Future Fund at Swift!

Gov. Ned Lamont Launches the state's Economic Development Week at Swift!

Gov. Ned Lamont addresses Swift Tenants and North Hartford Leaders at Swift!

Gov. Lamont chose the Swift Factory to kick off the state's economic development week! He announced the state's new $150 million initiative to help small businesses recover from the Covid-19 Pandemic. Dubbed the Future Fund, it includes $75 million in state bonding and $75 million from the state's share of federal COVID relief funds. Half of those funds will be targeted to minority small businesses. Our Swift Team was proud to step aside and let our tenants lead in engaging the crowd. It seems Swift can potentially serve as a model for re-investment in communities like North Hartford all over the state!

Here, we have Terraine Jamison, CEO of Build a Better You, LLC giving her 5 min. Elevator Pitch directly to the Governor! Our tenants benefitted greatly from this direct engagement and the resulting direct referrals they received!

Meet Swift Tenants

Chef Walt's Kitchen is Up, Running and Thriving!

The culinary arts use varied ingredients, spices and techniques as the ultimate creative expression through cooking. But, Chef Walter (“Chef Walt”) Little says, though all of that goes down in his kitchen, it goes far beyond the kitchen for him; food is power.

“I want these young people to know that cooking is a great way out. If you love to cook, it is a great way to build a good life for yourself. It doesn’t take a lot to get started,” Little said. “But, it does take a lot to keep it going. You gotta have hustle,” he added.

Early on in life, Little learned the universal power of good food. He was a mere child when he began cooking for his little brother while his mother was away on deployment with the National Guard. “I remember I felt important being able to support my mother and brother that way,” he said. “I realized that cooking was a powerful tool and I could use it to make a way for myself.”

In 1988, the 16 year old Hartford High School student did what many teens did back then. He walked from his family’s Niles Street apartment to downtown Hartford’s fine dining establishments seeking a dishwashing job. “Everybody was desperate for work. And, dishwashing was the way we got in. It’s still the best way for new cooks to learn their way around a kitchen,” Little said.

Little got his first break at Gaetano’s Restaurant, a fine dining establishment owned by the Carbone Group and moved up the kitchen ladder rung by rung; starting in the dishwashing station, becoming a prep cook and then a line cook in quick succession. He then went on to be part of the crew that opened Hot Tomatoes at Union Station.

Little shared some advice for young people looking to get into the business. “Get in there and see what it is all about. It’s tough work. Work at a couple of places. Go to school if you can. I went to school years after I began cooking and I learned a lot,” he said.

In the late 1990’s, Little was learning a different set of lessons. His life was changed by a series of bad decisions. He was incarcerated. He went to prison as an experienced cook, but had no way of knowing he would earn the title “Chef” in prison. Because, he had no way of knowing that prison had a thriving underground culinary market.

Through purchasing items from the prison commissary, prison dormitory cooks engage in an endless cooperative effort to secure the basic building blocks of cooking; salt, fat, acid and heat. Transactions are based on the going rate for a pack of Ramen noodles (a quarter). So if a Mofongo costs $2.00, then that would be 8 packs of Ramen as payment.

“We would coordinate what we each would buy to complete our menu. To get salt and spice, we used the flavor packets from Ramen Noodles. To get fat, we used potato chips or we would drain the oil out of our packs of mackerel. We used saltine crackers as flour and to bind ingredients. And, the microwave was our source of heat.”

According to Little, being a dormitory chef taught him the extreme improvisation and creativity he continues to use. Little said he built quite a reputation that follows him up to Swift’s curbside pickup to this day. And, in prison, his understanding of the power of food deepened.

“Prison was scary when I first went. But, when they started calling me chef and put me in charge of the dorm microwave, I knew nobody was going to touch me. I was Chef,” Little said. The consummate hustler, Little soon took dormitory cooking to a whole new level. He got into prison catering.

“We catered a birthday party that was celebrated by our whole dorm. Imagine feeding 130 guys with a small microwave. We even made food bowls out of oatmeal boxes lined with cut up garbage bags. It was a big event.”

Little got out of prison in 2002 and took his experience back to fine dining. He got a job at Hopbrook Tavern in Simsbury where he refined his skills and found a mentor in Tavern Owner, Kurt Soukop. Under Soukop, Little moved to Simsbury where he lived and worked before doing another bid in 2006. It was then that he and a few close friends had an epiphany.

“I was running out in the yard and my hands went up above my head and a feeling came over me. I was surrendering. I was giving it all to God,” Little recounted. “I knew I was done living that life.” Little said fellow inmates went through similar experiences. “God had his season in there with us. My friend Mel was in there doing a 45 year bid. He served 10 more years in the same cubical we stayed in after I went home. Recently he got out after serving over 30 years. He’s living his best life, going to church and being a productive member of society. He even comes and checks on me here,” Little said.

