Seven Community Colleges Chosen to Receive Grants During Year Two of NACCE/Sam's Club® "Shared Vision for Small Business" Competition
Seven community colleges across the country will receive $110,000 to support training and services for microenterprises in the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship/Sam's Club "Shared Vision for Small Business" competition.
Springfield, MA, October 21, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Seven community colleges were announced as recipients of grants in the “Shared Vision for Small Business” grant competition conducted by the National Association for Community College entrepreneurship (NACCE) and the Sam’s Club Giving Program. The grants were announced at NACCE’s 11th Annual Conference, which was held in Charlotte, NC, October 13-16.
The grants are the cornerstone of a collaboration formed in late 2012 between NACCE, the nation’s leading organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges, and Sam’s Club, one of the nation’s leading retailers. The two organizations both aim to help community colleges enhance their training and services for small businesses.
With this grant, the main focus will be on providing training and services for microenterprises. These are generally defined as businesses at least a year old that have one to five employees and have revenue of under $100,000. The owners must be interested and invested in growth. The colleges will use the grants to offer short-term, just-in-time training and services that address skill gaps in the key areas of finances, marketing, networking, and access to capital.
“We’re excited to continue our relationship with Sam’s Club,” said NACCE President and CEO Heather Van Sickle. “The success of last year’s grant recipients in strengthening their programs for small businesses was very encouraging. This year we will develop lessons learned by last year’s grantees and this year’s grantees into a ‘train the trainer’ curriculum built on the best practices. This curriculum will be available to other NACCE member colleges that are interested in identifying organic, locally funded approaches to innovative programming for local microbusiness owners.”
The community colleges receiving grants in this round of the “Shared Vision for Small Business” program are:
• Fox Valley Technical College , Appleton, WI.
• Long Beach City College, Long Beach, CA.
• Delgado Community College, New Orleans, LA
• Salt Lake City Community College, Salt Lake City, UT
• Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College, Cumberland, KY
• Northeast State Community College, Blountville, TN
• Southern West Virginia Community & Technical College, Foster, WV
“We wish to congratulate the community colleges receiving grants for their dedication to teaching entrepreneurship and their willingness to expand and improve their approach,” said Susan Koehler, Senior Manager, Community Involvement, Sam’s Club. “We know how challenging it can be for small business owners to make time to work on their business vs. managing the day-to-day. We hope our Business Members and local entrepreneurs will explore how community colleges can serve them to grow their operations, ultimately helping them to increase revenue and create jobs.”
About NACCE
The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) is an organization of educators, administrators, presidents and entrepreneurs, focused on inciting entrepreneurship in their community and on their campus. NACCE has two main goals: 1. Empower the college to approach the business of running a community college with an entrepreneurial mindset, and 2. Grow the community college’s role in supporting job creation and entrepreneurs in their local ecosystem.
Founded in 2002, NACCE is at the heart of the "entrepreneurship movement.” Through membership, an annual conference and exhibition, regional summits, a quarterly journal, monthly webinars, a dynamic list-serv, and training resources, NACCE serves as the hub for the dissemination and integration of knowledge and successful practices regarding entrepreneurial leadership, entrepreneurship education and student business incubation. These initiatives and resulting actions advance economic prosperity in the communities served by its member colleges. NACCE has over 300 member colleges, representing nearly 2,000 members and approximately 465,000 students, and is a founding member of the White House-led Startup America Partnership. For more information, visit http://www.nacce.com.
About Sam’s Club Giving
The Sam’s Club Giving Program is committed to building stronger communities through philanthropic efforts with a focus on small business growth and success. Sam’s Club and the Sam’s Club Giving Program gave $106.4 million in cash and in-kind gifts over the 2012 fiscal year including donating the equivalent of 50 million meals to local feeding America food banks. Associates from more than 600 U.S. clubs contributed more than 300,000 hours to volunteering at local businesses and nonprofits, enabling more than $3.2 million in awards to eligible organizations through the Volunteerism Always Pays (VAP) program. To learn more, visit SamsClub.com/giving.
The grants are the cornerstone of a collaboration formed in late 2012 between NACCE, the nation’s leading organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges, and Sam’s Club, one of the nation’s leading retailers. The two organizations both aim to help community colleges enhance their training and services for small businesses.
With this grant, the main focus will be on providing training and services for microenterprises. These are generally defined as businesses at least a year old that have one to five employees and have revenue of under $100,000. The owners must be interested and invested in growth. The colleges will use the grants to offer short-term, just-in-time training and services that address skill gaps in the key areas of finances, marketing, networking, and access to capital.
“We’re excited to continue our relationship with Sam’s Club,” said NACCE President and CEO Heather Van Sickle. “The success of last year’s grant recipients in strengthening their programs for small businesses was very encouraging. This year we will develop lessons learned by last year’s grantees and this year’s grantees into a ‘train the trainer’ curriculum built on the best practices. This curriculum will be available to other NACCE member colleges that are interested in identifying organic, locally funded approaches to innovative programming for local microbusiness owners.”
The community colleges receiving grants in this round of the “Shared Vision for Small Business” program are:
• Fox Valley Technical College , Appleton, WI.
• Long Beach City College, Long Beach, CA.
• Delgado Community College, New Orleans, LA
• Salt Lake City Community College, Salt Lake City, UT
• Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College, Cumberland, KY
• Northeast State Community College, Blountville, TN
• Southern West Virginia Community & Technical College, Foster, WV
“We wish to congratulate the community colleges receiving grants for their dedication to teaching entrepreneurship and their willingness to expand and improve their approach,” said Susan Koehler, Senior Manager, Community Involvement, Sam’s Club. “We know how challenging it can be for small business owners to make time to work on their business vs. managing the day-to-day. We hope our Business Members and local entrepreneurs will explore how community colleges can serve them to grow their operations, ultimately helping them to increase revenue and create jobs.”
About NACCE
The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) is an organization of educators, administrators, presidents and entrepreneurs, focused on inciting entrepreneurship in their community and on their campus. NACCE has two main goals: 1. Empower the college to approach the business of running a community college with an entrepreneurial mindset, and 2. Grow the community college’s role in supporting job creation and entrepreneurs in their local ecosystem.
Founded in 2002, NACCE is at the heart of the "entrepreneurship movement.” Through membership, an annual conference and exhibition, regional summits, a quarterly journal, monthly webinars, a dynamic list-serv, and training resources, NACCE serves as the hub for the dissemination and integration of knowledge and successful practices regarding entrepreneurial leadership, entrepreneurship education and student business incubation. These initiatives and resulting actions advance economic prosperity in the communities served by its member colleges. NACCE has over 300 member colleges, representing nearly 2,000 members and approximately 465,000 students, and is a founding member of the White House-led Startup America Partnership. For more information, visit http://www.nacce.com.
About Sam’s Club Giving
The Sam’s Club Giving Program is committed to building stronger communities through philanthropic efforts with a focus on small business growth and success. Sam’s Club and the Sam’s Club Giving Program gave $106.4 million in cash and in-kind gifts over the 2012 fiscal year including donating the equivalent of 50 million meals to local feeding America food banks. Associates from more than 600 U.S. clubs contributed more than 300,000 hours to volunteering at local businesses and nonprofits, enabling more than $3.2 million in awards to eligible organizations through the Volunteerism Always Pays (VAP) program. To learn more, visit SamsClub.com/giving.
Contact
National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship
Jeanne Yocum
413-467-9470
www.nacce.com
Jeanne Yocum
413-467-9470
www.nacce.com
Contact
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