May 23, 2025 • 19 mins
The BBB of Greater Cincinnati offers a ton of tools that Cincinnati small business owners can use to build trust, improve customer relationships and train and develop team members. President and CEO Jocile Ehrlich shares the interesting backstory of the BBB and how the organization's mission is carried out today.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
My name is Michael Dawson, your host of scores My
Sinci Small Business Story. In this episode, I'll be talking
with my good friend and former employer, Josiale Erlek, President
and CEO of the Greater Cincinnati Better Business Bureau. We'll
find out more about that after this message.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Did you know twice as many small businesses survive past
five years when they have the support from a mentor.
My Sinci Small Business Story is brought to you by
the volunteer mentors of SCORE Greater Cincinnati, a nonprofit organization
that helps launch hundreds of new small businesses and even
more jobs in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Indiana every year.
Our vision is to give every person the support they
(00:44):
need to thrive as a small business owner. Visit score
dot org slash Greater Cincinnati to request a free business
mentor or share your own expertise. You can also listen
and subscribe for more stories about overcoming challenges, clearing obstacles,
and owning a successful small business.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Welcome Josal, Hi Mike, it is so good to be
on this program with you. I've been looking forward to
this for a long time. I know we've been talking
about it forever.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Oh, I know, I'm glad we could make this happen.
For full disclosure, I did work for the Better Business
Bureau for about fifteen or so years and working with
Josial was always a pleasure and working with the BBB
in their mission was a meaningful experience. So with that,
(01:30):
I'd like to ask Josial maybe a brief history of BBB.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Better Business Bureau actually got its start back in nineteen twelve.
There was a gentleman by the name of Samuel Dobbs.
He was an executive at Coca Cola, and Coca Cola
at that point in time, was being sued and he
was sitting in the courtroom listening to these arguments. They
were being sued over their advertising, and Coca Cola's attorney
(02:00):
stood up and said, why are we even here. Nobody
believes advertising anyway, words to that effect. That did not
sit well with Samuel Dobbs. He took that to heart,
and he believed that advertising is something that people should
be able to trust, should be able to rely on.
So he started what ultimately became the American Advertising Federation,
(02:25):
and a part of that at that point was what
was called Vigilance committees and they would investigate and address
all of the snake oil salesmen that were around at
that time. And you'll remember the snake oil salesmen from
how they were depicted in the movies. Better Business Bureaus
were an outgrowth of those vigilance committees. Better business bureaus
(02:48):
are their own independent corporations. We do have an umbrella organization.
We all essentially provide the same services, although there are
some additional services that some bbbs might provide to their communities.
We all promote ethics in the marketplace. That is our
core mission and that is the one commonality, the most
(03:09):
important commonality that all of the ninety BBB's across the
US and Canada share.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So what does BBB do for consumers?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Well, BBB historically is known as the place you go
if you have a complaint, and yes we do that.
We help consumers and businesses try to resolve complaints in
a manner that is satisfactory to both. But more important
than that is BBB for consumers is an information hub.
(03:43):
We provide information about businesses and our goal is to
get consumers to come to BBB and research a business
before they actually begin an interaction with them, so then
they can see how long the business has been around,
what their customer service history is, how do they handle complaints,
how do they handle customer reviews? What exactly do they do?
(04:07):
Is there any special notices that the BBB has on
file that you, as a consumer should be aware of.
We want you to make good decisions before you find
yourself having a problem. In addition to all of that,
we have a whole wealth of information for consumers that
they can take advantage of on our website. Things about
(04:29):
your home, things about financial wellness. We have a scam
alert program called BBB Scam Tracker, where you can see
scam alerts on things that are happening in our community.
You can report a scam that you may have been
a victim of or somebody may have tried to make
you a victim, and you can do that through as
(04:49):
I mentioned, our BBB Scam Tracker. You can request a
quote from a business. You say you want landscaping done,
or you want a driveway put down. You can request
a quote and save yourself time and effort after having
research to companies. Say you want a driveway done, Here's
ABC company, an XYZ company, and one two three company,
(05:12):
I'll get a quote from each of those, and then
I'll decide who I want to do business with. As
I mentioned before, we do handle complaints, but that's a
very small part of what we do. I mentioned the inquiries.
We do one point eight million inquiries just in the
Cincinnati BBB, So people are using our services day in
(05:32):
and day out to make sure that they are dealing
with trusted businesses.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So then what does PBB do for businesses?