Little came home in 2010 and never looked back. In 2013, he approached the owner of Rupert’s Gas Station on Albany Avenue with his menu. “He looked at me and laughed, saying the people around here won’t eat that,” Little said.

He went on to open Classic Catering and Deli, serving wraps, sandwiches and deli items. “That’s where I earned my reputation. People couldn’t believe I was serving food of that quality out of a gas station,” Little said. “Even my parole officer would come through to see what I was doing. He was amazed and supportive,” Little recounted.

He’s been hustling ever since. He expanded his menu to include pasta, rice and cooked items, so he had to move to the American Legion’s kitchen which has a ventilation hood. He wanted a place with more visibility, so he moved to the Jerk Pit. Today, he’s feeling like he’s found a home at Swift.

"Man, it's like I hit the Lotto here. They made it really easy. I'm in this kitchen killing it now and all I needed to secure this space was $200 and a handshake. And, look at this place, this is a state of the art facility. I'm in heaven," he said.

And, he’s not alone. He has brought his two employees to Swift with him—Chris and Mak. His Sous Chef, Mak, joined him while he was at Ruperts. “This kid came up to me asking for a job everyday until I gave him a job. He’s been in a few other kitchens and has returned with new ideas and skills. He’s the reason I am serving stir-fry combination dishes now,” Little said. “Man brought that back when he came back to me from P.F. Chang’s.”

With all of his varied life experiences and exposure to different ethnic cooking styles, Little embodies the culinary concept of fusion. And, its reflected in his menu. “I want to introduce new, healthy things for our people here to eat. I take ideas from everyone I’ve worked with and create new things. I’m here to show you that healthy food can be made in exciting ways,” Little said.

Chef Walt’s menu is expansive; offering everything from paninis to wraps, specialty sandwiches, fresh and fried seafood, full entrees, specialty burgers, wings, pastas, salads and even Jamaican cuisine. Come on out and support Black Business! You know you’re hungry!

Give Chef Walt a call at: 860.222.0951

Check out his menu below:

Meet Swift Tenants

Mark McCalop, Owner/Operator of MCM Plumbing

Mark McCalop, Owner/Operator of MCM Plumbing

MCM Plumbing Owner, Mark McCalop looks out of the North-facing window in the Swift Offices’ shared conference room and wishes everyone in the community can see what he sees. “I can see my 6 year old self playing in the huge backyard the Waltons had here. I can look out this window and see the house I grew up in. Nobody wants this project to work more than me. Nobody can understand what this project means to me,” McCalop said. “I come to work here every day and know I belong.”

McCalop described growing up around Swift when it was a working factory, explaining that the Walton family lived in the Swift Campus’ Grey House. “All of that Habitat for Humanity land on Risley Street was an employee parking lot. It was full of cars. But, this back yard was a destination for all of us neighborhood children. We played here as the Swift workers worked,” McCalop reminisced. “We were like one big family on this block”.

McCalop’s childhood centered around neighborhood assets. “I went to Waverly School. I played in Waverly Park and here at Swift. It was while playing in Waverly Park that I became fascinated with water,” he said. McCalop said he got thirsty playing in the park and went to get water from the fountain. “I was fascinated with how the water got all the way out to the fountain. I wanted to know where it was coming from and how it got there. I was on the road to becoming a plumber from there.”

That’s not to say the road was smooth. McCalop grew up in the Northeast Neighborhood at a time when the neighborhood saw extreme poverty and the rise of an illicit drug economy and resulting extreme violence that filled the economic vacuum left by disinvestment. Unlike many in the neighborhood, McCalop said it wasn't just positive examples of success in the neighborhood that drew him, the leaders had a greater draw on him.

“It was easy to be a follower. You could see the guys getting cars, women, quick money. But, I knew that was fake. You’d see these guys one day and they’d be locked up for years the next. I looked to people who were leading. They were fewer, but they had real success,” McCalop said. "It's natural for me to want to provide those examples today," he said.

McCalop referred to a who’s who of the legacy of Northeast’s past Black entrepreneurial leadership to explain how positive examples saved him. “You know it all begins with your mother,” he told me. “And, Waverly had a great Principal, Mr. Holloman. My teachers; Ms. Cohen, Ms. Betts, and Ms. Long were awesome. But, we were lucky here. We also had entrepreneurs to look up to. We had Mr. Nelson who ran a market we called ‘West Bar’ (now JR’s Bodega). We had Mr. Hugley who had the barber shop in the plaza. They inspired me to get my own business,” he said.

