February 19, 2004
HEALEY ANNOUNCES ENTREPRENEURIAL TRAINING AWARDS
LAWRENCE – Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey today announced more than $600,000 in Entrepreneurial Training Program (ETP) awards to help unemployed workers receive vital education and training to start their own businesses.
“Governor Romney and I want to make sure that anyone who has the drive and ingenuity can access the training and technical assistance provided through this program,” said Healey, speaking at ValleyWorks Career Center. “The economy is looking up. Now is a great time to start a new business.”
Administered by the Department of Workforce Development, Healey said the ETP provides training and technical assistance to individuals with a promising business idea and a desire to start their own business. The training includes seminars on market research, strategic planning, financial management, human resources and commercial real estate. In addition to classroom coursework, participants learn to craft a specific and comprehensive business plan tailored to their needs.
Healey added that Massachusetts has been a leader in providing entrepreneurial training to dislocated workers. To date, these training programs have graduated over 2,500 people, of which 95 percent have either opened new businesses or have successfully found jobs with other employers. Of those who have started businesses, approximately 75 percent have been operating continuously for two years or longer.
Award winners include:
Berkshire Enterprises: $135,000 to provide three sessions of entrepreneurial training in Pittsfield for residents of Berkshire County. Berkshire Enterprises has provided services to more than 775 unemployed individuals who have started 423 businesses. Training will be done in partnership with Berkshire Community College and the UMASS Donahue Institute.
UMASS Donahue Institute: $206,626 to conduct training sessions in Springfield, Holyoke and Franklin and Hampshire counties as well as oversee a program in Leominster which will be provided by the Twin Cities Community Development Corporation. The Donahue Institute will deliver the ETP through its Pioneer Valley Enterprise Program, which has more than six years of experience delivering training and technical assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs. During that time period, over 140 dislocated workers have been served, starting 129 businesses, of which 121 are still in business today.
Northern Essex Community College (NECC): $120,134 to provide entrepreneurial training in Lowell, Lawrence, Lynn and Haverhill. NECC has more than three decades of experience providing credit and non-credit courses in business management and related topics. When Lucent Technologies downsized its facility in nearby North Andover not too long ago, NECC began offering entrepreneurial training to the workers displaced by this event.
Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE): $150,000 to provide entrepreneurial training in Norwood, Brockton, Plymouth and Worcester. As a non-profit organization, CWE offers education, training, technical assistance and access to markets and capital to both men and women from a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds. To date, CWE has served over 6,500 people in businesses ranging from home-based and small retail businesses to technology-based businesses.
Jewish Vocational Services (JVS): $104,005 to provide two entrepreneurial training sessions in downtown Boston. As a non-profit agency providing workforce development services in Greater Boston, JVS’s Microenterprise Division has served more than 1,000 entrepreneurs and small business owners in Boston and surrounding areas.
Salem Harbor Community Development Corporation (SHCDC): $40,591 to conduct a training program in Gloucester. The Corporation’s Advancing Community Business program was launched in 1997, partnering with area banks to provide quality technical assistance and training along with access to loans up to $15,000 for new and existing business owners on the North Shore. To date, the program has served nearly 230 clients.
Today’s award recipients were required to have at least three years experience providing training and technical assistance to new and existing small businesses; expert knowledge regarding business plan preparation; working knowledge of public and private small business services available in their region, including local, state and federal programs that provide financial assistance to start-ups; and commit to working with the One-Stop Career Center system to ensure that unemployed customers receive quality services which will enable them to achieve their employment or business development goals.
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