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Well, again, what we want is a good relationship between
a customer and their business. So if a business is
getting complaints as an example, and we see that there's
a pattern of complaints, we will meet with those businesses
and try to help them work through why they have
(06:00):
a pattern, help them develop solutions so that they don't
have that pattern of complaints anymore. We want to, essentially,
if we can put ourselves out of business so that
no business has complaints, that everybody is dealing with a
trusted business and all businesses are acting responsibly. We also
have a wealth of information to help businesses across all areas.
(06:26):
We have things like how to train your staff to
handle complaints. We have information on how to get financing,
We have a wealth of information on our website and
that's all under the category business Headquarters, so we would
encourage all businesses to go there. In addition to that,
(06:48):
we have more things that we provide to our accredited businesses.
Of course, we have the Accredited Business Seal, which is
the best reputation management product that you can possibly have.
You display the Accredited Business Seal on your website on
all of your advertising. Consumers know immediately what that means.
(07:10):
It means that you are a business that they can
rely on to work responsibly with them. As I said,
we have the get a Quote program for our accredited businesses.
It helps bring in business for them. We have networking
opportunities that our accredited businesses can attend. We have webinars
(07:31):
and seminars, and we have launched a very intensive learning
program that crosses all aspects that a business might want
to engage in. And many of these classes are certificated
both for you as a business owner and for your employees.
So that's a professional development product that you can offer
(07:55):
your staff. And right now, professional development in the workplace
is so critical and considered such a valuable employee benefit.
So it's something that our accredited businesses definitely take advantage
of oh decil.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I know that a business can be rated by the BBB,
and I understand you know about the accreditation a business
can be accredited, But what's the difference between the two
from a consumer standpoint?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
That is an excellent question, Mike. A business is rated
essentially on how they handle complaints and whether or not
there are any government actions against them. That is a
very limited perspective, if you will. An accredited business goes
way beyond that, and accredited business must have at least
(08:47):
a B rating. Beyond that, it must commit to our
eight standards of Trust. And what that means is that
an accredited business has been operate rating for at least
six months. They are appropriately licensed and bonded. They are
free from any government actions. They advertise honestly. Every advertisement
(09:11):
that they put out there is truthful and specific and accurate.
They are transparent with all of their policies and their guarantees.
They are very specific in making sure that those things
are written and spelled out very clearly. If they have complaints,
they respond to them professionally and succinctly and in good faith.
(09:36):
They tell the truth. They honestly represent their products and services.
They abide by all the written agreements and any oral
promise that the promises excuse me, that they've made. And
almost most importantly is that they embody integrity. They approach
all of their business dealings and marketplace transactions with integrity.
(10:00):
Now an accredited business agrees to that, they verbally agree
to it, they agree to it in writing, and we,
the Better Business Bureau, hold them to that commitment every
single day. If they have a complaint, they must resolve
that complaint, which means that that might require mediation or
arbitration to resolve that complaint, and they are they must
(10:24):
do that if there is an issue that we cannot
resolve through our normal conciliation process. If an accredited business
does not abide by all of these eight standards, then
they will lose their accreditation, and unfortunately, that does happen
from time to time.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I see, Well, that's all very interesting, hi, Josiah. I
do know that you've got some big anniversaries coming up
next year. You want to talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Oh, next year, twenty twenty six, huge year, Mike. I'm
so excited about this. It is our one hundredth year
of being a BBB in Cincinnati one hundred years ago.
Companies like Procter and Gamble, Kroger, Cincinnati Bell which I
think was Southern Ohio Bell back in the time, Richter
(11:15):
and Phillips. These companies actually formed the Better Business Bureau
one hundred years ago to help consumers deal with businesses.
Think about that. That's huge that businesses formed the Better
Business Bureau to help their customers deal with business. So
it's our one hundredth year. It's also our twenty fifth
(11:37):
anniversary of our BBB Torch Awards for Ethics. I'm so
excited about that. We have a lot of exciting things
planned for this. We are trying to gather all of
our past Torch Award winners to be at this event
and celebrate them. I think there's over one hundred Torch
Award winners and adding both of those two things together
(11:59):
in the scene angular event, it's going to be blowout.
Every business in this community should be there to see
what ethical business is all about and how we are
celebrating ethical business throughout the year next year and especially
at our celebratory event.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So this year will be your twenty fourth Torch Award.
