National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship Announces New Grant Program with Appalachian Regional Commission
NACCE and ARC Will Boost Resources to Foster Entrepreneurship and Grow Local Economies in Appalachia
Springfield, MA, November 20, 2013 --(PR.com)-- The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), the nation’s leading organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges, today announced a new grant program with the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) that will benefit 12 community colleges located in ARC-designated distressed counties in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. The program aims to help these community colleges become anchors of local entrepreneurship movements and strong partners in economic growth. ARC is a federal-state partnership that works with people of Appalachia to create opportunities for sustainable community and economic development.
NACCE President and CEO Heather Van Sickle believes the program will provide meaningful resources for the participating community colleges to boost their student entrepreneurship opportunities in the Appalachia region. “By expanding opportunities in key counties, we hope to strengthen the ability of these community colleges to better provide entrepreneurial education to their residents and connect the community colleges to the national entrepreneurial movement,” she said. “Our work is already underway; we had our first meeting of the participating colleges at our annual conference, NACCE2013, which took place last month.”
As a result of this collaboration with ARC, the NACCE grant will provide several key benefits:
· Funding for a new NACCE Appalachian Entrepreneurship Fellow
· NACCE resources enabling targeted community colleges to enhance their entrepreneurial activities, including:
- travel scholarships for NACCE events;
- full scholarships for NACCE’s new Entrepreneurship Specialist Certificate Online Training; and
- access to the full cadre of NACCE Fellows for coaching and mentoring.
NACCE Appalachian Entrepreneurship Fellow & Targeted Colleges
NACCE has named Griffin Cottle its first NACCE Appalachian Entrepreneurship Fellow. Cottle is director of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Center at Jefferson Community & Technical College (JCTC) in Louisville, KY. JCTC is the largest of 116 colleges forming the Kentucky Community & Technical College System. Cottle administers the entrepreneurship program at JCTC and manages the Spec Business Incubator on campus. He also co-sponsored the 2013 Louisville Startup Weekend in partnership with the Kaufmann Foundation, a long-time NACCE supporter. He has considerable experience as a business development specialist and educator, teaching business-training curriculum to aspiring entrepreneurs and providing technical assistance in the growth and development of locally owned small businesses.
The 12 targeted colleges that will benefit from the NACCE grant program include:
Kentucky:
- Big Sandy Community & Technical College
- Elizabethtown Community & Technical College
- Hazard Community & Technical College
- Maysville Community & Technical College
- Somerset Community College
- Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College
Tennessee:
- Northeast State Community College
- Pellissippi State Community College
- Roane State Community College
- Walters State Community College
West Virginia:
- Southern West Virginia Community & Technical College
- New River Community & Technical College
NACCE includes nearly 300 colleges in the U.S. and abroad, representing over 1,800 professionals who expose approximately 465,000 students to the possibility of putting their newly acquired skills and knowledge to work in their own business, if not immediately then at some point in the future.
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 is a founding member of the White House-led Startup America Partnership. For more information, visit http://www.nacce.com.
NACCE President and CEO Heather Van Sickle believes the program will provide meaningful resources for the participating community colleges to boost their student entrepreneurship opportunities in the Appalachia region. “By expanding opportunities in key counties, we hope to strengthen the ability of these community colleges to better provide entrepreneurial education to their residents and connect the community colleges to the national entrepreneurial movement,” she said. “Our work is already underway; we had our first meeting of the participating colleges at our annual conference, NACCE2013, which took place last month.”
As a result of this collaboration with ARC, the NACCE grant will provide several key benefits:
· Funding for a new NACCE Appalachian Entrepreneurship Fellow
· NACCE resources enabling targeted community colleges to enhance their entrepreneurial activities, including:
- travel scholarships for NACCE events;
- full scholarships for NACCE’s new Entrepreneurship Specialist Certificate Online Training; and
- access to the full cadre of NACCE Fellows for coaching and mentoring.
NACCE Appalachian Entrepreneurship Fellow & Targeted Colleges
NACCE has named Griffin Cottle its first NACCE Appalachian Entrepreneurship Fellow. Cottle is director of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Center at Jefferson Community & Technical College (JCTC) in Louisville, KY. JCTC is the largest of 116 colleges forming the Kentucky Community & Technical College System. Cottle administers the entrepreneurship program at JCTC and manages the Spec Business Incubator on campus. He also co-sponsored the 2013 Louisville Startup Weekend in partnership with the Kaufmann Foundation, a long-time NACCE supporter. He has considerable experience as a business development specialist and educator, teaching business-training curriculum to aspiring entrepreneurs and providing technical assistance in the growth and development of locally owned small businesses.
The 12 targeted colleges that will benefit from the NACCE grant program include:
Kentucky:
- Big Sandy Community & Technical College
- Elizabethtown Community & Technical College
- Hazard Community & Technical College
- Maysville Community & Technical College
- Somerset Community College
- Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College
Tennessee:
- Northeast State Community College
- Pellissippi State Community College
- Roane State Community College
- Walters State Community College
West Virginia:
- Southern West Virginia Community & Technical College
- New River Community & Technical College
NACCE includes nearly 300 colleges in the U.S. and abroad, representing over 1,800 professionals who expose approximately 465,000 students to the possibility of putting their newly acquired skills and knowledge to work in their own business, if not immediately then at some point in the future.
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 is a founding member of the White House-led Startup America Partnership. For more information, visit http://www.nacce.com.
Contact
National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship
Jeanne Yocum
413-467-9470
www.nacce.com
Jeanne Yocum
413-467-9470
www.nacce.com
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