Town council approves partnership funding for Lowcountry Local First business academy

The Town of James Island council voted to approve a municipal partnership and sponsorship with Lowcountry Local First to bring the nonprofit’s 13-week Community Business Academy to James Island and underwrite tuition for up to eight participants, at a cost not to exceed $29,800.

The vote followed a presentation by Jackie Berger, executive director of Lowcountry Local First, who described the nonprofit’s training, marketing and graduate services for local independent businesses and asked the council to underwrite tuition for eight James Island participants and include the town as a municipal member.

Berger said the academy provides a 13-week curriculum, graduate services and an annual pitch event with cash prizes. She told council the program has more than 360 graduates and offered to recruit once the council committed to funding: “We would start recruiting and promoting in James Island, tomorrow morning.”

Two program graduates who attended the meeting described the program’s local impact. Tana Dukes, owner of Ranch Dressing Company and a program graduate, told council the academy helped turn her early sales into a more structured business and credited the program with expanding her retail footprint. “I was able to participate in the Ready, Set, Pitch competition last year, and I won. I was able to invest that back in my business, and that helped a lot,” Dukes said.

Julia Drayton Crumlin, who said she drove an hour to attend a prior cohort, said the academy helped her develop a practical business plan that supported a recent childcare center application and connected her with a mentor in the childcare field.

Council members asked about program completion and cost-sharing details. Berger said student contributions are limited to $125 for curriculum materials and that typical cohort retention is about 80–90 percent. She and staff said the town would only pay for James Island residents or businesses and that the town could be reimbursed on a per-graduate basis if enrollment fell short of the eight-slot commitment.

Finance director Mike Hemmer told council the spending could be covered in the town’s current budget and that the fully loaded maximum for the membership and sponsorship was $29,800; the actual cost would fall if fewer than eight James Island residents participated.

Councilman Troy Mullenax moved to approve the partnership and sponsorship as presented, the motion was seconded, and a roll-call vote approved the expenditure. Mayor Bridal Lyon and council members voted in favor; the motion carried.

The program will be hosted in town-owned facilities if scheduling permits, include local promotion for the town’s businesses, and provide graduate services and pitch-event eligibility to the sponsored participants. Lowcountry Local First said it would begin recruiting James Island participants after the council’s approval.