A nonprofit community development financial institution and Extension collaborated to conduct a demonstration project to evaluate efficacy of Grameen peer-group microfinance methodology in addressing barriers faced by low-income women entrepreneurs in a small metro area. Program performance metrics achieved by 284 culturally diverse, low-income…

This factsheet, the first in a series on innovation and growth, provides an overview of the benefits of innovation vouchers, and gives some examples of how universities and Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are including them in their European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) strategies. [For the second factsheet in the series,…

Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College's Small Business Center could aptly be called "the little economic engine that could." It has an innovative approach to rejuvenating the western North Carolina economy that has drawn the attention of everyone from North Carolina's lieutenant governor to the Maltese ambassador to the United…

A training program for members of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce Training Advisory Committee, which is 80 percent small business, incorporated the following features: (1) four hours in the morning; (2) Friday morning programs; (3) $35 per program; (4) series; and (5) low fees to trainers. (JOW)

The fact that small organizations have been slow to adopt elearning is not because of a lack of need--in fact elearning offers tremendous benefits for small organizations in the form of time savings, captured expertise, improved workflow and improved staff development--but rather because small organizations tend not to have the right components…

The Illinois Community College Board provided more than $3.3 million to community colleges during fiscal year 2009 to support local workforce and economic development services through their Business and Industry Centers. The workforce development activities conducted under this grant include customized job training on campus or on-site at a…

Describes a project that helps students solve real business problems, share leadership roles, delegate duties, write collaboratively, present orally as a team, and manage conflict as they serve as consultants to small business owners. (RS)

An idea conceived by federal volunteer agency director Thomas Rauken in 1979, the Vietnam Veterans Leadership Program (VVLP) was officially launched in November, 1981. The program was scheduled to be federally funded for three years, and thereafter to be privately funded and operated. The VVLP formed a network of veteran volunteers who…

The Illinois Community College Board provided more than $3.3 million to community colleges during fiscal year 2008 to provide workforce and economic development services through their Business and Industry Centers. The workforce development activities conducted under this grant include customized job training on campus or on-site at a business;…

A two-year effort was conducted to develop a curriculum for minorities in small business ownership and management on the post-secondary level. Curriculum modules, instructor guides, student information sheets, and materials were developed and designed to enable and promote the successful participation of minorities and females in the…

Describes the Productivity Group, created by the Oklahoma State Department of Vocational and Technical Education. The Group boosts small businesses by making available quality management development programs and human resource consulting services. The article discusses program management, costs, and the business community's response. (CT)

An Urban League project in Springfield, Illinois, provided instruction in small business management to persons who had been convicted of a crime. Phase II of the project required designing a self-instructional workbook and tape to be used when classes were not available. A resource guide listing agencies providing assistance to business persons…

This document is written by employers whose companies participated in the Learning in Smaller Companies (LISC) project, during which a university and two further education colleges created a number of work-based learning schemes for employers in small and medium-sized enterprises in Scotland. The foreword (Peter Swinson) discusses the importance…

This paper presents a service-learning approach to inner city revitalization that is grounded in a human capital model for economic development. The case study demonstrates how a private university became the catalyst for growth in an "at risk" neighborhood of an urban inner city. Our ongoing service-learning project, called The Upper…

In 1983, an entrepreneurial engineering class was developed at the University of New Mexico. The course meets for 3 hours 1 evening per week for 15 or 16 sessions. Lectures, reading assignments, group work, interactive class discussions, and presentations by practitioners are used to help learners students develop the research and practice skills…