Aug 27, 2026 · 22 min · 10 segments
What does it take to build a local economy where workers, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and communities can all thrive? In this episode of State of Our Workforce: Unpacked, Henry Danner sits down…
Dee ManyamaGuest
Henry DannerHost
[laughs] Um, so continuing in that train of thought of understanding, you know, what your organization's foundational, uh, principles are, can you tell us about what your focus areas are? And if you could, maybe also highlight one of your initiatives currently that's driving your work in these focus areas.
And so we kind of follow that same understanding that when we put people first, when we put communities first, then that- that's where our focus should be.
Do the jobs exist? Are people prepared to, to take them? And then how do we match those two things and make sure that people have access? Again, that job creation, preparation, and access pillar is, um, our, our focus in everything that we do.
And then an initiative right now that really kind of pours into that is our small business alumni network, and that was born out of investing in local opportunities, programs for small business owner, our organizations, because we don't have a lack of opport- or we don't have a lack of programming for our small businesses.
But then once those cohorts and those classes are done, people were facing a cliff of, "Okay, what happens next?"
"I have all, uh, I have all of this information, but now what do I do with it?" And so our small business alumni network, or SBAN as we call it, is really an opportunity to build tables and make sure that there's com- community around businesses that have participated in programming previously so that they're not left to their own devices, and we're actually forming connective tissue that can be lasting beyond, you know, a one-off program or having the information that they need.
[laughs] Um, so continuing in that train of thought of understanding, you know, what your organization's foundational, uh, principles are, can you tell us about what your focus areas are? And if you could, maybe also highlight one of your initiatives currently that's driving your work in these focus areas.
And so we kind of follow that same understanding that when we put people first, when we put communities first, then that- that's where our focus should be.
Do the jobs exist? Are people prepared to, to take them? And then how do we match those two things and make sure that people have access? Again, that job creation, preparation, and access pillar is, um, our, our focus in everything that we do.
And then an initiative right now that really kind of pours into that is our small business alumni network, and that was born out of investing in local opportunities, programs for small business owner, our organizations, because we don't have a lack of opport- or we don't have a lack of programming for our small businesses.
But then once those cohorts and those classes are done, people were facing a cliff of, "Okay, what happens next?"
"I have all, uh, I have all of this information, but now what do I do with it?" And so our small business alumni network, or SBAN as we call it, is really an opportunity to build tables and make sure that there's com- community around businesses that have participated in programming previously so that they're not left to their own devices, and we're actually forming connective tissue that can be lasting beyond, you know, a one-off program or having the information that they need.
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