I've read that you are now taking applications for the
Torch Award and your Spark Awards.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Right we are, Mike. Just last week we opened the
application process for our Torch Awards. Our Torch Awards celebrate
businesses who are thoroughly committed to ethics in every aspect
of their business, from their relationships with their employees, with
their customers, with their vendors, and their community. So it's
(12:52):
I'm not going to say it's an easy form to
fill out. It's a thoughtful form to fill out, and
I would encourage any business to really think about applying
for the Torch Awards if they hold ethics as a
foundation of their business. And it's a way to engage
all of your employees if you do it correctly. In
my opinion, you engage your employees or at least a
(13:15):
good subsection of them, to help you answer these four questions.
And it's only four questions, and some of them require
an example to demonstrate that your commitment of ethics towards
your customers or your vendors or what have you. But
it's a good way to reinforce with your staff that you,
(13:37):
as a leader in your organization, value ethics and that
you support them in ethically responding to issues, even if
it's not exactly what the policy might say. If you
will anyway, I'm getting off track here, but our Tortu
Award applications are open now and they will be opened
(13:59):
into the end of June Spark Award applications. That Spark
Award is for businesses that are three years old or less,
or whose principle is thirty five years old or younger.
Same type of thing. There are four questions there, based
on character community. I forget the other two categories, but
(14:23):
again it's ethics based. Those applications will open up next week.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
And a couple questions about that Joe seal to apply
for a Torch Award. Does the business need to be
accredited or is it open to all businesses that want
to apply.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It is open to any business. The only qualifiers are
that you must meet our accreditation standards. In other words,
you must be in business at least six months. For
the Torch Awards, you must have at least a be rating.
You cannot have any government actions or tax liens. Those
are the four main categories.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Then the other question I would have so you get
these applications in and I know there's a judging process
because I've been involved. But for our audience, who are
the judges? Are they BBB staff or the outsiders? How
does that work?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
They are outside volunteers. We get leaders from business, We
get leaders from all aspects of our community, political leaders,
heads of major corporations, heads of small corporations. A lot
of times they are past Torch Award winners themselves, so
that they understand the value of being selected as a finalist,
(15:41):
even because that is really important. Just to be named
a finalist is huge. To be named a winner is
even better. But you've got to do your work to
be made a finalist. And you know, I go back
to a prior judging years ago where one of the
judges was a past Torch winner and he said, commenting
(16:03):
about a couple of companies, these are good candidates, but
they are just not quite there yet. They need a
little more seasoning to be able to be in the
class of Torch Award finalists and winners. So the judges
are very selective in who they move up.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
So as a business, if I wanted to apply, I
can find the applications for both Torch and Spark at
BBB dot org.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
BBB dot org backslash Cincinnati, and if you scroll down
that page about halfway down or two thirds of the
way down, you will see a little box for Torch
and a little box for Spark, And it also shows
pictures of last year's event, so that you get a
sense of the gala event that you will be attending now.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
In the past, there was another event tied into Torch,
which was the Students of Integrity. Is that still part
of the program.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
We do recognize our Students of Integrity scholarship winners, but
we have changed that up a little bit. We now
have a breakfast to recognize them separately, and we just
did that the end of April. We had six Student
of Integrity Scholarship winners. They each won a three thousand
dollars scholarship. It was a really nice event. We had
(17:23):
businesses from across the community attend as well as these
Students of Integrity judges of course, and these parents and
their families and they got their scholarships and you will
see pictures of that on the website as well.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Now, the Students of Integrity scholarship, that's for high school students,
is it right?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
That's correct, It's for high school seniors and they get
the scholarship as many high school seniors do right before
they graduate, and it's for high school students in our
twenty two county service area. That would be if you
looked at a map the bottom two rows of counties
across Ohio all the way to the west Virginia border,
(18:04):
three northern Kentucky counties, and six Southeast Indiana counties.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Very good, Well, Josil, thank you very much for your time.
I really appreciate that, and this has been a very
interesting conversation. Is there something else that you would like
to add? If not, where can they find all of
this good information?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Again, all this information about Cincinnati, specifically the Torch Awards,
Spark Award, and Students of Integrity is at BBB dot
org backslash Cincinnati. All of the information available to consumers
and to businesses is available at BBB dot org. If
you scroll all the way down the opening page in
(18:49):
the black box, you will see at the very bottom
of each column consumer headquarters and business headquarters. And you
open that up and it's just layer upon layer of
information that is going to be informative, educational, and beneficial
to all.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Well, thank you again. If you would like to sign
up with a mentor or would like to become a mentor,
go to score dot org and click on the appropriate link.
