By DAVID A. MANN
David.Mann@newsandtribune.com
JEFFERSONVILLE —
Kenny D. Martin Sr. is working to get his business started.
Though his background is in maintenance, his ambition is food.
A tasty pulled pork barbecue sandwich, among other dishes, is his product. A small program at Community Action of Southern Indiana gave him some instruction aimed at getting his venture off the ground.
And now, the Depot — located at 600 Quartermaster Court, just outside Jeffersonville City Hall — is giving him a venue to get started. He’s even got one client already: The Fall’s City Mustang Club, which hosts car shows outside the building.
“I’m seeing what people like and what they don’t like,” he said. “It’s a small challenge. But I feel like I can handle it.”
Though it’s not an everyday feature, Martin’s business is one of the new additions to The Depot, which has become sort of a starting point for a handful of different organizations and programs during the year and a half that it’s been open.
Martin’s venture comes via the Micro-enterprise Business Development Program at Community Action of Southern Indiana. Pottery from the Indiana Artisans program is on sale in the display cases. The workers staffing the place are there via the federal Experience Works program, which gets people started in the workplace.
And, being the site of a former black restroom back in the days of segregation, it serves as the start of the Southern Indiana Heritage Trail — which highlights sites significant to black history in Southern Indiana.
The Depot had an open house Thursday evening both to introduce Martin’s business and to show off some of the new improvements, such as the historical plaques that now grace the walls.
“Everything’s going very well,” said Maxine Brown, who, as a consultant with the Southern Indiana Minority Enterprise Initiative, is helping to develop the trail.
She admits the place doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic because there’s not a lot of shopping around Quartermaster Station.
However, she notes, the trail itself is getting new stops these days. A historical marker has been added at the old Taylor High School on Wall Street, which served as an all-black high school during segregation. There’s also a replica slave quarters cabin being added to the George Rogers Clark cabin site near the Ohio River in Clarksville.
There’s a handful of underground railroad sites being recognized in Floyd County. And the self-guided and still developing trail also will visit sites in Harrison, Jefferson, Orange and Gibson counties.
Brown said the next steps for the organization will be marketing — including a brochure and a website detailing the trail.
The agency gets most of its funding from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural affairs, but also is getting funding from the city of Jeffersonville, including about $35,000 from the city’s Urban Enterprise Zone.
“I think we’ve done a lot with a little,” Brown said. “And I think we’ve moved further along than anyone thought possible.”
