THINK ENTREPRENEURS:

A Call to Action

Integrating Entrepreneurship

Into the Public Workforce System

Throughout America

Grant # MI-17624-08-60-A-39 

Submitted By:

The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education

1601 West Fifth Avenue # 199

Columbus, Ohio 43212

www.entre-ed.org

Phone: 614-486-6538

Cashmore@entre-ed.org

Dr. Cathy Ashmore

Executive Director and Lead Investigator

This report was prepared for the U. S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training 

Administration. The information contained in this product was created by a grantee 

organization and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U. S. Department of 

Labor. All references to non-governmental companies or organizations, their services, 

products, or resources are offered for informational purposes and should not be construed 

as an endorsement by the Department of Labor.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 2 of 198

Acknowledgements

This report was made possible through grant # MI-17624-08-60-A-39 from the Department of 

Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to examine the Public 

Workforce System and to determine how self-employment and entrepreneurship are (and could 

be) presented as options to the unemployed. The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education 

(CEE) gratefully acknowledges the opportunity to investigate the system and make 

recommendations. This research has strengthened CEE‘s opinion that the Public Workforce 

System should fully embrace self-employment as an option for economic and workforce 

development. 

Jonathan Simonetta and Mary Vines of DOL/ETA provided critical information, assistance, and 

guidance and served as liaisons among many of those involved in this work. We thank all those 

at ETA who participated in our briefings, provided guidance about effective practices around the 

country, and helped complete the Entrepreneurship Competency Model which now resides on 

the DOL/ETA One-Stop Career Center website.

We also owe special thanks to the following individuals for their guidance and insights.

A team of workforce professionals from throughout North Carolina helped focus the grant 

proposal, guided the work of the grant implementation team, and provided feedback throughout 

the grant period.

Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Director Scott Sheely of Lancaster, PA, provided guidance 

and made his staff and development partners available to us. They willingly shared how they 

work with and through the WIB to enhance the economic opportunities of their area. 

Steve Duval, Eloise Vitelli, and Mark Delisle of Maine provided examples of successful and 

promising self-employment initiatives and emphasized the need for long-term champions for the 

unemployed.

Aimee Bropst and Toa Do from the Falls Church area of Northern Virginia shared great ideas for 

public-private partnerships that help the unemployed establish businesses and jobs. 

Lynne Cutler of WORC in Philadelphia, PA, offered data and insights from a program focused 

on helping unemployed women become self-sufficient through entrepreneurial initiatives. 

Roger Shackleford, Beth Lucas, Myra Beatty, and others in North Carolina provided insights into 

the operation of the Public Workforce System as well as the newly implemented Project GATE 

Demonstration Grant.

Countless others across the nation shared time via phone, SurveyMonkey, and e-mail to equip 

the study team of Dr. Cathy Ashmore, Horace Robertson, and Cheryl Young as they focused on 

determining how the Public Workforce System currently integrates entrepreneurship into the 

system. 

Gair McCullough edited the final thoughts and helped create a cogent document that conveys the 

message shared by everyone we interacted with—that entrepreneurship is an essential element in 

turning around the U.S. economy and the lives of unemployed and displaced workers. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 3 of 198

Acronyms Used in the 

Think Entrepreneurs: A Call to Action Report

AEO = Association for Enterprise Opportunity 

BDAG = Business Development Assistance Group, Inc.

BETA = Business and Entrepreneurial Technical Assistance

BDS = Business Dynamic Statistics

BIC = Business Information Clearinghouse

BIZ = Business

BLS = Bureau of Labor Statistics

CBE = Classroom Business Enterprise

CC = Community College

CEC = Certified Entrepreneurial Community 

CEE = Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education

CEO = Chief Executive Officer

CICP = Central Indiana Corporate partnership

COM = Commerce Meaning a business enterprise on the Internet

CQIN = Continuous Quality Improvement Network

DOE = Department of Education

DOL/ETA = Department of Labor/ Employment & Training Administration

DOL = Department of Labor

EDC = Economic Development Consortium

EDU = Education - Meaning an educational institution on the Internet

ELS = Entrepreneurial League System

ETA = Employment & Training Administration
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 4 of 198

GATE = Growing America through Entrepreneurship

GAO = Government Accountability Office

GEM = Global Entrepreneurship Monitor

GOV = Government

IESN = Indiana Energy Systems Network

K-12 = The education system from Kindergarten through grade 12

K-14 = The education system from Kindergarten through 2 years of post high school

K-16 = The education system from Kindergarten through 4 years of post high school

LEA = Local Education Agency

LILA = Life Long Learning Accounts

LCC = Lansing Community College

LLC = Limited Liability Corporation

LUCAATS = Luzerne County Academic Assessment Tracking System

MEO = Maine Enterprise Option

MMIT = Mid Michigan Innovation Team

MSU = Michigan State University

NFIB = National Federation of Independent Businesses

NSAI = North Star Alliance Initiative

NET = Net meaning a connection on the Internet

NVCC = Northern Virginia Community College

NW = North West

ORG = Organization Meaning an organization on the Internet (Generally not for Profit)

PLTW = Project Lead The Way
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 5 of 198

