The drive from Clarksdale, Mississippi, to Memphis, Tennessee, takes about an hour and 20 minutes.
It’s not right next door, but it’s also not too far if you have the means to reach the region’s largest city, along with all the opportunities it offers.
There are only a few large employers in the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. So it can be tough for residents in smaller towns and cities to find jobs that provide competitive pay and benefits like retirement and health coverage.
Another challenge? Like so many rural places, the Delta needs more reliable public transportation to and from urban employment hubs. And many residents don’t have access to a car.
Thankfully for her neighbors, local professional Pam Chatman was determined to help. With the goal of increasing access to job opportunities that offer a stable income, she found an innovative solution.
“If you want to get to a sustainable job with great benefits,” Pam says, many residents need to travel.
In 2018, Pam met with a national recruiter for the shipping company FedEx. The conversation turned to how residents of the Delta and FedEx could support one another.
“The first thing that came to mind was job opportunities that provide a sustainable income,” says Pam. “So we set up a hiring event, and we had over a thousand-plus people come out.”
Then, they had to figure out how to get folks to work. Boss Lady Transportation was born.
“Every day, Boss Lady Transportation takes people to and from several small rural communities in the Delta to work at FedEx hubs in Memphis and Olive Branch, Mississippi,” says Pam.
The comfortable charter buses, part of the Delta Bus Line, run Monday through Friday and on peak shipping weekends. The communities served include Clarksdale, Cleveland, Mississippi, and Helena-West Helena, Arkansas.
The Walton Family Foundation supports Boss Lady Transportation and other local leaders like Pam who are working to create economic opportunity for themselves and their community.
“I've had so many people across the Mississippi Delta tell me what a change we've made in their lives because of the opportunities that we've done with transportation,” Pam says.
Before gaining access to transportation, many residents “had to work two and three jobs to provide for their families,” she says. But “working with FedEx, they can do one job and be able to take care of their families.”
The service that Pam provides is creating new ways for generations of Delta residents to build and maintain economic wealth.
“Many have been living in poverty for so long. They had to work two and three jobs to provide for their families. But working with FedEx, they can do one job and take care of their families with rent, utilities, food and medical. It’s a great ride, and it’s changing lives.”