Please subscribe to this broadcast and share the link. Thank
you for listening.
Hello.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
My name is Michael Dawson, your host of scores My
Sinci Small Business Story. In this episode, I'll be talking
with my good friend and former employer, Josiale Erlek, President
and CEO of the Greater Cincinnati Better Business Bureau. We'll
find out more about that after this message.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Did you know twice as many small businesses survive past
five years when they have the support from a mentor.
My Sinci Small Business Story is brought to you by
the volunteer mentors of SCORE Greater Cincinnati, a nonprofit organization
that helps launch hundreds of new small businesses and even
more jobs in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, and Indiana every year.
Our vision is to give every person the support they
(00:44):
need to thrive as a small business owner. Visit score
dot org slash Greater Cincinnati to request a free business
mentor or share your own expertise. You can also listen
and subscribe for more stories about overcoming challenges, clearing obstacles,
and owning a successful small business.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Welcome Josal, Hi Mike, it is so good to be
on this program with you. I've been looking forward to
this for a long time. I know we've been talking
about it forever.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Oh, I know, I'm glad we could make this happen.
For full disclosure, I did work for the Better Business
Bureau for about fifteen or so years and working with
Josial was always a pleasure and working with the BBB
in their mission was a meaningful experience. So with that,
(01:30):
I'd like to ask Josial maybe a brief history of BBB.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Better Business Bureau actually got its start back in nineteen twelve.
There was a gentleman by the name of Samuel Dobbs.
He was an executive at Coca Cola, and Coca Cola
at that point in time, was being sued and he
was sitting in the courtroom listening to these arguments. They
were being sued over their advertising, and Coca Cola's attorney
(02:00):
stood up and said, why are we even here. Nobody
believes advertising anyway, words to that effect. That did not
sit well with Samuel Dobbs. He took that to heart,
and he believed that advertising is something that people should
be able to trust, should be able to rely on.
So he started what ultimately became the American Advertising Federation,
(02:25):
and a part of that at that point was what
was called Vigilance committees and they would investigate and address
all of the snake oil salesmen that were around at
that time. And you'll remember the snake oil salesmen from
how they were depicted in the movies. Better Business Bureaus
were an outgrowth of those vigilance committees. Better business bureaus
(02:48):
are their own independent corporations. We do have an umbrella organization.
We all essentially provide the same services, although there are
some additional services that some bbbs might provide to their communities.
We all promote ethics in the marketplace. That is our
core mission and that is the one commonality, the most
(03:09):
important commonality that all of the ninety BBB's across the
US and Canada share.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
So what does BBB do for consumers?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Well, BBB historically is known as the place you go
if you have a complaint, and yes we do that.
We help consumers and businesses try to resolve complaints in
a manner that is satisfactory to both. But more important
than that is BBB for consumers is an information hub.
(03:43):
We provide information about businesses and our goal is to
get consumers to come to BBB and research a business
before they actually begin an interaction with them, so then
they can see how long the business has been around,
what their customer service history is, how do they handle complaints,
how do they handle customer reviews? What exactly do they do?
(04:07):
Is there any special notices that the BBB has on
file that you, as a consumer should be aware of.
We want you to make good decisions before you find
yourself having a problem. In addition to all of that,
we have a whole wealth of information for consumers that
they can take advantage of on our website. Things about
(04:29):
your home, things about financial wellness. We have a scam
alert program called BBB Scam Tracker, where you can see
scam alerts on things that are happening in our community.
You can report a scam that you may have been
a victim of or somebody may have tried to make
you a victim, and you can do that through as
(04:49):
I mentioned, our BBB Scam Tracker. You can request a
quote from a business. You say you want landscaping done,
or you want a driveway put down. You can request
a quote and save yourself time and effort after having
research to companies. Say you want a driveway done, Here's
ABC company, an XYZ company, and one two three company,
(05:12):
I'll get a quote from each of those, and then
I'll decide who I want to do business with. As
I mentioned before, we do handle complaints, but that's a
very small part of what we do. I mentioned the inquiries.
We do one point eight million inquiries just in the
Cincinnati BBB, So people are using our services day in
(05:32):
and day out to make sure that they are dealing
with trusted businesses.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
So then what does PBB do for businesses?