PSW = Pre-Seed workshops 

PTP = Piedmont Triad Project

R&D = Research and Development

REAL = Rural Entrepreneurship Action Learning

SBA = Small Business Administration

SBDC = Small Business Development Center

SBIR = Small Business Innovation Research

SCORE = Service Corps of Retired Executives

SEA = Self-Employment Assistance

SEC = Section

STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

STTR = Small Business Technology Transfer

SVSU = Saginaw Valley State University

TANF = Temporary Assistance to Needy Families

TEGLS = Training and Employment Guidance Letters

TEN = The Entrepreneurial Network

2 + 2 Program = Two years of high school coupled with two years of post-secondary studies

U. S. = United States

USDA = United States Department of Agriculture

USDOL = United States Department of Labor

WDC = Workforce Development Council

WDS = Workforce Development System

WIA = Workforce Investment Act
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 6 of 198

WIB = Workforce Investment Boards

WINGS = ―Wings of the WREN‖- Women‘s Rural Economic Network program for girls

WIRED = Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development 

WNC = Western North Carolina

WREN = Women‘s Rural Economic Network

WORC = Women‘s Opportunities Resource Center

YEA = Youth Entrepreneur Academy

YES = Youth Entrepreneur Surry 

YO = Youth Opportunity
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 7 of 198

Table of Contents

Section Page

Executive Summary .......................................................................9

Overview....................................................................................13

Section A: The Case for Entrepreneurship ........................................14

1. Small Business: Basis of the American Economy

2. Status of Unemployment

3. Need for the Entrepreneurial Mindset 

4. Entrepreneurship in Workforce Development

Section B: Policy Issues ............................................................... 21

1. Equality of Entrepreneurship as a Career Option

2. Revising Core Performance Measures

3. Legislation that Empowers the Unemployed to Choose Self-Employment

4. Collaboration among Federal Agencies as a Model for States

Section C: Self-Employment Assistance Option (SEA)..........................27

1. The Choice for All States to Adopt SEA

2. Changing the Mindset toward the SEA Option

3. Dealing with Business Organizations and Legislatures

Section D: Leadership of Local Workforce Investment Boards ...............31

1. Embracing Self-Employment as an Option

2. Addressing Regional Needs through Strategic Planning

3. Training Workforce Investment Board Leadership

4. Fostering Entrepreneurial Behavior among Local WIB Directors

5. Making Decisions Based on Strategic Planning and Partnerships 

6. The Need for Effective Management

7. Regional Asset Mapping

8. Establishing Funding Streams to Support Needed Services

Section E: Local Staff Motivation ....................................................39

1. Training Staff to See and Value Entrepreneurship as a Viable Option

2. Developing Positive Orientation toward Contributions of Small Business

3. Benefits of Entrepreneurship for Staff and Region

4. Role Models
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 8 of 198

Section F: Local Career Center Model ..............................................45

1. Approach and Induction Practices

2. Placement Success Factors that Honor Entrepreneurship as a Career 

Choice

3. Developing One-Stop Career Centers that Encourage Self-Employment

4. Tools for Assessing Self-Employment Readiness

5. Training, Coaching, and Mentoring Entrepreneurs

6. Researching Essential Business Information

Section G: Local Organization Collaboration .....................................54

1. Creating Trusting Partnerships

2. Interactions that Support an Entrepreneurial Climate

3. Defining Partners‘ Roles and Support Systems 

4. Communication Between Entrepreneurship Assistance Providers

5. Coordinating Training for the Self-Employed 

6. Local Benefits of Legislation that Eliminates Silos in Federal System

Conclusion and Recommendations .................................................60

APPENDIX ...............................................................................63

• Appendix A - Case Studies ................................................... 65

• Appendix B - Resources for Career Centers ..............................134

• Appendix C - Tools for Self-Employment .................................151

• Appendix D - Unemployment Issues ....................................... 194
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 9 of 198

Executive Summary

Imagine a group of entrepreneurship educators with a 25-year history of education and training 

and a network of 100 member organizations and their networks exploring DOL-sponsored 

unemployment system to learn how the system‘s federal and state-sponsored programs could 

help people create jobs when theirs disappear. The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education 

is that group of educators, and this report reflects their experience with the Public Workforce 

System. The findings of the report must be addressed in order to assist all who are concerned 

about and working with our nation‘s unemployed workers. Innovation and creativity—the basic 

elements of an entrepreneurial mindset—are the keys to making these needed changes. This 

report focuses on the assistance and resources that communities need in order to make selfemployment a viable option, as well as the challenging barriers that exist. Immediate action is 

required.

First, it is essential to understand some basic facts that point to self-employment as a career 

option and the need to support entrepreneurs effectively for success. 

• Small businesses are the foundation of the American economy. The Small Business 

Administration (SBA) currently reports that of the 27 million businesses in America, 20 

million have no employees, and another 4 million have five employees or fewer.

1

 

• Unemployment in the United States is at a 26-year high (9.4 percent in June 2009), as 

businesses seek to survive by cutting jobs. The majority of job losses have occurred in 

large companies, with the highest share among firms with 1000 or more employees. 

Individual entrepreneurs have been the quickest segment to recover in the current 

recession.

2

 

• Small businesses thrive when people are empowered to use their skills to create products 

or services that customers need, and often fail when the self-employed lack the basic 

business skills to create their business for sustainability.

• A major study of the relationship between economic growth and entrepreneurship, 

sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation and several partners, found that all nations with 

high levels of entrepreneurial activity had above-average rates of economic growth.

3

Second, it is useful to look at how assistance to job seekers is organized to support 

entrepreneurship as a career option.

• Funding and leadership are provided to states through DOL Public Workforce System to 

develop plans and systems for Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) that pass their 

strategies to local communities.

