The Joseph Business School of Forest Park is launching a $25 million-fundraising campaign with the goal to expand its offerings to help minority business owners build million-dollar operations.
The Christian vocational school, accredited by the Council for Continuing Education and Training, is looking to raise money over five years to craft an affordable course offering that teaches students how to create wealth.
The goal is to train 100,000 entrepreneurs to earn $1 million in revenue. The class, described as “industry-agnostic” by the school’s president Deloris Thomas, is available to those with an existing business, product or business idea hoping to grow their project in size and scope.
The course will total 90 hours over the course of four months, longer than the school’s current offerings. Students will take more than 30 classes in subjects that include marketing, finance and strategy. It will be offered for $3,500 – a critical component of the campaign.
“We have minimized the cost; that’s literally offering… a 90% discount because we believe in ministry first. So, this course costs only $3,500,” Thomas said.
Officials said they plan to raise funds through alumni and individual donations, federal grants and corporate sponsorships. Thomas said they have a “strong volunteer pool” to assist them. She said the school has begun its campaign.
Of that fundraising goal, 10%, or $2.5 million, will be directed toward the cost of acquiring more faculty and advisors.
“We’re so excited that we’re going to be launching this new program of training 100,000 entrepreneurs to reach $1 million in business, creating over a billion-dollar economy by eradicating poverty and closing the wealth gap,” Thomas said.
“Black and brown businesses, we’ve seen a huge increase in those businesses. But believe it or not,” she added, “the average revenue of those businesses are under 100,000 [dollars annually], and many of them are sole proprietors. But here, we believe in big dreams, and that starting businesses is about increasing the number of jobs that are created — and, as I mentioned, changing our communities by closing that wealth gap.
“I really want to … talk about the importance of transforming our communities through entrepreneurship and job creation; where we can reduce violence, we can also make sure that [people] are able to care for their families,” she said.
Graduate Helen Austin, who with her daughter, Kayla, developed the My Gun’s Been Moved smart pad – a tool that sends alerts when guns are moved from it – said her time at Joseph was invaluable.
“We didn’t have a strong business plan … so now we feel like we have a really strong business plan that we feel comfortable giving to investors,” said Helen. “[They] really helped us equip ourselves [with] the belief that we could do a million dollars in the first year.”
More information about The Joseph Business School can be found online at jbs.edu, or by visiting 7600 W. Roosevelt Rd.