- This month on The SPARK our theme is building blocks for the most success.

We'll learn more about an organization supporting families with comprehensive programs that prepare children for kindergarten readiness and third grade literacy.

A non-profit providing scholarships and giving Memphis area families the opportunity to send their children to the schools of their choice.

And a wholesale floor covering and decorative surface distributor that's giving back to support our community.

We'll also share a special moment from our SPARK awards, 2020.

- Lipscomb & Pitts insurance is honored to serve the Memphis community for over 60 years.

We've always focused on supporting our community and believe in promoting the positives encouraging engagement and leading by example.

Lipscomb & Pitts insurance is proud to be a presenting sponsor of The SPARK.

- Additional funding for The SPARK is provided by Meritan, United way of the Mid-South My Town Movers, My Town Roofing, My Town Miracles and by SRVS.

- Ever been excited by a new idea inspired by watching someone lead by example.

When we talk about creating change we start by sharing the stories of everyday heroes who are making a difference in their own way so we can learn and do the same.

I'm Jeremy Park and this is The SPARK.

They're an organization helping to prepare children for kindergarten readiness and third grade literacy.

We're here with a board member for First 8 Memphis our good friend Dr. Carol Johnson Dean and let's start.

First 8 Memphis is a relatively new organization.

Give us some background on what led to start this organization.

- Yes so you know nothing is more dear to my heart than education in Memphis.

And so I was excited to be asked to serve on the First 8 Memphis board about a year and a half ago.

And First 8 is really designed to help achieve equity and opportunity particularly in Memphis where we know not all students enter kindergarten ready to learn.

And so the mission of First 8 is to support families so that they can find and identify really high quality comprehensive services for their preschoolers.

And secondly, we have a really targeted goal where we wanna see in our vision we see 90% of our students being kindergarten ready when they enter kindergarten.

And then we wanna see 90% of them be fluent readers at grade three.

Here's what we know already that only 41% of our kindergarten students enter kindergarten ready.

And yet we know that lots of families are doing lots of things to get their students ready.

And then we only have about 25% of our third graders reading at third grade level when they get to third grade.

As that as if this learning disparity occurs at kindergarten what we've learned is that this disparity starts very early.

And children are like sponges.

And the earlier we connect them with learning opportunities high quality experiences and also support their families with wraparound services the better off those students will be.

Really First 8 is designed to create these partnerships and connections with families and young children so that education can be successful when they enter kindergarten and go all the way through third grade.

- And it's called First 8 because you're working with children from zero so birth to age eight.

And as you mentioned third grade literacy is really really important because when you look at that eight year old that third grade that's when it starts to shift from learning how to read to reading to learn.

And so there's a lot of critical elements in terms of the ripple effect that are so important for what you're doing.

- Absolutely and I think the thing I want to emphasize especially with First 8 is we're very focused on universal needs-based pre-K. We know that there are a lot of families who can't afford and do provide high quality pre-K experiences.

But there are a number of families in our community who lack both the resources and access to high quality instructional support at those early grades.

And all the research on brain development now tells us that those are critical moments in learning that you just don't get back as easily if you can capture them early on.

First getting them really high quality pre-K experiences.

Second, one thing that we want to focus on is attendance.

We know that when students come regularly to school when they're there and they're engaged with high quality teaching they will do better.

One of the other supports we try to emphasize with families is the importance of getting your child engaged in a high quality program early on having to be consistent having to be there.

We know a lot of our poorest families also need wraparound services.

Our students don't come to us in a vacuum.

They need these other supports.

And this is particularly true Jeremy during the COVID period.

What we've understood about COVID is that it has impacted our poorest families our most needy children and a great deal of high level because the disparities are just exacerbated.

And so the importance of connecting students to early learning and quality experiences and dealing with some of the digital divide that exists has been even more important now at this time.

- Talk about collaboration because everything you do is collaborative and it's collaborative with the kindergartens, the pre-K.