But, there was something more that equipped McCalop for success. As he spoke, I could actually sense the inspiration still resonating in him from a person who left an indelible mark on his life—Gertrude Blanks; the storyteller. “I can still hear her reading ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’ and ‘Rikki Tikki Tavi’. I can honestly say, becoming an avid reader opened more doors for me than anything else. I credit that to Ms. Blanks,” he said.

By the time McCalop went off to A.I. Prince Technical School in 1992, Hartford’s neighborhoods were strangling under the effects of an active drug war—between dealers, gangs and police. But, by this time, McCalop was hyper focused on becoming a plumber. He graduated from Prince Tech in 1996 and went to work for G and R Valley Plumbers for 2 years before moving on to work for Macca Plumbing.

Building on the serious work ethic and focus he learned from his neighborhood mentors, McCalop caught the attention of one business owner who knew North Hartford was underserved by licensed plumbers. “Frank Macca Sr. encouraged me to get a business and serve my community. He offered me every opportunity to learn this business,” he said. McCalop went on to secure a contractor’s license and went into business for himself.

It was then that the real lessons began to present themselves. “I was faced with obstacles everywhere. The biggest challenge was getting start-up funds. I found that everything could be overcome through the art of negotiation. Instead of seeing my struggles as rejection, I turned them into opportunities,” McCalop said.

McCalop kept it real, saying being realistic and focusing on building up his portfolio so people could see his capabilities was key. “It came gradually, not overnight. It’s all about timing. I always wanted to be ready for when my opportunity comes. Not force opportunities,” he added. “I knew I wasn’t going to get a million dollar bond at that time. I wasn’t trying to be something I knew I wasn’t. I didn’t blame anyone. I just worked toward my goal. Many people don’t want to put the work in. They think it just happens.”

McCalop went on to dispel other myths related to business ownership. He explained that many people think that when you own your own business, you can relax and enjoy the role. “No, that’s where the real work begins. I had to learn how to be an estimator, moderator, sales person, architect and a foreman before I could even hire anyone to do those jobs. It’s similar to working for someone else, but you’re responsible for everything,” he said.

When asked why some community-based businesses fail, he said for the same reason any business fails. “Sometimes people are not realistic about their capabilities. They bite off more than they can chew, not being realistic about their limitations and what they actually can accomplish,” adding, “You can’t go into business seeing yourself as a victim no matter what you are facing. Sometimes the problems are exactly what we need to find our solutions. Here at MCM, we don’t focus on the problem. Plumbing is all about seeing the problem and finding the solution,” he said.

In the 16 years he’s been in operation, McCalop never lost sight of Frank Macca Sr.’s challenge. He’s always offered direct hire opportunities to “troubled” youth who might otherwise seek less positive opportunities. “If you put someone in the jungle, they gotta to have jungle ways to survive. I see myself in them. They are a little rough around the edges and misunderstood; but the ones who want to become better people, productive members of society, I see that. And, I am there to provide them better opportunities than I had,” he said.

McCalop grew MCM’s reputation over the years and competed in the bidding process for the job at Swift. Once securing the contract at Swift, he felt an alignment in hiring goals. “I have been on many public jobs where they struggle half-heartedly to meet local hiring requirements. I can say, I knew the team at Swift put their heart into local hiring. I saw that you all hired directly from the neighborhood,” McCalop said. That realization led to a deeper commitment to the project.

Soon after completing construction, McCalop was in meetings with Project Manager, Tarek Raslan to secure an office at Swift in spite of the fact that he was still in a lease at his facility in West Hartford. “I know it was early and over time, the potential of this site would be realized, but I had to do it now. I belong here. I looked at the potential this campus has to bring a deep level of diversity and a spirit of cooperation and creativity. I wanted to be a part of this,” McCalop said.

Many people in the neighborhood cannot get past an organization making a $35 million investment into North Hartford without there being some kind of nefarious hook involved, but McCalop does not have to rely on that sort of speculation. Looking forward, McCalop would like to partner with other contractors and provide construction training opportunities for Hartford residents that lead to direct hires. And, Swift plays a central role in his plans.

“Every time I go to Swift, I get this feeling. I can’t describe it other than belonging. I am pushing Swift because I have watched it go from dirt to what it is now. I was involved here and I know it is real,” he said. “As a matter of fact, I want to get the bulk of my operations here by 2023, that will make 20 years in operation for me.” “My only wish is that my mother could see Swift in the shape it is in and with all we have planned to happen here moving forward,” McCalop said. “The rest of it is in my hands.”