 |
St. Louis City Resolution Number 375 March 12, 2010 |
| Resolutions adopted during the 2009 session by the St. Louis City
Board of Aldermen have been converted to electronic format by the staff of the St. Louis
Public Library. This electronic version has been done for the interest and convenience of
the user. These are unofficial versions and should be used as unofficial copies. Official printed copies of St. Louis City Ordinances may be obtained from the Register's Office at the St. Louis City Hall. |
WHEREAS, we have been apprised that Linda Williams will be receiving an award from Grace Hill and her name will be placed on the Wall of Fame of the Grace Hill Women's Business Center; and
WHEREAS, Linda Williams has lived all her life in St. Louis except for an 8-year stay in New Jersey. She attended Florissant Valley Community College, taking business courses and later on added some child care classes as well. After she returned to Florissant she worked for AT&T for three years. She got the entrepreneurial spirit while working for others and was looking to start her own business. She noticed that many people needed reliable child care in order to be able to work; and
WHEREAS, her first connection with Grace Hill and the Women's Business Center was working with real estate executive Marvin Steele (Lynn Steele' brother) to find a building to makeover into a day care center. They found a building that she had gutted and redesigned. Although delayed by the City of Florissant, she opened her center in September of 2004; and
WHEREAS, Bright Beginnings Daycare is licensed to serve 85 children, originally from six weeks to 12 years of age but she has since cut back to six weeks to 11 years. The center operates day and night. Linda is fortunate that her highly qualified sister supervises the night operations. She has 21 other employees, all of whom either have their associate degrees in Early Childhood Education or are currently studying for the degree. Bright Beginnings operates seven classrooms and has been continuously filled with a waiting list until late last year, when many people lost their jobs and had to pull their children out; and
WHEREAS, Marvin Steele introduced Linda to the WBC where she worked with Kristi Kight on completing her business development plan and took business classes. She completed the Business Development course before opening her center. The WBC encouraged her to apply for a $25,000 ARCHS (Area resources for Community and Human Services) grant which she received. "They worked with me throughout the process and also helped me apply for and get an additional loan of $3500 to get started." She has continued consulting with Lynn and others at the WBC periodically.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Aldermen of the City of St. Louis that we pause in our deliberations to recognize Linda Williams for her outstanding achievement and we further direct the Clerk of this Board to spread a copy of this Resolution across the minutes of these proceedings and to prepare a commemorative copy to the end that it may be presented to our honoree at a time and place deemed appropriate by the Sponsor.
Introduced on the 12th day of March, 2010 by:
Honorable April Ford-Griffin, Alderwoman 5th Ward
Adopted this the 12th day of March, 2010 as attested by:
_____________________
David W. Sweeney
Clerk, Board of Aldermen____________________________
Lewis E. Reed
President, Board of Aldermen