• Although business leaders serve on the 600+ WIBs, they rarely consider this system as a 

way to help people become self-employed or encourage local career centers to provide 

assistance to potential entrepreneurs.

 

1

http://www.sba.gov/advo/stats/sbfaq.pdf

2

http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/opa/opa20090644.htm

3

http://www.gemconsortium.org/download/1246330200915/GEM_Global_08.pdf
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 10 of 198

• In feedback from a group of WIB Administrators, 87 percent said that entrepreneurship 

should be included as a career option for the unemployed, but only 43 percent said they 

sometimes consider entrepreneurship as equal to other career options (57 percent said

they seldom or never consider entrepreneurship as an option for unemployed).

4

• WIB centers that successfully address self-employment/entrepreneurship collaborate with 

training and mentoring organizations and provide assessment capacities to the local 

DOL-sponsored One-Stop Career Centers.

We believe that local communities must not overlook opportunities for job seekers to create their 

own jobs, but major barriers currently exist and must be overcome:

• Entrepreneurship is not well established in Federal and statewide policy and execution 

strategies. 

• Staff lacks information and training about self-employment as a career option, including 

accessibility to resources, technical assistance, outreach efforts, available partnerships, 

assessment processes, and coordination of available funding options.

• WIB leaders tell us that self-employment outcomes are hard to document for DOL 

regulations; entrepreneurship does not fit into current methods for measuring 

performance.

Policy, training, performance indicators, and WIB reward systems should acknowledge 

entrepreneurship as an effective employment strategy. After all, small businesses are the leading 

sector of the economy at creating new jobs! 

Specific recommendations for bringing self-employment/entrepreneurship fully into DOLsponsored programs for the unemployed are:

1. Pass new federal legislation to break down the silos of community development, 

economic development, workforce development, and small business legislation in various 

Federal agencies to optimize our economy and encourage small business creation. The 

legislation should include funding to support a central coordinator, demonstration 

projects, and nationwide implementation of cooperation strategies.

2. Build a partnership at the national level that demonstrates the integration of 

entrepreneurship as a career option in every industry and as one answer to all displacing 

events. This partnership would include federal agencies for Agriculture, Economic 

Development, Health and Human Services, Labor, Small Business Administration, and 

Education, with leadership in policy decisions and professional development nationwide. 

Convene the leaders of these agencies for a roundtable discussion about the essential 

needs for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, using the expertise of the 

Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education to broker continuing meetings.

3. Provide focused on-going self-employment leadership in Federal agencies involved with 

economic, community, and workforce development through rules, regulations, and 

 

4 EMSI Focus Group of WIB Directors April 2009
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 11 of 198

legislation that foster entrepreneurial development and self-employment. Promote 

availability of appropriate federal Web sites and access to the Consortium Web site to 

provide information for self-employment leadership across all agencies.

4. Train Workforce Investment Boards in every state to implement strategic planning and 

strategic doing around employment opportunities that optimize the resources available in 

their locations, including opportunities for self-employment. Provide targeted TEGLs 

identifying recommended strategies. Host a session at the National Workforce 

Development Conference and the National Workforce Boards Conference for state 

boards and other leaders to focus on successful strategic planning examples that 

encourage integration of entrepreneurship in the statewide Public Workforce System.

5. Change Federal and State policies to include performance indicators and success factors 

that focus on changing future economic conditions and recognize the value of 

entrepreneurship as a career choice. Create policy initiatives that link economic 

development with workforce development communities and establish environments in 

which the self-employed can prosper. Business establishment and success should be a 

continuing focus of the policies. Indicators might include: 

• Business owner accesses needed training in the community 

• New business starts exhibit six specific indicators of success 

• Business has external investors

• One or more individuals move off welfare. 

6. Organize One-Stop Career Centers and other Unemployment Intake Centers to participate 

in professional development to enhance their orientation to and understanding of 

opportunities for the unemployed to develop self-sufficiency as entrepreneurs. Create 

professional development experiences based on staff exploration of model case studies 

and assessment plans provided by the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education at their 

Web site.

5

7. Modify intake systems for the unemployed to focus on the interests, skills, experiences, 

and needs of each applicant while maintaining an open mind about employment or 

entrepreneurial opportunities that best suit the client as s/he seeks self-sufficiency. 

Practice helping job-seekers use the self-assessment checklist followed by coordination 

of training and mentoring capacities in the community to serve the needs of each 

potential entrepreneur.

 

5

http://www.entre-ed.org/where/unemployment programs
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 12 of 198

8. Encourage partnerships between local organizations that support the training, counseling, 

and mentoring needs of the unemployed who choose to become entrepreneurs. Avoid 

duplication of services, and capitalize on the strengths of the partners to deliver needed 

services. Hold regular meetings with representatives of colleges, community colleges, 

SBA-sponsored training programs, micro-enterprise assistance providers, community 

entrepreneur development agencies, and all related providers of training, mentoring, and 

coaching to potential and new small businesses. Share the One-Stop Career Center

assessment process to facilitate selection of appropriate referrals.

9. Help new entrepreneurs establish their businesses as sustainable, tax-paying entities that 

can be counted as placement successes as they obtain training and plan, develop, and 

grow their enterprises. Use the tools and processes provided throughout this report to

work with establishing and helping businesses succeed.

