NACCE AWARDED FUNDING TO LAUNCH PHASE II OF THE EVERYDAY ENTREPRENEUR VENTURE FUND PILOT PROGRAM
NACCE AWARDED FUNDING TO LAUNCH PHASE II OF THE EVERYDAY ENTREPRENEUR VENTURE FUND PILOT PROGRAM
MEDIA CONTACT: Anne Strickland, NACCE Vice President
RALEIGH, NC | The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) announced today a gift of $100,000 from the Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund (EEVF) to further work on a signature pilot program that serves to launch underfunded community college entrepreneurs into business. The partnership between NACCE and the Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund (EEVF) addresses one of the most urgent needs of our country – that of supporting local economies via entrepreneurship. NACCE is committed to raising an additional $900,000 in funding by the fall of 2021, enabling the organization to welcome up to nine additional colleges, including two historically black colleges and universities, to EEVF Phase II.
“NACCE’s mission of promoting entrepreneurial thought and action in the largest entrepreneurial ecosystem in North America aligns perfectly with the mission of EEVF – to create sustainable replicable everyday businesses. During this difficult public health and economic crisis, it is more important than ever to continue planning for recovery and the resurgence of new businesses. We are deeply grateful for the vision and generosity of the Weismillers and the exemplary work of the four pilot I colleges. We look forward to welcoming other foundations and stakeholders into the program,” said Rebecca Corbin, president & CEO of NACCE.
Phase I of the project began in 2017 with an initial investment of $1 million from Chip and Stuart Weismiller, who launched the Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund in order to support community colleges who are best positioned to assist community-based start-ups, scale-ups of existing businesses, and the implementation of proven replicable business models. As of January 2020, four EEVF Phase I institutions have helped to fund and launch 45 businesses with a total of $525,000 expended through student grants or loans at the discretion of their respective funding committees.
“We are proud of the work done by EEVF’s four pilot schools. Creating dozens of new businesses that are sustainable and replicable by leveraging existing community college programming and providing seed funding to people who often don’t qualify for traditional financing is transformational; it is an onramp to the middle class. By partnering with NACCE and securing additional philanthropic supporters, we will be able to expand and scale this program across our country,” said Chip and Stuart Weismiller, Founders of EEVF.
EEVF Phase I colleges include: Hillsborough Community College (Tampa, FL); Middlesex Community College (Bedford/Lowell, MA); Monroe Community College (Rochester, NY); and Wayne County Community College (Detroit, MI). Each school received grant funds to provide seed funding for community-based business start-ups, administered by the college’s foundation who was encouraged to solicit additional funds from local corporations and individual donors to create a sustainable grant pool.
“Hillsborough Community College (HCC) in Florida was introduced to EEVF at a NACCE national conference. We were fortunate to be a grantee in Pilot I of the project where we were able to match the $250,000 award by working with our community and college foundation. The results in a few short years have been amazing – we have launched 11 businesses that generated nearly $900,000 in revenue and created 14 new jobs. These new entrepreneurs creating businesses like Swenson’s Home Renovations, FB Collections and YUJ Granola included veterans, women, and people of color. We are proud to be designated as a NACCE Center of Practice, powered by our InLab @HCC,” said professors Mary Beth Kerly and Andy Gold.
Seven preselected community colleges and two HBCUs across the nation have been invited to apply this week, and will work to foster the creation of these businesses with an eye towards innovation, diversity, inclusion and local economic growth. Participating institutions will leverage their college foundation team to raise local matching dollars to further their reach, fueling small business growth for the foreseeable future.
Learn more about the Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund at www.nacce.com/EEVF.
See coverage about Middlesex Community College's EEVF Phase I experience as reported in Community College Entrepreneurship here.
About NACCE
NACCE is an organization of educators, administrators, presidents and entrepreneurs focused on igniting entrepreneurship in their communities and campuses. NACCE has two main goals: to empower college leaders to approach the business of running a community college with an entrepreneurial mindset and to grow the community college’s role in supporting job creation and entrepreneurs in their local ecosystem. NACCE has over 340 member colleges, representing nearly 2,000 members and approximately 3.3 million students. For more information, visit www.nacce.com. Follow us on Twitter at @NACCE, like us on Facebook, and join our LinkedIn group.
About the Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund
The mission of the Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund is to launch committed community college entrepreneurs into business, with a focus on community-based startups, scale-ups of existing alumni business and the implementation of proven, replicable business models. Learn more at www.eeventurefund.org/.