It's collaborative with the school system, the families.

Talk about what collaboration means for First 8 Memphis.

- First of all let me just say we have a fabulous board of trustees working with First 8.

And these are people who come from very diverse backgrounds but they're very, very committed.

Our chair of our board is Kathy Buckman Gibson and she certainly brings a very deep passion for this work as well as certainly an interest in making difference here in Memphis.

But we also have people like Eva Matlock who's a former head of public health because there's a connection between public health and learning.

And so having those connections are really really important part of the work that we do.

We have representatives from Shelby County from the city government Patrice Robinson who chairs the city council.

We have lots of different people who care about this issue.

We partner with all of the zero to three healthcare provide... Childcare providers.

Many of the people like Porter-Leath providers that are already providing high quality but we are trying to do a better job of reaching those families whose incomes may jeopardize their ability to get the best high quality services.

We have other components that include home visitation we have a parent resource center and we have like for example now a website that helps parents know how to deal with the COVID-19, how to talk about it to their children and how to put protections in place in their own households to reduce the likelihood of them being sick their families being sick and their children making the right choices and taking the right precautions - Talk about how the community can help.

- First of all if you're interested in finding more about First 8, we invite you to go to our website first8memphis.org.

And we're on all the social media platforms Facebook, Twitter Instagram and there... We also have parent resource center right there on that website.

Click, click, click and join us and find out more about First 8 Memphis.

And then help our young children to get the best early start possible.

- Dr. Carol Johnson Dean greatly appreciate not only what you're doing with First 8 Memphis but you personally, you give so much to this city.

Thank you very much for all you and your team do.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thank you Jeremy.

First 8 appreciates you.

[upbeat music] - They're an organization helping Memphis area families choose the best school for their children.

We're here with the executive director for Memphis Opportunity Scholarship Trust, MOST Abbey Cowens and Abbey let's start.

Give us a little bit of history for MOST.

- Yeah hi, thanks for having me on.

MOST was founded by Bob Solmson in 1998 and really he just wanted to help out some schools with some scholarship opportunities and he did it on his own and then created this organization.

- Which has greatly expanded at this point over $21 million in scholarships awarded which is huge.

Talk about the program and how it works.

- Sure so it's actually starting right now.

February one is application process.

Family start applying on our website memphisscholarships.org.

And it's need based so they have to provide financial income information and it's based on the school cafeteria policy... Free lunch policy and it's a lottery system.

We don't choose we don't tell them where to go to school or anything like that.

They're just there having an interest in sending their kids to a certain school and they apply for a scholarship and then it's a lottery system.

- Talk about the ages and the amount of money awarded.

- We start our children in PK-3, PK-4, kindergarten first and then we take them all the way through grade 12.

Scholarships are an average of $2,500.

We basically bridge the gap between what financial aid can provide if a school provides financial aid and what the family can pay.

It's where that... Just that little gap in between.

- Talk about the feedback and the impact for the families because as I mentioned at the onset this really gives them the freedom to choose the best school for their child.

Talk about the impact for the families.

- Absolutely so families always have to have a little bit of skin in the game.

So they're paying something.

If you're talking about a child who's going to a school that costs $20,000 and there is financial aid available.

And so Say they have two children and it's $40,000.

They may... Maybe the family has to pay half that.

We pay a certain amount the family has to pay a certain amount and otherwise they would not be able to afford it.

And we're not talking, we're not all in and we're not sending them... We're not giving them $10,000 a year.

But we are helping bridge that gap a little bit - Share from a mother's perspective the importance of school choice and being able to pick the best school with the best environment for the best outcome for your child.

- Well that's right up my alley.

I have a child in public school and I also have a child in private school.

My oldest started out in public school and it just wasn't a good fit for him.

He needed something smaller he needed something just different.

Just wasn't right.

We sent him to private school.

My younger one thrives in the public school setting.

It's bigger and he's gregarious and whatever and so he's really happy there.