10. Develop demonstration projects of statewide systems that model recommendations in this 

report for assisting individuals to become self-employed. This would include revised 

performance indicators, strategic planning (and doing), double major training, community 

partnerships, training of all staff, and ideas learned through Project GATE about lump 

sum payments to provide seed capital and aid business start-ups. Evaluate the acceptance 

of this project‘s proposed Entrepreneurship Values for One-Stop Career Centers as a 

result of the demonstration projects.

As you review these recommendations, the authors encourage those involved in the Workforce 

Investment System to consider the following idea: A job is work that needs to be done...that 

someone will pay you to do. For the self-employed, their employer is the customer.

Despite the current economic climate and acknowledged barriers to success, we believe that 

these recommendations, implemented with an entrepreneurial mindset, will lead to vigorous 

growth for individual entrepreneurs, enterprising communities, and the U.S. economy as a 

whole. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 13 of 198

Overview

The news of the day is all about the jobs we are losing. The housing, capital, and auto industries 

have imploded, resulting in massive job losses in 2008 and 2009. Many states are laying off 

teachers and public service personnel in an effort to cut costs. Even the securely employed are 

skittish—polishing their résumés and waiting for the pink slips to arrive.

 

What is a job, anyway? At its most basic level, a job is work that needs to be done, that 

customers are willing to pay someone to do. Most people think of employment primarily as 

getting a job. But there is another option. When traditional employers aren‘t hiring, 

entrepreneurs look for customers themselves who will pay them for what they know, what they 

can produce, or what they can do. Increasingly, people are turning to self-employment as a 

means to meaningful work, a chance to contribute to society, and a way to earn a living. 

In order to create an environment where all adults can work, bold action is required now by 

Congress and all agencies that focus on helping U.S. citizens become self-sufficient. Now is the 

time to make a stand to promote entrepreneurship. Just as today‘s workers must be adept at 

using a computer, communicating effectively across boundaries and disciplines, and 

demonstrating resiliency in the face of change, they must also be able to see, evaluate, and seize 

opportunities where they exist. Indeed, the world considers the entrepreneurial mindset and 

skills as a major priority for reducing world poverty.

6

One essential step toward moving self-employment forward as a solution is coordinating the 

efforts of existing training and support agencies. We see great potential—as yet unrealized—for 

collaboration within the Public Workforce System between educators and local One-Stop Career 

Centers, for example. The community as a whole provides a wealth of partnership opportunities 

that should be linked to the needs of the unemployed. In order for entrepreneurship to truly be 

the heart of our economic system, professionals within the system and education and training 

resources throughout the community must maximize their impact as partners by sharing 

information, best practices, resources, and expertise.

Maintaining the status quo is dangerous. As a nation, we must challenge ourselves through 

Congressional action so that our funding streams and community services for the unemployed 

can better address the needs of the future and not just those of the past. This Call to Action seeks 

to merge successful economic development, education, and workforce development strategies, as 

we advance entrepreneurship as an essential answer to our current employment crisis. 

 

6

http://www.weforum.org/en/initiative/gei/index.htm
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 14 of 198

Section A: The Case for Entrepreneurship

1. Small Business: Basis of the American Economy

It is important to know that, although large companies get a lot of press coverage, the 

majority of companies in the United States are not large corporations. Small businesses 

are the foundation of the American economy, developing new industries, new 

technologies, and new solutions for local and global problems. The U.S. Small Business 

Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy estimates that in 2008, there were 29.6 million 

businesses in the United States. More than 21.7 million of those businesses had no 

employees. Anyone can, and millions of average Americans do, create their own jobs. In 

the United States, small businesses:

• Employ about half of all private sector employees (ranging from 44 percent in 

Florida to 69.8 percent in Montana)

• Pay nearly 44 percent of total U.S. private payroll 

• Have generated 64 percent of net new jobs over the last fifteen years7

• Hire 40 percent of high tech workers (such as scientists, engineers, and computer 

workers)

• Are 52 percent home-based and 2 percent franchises 

• Produce 13 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms8

• Make up 97.3 percent of all identified exporters (and produced 30.2 percent of the 

known export value in FY 2007).

9

Small businesses create new opportunities for our youth, for unique neighborhoods in our 

cities, and for vibrant rural communities. The neighborhood florist, taxi driver, 

landscaper, and restaurant owner are the men and women who embody, nurture, and 

rejuvenate the American Dream. 

2. Status of Unemployment

The United States has always been a nation to which people have come from all around 

the world seeking freedom, financial opportunity, and self-realization—the American 

Dream. The perception of the United States as the land of opportunity persists, despite 

the recent rise in unemployment. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Bureau of Labor 

Statistics reports:

• The number of unemployed persons (11.6 million) and the unemployment rate 

(9.7 percent) rose in August 2009, the highest rates since November 1983.

 

7Kobe, Kathryn. Bureau of the Census and International Trade, U.S. Department of Commerce. 

Advocacy-funded research, 2007. Available online at 

http://web.sba.gov/faqs/faqindex.cfm?areaID=24.

8 CHI Research, 2003. Available online at www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs299tot.pdf .

9

Federal Procurement Data System; U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Available online at www.sba.gov/advo/research/rs225tot.pdf. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 15 of 198

• Even though large and small companies each represent roughly half the private 

sector jobs, more job losses have come from large employers than from small 

businesses. 

• Large firms (1,000+ employees) have had the highest share of gross job losses 

(16.8 percent loss from December 2007 to March 2008.)

• Only three major sectors posted net job gains: health, education, and government 

sectors. 

