, the CFA has recruited investment firm “experimental partners” to implement some of the ideas, measure outcomes, and report back.

Since the Women in Investment Management program was launched in 2013, Palmer says the percentage of women CFA candidates has grown globally from 30 percent in 2013 to 38 percent in 2018.

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C-BIZ 43

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&

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“WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED FROM OUR JOURNEY IS THAT IT’S IMPORTANT TO ENGAGE IN AN ONGOING EDUCATIONAL PROCESS. THIS IS NOT A ‘ONE-AND-DONE’ EXERCISE.”

C ON TIN U E D F R O M PA GE 4 3

Still, there’s more work to do. As the CFA acknowledges on its website, fewer than 20 percent of the holders of the Chartered Financial Analyst designation are women, a gender imbalance that’s mirrored in the industry as a whole.

A 2017 study from the Knight Foundation and Bella Research Group revealed that women- and minority-owned firms manage only 1.1 percent of the $71.4 trillion-dollar asset management industry.

CFA D&I initiatives aim to bring about a change, but it will require “investment and a long-term commitment,” says Palmer.

“The reality is that diversity, equity, and inclusion is a long game that looks more like [a] winding road that goes both up and downhill more than an ascent to a singular peak,” she says. “What we have learned from our journey is that it’s important to engage in an ongoing educational process. This is not a ‘one-and-done’ exercise.”

KELLI PALMER

“We’re becoming an open society” As a starting point, one important way that C’ville businesses—or any business—can better ensure diversity in their work population, and that all of their employees are heard, welcomed, and represented, is by having an anti-discrimination policy, says Amy-Sarah Marshall, president of the Charlottesville Pride Community Network.

“One time, I was speaking with a local business and I asked them if they had an anti-discrimination policy, and their response was they don’t need one because, ‘We don’t discriminate against anybody,’” recalls Marshall.

“And I thought that the sentiment was obviously well-intentioned, however that attitude completely glosses over the fact that we all have biases.”

Workplace anti-discrimination policies, she adds, are there to not only protect employees, but customers too.

U.S. Census Bureau data shows that the city added 824 female-owned businesses and 193 minority-owned business between 2007 and 2012, the most recent years for which data is available. But as a percentage of total businesses, both groups still lag behind.

FEMALE-OWNED BUSINESSES

25% 2007

35% 2012

MINORITY-OWNED BUSINESSES

12% 2007

13% 2012

AMY AND JACKSON SMITH

Getting Better

Kelli Palmer (above) heads global diversity & equity for the CFA Insitute, which has published a diversity and inclusion guide for the investment management industry.

Marshall also recommends safe-space training, which helps businesses, organizations, and individuals create welcoming, empathetic, inclusive spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. Organizations like Piedmont Virginia Community College, the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, and the Junior League of Charlottesville, among others, have participated in SafeCville, the Charlottesville Pride Community Network’s safe-space training.

“It’s about understanding and respecting different points of view and where people are coming from and learning to not make assumptions,” says Marshall. “Everybody needs practice with that.”

CON T IN U E D ON PAG E 4 6

C-BIZ 45

C ON TIN U E D F R O M PA GE 4 5

Above all, Marshall says having a variety of perspectives and diverse, inclusive places to live and work matters to people today, whether they are LGBTQ+ or of a minority group or not.

Diverse, inclusive communities and work cultures help attract business and bring out the best in their employees, which is all good for the bottom line, she adds. “We’re becoming a more diverse society. We’re becoming an open society, and I think if you are wanting to grow, that is where you need to be.”

And if a business or organization is planning to create policies in support of diversity, inclusion, and equity, Marshall urges them to “do it right.”

“It’s got to be part of the makeup of your core value system as a business,” she says, “or otherwise people can smell the bullshit.”

BILLY HUNT

The power of difference J. Elliott Cisneros, executive director of the nonprofit The Sum, which facilitates diversity and equity workshops and assessments, says he moved to Charlottesville after the events of August 2017 to start The Sum study center on East Jefferson Street. (Cisneros shares an office with Heather Heyer Foundation President Susan Bro.) While terms like “inclusion” are used today to describe strategies that bring differing groups and populations together, during the Civil Rights era, Cisneros says, the term “tolerance” was more commonly used to describe how people should get along.

“Now we look back and say, ‘Tolerance! Who wants to just be tolerated?’,” he says. “Now that language is about inclusion and equity, and similarly for me, I want inclusion, I want equity, but there’s something more. Like, do you really just want to be included? Or do you want to be seen and acknowledged and celebrated? So for me, our paradigm needs to move to that next step.”

The Sum’s free, one- to two-hour diversity and equity workshops, available to area businesses, introduce people

“IT’S GOT TO BE PART OF THE MAKEUP OF YOUR CORE VALUE SYSTEM AS A BUSINESS, OR OTHERWISE PEOPLE CAN SMELL THE BULLSHIT.” AMY-SARAH MARSHALL

Growing numbers The number of African American students at UVA has risen from 917 in 2013 to 1,085 in 2018, an increase of 15.4 percent in five years.

1,200

1,085 (2018) 1,000

917 (2013)

800

The University of Virginia Office for Diversity and Equity website maintains a “Diversity Dashboard” (diversitydata.virginia.edu) that illustrates the racial and gender demographic composition of the university’s faculty, staff, and students.

46 C-BIZ

to an unconventional online tool and methodology his team has developed called The Power of Difference Survey, which assesses an individual’s or group’s “power perspectives”—or patterns of thinking in relation to structural or institutional power—and how that interacts with sociocultural difference. Understanding one’s unconscious biases can help people learn to value difference and communicate more effectively across those differences.