And it's just important.

You know your child better than anybody.

You know what they need is a social... Something socially different or academically different or religiously different.

Whatever those needs are you should be able to have those options.

- Share a little about just the connectivity special events.

You host an event typically at the end of the year.

I know the pandemic has caused some issues on that end in terms of keeping everyone safe but talk about a typical year and the... Toward the end of the school year the celebration some of those special moments.

- Yeah so we get to celebrate with our graduates.

Like I said they've been with us from either PK three four kindergarten first through... All the way through.

We're always excited to celebrate with them and send them on their way.

About 90% of our students go on to a four-year college.

That is I mean thrilling and we love celebrating that.

This year actually we're praying that we have in-person celebration and our sponsor this year is duncan williams asset management.

We're grateful to them.

And we have 30 students graduating this year.

It's gonna be very exciting.

- I know the pandemic has caused a lot of issues for families but for you in particular with MOST share how it's kinda delayed things on your end in terms of the scholarships.

- Honestly it hasn't.

We've gone on as normal.

The only difference being that parents of 50 students chose to hold their scholarships this year.

And so we would normally have over 400 students.

We have about 386 right now and they'll be back next year.

They just did...

There wasn't an in-person option or there was only in-person option and they wanted virtual they weren't comfortable.

They chose to put it on hold but otherwise the schools have really rallied.

They've been amazing and giving students what they need and things have gone on as normal for us.

- How can the community help?

- Support the children.

A scholarship... An average scholarship is $2,500.

We have amazing donors.

This is all privately funded we get no government funding.

Really it's the people of Memphis that are sending these kids to school.

And we're so grateful and they are so grateful and it's just, it's a really impactful organization.

- What would you offer as encouragement for this new semester ahead and when you look at the future being bright for these students and these opportunities what words of encouragement would you offer?

- I think everybody's kind of had to adjust.

And I know for my children even just last year when they went virtual I think it's really been amazing to see how kids adapt so easily.

I think that it's a life lesson that things aren't always status quo and you have to adjust and move.

And I think that while the pandemic has been awful and things are falling through the cracks the one positive is that it's really shown how resilient children are.

And I really think that that's a positive...

I think that that's really positive going into life.

And I think that they are just gonna be that much better for it.

- Where do we go to learn more about Memphis Opportunities Scholarship Trust and to get involved?

- Yeah memphisscholarships.org.

We have all kinds of information from our... For our students, for our parents for our donors, all of that.

We've a new corporate sponsorship page.

We're very, very grateful to our corporate sponsors and there's golf tournament in the fall.

If you like to play golf it's a great way to get out and enjoy the weather and support a great cause.

And we'll have some other things coming up in...

When we can meet in person hopefully soon.

[chuckles] - Abbey greatly appreciate you and your team for all you do.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Appreciate it.

[upbeat music] - The SPARK awards annually recognize and celebrate individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the community.

The 2020 recipient of the corporate award for companies with a hundred employees or fewer is Start2Finish Event Management.

- Start2Finish Event Management as a health oriented event management company that is centered around putting on active events for all of our clients that generally nonprofit clients.

Nonprofits are obviously looking for ways to fundraise.

One of the primary goals or primary events that they put on for a fundraiser is 5K these days.

And we as a company help them do that.

They wannna put on a 5k but they don't know how so that's where we come in.

We take over from start to finish and help them put on an event that is a high quality, successful.

Something that their participants will wanna come back to.

There's a lot that goes into putting on a 5k that you just don't see.

Just Be shows up.

They see the physical things, they see the bet they get they see the shirt they're wearing.

They see the finish line structure set up but what they don't see is all the things that went on behind the scenes just to get the website set up.

The registration opened up.

That takes a day or two in itself.

Dealing with the city, the permits, the police getting an ambulance ready on site.

Getting all of the things that you're just not aware of.

How much water it takes to handle water stops to make sure everybody's got what they need while they're out on course.