• The individual entrepreneur has been the quickest recovering component during 

the current recession.

Like the hopeful immigrants who have flocked to our teaming shores, the entrepreneurial 

sector provides an optimistic counterpoint to the dreary employment news of the day.

10

3. Need for the Entrepreneurial Mindset 

In 2008, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (in partnership with Babson College, 

Ernst & Young, the London Business School and researchers from dozens of developed 

countries) completed the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report (GEM 2008).

11

 This 

landmark study explored the relationship between economic growth and entrepreneurship 

in 21 of the world‘s leading industrial economies, and reported the following: 

The level of entrepreneurship activity in a country explains 70 percent of 

the difference in economic growth among these nations. All nations with 

high levels of entrepreneurial activity have above-average rates of 

economic growth. Only a few nations that have above-average rates of 

economic growth have low levels of entrepreneurship. 

Economic historian David Landes argues that ―if we learn anything from the history of 

economic development it is that culture makes almost all the difference.‖ He says, ―You 

can build as many incubators as you like, but if only 3 percent of the population want to 

be entrepreneurs there will be trouble creating an entrepreneurial economy.‖12 

If economic growth is dependent on entrepreneurial activity, and entrepreneurial activity 

is dependent on cultural attitudes, then our Public Workforce System and leaders on all 

levels must shift their nearly exclusive focus on job acquisition to include job creation as 

 

10Office of Advocacy in the Small Business Administration estimates based on data from the 

U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, and U.S. Department of Labor, 

Employment and Training Administration.

11 http://www.gemconsortium.org/download/1246330200915/GEM_Global_08.pdf

12Landes, David S. The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Are Some So Rich and Others So 

Poor? New York: W.W. Norton, 1998:544
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 16 of 198

a viable option for the unemployed. In order for the United States to be a leading global 

innovator and for our citizens to be self-sufficient, entrepreneurship is critical. 

People everywhere want a satisfying, meaningful work life. According to Jim Clifton, 

Chairman and CEO of Gallup, ―What the whole world now wants is a good job.‖13 In 

earlier polls, people reported their desires for love, money, food, shelter, safety, and/or 

peace as paramount. Individual experiences in recent decades have changed people‘s 

thinking about what they want most in life. 

Ideas about what constitutes a good job may be evolving as well. As the social contract 

between big companies and their employees has changed, and workers can no longer rely

on company loyalty for job security, many individuals have taken charge of their 

destinies by starting their own enterprises. They are willing to sacrifice old certainties for 

new risks and opportunities that they believe lie in their own hands. Between 1996 and 

2004, aspiring entrepreneurs in the United States created an average of 550,000 small 

businesses every month. Following dislocations of all kinds, self-employment may be 

one of the best options for the good job people desire. 

People don‘t become successful entrepreneurs without training, planning, support, and a 

measure of good luck. Fostering an entrepreneurial mindset is essential to our future 

success, and teaching entrepreneurial skills to all learners (whether or not they eventually 

start businesses) is a no lose proposition for the U.S. economy. The worker with an 

entrepreneur‘s business knowledge and skills is an asset in any setting, from a large 

corporation to a sole proprietorship. Using workforce development resources to create a 

pipeline of future entrepreneurs in our schools can yield dividends for individuals, 

businesses, and society as a whole.

Major research findings, economic experts, and trends in employment and entrepreneurial 

activity seem to concur that we must create an environment in which talented people 

want to live and work if the United States is to succeed globally. The Public Workforce 

System can lead the way by fostering positive attitudes, promoting new legislation, 

directing resources, and adopting policies that support entrepreneurship as a valid and 

valued career option for all citizens.

Peter Drucker said it best years ago: ―What we need is an entrepreneurial society in 

which innovation and entrepreneurship are normal, steady, and continual.‖14

 

 

13Clifton, Jim. ―Global Migration Patterns and Job Creation; Gallup‘s World Poll reveals new 

findings on the  ̳great global dream‘ and how it will affect the rise of the next economic empire.‖

Gallup Management Journal, 11 October 2007.

 

14Drucker, Peter. ―Educating the Next Wave of Entrepreneurs, a report of the Global Education 

Initiative.‖ World Economic Forum, Switzerland: April 2009:12.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 17 of 198

For Example:

National Entrepreneurship Week (established in 2006 by Congressional Resolution HR266 and coordinated by the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education) is celebrated in 

the United States annually during the last week of February.

15 It recognizes the 

contributions of entrepreneurs and encourages students and parents to think of 

entrepreneurship—creating a job—as an acceptable option to getting a job at a company 

someone else runs. National Entrepreneurship Week helps citizens understand the 

tradition of entrepreneurship that has positioned the U.S. economy as the most innovative 

in the world.

4. Entrepreneurship in Workforce Development

Many opportunities exist within the current Public Workforce System to provide training 

and support for aspiring entrepreneurs and their businesses. However, resources are 

rarely allocated for such activities. Instead, they go to traditional strategies designed to 

place unemployed workers in existing companies. 

For example, under Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), the Public 

Workforce System provides support at the State and local levels to individuals who need 

services, including job seekers, dislocated workers, youth, incumbent workers, new 

entrants to the workforce, veterans, persons with disabilities, and employers. Potential 

entrepreneurs exist in many of these groups. 