“This is not about blame and shame, it’s not about wagging fingers at people and saying, ‘You’re really bad at this’ and ‘You need to get it together,’” say Cisneros. “It’s really providing the necessary support so that people can feel safe, and that they have the tools to do that internal work that really is going to allow them to impact people across differences in the ways that they intend.”

Diversity rises at the University of Virginia Dr. Marcus Martin, outgoing vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity at the University of Virginia,

D

I

“WHEN STUDENTS SEE INDIVIDUALS WHO LOOK LIKE THEM, THEY TEND TO WANT TO COME HERE.” MARCUS MARTIN

DAN ADDISON / UVA COMMUNICATIONS

came to Charlottesville in 1996 to serve as the first chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine.

“Actually, I was the first African American chair of a clinical department in the School of Medicine. And certainly, I always felt that I, as well as other clinicians, faculty members, [and] administrators, should be as well-versed as possible in diversity, equity, and inclusion because it brings a lot of value to whatever the organization is,” says Martin.

The entire university is diversifying across the board, Martin adds. The number of minority teaching and research faculty has increased by 70 percent—from 309 to 537—in the past 10 years, and the number of African American teaching and research faculty has increased by about 30 percent—from 86 to 109—in that same timeframe, as has total minority staff levels, from 1,084 to 1,335, representing an increase of 25 percent.

“So that’s good for recruiting students. When students see individuals who look like them, they tend to want to come here,” he says. The first-year class that entered in fall 2018 was more than 34 percent minority. “That’s the most diverse class ever,” he says. “The number of African American students at UVA is the highest that it’s ever been.”

Not only is the student population increasingly diverse, says Martin, the university has the highest retention rate and graduation rate of African American students of any public research institution in the country.

Efforts at increasing the number of women pursuing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields of study are also on an upward trend at UVA, with 33 percent of women earning undergraduate engineering degrees, compared to a national average of 21 percent.

Metrics aside, the university is also attempting to ensure that the institution’s story, which has long been dominated

by Thomas Jefferson, is expanded to encompass all its history. This narrative, including the role of slavery in building UVA, is key to the university’s D&I efforts.

One example of telling the complete story of the university’s past is the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers, now under construction near the Rotunda. The memorial will honor the lives and work of the approximately 5,000 enslaved African Americans who helped build and maintain the university between 1817, when construction started on the Lawn, and the end of the Civil War in 1865. Minority-owned firm Team Henry Enterprises of Newport News is providing general contracting work for the $7 million project, which is estimated to be completed in the next year.

Martin also points to the naming of Gibbons House after the enslaved African Americans Isabella and William Gibbons, a husband-and-wife butler and cook enslaved

by UVA professors, and the naming of Skipwith Hall after Peyton Skipwith, an enslaved stonemason, as other meaningful ways the university is working to recognize the contributions of those who helped build it. Skipwith Hall is a facilities management building that rests on the same grounds where Peyton Skipwith quarried stone for buildings at the university.

“Bringing out information about the enslaved who contributed to the building of the institution—a story that was never really borne out in the past—gets credibility,” adds Martin. It humanizes the descendants of the enslaved and other historically underrepresented populations and demonstrates that the university “really cares, and cares about

&

The Charlottesville Pride Community Network, led by Amy-Sarah Marshall (opposite) runs safe-space trainings to help individuals and organizations create environments that are welcoming for the LGBTQ+ community. Dr. Marcus Martin (above), the outgoing head of diversity and equity at UVA, says the university is diversifying across the board.

reflecting on the past, acknowledging the past history so we can be more inclusive as we move towards the future.”

Numerous other outreach efforts and programs have gotten off the ground since the Office for Diversity and Equity was created in 2005 by then-president John Casteen, says Martin. Those include the Diversity Council—which established the university’s “Commitment to Diversity” statement—the LGBT Committee, Women’s Leadership Council, Disability Advocacy & Action Committee, and the President’s Commission on Slavery and the University.

On a broader level, Martin says, diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values that should be integral to any institution, organization, or business. “The demographics are changing, becoming more diverse. Accepting and including individuals who may not have been included in the past is important for the strength of our community, for our state, and for our nation.”

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BACKSTORY

By Jennifer Pullinger

I

f you grew up in Charlottesville, you probably remember stopping by A&N in the summer to shop for back-to-school gear.

For several decades, A&N, a popular, Richmond-based sportswear chain founded in 1868, operated on the Downtown Mall (among other locations in Charlottesville and throughout Virginia) at 422 E. Main St. A&N—once known as Army-Navy Supply—was owned by the Sternheimer family, one of the “old-line families of Richmond retailing,”

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PHOTO CREDIT: C’VILLE IMAGES / CVILLEIMAGES.COM

Retail icon

as one source described the business’s legacy to The Daily Progress when the chain shut down.

Prior to A&N, M.C. Thomas Furniture Co. operated at the 420-422 East Main St.address.

Built in 1920, the building that housed A&N was originally two stories, before the second story was either removed or compromised by a fire in the late THEN: A&N, closed in 2006 NOW: Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar, opened in 2011

1960s, according to newspaper accounts. After A&N closed in late 2005, it became the local campaign office for Barack Obama, then an art gallery, and finally Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar, which opened in 2011. A second story of sorts was re-added in the form of a rooftop terrace at Commonwealth.

A&N shuttered its remaining stores in 2008, after 140 years in the business. The closing came as a result of “heavy competition from large national chains and increasing economic pressures on consumers,” The Virginian-Pilot then reported, marking the end of an era for many.

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