During the course of my work with business people in our community, I hear many concerns over our local economy, rising costs of fuel, increasing crime, the high rate of drug dependency in our area and the lack of skilled laborers. Many of these items are directly related to another topic I hear a lot about — poverty.

Knoxville has one of the highest poverty rates in Tennessee and the country. Tennessee has a 16.74 percent poverty rate, while Knoxville comes in at a whopping 25.85 percent, exceedingly far above the national average of 15.1 percent.

The Heritage Foundation reports that approximately 39 million Americans live in households with incomes below the poverty line — and over 13 million are children. According to this same report, people who are poor or underprivileged want the same things that everyone does — opportunities for jobs, property and proper education for their children in a safe and honest environment.

Since we all want the same things, then why do so many of us live in poverty? And what does poverty have to do with conducting business?

Poverty stems from many things, but a lack of higher education often leads directly to lower household income. Unfortunately, it’s cyclical. When parents struggle to feed their children, their children may lose focus in school, and their grades suffer. Many times they do not graduate from high school or are unable to earn sufficient grades to earn a scholarship — and their parents can’t afford college. As a result, most end up with no options but lower paying, labor-intense jobs. They struggle to make their own ends meet as adults, and so the cycle continues.

Businesses are directly affected when their foundations crumble — foundations like skilled labor, educated employers and employees, education and proper healthcare. These foundations have been braced up a little in recent years, but we still need greater solutions when it comes to building a stronger, more appealing city that provides a good life for its residents.

Most life coaches believe there are about five key principles to success, but one they seem to unanimously agree on is that of having a true vision. Without a defined vision, we all just bob around in the waters of life — staying afloat perhaps, but getting nowhere. We need a vision. Where do we want to see our city go in the future?

I’m sure you’d agree that we’d all like to see better education, more skilled laborers, better healthcare and better jobs. These all stem from the need for better education. Skilled teachers, mentors, healthcare workers and business owners must all be educated. We can’t start businesses that will succeed and provide better jobs if we do not have the skills or education to do so. We cannot provide better healthcare if we don’t have enough skilled doctors, nurses and practitioners. We can’t have skilled laborers if they don’t have the opportunity to attain needed skills. But one person or one company can make an impact!

In our company, we work with our employees to become more educated and to be a true part of our greater community. When doing business, we seek to become true partners and grow relationships with our clients instead of seeing them as dollar signs. We assess their needs and then work with them to see what we can do to fill those needs. It makes us proud to do that, because we are more grounded as a community-service vendor. We work hard to not be merely just another company with a sign over the door. While no one has a magic wand to fix things instantly, we can all make a difference if we hold our vision for a better city in front of us. If we each reach out to make it better, I know we can do it!