The WIA provides funding for a wide range of services allowed including youth training 

activities, YouthBuild programs, employment and training assistance to adult workers, 

disaster relief employment, dislocated workers‘ training, and other worker training 

initiatives. WIA states, in section 134(d)(4)(E), that in the event that funds allocated to a 

local area for adult employment and training activities are limited, priority for intensive 

and training services funded with Title I adult funds must be given to recipients of public 

assistance and other low-income individuals in the local area. Although business 

planning and preparation may be offered along with other worker training activities, it 

almost never is. 

During 2008 and 2009, the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education project staff 

explored local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) to find examples of targeted 

programs supporting self-employment that might be replicated broadly. We found the 

best examples of widespread use of the Self-Employment Assistance option provided 

through WIA in Maine and Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, Pennsylvania‘s support for 

aspiring entrepreneurs has since been discontinued due to lack of funding. In Maine, the 

partners to the Maine Enterprise Option have continued to find sources of funding for 

people who want to start their own businesses instead of struggling to find employment 

with a company. 

Local WIBs find it hard to correlate self-employment with existing core performance 

measures, and typically do not encourage One-Stop Career Center staff to help the 

 

15 http://www.nationaleweek.org 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 18 of 198

unemployed start businesses. In Olympia, WA, Enterprise for Equity has been helping 

disadvantaged individuals become entrepreneurs since 1999. Many participants in their 

business preparation and support programs have chosen to start businesses because jobs 

were so hard to come by in the local labor market. Although Enterprise for Equity has 

successfully helped more than 100 individuals start businesses, they have been unable to 

get funding assistance from the local WIB. 

For Example:

Generally WIB funding is not sufficient to meet the needs that WIBs perceive in their 

service areas. However with the 2009 Recovery Act there is now more funding available 

for entrepreneurship than prior to this act. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) 

study in April 2002 on early implementation of the WIA reports that nationally, 50 

percent of local areas leverage non-WIB funding to support their youth programming and 

meet existing needs. It cites active involvement of youth councils in communities across 

the country, from Sonoma County, CA, to Middlesex, NJ. In areas that received Youth 

Opportunity (YO) grants, formal alliances formed among multiple agencies, and these 

alliances continued after YO grant funding ceased. In both cases, self-employment might 

have received greater support had there been consistent and sufficient funding.

5. Entrepreneurship Education as a Pipeline for Workforce Development

Entrepreneurs are not  ̳born‘....rather they  ̳become‘ through the experiences of their 

lives.

16 The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education believes that for most 

Americans these experiences need to start early in their educational journey so that by the 

time they become job-seekers, they have many of the skills and attitudes they need to 

become self-employed if they choose. 

We talk about the entrepreneurial pipeline as the process within the K-16 education 

system for developing skills that will positively impact the success of future 

entrepreneurs. Many communities today are trying to create an entrepreneurial mindset 

and develop young people who can develop the economy of their area through 

entrepreneurial initiatives. Throughout the nation there are important programs in place 

to assist in developing the pipeline of entrepreneurial workers.

The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education is an association of member 

organizations nationwide that provide education and training programs for youth and 

adults as a lifelong learning process. Entrepreneurship programs—in school and out of 

school— have emerged over the past quarter century as opportunities for youth and 

adults to develop entrepreneurial skills and experiences as well as the entrepreneurial 

mindset.

Nationally accepted entrepreneurship content standards and performance indicators have 

been important in determining what should be part of entrepreneurship programs 

everywhere. In 2004, the Consortium worked with focus groups of business owners to 

identify what they do and what they need to know in order to do it, for the purpose of 

 

16 Shapero, Albert. ―The Dislocated Worker.‖ Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University, 1980.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 19 of 198

establishing the Entrepreneurship Education National Content Standards. The resulting 

15 standards, with 403 supporting performance indicators, are available free on the 

Consortium Web site: www.entre-ed.org/standardstoolkit . They have been used widely 

to support the development of curriculum that is used by diverse programs, K-16 and 

adult education institutions. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor adapted the 

Consortium standards to create the DOL Competency Model Format and used 

Consortium members to complete and evaluate the new DOL model.

17

 Curriculum 

developers and trainers working within the workforce system are using the model to help 

design and deliver a unified approach to developing entrepreneurial skills and thinking.

Career and Technical Education at the high school and community college level has led 

the way in creating programs as part of the K-14 education system, with emphasis on the 

programs related to self employment and business. Four-year colleges and universities 

also have created coursework for undergraduate and graduate students to develop 

entrepreneurial expertise. As a result, qualified students under the provisions of the WIA 

often come to One-Stop Career Centers with a background in entrepreneurship, prepared 

to be self-employed.

Section 129 of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 states that the Youth Activities of 

Title I of the Workforce Investment Act are directly connected to the Career and 

Technical Education programs in most states. This section identifies how funds may be 

used for approved youth activities, including:

• To provide to eligible youth seeking assistance in achieving academic and 

employment success effective and comprehensive activities, which shall include a 

variety of options for improving educational and skill competencies and provide 

effective connections to employers 

• To ensure on-going mentoring opportunities for eligible youth with adults 

committed to providing such opportunities

• To provide opportunities for training to eligible youth

• To provide continued supportive services for eligible youth

• To provide incentives for recognition and achievement to eligible youth

• To provide opportunities for eligible youth in activities related to leadership, 

development, decision-making, citizenship, and community service.

The entrepreneurship education pipeline and the educators involved in providing training 

should be considered major resources in developing partnerships in the community to 

help the unemployed. 

