As a founding member and executive director, Ms. Sauget was instrumental in the development of Archview Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) writing the 501(c) 3 organizational structure, developing mission/vision/values, creating the board of directors, implementing project budgets, and setting yearly objectives. AEDC was originally created to serve the underserved communities of Centreville, Cahokia, Dupo, East Carondelet, and Sauget, by building a strong community fiber focused on networking and integrating business, healthcare, and education resources in the regional area. Over 92 of the area's top companies participate in AEDC from an expanded regional area including Granite City, East St. Louis, Belleville, Columbia, and other communities.

As one of AEDC's achievements, Ms. Sauget, in coordination with Upchurch Concrete Company, Shawnee Community College, and East St. Louis Community College, developed a new construction and concrete driver program geared to attracting and training local workforce for jobs in the area. AEDC members identified a significant need for qualified workforce that was unmet. Since the program began, over 500 people have been placed in construction and concrete positions.

For the past seven years, AEDC has hosted an annual career fair with over 400 underserved high school juniors and seniors in the Cahokia and Dupo School Districts. Held at the Gateway Grizzlies Stadium, the annual career fair lets AEDC business members discuss job opportunities in the local area, education requirements, salary expectations, etc. Local colleges, labor unions, military representatives, and workforce investment boards also participate in the event. AEDC emphasizes the importance of staying in school, making good grades, and graduating in good standing because our area has many technical positions where students can work, live, and grow in our communities.

Ms. Sauget has been a member of the St. Clair Special Emergency Services Board of Directors for over 10 years. She also serves as the Public Information Officer for the team. SCSESA had been struggling financially for years and used an old beer truck to respond to incidents. Ms. Sauget helped the group to organize its membership structure, apply for grant opportunities, and seek sources of sustainable funding for the team. Ms. Sauget significantly added value to the growth and expansion of SCSESA and its ability to raise funding to purchase equipment, obtain a building for operations, and build emergency response resources for the regional area.

In 2005, the St. Clair Special Emergency Services Association (SCSESA) moved its operation into a building in the center of the Village of Sauget. The SCSESA provides incident management response for regional fire departments for complex situations involving hazardous materials, weapons of mass destruction, and technical rescue challenges (i.e., trench rescue, high angle rescue, water rescue, etc.) to communities located south of Springfield, Illinois, and also serve as an emergency response back-up for the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, Missouri. The organization closely works with regional fire and police departments, Illinois EPA, Illinois Terrorism Task Force, and U.S. Homeland Security in protecting residents and businesses from hazardous materials incidents, acts of terrorism, and complex rescue operations.

The SCSESA has received over $8M in equipment to serve the community. The group is located within minutes of downtown St. Louis Metropolitan area and Metro East industrial plants providing the region with quick response lowering the corporate insurance rates for the facilities. Today, the SCSESA team consists of hundreds of members from communities south of Springfield, Illinois. The team's prominence in the State of Illinois has earned the team many high profile recognitions, including a 2007 "What's Right with the Region!" Award for Fostering Regional Cooperation from FOCUS St. Louis, and high praise from federal, state, and local Emergency Management Agencies for the response expertise.

Society
of
St. Vincent de Paul

Thrift Store

Strategic planning process 2005 - 2007

St. Vincent de Paul
Thrift store

Strategic Planning Process 2005 - 2007

Summarized

Objective

The St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store Board of Directors asked Ms. Sauget through her company, Validus Business Strategies, to develop a comprehensive strategic business plan to help the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store and Kosgroves Soup Kitchen, located in East St. Louis, Illinois, with management training, customer service skills, restructure store operations, and with secret shopping activities to help the facilities to improve.

Store Evaluation Activities

After the first on-site evaluation at the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, it was very clear that a customer service training program alone would not solve the many issues facing the store (i.e., store appearance, safety/security, store policies and procedures, staff/management structure and development, accounting/payroll/tax filing procedures, marketing/community outreach, etc.). Additionally, it was also clear that implementing a program for a few months would not have the desired long-term impact. It should be noted that the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store Board of Directors supported and assisted in the development and implementation of all necessary changes.

The St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store is located in an economically, underserved area ranked among one of the poorest household income areas in the United States. The external environment has seen a dramatic shift in the population base with higher household income earning people moving to other surrounding communities. Thus, the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store is serving customers who have far less disposable income than in years past to spend on merchandise.

Three Phases of the Strategic Planning Process and Implementation

An on-site evaluation of the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store located in East St. Louis, IL, revealed significant problems that existed at the store, including issues with store safety, cleanliness, organization, store layout, operational policies and procedures as well as declining sales. Various interviews were conducted with store employees (management and staff), board members, as well as other community leaders. A "Best Practices" field trip was also organized to give a better view of the situation at hand.

After all of the information from the interviews and field trip was gathered and analyzed, a strategic plan was developed to address the key areas of concern. It should be noted that the plan was modified several times as more problem areas were identified during the implementation process of the plan. The key areas addressed were staff/management development, flow model, employee job descriptions, an organizational chart, performance reviews, customer service and management training, development of a secret shopper program, staff and management meetings, improvement of store design, development of a plan for interior store improvements, cleanliness and store organization, policies signage and displays, operational standards, as well as planning for exterior store improvements.

Once the store remodeling was completed, a 50th Anniversary Grand Reopening Ceremony was planned and became a huge success, attended by over 100 people. In addition to this, various other methods of marketing were developed such as new brochures, store fliers, a store video, the "Let's Talk About It" Cable Channel 26 public access program, changing the listing in the yellow pages phone book, as well as enhancing a positive community image.

 Additionally, a potential donor call system was developed to provide the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store with more opportunities to gain on-going merchandise from local stores and hotels. From this effort, several stores and a hotel donated items to the thrift store. Through the tireless dedication of board members, store employees, and volunteers, store sales revenues have begun to increase over the past two years. This trend can only continue with the dedication of everyone working together to make this happen over time and thinking out-of-the-box on how to sell incoming merchandise to gain maximum revenue, such as selling on E-bay, bus sales at local colleges, selling through other second hand stores, etc.

Future Recommendations

Final recommendations are areas for consideration by the St. Vincent de Paul Board of Directors and Store Management to enable the thrift store to continue and maintain a successful path in the future. These recommendations include monthly meetings with staff/management, reviewing the operational policies and procedures, performing annual performance reviews, regular monitoring of store appearance and culture, the continuation and development of marketing activities, volunteers periodically calling local stores and hotels to ask for donations, and the development of further methods to generate more sales revenue.

In conclusion, it was a wonderful experience working with everyone involved in this project. Without tireless dedication, this project would not have achieved the level of success acquired. Ms. Sauget valued and appreciated the opportunity to work with everybody involved.