An informational session will be held Thursday for current and future business owners about a business acceleration course to be held this fall in Jamestown.
The Jamestown Department of Development is set to launch its inaugural JTNY eLab Business Accelerator Cohort.
Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said the program has been in development over the last two years and is being funded with Community Development Block Grant monies received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “It’s something that, as we’ve been looking at how we can support our local entrepreneurs and business owners, and through different conversations that we’ve had, in particular through COVID, we interviewed a lot of our business owners and talking through what their needs are and what would be helpful to them, it became very clear that some sort of support system would be beneficial.”
Surdyk said the city also received a $15,000 grant through the Kauffman FastTrac program to launch and implement a FastTrac program here.
City Principal Planner Ellen Shadle said the information session on Thursday will focus on the Business Accelerator Cohort that will start in September. She said the grant from Kauffman will be used to cover the enrollment fees for up to 20 people in the inaugural cohort.
Shadle said the informational session and cohort will be led by Rahsaan Graham of Banner & Battle Consulting and Shannon Greenland of Green Sprout Consulting, “They going to kind of give some overview to their background that they’ll be able to bring and the expertise they’ll bring to bear as the facilitators of the FastTrac curriculum. So, the City also becomes an affiliate of the FastTrac curriculum as well. This is an established platform that’s kind of known in the entrepreneurial space.”
Shadle said the sessions are open to start-ups, makers, artisans, organizational directors, and especially small business owners, “Cause it’s really easy to miss certain components of getting your idea to an operational stage and kind of miss the finer points of marketing or legal aspects to things especially once you’ve started to operate and feel like, ‘Ooh.. I really could have done this part better and I don’t really know about or have a good marketing strategy.'”
The informational session about the program will be held from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., Thursday, August 17 in the third floor Pre-Function Space of the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts.
The inaugural JTNY eLab Cohort sessions will take place every Tuesday and Thursday, from 5:30-7:00 pm, beginning September 12, 2023 and running for ten weeks. Sessions will be presented both virtually and in-person.
Those interested in learning more about, or applying for, the 2023 JTNY eLab Cohort Class should visit: https://www.jamestownny.gov/departments/department-of development/economic-development/jtny-elab-2/.
People may also contact Ellen Shadle at 716-483-7657 or email shadle@jamestownny.gov.
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