Fort Payne Mayor Brian Baine recently detailed a variety of initiatives he is involved in to improve the look of and quality of life inside the city, grow the tax
On April 27, Rotarian Mike Shirey hosted Ms. Angie Sparks, Regional Vice President of Development at Liberty Learning Foundation. Ms. Sparks explained how her organization provides civic education programs and live experiences that improve students understanding of their community and country. Working entirely through donations, Liberty Learning Foundation provides groundbreaking resources, trains teachers, mobilizes volunteers and orchestrates emotionally charged events to teach, inspire and empower our next great Americans. An entirely non-profit organization, Liberty Learning focuses on active civics and character building programs in grades K-12 across the entire State of Alabama. Their immersive events empower schools, parents, local leaders and businesses to become good stewards of their community and country.
During an offsite to the Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce, Club President David Allgood hosted Rotarian Vicky Kirby, President of the Fort Payne-DeKalb County Entrepreneurial Center. Kirby explained her vision of creating a hub for education and resources for those who want to grow and succeed in business. The Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce will be the initial location of the E-Center, which will ultimately be located in the 50,000-square-foot âOld Sock Millâ in historic downtown Fort Payne. It will provide a physical location for a start-up business, civic organization, student, or individual to initiate or incubate a business or an idea. It will include a state-of-the-art conference room, retail space for start-up businesses to rent, reception space, professional offices, and a restaurant training area.
By a vote of 3-2, the Fort Payne City Council voted to pass a resolution supporting statewide legislation impacting appointments to the board of directors of the Fort Payne Improvement Authority. Council President Walter Watson also announced that the city council will resume in-person meetings on April 6 at 12:30 p.m. at City Hall.
During the live-streamed meeting, Watson said the previous council looked at having the law revised so members could be appointed to the FPIA board, similar to how they have served on other utility boards. The resolution approved this week requests the local legislative delegation introduce a local act to amend sections of the Code of Alabama pertaining to improvement authorities.
Who: Fort Payne/DeKalb County Entrepreneurial Center (E-Center)
What they do: Their mission has three pillars, according to Board President Vicky Kirby. The first is education with programs for K-12 schools to plant the concept of opportunity in budding entrepreneurs so they can set their sights on growing and prospering in a business of their own. The second pillar is equipping anyone who has an entrepreneurial spirit and determination with the right resources to start a new business or grow and expand an existing business. Third, the E-Center seeks to empower anyone regardless of race, age or ability who has the desire to re-enter the workforce or become an entrepreneur.