For Example:

Entrepreneurship education activities have proven to engage students in learning and 

using skills that have a personal value to their futures. If all teachers in the U.S. included 

some aspect of entrepreneurial thinking in their courses, the logical outcome would be a 

nation of entrepreneurial thinkers for the future. In order for students to become more 

entrepreneurial, all students across all the curriculums should be taught the skill sets that 

 

17 http://www.entre-ed.org/_contact/pressdol2.pdf
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 20 of 198

help them to have the entrepreneurial mindset. Entrepreneurial skills and attitudes 

benefit both society and individuals in all walks of life.

A proposal, entitled ―Entrepreneurship Empowers Everyone,‖ and delivered during 

National Entrepreneurship Week 2009, offered some basic suggestions about what might 

be done at each level of education to encourage the entrepreneurial spirit and develop 

knowledge and skills through experiences. Examples in the proposal presented models at 

each level of the pipeline: elementary, middle school, high school, college, and adult 

education.

18

 

18 http://www.nationaleweek.org/eweek_files/EntrepreneurshipEmpowersEveryone.pdf
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 21 of 198

Section B: Policy Issues

The purpose of Title I (of the WIA) is to provide workforce investment activities that increase 

the employment, retention, and earnings of participants; increase their occupational skill 

attainment; and in turn improve the quality of the workforce, reduce welfare dependency, and 

enhance the productivity and competitiveness of the U.S. economy. As project staff talked with 

local Workforce Investment Board staff, we learned of a number of issues that must be addressed 

at the national level in order to carry out the purpose of Title I effectively. Attitudes toward selfemployment, legislation that promotes it, inter-agency partnerships, and integration of services 

must all be realigned favorably toward entrepreneurship as we develop our workforce. The 

Federal government should consider leading this realignment so that state and local operations 

can follow suit and build the training and employment capacity of the regions they serve.

1. Equality of Entrepreneurship as a Career Option

In late 2008, the U.S. Council on Competitiveness released its annual report, 

Competitiveness Index: Where America Stands. The Council concluded that four factors 

are central to America‘s economic future: innovation, entrepreneurship, education, and 

energy. On entrepreneurship, the Council writes: 

―Entrepreneurship is a critical driver of success in the modern economy. New 

companies and their subsequent growth create most of the new jobs in the United 

States. New companies also provide an increasing share of knowledge creation, 

an area that has traditionally been dominated by large companies and their 

substantial R&D expenditures.‖ 

Entrepreneurship must be positioned as a career option equal to any other career if we are 

to have a healthy, growing economy.

In the midst of record unemployment in 2009, a new U.S. Census Bureau study funded 

by the Kauffman Foundation shows that startup companies are a major contributor to job 

creation. Business Dynamic Statistics (BDS) also indicate that while business startups 

declined slightly in most cyclical economic downturns, startups remained robust even in 

the most severe recession over the sample period. ―Job growth is essential for our 

economy to rebound, and this study shows that new firms have historically been an 

important source of new jobs in the United States,‖ said Robert E. Litan, vice president of 

Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation. ―Our research into the early years of 

business formation consistently shows how vital new firms are to the American economy, 

and this data should give policymakers and budding entrepreneurs alike great hope for 

how we can solve our current crisis—create and grow jobs through entrepreneurship.‖ 

The BDS data show that employment accounted for by U.S. private-sector business 

startups over the 1980-2005 period was about three percent per year. While a small 

fraction of overall employment, these jobs from startups reflect new jobs. Compare this 

statistic to total U.S. employment growth (about 1.8%.) The pattern implies that, if we 

exclude the jobs from new firms, the U.S. net employment growth rate is negative on 

average. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 22 of 198

A culture change within the Public Workforce System is a priority for future success. 

Historically, the Public Workforce System has emphasized job acquisition over job 

creation, and their training and policies have supported that bias. Because the One-Stop 

Centers have generally worked with and for the businesses in their regions, they have 

focused on equipping individuals to get jobs in those businesses. However, in the current 

economy of 2009, there are not enough existing jobs to go around. Leaders owe it to the 

people they serve to give entrepreneurship an equal place in the employment 

conversation. 

Guidance and policy leadership are required at the national level as Public Workforce 

System legislation is renewed in 2009-2010. The Employment Training Administration 

of DOL, through its TEGLs (Training and Employment Guidance Letters) and other 

publications must present business creation as a way for individuals to become selfsufficient, just as they talk of becoming employed in existing businesses. The system 

should always position entrepreneurship as an option in published materials. This will 

impact the focus of staff training and operating procedures at the local level. With the 

guidance and example of System leaders, One-Stop Career Centers will eventually offer 

self-employment assistance just as readily as job search assistance. 

2. Revising Core Performance Measures

WIA Common Measures are an integral part of the U.S. Department of Labor 

Employment and Training Administration‘s (DOL/ETA) performance accountability 

system. The function of Common Measures is to be able to describe in consistent terms 

the core purposes of the workforce system and answer the following questions:

• How many people found jobs? (Entered employment rate)

• Did those people stayed employed? (Retention rate)

• What were their average earnings?

These three performance measures are calculated from the number of participants that 

exit a WIA program during the program year and their outcomes since exiting. 

These measures include program data from multiple program years as they are used by 

the federal government to evaluate the efficacy of the WIA program overall. While these 

questions and data are important, additional data on spending, program activities, 

participants, and outcomes are also necessary to convey full and accurate information on 

the performance of workforce programs to policy-makers and stakeholders. 