One of the first conversations we have with a new client is tell us really the foundation of who you are and what your organization is about.

Because that helps us know how we can target the participants that need to come to your event.

Over 10 years ago when I started we were doing 20 events and we'll do somewhere neighborhood of 300 would have in 2020.

And that number is big on paper but it means a lot to the nonprofits and the foundations that we work with.

Whether it's a Lubana that's raising 125,000 or it's a smaller nonprofit that just raises 5,000 I think that means the world to them just as much as it does to the bigger ones.

We do work with St. Jude on the marathon.

We've worked with pure power for about four years now I think is that number.

It's a lot of fun.

You meet a lot of people that are dedicated to service to the people that are of this community.

And it's a lot of fun to help them to see a successful event.

The culmination of what they saw in their head when they designed it and pitched it to you to to see it come to fruition is a lot of fun with these people.

If you haven't supported a 5k, a local nonprofit event normal world there's one every weekend go try one.

There are a lot of fun and 5k is not a hard distance.

I'd say come try one.

Get involved and really see what impact your small participation can actually have.

- They're a wholesale floor covering distributor and much, much more.

We're here at Sam Martin.

He is the vice president of sales and marketing for BPI.

And Sam let's start.

Give us some history for BPI.

- First of all Jeremy thank you very much for the opportunity to talk to you.

BPI as you mentioned is a distributor of wholesale building materials and floor covering.

We're a 58 year old company that was founded here in Memphis, Tennessee with one location.

At this point we have 12 locations around the United States.

We are an ESOP company.

We bought the company out about 14 years ago.

Everybody you see driving the trucks, the forklifts answering the phone are all owners of this company which makes it very, very special.

We have 12 locations around the United States.

We're actually the second largest in the nation.

- Being a wholesale distributor and as you mentioned the floor coverings, decorative surfaces paint the picture of what that is because it's obviously it's wood.

I mean it's a lot of different product lines.

Walk us through some of the product lines.

- Okay so about 39% of our overall business is done in the ceramic tile industry.

Which as you know is continued to grow and wood equals about 30% of our overall business.

But the hottest item we have now is the LVT market, Luxury Vinyl Tile market.

And we all told them the building materials side handled a court side, which is a countertop type product as well as post form tops.

Basically if it goes on the floors or on the countertop we pretty much represent it.

- How has the pandemic affected the operations development on your end because obviously with the focus on the home a lot of renovations, which could be good but talk about what the pandemic has done for you on the business side.

- We've seen a huge change where a lot of industry has shut down and had to close their doors.

Our business is actually grown and that comes from Ms. Smith and Ms. Jones being at home all day long.

They've taken that money that they would use for travel and they've invested it into their home and the opportunities there are huge.

We represent again, being headquartered in Memphis and we are in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi Louisiana which are five of the poorest states in the nation.

A lot of times that is a hindrance.

However, in reality all of our customers have to come to work every day.

We don't have New York, we don't have Chicago we don't have LA.

We do have Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, Nashville.

But people have to come to work.

A lot of our customers that we deal with are mom and pop family organizations.

And they've had to come in.

They've had to make changes as though same way we have to be safe and stick to the CDC regulations.

But in reality they've opened themselves up via the websites, electronic catalogs and et cetera so that their customers can browse without the face-to-face.

And then when it comes down to truly make the sale, to truly make the big then they go in and are able to pick the products that they want for their homes.

- You all are very, very big in terms of Porter-Leath Mid-South Food Bank, Ronald McDonald House St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Talk about philanthropy for BPI.

- You mentioned Porter-Leath.

We've been so lucky to have dealt with them.

We've toured their facilities and the operation they have there is second to none.

We got involved in what we call the bike drive.

It's a tour program.

Last year we did 168 bikes.

And this was during the pandemic.

During the recession we were still involved with it.

And what the... We pose the question to our employees won't you wanna make sure a child has a wonderful Christmas.

