One of the most ardent proponents for economic development in the Mississippi Delta in recent years has been and is “BOSS Lady” Pam Chatman.
Chatman, who was raised in Shaw in Bolívar County, has broken glass ceilings throughout her career and has brought about change and diversity while creating opportunities and making history.
With a career in the news industry that spanned more than 20 years, Chatman has now set her mind and heart on helping other women (and men) create more opportunities.
The former television news director explained that her reason for doing what she does is to create sustainable opportunities for the rural Mississippi Delta.
Chatman often references a quote that is attributed to Shirley Chisholm that states, “You don't make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”
And in keeping with that philosophy, Chatman added, “It’s our time to bring economic growth and changes to rural communities. It’s our time to use our gifts and talents to save our communities. It is through creating “BOSS Lady” that opportunities began to happen in giving me opportunities to help encourage and help other women birth their vision in building economic empowerment.”
The BOSS in her title stands for Bold, Optimistic, Successful Sister.
Chatman set out on her goal through a partnership with the Atlanta corporate office of Coca-Cola. In 2010, the beverage company initiated its global initiative to motivate women for leadership roles and entrepreneurship with a national platform called
The Coca-Cola 5by20 program. The aim was to enable the economic empowerment of five million women by the year 2020.
Since that time, Chatman has created and developed organizations to assist women (her priority) and men with finding workforce and transportation opportunities with sustainable salaries.
She has continuously worked hard to find new opportunities to bring more of those type projects to the communities through her BOSS Lady Economic Planning and Development Workforce Transportation organizations.
Since the creation of the initiatives, she has only worked with Fortune 500 companies such as FedEx Express (Memphis) and FedEx Ground (Olive Branch).
“I work with businesses and industries to recruit, create and develop workforce transportation initiatives throughout Mississippi,” she said.
Chatman has been able to assist in creating over 3,000 plus workforce transportation jobs with sustainable salaries, benefits and free transportation to and from work at both FedEx locations.
The workforce transportation project started in December 2018 has since added three more cities: Indianola, Greenville and Clarksdale.
Chatman said, “We are in the process of working with other industries locally and regionally to create more opportunities for rural communities.” She said that the workforce project for Indianola—Sunflower County Workforce Transportation—with FedEx Workforce has been a huge success for industry and the community.
According to her, she has received a report from FedEx Ground stating that from August to December 2020 they have hired 1,500 applicants alone from the Indianola workforce transportation project and the new hires have helped them have a successful peak season.
Since that announcement, she now has plans to meet with an industry headhunter out of Tennessee who heard about what she has created; and this person will reportedly assist her with locating distribution facilities and warehouses that will come to the Delta.
Chatman said she is committed to helping the folks in the Mississippi Delta; and she is committed to keeping close contact with officials in the Sunflower County area to assist in breaking the poverty mindset by creating sustainable opportunities.
According to her, she and Mayor Steve Rosenthal stay in close communication, always searching for other opportunities and partnerships to create openings and to study and work with organizations such as the Kellogg Foundation.
Kellogg has been working in the area to help bring economic change by bringing in people and working with grassroots organizations who can help provide the tools and necessities to help the community.
Chatman has also been working with other organizations to help with her Workforce Transportation Initiative, including Foundation of the Mid South, Family Resource North, Delta Bus Lines, and several others.
Her future strategy includes meetings with several different companies and economic development agencies to discuss how she and her team can design and customize a workforce transportation program that will work for each individual company.
It involves ways to offer diversity and inclusion efforts, soft skills training, recruitment, leadership training, logistics training, marketing, branding and retention research.
Chatman said, “We will work with state agencies to help women who want to start their business. We will host training and mentoring sessions to prepare individuals for the workplace, meeting them and assisting them from where they are. We will also assist women with starting their business through education, access to beginning funds, support services and entrepreneur mentorship.”
Chatman is ostensibly putting together a diverse board that is willing to roll up their sleeves to make the workforce transportation project a continued success for the Delta.
She said the Wall Street Journal also saw the uniqueness in this project and came to the Delta to do a report on the success of it. “They were blown away how the folks in the Delta are riding four hours a day to go work from Mississippi to Tennessee,” Chatman said, “They had an opportunity to get on the bus and interview the employees about the jobs.”
She mentioned that several Memphis TV stations and newspapers have come to the Delta and she has been on Supertalk Radio several times talking about the success and buzz around Mississippi. State lawmakers have recognized her on the state floor for her job creation accomplishments. And in 2021, her plans are to create over 2,000-plus workforce transportation jobs in the Delta.
In addition to all of her other interests, Chatman is also the co-chairperson on an Economic Security Committee for the state called the “Project of Hope” where First Lady Elee Reeves and Justice Dawn Beam serve as chairpersons.
The purpose of that organization is to find and discuss policies that can help children and the whole family for better livelihood.
Recently, Chatman was selected to be a part of the Bennie G. Thompson Delta Leadership 2021 Initiative. As a result, she will undergo a seven-month leadership training that prepares you to do in-person immersions. The training includes a trip to Washington D.C.
In addition to that training, she will be a part of the Reuben V. Anderson Center for Justice project that will focus on food justice and the EBT initiative.
Chatman is also the co-founder, along with Bill Blackwelder, of the Mississippi Crisis Foundation, where their focus is on ending poverty in rural communities across the South.
The organization has been distributing thousands of pounds of USDA combination food boxes throughout Indianola and Sunflower County during the national pandemic.
Although one of her most current undertakings veers slightly away from economic development, it does promote community. Chatman’s Vaccination Transportation Initiative is all about transporting Delta residents—who otherwise might not have access—to the coronavirus vaccine injection sites.
VTI is part of a national call for action. The initiative has made the New York Times and the D.C. Today News Channel. It is designed to help those in the rural Mississippi Delta that may have issues with transportation get to the clinics that are providing vaccination.
VTI is committed to paying for anyone who needs. Chatman will pay any transportation agency to transport residents to get vaccinated.
She also has a mobile vaccination project that is operating in different communities across the Delta, where they are meeting the residents’ needs in their own community.
They will also provide special services to those individuals who are bed bound or house bound by bringing their vaccination to their home.
So far, she has partnered with Sunflower Humphreys Transportation, the Mississippi State Health Department, United Healthcare, Kids and Family Choice Healthcare Mobile and the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi.
Among her many accolades is the honor of being a recipient of the Harriet Tubman Award presented by the Mississippi Bar Association.
She also takes great pride in sharing the same birthday and passion for people as civil rights champion Fannie Lou Hamer.
Like these strong historical women figures, Chatman too has made history and paved the way for others by being Mississippi’s first black woman news director, serving both WABG-TV and WXVT-TV.
