Introducing the Axiom Business Center

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit. – Harry Truman

Axiom Business Center is comprised of three components; Professional Services, Support Center Services and Educational Services. It is the intent of ABC to integrate the services of our collaborative partners, entwining our respective missions, by offering support and solutions to the business sector and the employee. With our technology division advancing the technological resources in the private sector, it is an opportunity to provide training to individuals to improve their skills, therefore, opening the door to better, higher paying jobs.

We are working closely with all of the economic development groups; Sunrise County Economic Council, Eastern Maine Development Corp., Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Downeast Community Development Corp., Washington County Development Authority. We understand their collective vision in bringing new businesses into Washington County, and assisting businesses in increasing their revenues and retaining employees. Increasing the bandwidth infrastructure is absolutely necessary to achieve that goal.

As we work with our area businesses, our approach is a little different from most technology companies. We send our Business Development Specialist to a company to spend several days understanding how their business operates. One of our customers has said to us, "I know I need to do something for my business, I just don't know what it is called." Many of our businesses know they want to be technology proficient, but they do not even know where to begin. Once the needs of the business are defined, and their internal network is built, Axiom places an employee on-site for up to a month to assist and train all of their employees. Many employees have never used a computer; much less know how to use Microsoft Office programs, including email. For many businesses, we assist them in marketing their product online or E-Commerce which will enable them to bring in revenue from OUTSIDE Washington County.

All of this is a great plan, but in creating it, we then realized that we had a limited labor pool here in Washington County who were adequately trained. Hence, we decided that training needed to be done. When we looked for a group of people ready for training, we turned to DHHS' TANF/Aspire programs. Here was a ready group of individuals who needed to have the skills to decrease their social service dependency and be able to support themselves and their families. We have long heard of Washington County having the highest number of residents on some sort of government sponsored program, and we have heard of the high unemployment rates, and frankly, it needs to change.

Axiom then started to put together a proposal for the Axiom Business Center. It is divided into three components. The first component of ABC is to provide training, and a course has been developed called "Business Survival Skills". For many of the Aspire/TANF candidates, not only did the training have to include computer and office functions, but some simple life skills training. Things like how to dress for work and interviews; how when you meet someone, you look them in the eye and shake their hands and even that you need to take your hat off when you walk into a building. Axiom began talking to many of the social service and governmental agencies and the education community. We also talked to businesses, employees and current TANF/Aspire candidates and what we found was that many, many people and organizations shared our view and supported our efforts.

The University of Maine in Machias has endorsed our course curriculum, and classes began January 2007 at UMM. The course is one semester, sixteen weeks of classroom instruction and four weeks of internship. DHHS is committed to working with Axiom in training their TANF/Aspire enrollees, and have scheduled 15 of the Aspire enrollees to begin classes 1/13/07.

The second component of ABC is to assist businesses in utilizing all of the programs that are available to them. Axiom managers have long said that we would like to lock all of the economic development people, the social service people, the educational people and the political people in a room together so that they can all tell each other what they do. As a business in Washington County, we have had to find out the hard way about all of the programs and services that can help our business become successful. As "Business Partners" with our clients, we can educate them of all of the good programs and services that are available to assist them to increase their revenue and give them some economic relief.

The third component of ABC is a Support Center. Businesses that want to increase their businesses, but do not want to hire more employees can outsource to the Business Center. One of our clients has started an E-Commerce trade, and as he has said to us, "I know how to pack and ship lobsters, but what do I know about processing E-Commerce orders via the internet?" The Business Center will be an extension of his business and will enable him to grow his business safely and wisely.

Studies have suggested that our regional economy continues to be characterized by persistent poverty and chronic under/unemployment while facing serious challenges by virtue of our geographical isolation. We suggest that, given these conditions, the people in our region have to be tenacious, resourceful, creative, and flexible and that these attributes, coupled with motivation and initiative, can also characterize an engaged and productive workforce and thriving business sector.

One of the distinguishing features of this project is that we propose to fully engage those being served from the workforce and the business communities while facilitating, from the business perspective, the local resources necessary to grow regional business. Washington County is rich with programs from social service agencies, governmental agencies and educational institutions that were created to improve the economic development of our region. As we unfolded layer after layer of programs and resources, it became evident that Axiom could drive the collaboration of these agencies, and through its professional services, support services and educational services could assist businesses untangle the myriad of resources and programs designed to bring them economic relief.

As this project has been developed, we felt that having the support, input and collaboration of the many organizations and individuals that have similar goals as ours, changing the economic structure in Washington County, was essential. We discovered many talented, dedicated women who are working diligently to improve quality of life for our businesses and our residents. They represented social service, government and educational entities, local business owners, employees and TANF/Aspire enrollees. Hence, the “Mighty Women" Advisory Board was created. The 50 members of the Advisory Board support the efforts of ABC, and meet monthly. We are educating ourselves in understanding what each agency and facility offers. By creating a diverse collaborative, ABC projects that, collectively, we can revise the business story in Washington County.

The time has come for some huge changes in Washington County. The multi-generational dependency on our governmental programs has to stop. Many agencies sponsored by the State and Federal government have tried to make those changes, and the results have been painfully slow. ABC truly believes that the private business sector driving the necessary changes in Washington County will make that happen. The government programs are good, but they are not enough. To make a difference, we all need to be in this together and committed to changing the face of Washington County. We have no doubt it can be done. With the support of a group such as the Mighty Women, and the agencies and facilities that they represent, we are confident that we will succeed.