Genia Stevens announced last week that she won’t seek a third term on the Rock County Board of Supervisors, but the decision was months in the making.
“I started thinking about it about six months ago, as I was deciding what to do with Rock County JumpStart,” the organization she launched in 2019 to support Black business owners in the Beloit area, she said in an interview for the 365 Amplified podcast.
The organization has grown considerably in recent years, and Stevens felt the time was right to take the next step in expansion.
“If we’re going to expand into additional counties, now is the time to do that,” she said.
She said the organization has operated under the financial sponsorship of the Center for Community Stewardship, and has recently established itself with independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. Further, it will become JumpStart South Central Wisconsin, and expand to serve business owners and entrepreneurs in Green, Jefferson and Walworth Counties.
With all that happening, “I won’t be able to commit the time that I should be committing as a county board supervisor and doing the work for the constituents in my district as I really should be doing,” she said.
Tech focus
“We started as an incubator and accelerator for Black business owners … If you can’t find a resource that you need to run your business, we find those resources,” Stevens said. They’ve also shepherded six cohorts of business owners through preparations to make a pitch to investors and held six pitch-and-launch competitions.
Going forward, Stevens said the organization will add a layer of training focused on technology.
“Now we’re really going to focus heavily on tech and teaching business owners how to integrate technology into their current business, or do a whole-stack tech startup business,” she said.
The organization is well-situated to expand in part because much of their training and consulting has been done remotely up to this point. She said there will be satellite offices but “a lot of the one-on-one coaching will be done with Zoom, like what we’re already doing … We use the public library when we need a larger space to teach. So a lot of that work will be done pretty much the same way we do it right here in Rock County.”
Another new endeavor
Stevens said one facet of JumpStart’s work has focused on civic engagement, because she feels business owners also need to be aware of – and involved in – local government.
“Business owners are extremely influential when it comes to what’s going on politically,” she said, and she wanted JumpStart alumni ready to step into roles on city and county committees, boards, and even elected offices.
Expanding Jumpstart to three additional counties, Stevens saw an opportunity to “peel off” that part of the mission into a new, independent organization she’s calling Civic Leadership Alliance, led by volunteers.
“I still want to be involved in that world,” even as she steps away from the county board, Stevens said. ““I am far more passionate about developing leaders than I am about being a county board supervisor. I am far more passionate about developing business leaders and developing political leaders and developing people to mentor others.”
She may not be entirely done with politics, though. Stevens said she’s currently laying the groundwork to hand JumpStart South Central Wisconsin off to new leadership in three years or so. After that, who knows?
“Maybe I’ll be back,” she said.
