All participating elements are identifying multiple Viable Solutions, short and long term, which will help to educate, grow food, feed people, create jobs and much need tax revenues.
Find a Need and Fill It
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Our intents are about creating a viable option to improving / reducing the poverty levels in Eastern Tennessee, via a working combo both for profit and nonprofit perspective organizations, that will help to work to streamline educational and employment opportunities, for targeted individuals and local schools and Veterans.
Regional Stats
Poverty is often a realistic variable in permitting individuals to be successful in any realm of life. Specifically, poverty is a state of being extremely poor, of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount. Families in poverty in the State of Tennessee is at or below 250% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL). For a family size of 2, that is $43,550 per year. In comparison, a family of 4 that is $66,250 per year. According to the United States Census Bureau in 2019, the State of Tennessee had a population of 6.8M, with 13.9% (approximately 95K people) living in or below the poverty line. A question one might ask is how society will be prepared to meet with the challenges in providing solutions.
THE BILL
Since its inception, Gary Hunt, Founder and Managing Member, JBG Academy became a reality as a direct result of House Bill (HB) 2116, Senate Bill 2082, proposed by Representative John Mark Windle and Senator Ken Yager. This bill signed by then Governor Bill Haslam passed on Thursday, April 19, 2018. all of the Joint Venture team players and their colleagues have worked tirelessly to bring about all of these JBG components, all working together to create educational opportunities, we all help develop smart – tech personnel who are involved in building a diversified workforce.
Home Base
JBG has its headquarters in the small rural community of Sunbright, Tennessee in Morgan County. An additional satellite campus is located in rural Tellico Plains in Monroe County, Tennessee, while yet another component of growth and outreach is in rural Cooper Basin, in Polk County, Tennessee. It is important to note that each of these above areas of operation are structured to initiate and develop strategic work to develop training and education in rural America for the betterment of economic well-being in which people live and work. For example, the Cooper Basin site in Polk County, Tennessee will work to develop the Con Thien Veterans Memorial (derived from the Vietnam War in 1967) for assisting our military veterans with being properly educated and encouraged back into the civilian workforce. The academy concept seeks to develop an education program that promotes a chain reaction that uses a re-culturing of economics and having a balance of developing skill sets in people to meet the needs of today’s Veterans, and ultimately today’s regional workforce.
Creating the Gathering Place…
JBG is a for profit organization that works to streamline educational and employment opportunities for targeted individuals. JBG will do something that no one else is doing with its framework design and structure. Essentially, JBG is in two components. First, JBG Farms will train personnel to work in areas of an aquaponics system and fish production. Much of this component of work will take place at the Tellico Plains site. The overall intent of this component of the organization is to prepare individuals to work to help produce various foods to help meet the demand needs of the state, country, and invariably the world. Second and most essential, JBG Academy. The academy is the cornerstone of the JBG shared vision of what can be and will be..
Creating Economic Hope
The academy focuses on providing educational benefits for a variety of individuals, most exclusively, military veterans and students in secondary settings. The JBG Academy is the platform of focus serving today’s students and military veterans streamlining processes for economic hope for both the present and future. Approximately 89% of students’ move away from rural school system settings to obtain gainful employment and educational opportunities. A major part of this component is examining opportunities to begin work in post – secondary settings to make the initiative more marketable and reachable for individuals who need access to these resources.
Defining our Starting Places
One might be compelled to ask about the competition of other initiatives present in society. Simply stated, there is not any competition at this time. No one else out there is doing what we are doing and doing it the way we are. With that said, JBG is working to develop foundational structures that will prove the test of time and ultimately have the potential to go international in the future.
JBG is a dynamic initiative that has both the present and future focus of providing individuals with skill sets for a diverse workforce. Time will tell of the full magnitude of this initiative as changes in education and training bring about desired economic improvements, especially in rural communities.
Dr. Joseph A. Miller, Co-Founder, Managing Partner
of
JustBeGreen Academy, LLC.