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Well, again, what we want is a good relationship between
a customer and their business. So if a business is
getting complaints as an example, and we see that there's
a pattern of complaints, we will meet with those businesses
and try to help them work through why they have
(06:00):
a pattern, help them develop solutions so that they don't
have that pattern of complaints anymore. We want to, essentially,
if we can put ourselves out of business so that
no business has complaints, that everybody is dealing with a
trusted business and all businesses are acting responsibly. We also
have a wealth of information to help businesses across all areas.
(06:26):
We have things like how to train your staff to
handle complaints. We have information on how to get financing,
We have a wealth of information on our website and
that's all under the category business Headquarters, so we would
encourage all businesses to go there. In addition to that,
(06:48):
we have more things that we provide to our accredited businesses.
Of course, we have the Accredited Business Seal, which is
the best reputation management product that you can possibly have.
You display the Accredited Business Seal on your website on
all of your advertising. Consumers know immediately what that means.
(07:10):
It means that you are a business that they can
rely on to work responsibly with them. As I said,
we have the get a Quote program for our accredited businesses.
It helps bring in business for them. We have networking
opportunities that our accredited businesses can attend. We have webinars
(07:31):
and seminars, and we have launched a very intensive learning
program that crosses all aspects that a business might want
to engage in. And many of these classes are certificated
both for you as a business owner and for your employees.
So that's a professional development product that you can offer
(07:55):
your staff. And right now, professional development in the workplace
is so critical and considered such a valuable employee benefit.
So it's something that our accredited businesses definitely take advantage
of oh decil.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I know that a business can be rated by the BBB,
and I understand you know about the accreditation a business
can be accredited, But what's the difference between the two
from a consumer standpoint?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
That is an excellent question, Mike. A business is rated
essentially on how they handle complaints and whether or not
there are any government actions against them. That is a
very limited perspective, if you will. An accredited business goes
way beyond that, and accredited business must have at least
(08:47):
a B rating. Beyond that, it must commit to our
eight standards of Trust. And what that means is that
an accredited business has been operate rating for at least
six months. They are appropriately licensed and bonded. They are
free from any government actions. They advertise honestly. Every advertisement
(09:11):
that they put out there is truthful and specific and accurate.
They are transparent with all of their policies and their guarantees.
They are very specific in making sure that those things
are written and spelled out very clearly. If they have complaints,
they respond to them professionally and succinctly and in good faith.
(09:36):
They tell the truth. They honestly represent their products and services.
They abide by all the written agreements and any oral
promise that the promises excuse me, that they've made. And
almost most importantly is that they embody integrity. They approach
all of their business dealings and marketplace transactions with integrity.
(10:00):
Now an accredited business agrees to that, they verbally agree
to it, they agree to it in writing, and we,
the Better Business Bureau, hold them to that commitment every
single day. If they have a complaint, they must resolve
that complaint, which means that that might require mediation or
arbitration to resolve that complaint, and they are they must
(10:24):
do that if there is an issue that we cannot
resolve through our normal conciliation process. If an accredited business
does not abide by all of these eight standards, then
they will lose their accreditation, and unfortunately, that does happen
from time to time.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I see, Well, that's all very interesting, hi, Josiah. I
do know that you've got some big anniversaries coming up
next year. You want to talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Oh, next year, twenty twenty six, huge year, Mike. I'm
so excited about this. It is our one hundredth year
of being a BBB in Cincinnati one hundred years ago.
Companies like Procter and Gamble, Kroger, Cincinnati Bell which I
think was Southern Ohio Bell back in the time, Richter
(11:15):
and Phillips. These companies actually formed the Better Business Bureau
one hundred years ago to help consumers deal with businesses.
Think about that. That's huge that businesses formed the Better
Business Bureau to help their customers deal with business. So
it's our one hundredth year. It's also our twenty fifth
(11:37):
anniversary of our BBB Torch Awards for Ethics. I'm so
excited about that. We have a lot of exciting things
planned for this. We are trying to gather all of
our past Torch Award winners to be at this event
and celebrate them. I think there's over one hundred Torch
Award winners and adding both of those two things together
(11:59):
in the scene angular event, it's going to be blowout.
Every business in this community should be there to see
what ethical business is all about and how we are
celebrating ethical business throughout the year next year and especially
at our celebratory event.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So this year will be your twenty fourth Torch Award.