No matter how bad things are do your part to help.

Porter-Leath has been a great opportunity for us.

We had one of our managers that passed away eight years ago.

And we put in place in Huntsville, Alabama we put in place a golf tournament.

And all the funding for that went to St. Jude.

This year we're splitting it between St. Jude and Ronald McDonald House and I'll talk a little bit more about our affiliation with Ronald McDonald House.

But again this manager was a family man, a grandfather.

Very involved in his community.

It's our opportunity to get everybody together to talk about Tim.

Remember Tim and the great things...

The great fun we have and still help others which again is ultimately what we do.

Another thing we've gotten involved with is the food bank.

And I'll tell you about 10 years ago on my way to the office one day I was listening to Drake and Zeke and they made the comment that the food bank was about out of food.

This was two or three weeks prior to Thanksgiving.

And I thought no, it's not going to happen.

I walked in that morning to our staff meeting and asked, "Guys, we just can't do that.

None of us sitting around this table have missed a meal.

We have do our parts."

I threw a challenge out there for a thousand items.

Now we have 460 plus employees in 12 locations.

Our headquarters here we have about 125 and I challenged each department.

Jeremy I'm gonna tell you it got physical.

We put boxes at each part department.

We added more boxes then we added more boxes.

There was such a competition between the departments.

It was fantastic.

And at the time we got ready to deliver the material our goal was a thousand items.

We delivered a tractor trailer load of food to the food bank.

And we've continued that over the years we've done it at different times.

But that was probably the most memorable memorable as all of the apartments...

Departments got involved with it.

And it really became a great challenge.

We collect tabs for the Ronald McDonald House.

We have been over and fed and served the people at the Ronald McDonald House.

And again this year we're actually sponsoring a room at the Ronald McDonald House for a year in the name of our former employee and his family.

When I told him about that work I mean there were tears everywhere because they were just so excited that Tim's name was gonna be associated with helping, helping families like that.

- We'll wrap up and talk about where we can go to learn more about BPI.

- Okay so you can go to bpiteam.com.

Unfortunately, we are a wholesale distributor not open to the public but we certainly represent some of the top names in the industry today.

And we have a lot of Memphis families that are fed by what we do.

Again it is such a privilege for you to have me on to talk about this and we certainly appreciate everything you guys do.

- Sam you are a great partner in our city.

Currently we appreciate all the philanthropy and the heart and you and your team are amazing.

Thank you for all you do and for coming on the show.

- Absolutely, have a blessed day.

[upbeat music] - In order to achieve the most success we need a solid foundation with the building blocks of family, love and encouragement.

Food, clothing and shelter, education, community and opportunities.

Thankfully we have organizations like First 8 Memphis which is working to make sure our children receive early care and educational services from birth through age eight.

And they're partnering with Memphis area pre-K schools to help families navigate the pandemic and provide needed support to build that solid foundation for success.

We have nonprofits like Memphis Opportunity Scholarship Trust, MOST which has provided more than $21 million in need-based scholarships and is helping families who wish to send their children to private schools but needs some extra support to provide that opportunity.

And we have companies like BPI that literally provide a solid foundation with their floor coverings and more.

Which are providing career opportunities for growth and giving back to our local community in big ways.

Like with the support of Porter-Leath, Mid-South Food Bank and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

When you think about it, we're all building blocks for the success of our community.

Thank you for being a building block to power the good.

To learn more about each of the guests to watch past episodes and to share your stories of others leading by example visit wkno.org and click on the link for The SPARK.

We look forward to seeing you next month.

We hope you'll continue joining with us to create a spark for the Mid-South.

- Lipscomb & Pitts insurance is honored to serve the Memphis community for over 60 years.

We've always focused on supporting our community and believe in promoting the positives encouraging engagement and leading by example.

Lipscomb & Pitts insurance is proud to be a presenting sponsor of The SPARK.

[upbeat music]