I've read that you are now taking applications for the
Torch Award and your Spark Awards.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Right we are, Mike. Just last week we opened the
application process for our Torch Awards. Our Torch Awards celebrate
businesses who are thoroughly committed to ethics in every aspect
of their business, from their relationships with their employees, with
their customers, with their vendors, and their community. So it's
(12:52):
I'm not going to say it's an easy form to
fill out. It's a thoughtful form to fill out, and
I would encourage any business to really think about applying
for the Torch Awards if they hold ethics as a
foundation of their business. And it's a way to engage
all of your employees if you do it correctly. In
my opinion, you engage your employees or at least a
(13:15):
good subsection of them, to help you answer these four questions.
And it's only four questions, and some of them require
an example to demonstrate that your commitment of ethics towards
your customers or your vendors or what have you. But
it's a good way to reinforce with your staff that you,
(13:37):
as a leader in your organization, value ethics and that
you support them in ethically responding to issues, even if
it's not exactly what the policy might say. If you
will anyway, I'm getting off track here, but our Tortu
Award applications are open now and they will be opened
(13:59):
into the end of June Spark Award applications. That Spark
Award is for businesses that are three years old or less,
or whose principle is thirty five years old or younger.
Same type of thing. There are four questions there, based
on character community. I forget the other two categories, but
(14:23):
again it's ethics based. Those applications will open up next week.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
And a couple questions about that Joe seal to apply
for a Torch Award. Does the business need to be
accredited or is it open to all businesses that want
to apply.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
It is open to any business. The only qualifiers are
that you must meet our accreditation standards. In other words,
you must be in business at least six months. For
the Torch Awards, you must have at least a be rating.
You cannot have any government actions or tax liens. Those
are the four main categories.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Then the other question I would have so you get
these applications in and I know there's a judging process
because I've been involved. But for our audience, who are
the judges? Are they BBB staff or the outsiders? How
does that work?
Speaker 1 (15:19):
They are outside volunteers. We get leaders from business, We
get leaders from all aspects of our community, political leaders,
heads of major corporations, heads of small corporations. A lot
of times they are past Torch Award winners themselves, so
that they understand the value of being selected as a finalist,
(15:41):
even because that is really important. Just to be named
a finalist is huge. To be named a winner is
even better. But you've got to do your work to
be made a finalist. And you know, I go back
to a prior judging years ago where one of the
judges was a past Torch winner and he said, commenting
(16:03):
about a couple of companies, these are good candidates, but
they are just not quite there yet. They need a
little more seasoning to be able to be in the
class of Torch Award finalists and winners. So the judges
are very selective in who they move up.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
So as a business, if I wanted to apply, I
can find the applications for both Torch and Spark at
BBB dot org.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
BBB dot org backslash Cincinnati, and if you scroll down
that page about halfway down or two thirds of the
way down, you will see a little box for Torch
and a little box for Spark, And it also shows
pictures of last year's event, so that you get a
sense of the gala event that you will be attending now.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
In the past, there was another event tied into Torch,
which was the Students of Integrity. Is that still part
of the program.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
We do recognize our Students of Integrity scholarship winners, but
we have changed that up a little bit. We now
have a breakfast to recognize them separately, and we just
did that the end of April. We had six Student
of Integrity Scholarship winners. They each won a three thousand
dollars scholarship. It was a really nice event. We had
(17:23):
businesses from across the community attend as well as these
Students of Integrity judges of course, and these parents and
their families and they got their scholarships and you will
see pictures of that on the website as well.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Now, the Students of Integrity scholarship, that's for high school students,
is it right?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
That's correct, It's for high school seniors and they get
the scholarship as many high school seniors do right before
they graduate, and it's for high school students in our
twenty two county service area. That would be if you
looked at a map the bottom two rows of counties
across Ohio all the way to the west Virginia border,
(18:04):
three northern Kentucky counties, and six Southeast Indiana counties.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Very good, Well, Josil, thank you very much for your time.
I really appreciate that, and this has been a very
interesting conversation. Is there something else that you would like
to add? If not, where can they find all of
this good information?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Again, all this information about Cincinnati, specifically the Torch Awards,
Spark Award, and Students of Integrity is at BBB dot
org backslash Cincinnati. All of the information available to consumers
and to businesses is available at BBB dot org. If
you scroll all the way down the opening page in
(18:49):
the black box, you will see at the very bottom
of each column consumer headquarters and business headquarters. And you
open that up and it's just layer upon layer of
information that is going to be informative, educational, and beneficial
to all.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Well, thank you again. If you would like to sign
up with a mentor or would like to become a mentor,
go to score dot org and click on the appropriate link.
Please subscribe to this broadcast and share the link. Thank
you for listening.
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