Many One-Stop Career Center staff members believe that the vision of the Public 

Workforce System is too narrow and that self-employment is not effectively assessed by 

the current Common Measures, which are focus on short-term indicators of success. A 

broader view of workforce development is needed in the System. The integration of 

workforce and economic development concepts are encouraged by WIB leaders. 

One key indicator of success in the current System is getting a person placed in a job that 

yields a higher wage than they were formerly earning. This definition is too narrow, may 

be impossible to achieve in the current economy, and does not reflect the successful 

entrepreneur‘s experience. Small business start-ups routinely take three years or longer 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 23 of 198

to become profitable, and their owners may forego personal financial gain during this 

period for the sake of the company. The Public Workforce System needs new and 

expanded metrics that join key economic development and workforce preparedness 

concepts to measure success. 

Under the 2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act, organizations receiving Community 

Service Block Grants from Health and Human Service funding must use the resources to 

help get the U.S. economy back on track. Funds must be used to reduce poverty, 

revitalize low-income communities, and help low-income families become self-sufficient. 

Eligible entities may use the funds to provide services and activities addressing big issue 

areas such as employment, education, housing, nutrition, and emergency services to 

combat the central causes of poverty. The performance measures for the Public 

Workforce System need to be modified to focus on large ideas within the workforce 

development and economic development sectors of the economy and allow WIBs to 

focus on strategies that help create and expand employing units or help individuals to 

create their own jobs. 

Local WIBs may have the greatest impact by striving to create an entrepreneurial culture. 

By creating conditions that bring economic development into local communities and 

equip the workforce with the skills that allow companies to thrive, WIBs can foster new 

business development as well as the expansion of existing businesses. Core performance 

measures should correlate with this objective. 

Only if the WIA core performance measures are adjusted to allow for the inclusion of 

self-employment as an acceptable outcome will the culture be transformed. In working 

with congressional leadership to revise the WIA legislation there must be recognition of 

entrepreneurship in the performance indicators that guide the accountability for results 

under the revised legislation. 

 

For Example:

The Advantage West economic development organization in Western North Carolina 

has implemented a Certified Entrepreneurial Community initiative that allows 

communities to self-assess and organize through community partners to develop the type 

of entrepreneur-friendly environment that allows individuals to advance their dreams and 

thus the economy of the region.

19

 In order to become certified, a community initiates a 5-

step assessment and planning process. Embedded in the five steps are numerous 

indicators that could be built into the reauthorized WIA and could become the basis of 

core performance measures relevant to self-employment.

20

 

19 http://www.advantagewest.com/content.cfm/content_id/227/section/entrepreneur

20 http://www.advantagewest.com/content.cfm/content_id/229/section/entrepreneur
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 24 of 198

3. Legislation that Empowers the Unemployed to Choose Self-Employment

With corporate layoffs reaching record levels in 2008-2009, experts predict that there will 

be a surge of new entrepreneurial activity in the coming months. Some corporate 

professionals went into their lines of work because of the financial upside, and they were 

willing to be in these high level corporate jobs despite the toll on their health and family 

lifestyle. Now, without job security, the cost-benefit analysis may look different. Some 

are taking the plunge, using the money they‘ve earned in the corporate world to launch 

the business idea they‘ve had for years. They are now more inclined to take charge of 

their work-life destiny than they were when corporate leadership was making the key 

decisions.

21

For those who remain employed in corporate jobs, when, where, and how they work has 

changed dramatically in recent years. More and more individuals want to work when and 

where they choose so that they can balance life, family, and work objectives. Much of 

today‘s innovative work calls for collaboration between individuals as products, services, 

and ideas are developed. Technology allows individuals to contribute their expertise to 

projects anywhere in the world, on a schedule that suits them. The Public Workforce 

System must adjust to working with individuals who are choosing work to meet their 

lifestyle and not necessarily desiring to work for existing companies. 

In our discussions, many WIB leaders encouraged a new strategic focus that would 

include moving from leading the Public Workforce System toward specific outcomes to 

leading with large workforce and economic development ideas or concepts. WIB boards 

and administrators who focus on what advances economic development seem to have 

more success in their geographic area. 

Congress should revise the WIA legislation to reflect a major emphasis on individuals‘ 

developing their own jobs. In the current economy, many businesses are struggling to 

keep their doors open. As businesses eliminate jobs in an effort to reduce costs and stay 

afloat, there are many opportunities for individuals to become entrepreneurs without a 

total overhaul of their existing skills. For example, they may contract to provide essential 

services to their former employers or serve multiple businesses that need their expertise 

but cannot support a full-time position.

All of these examples reflect innovation in the face of change. Crafting legislation that 

encourages development of entrepreneurial communities will focus on innovation. The 

Special Report on Entrepreneurship published by The Economist on March 14, 2009 

states, ―The globalization of entrepreneurship is raising the competitive stakes for 

everyone in the world. Entrepreneurs can now come from almost anywhere including 

once-closed economies such as China and India.‖ The Economist understands that an 

entrepreneur is someone who offers an innovative solution to a problem. Resourceful 

individuals solve two problems at once—their own unemployment problem and their 

customer‘s need for the products and services they offer—while earning themselves an 

 

21 http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/dec2008/sb2008
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 25 of 198

income. The Public Workforce System needs to push for legislation that prepares 

individuals and communities for innovation of this kind. 

For Example:

A group of organizations including CFED, AEO, FIELD, and the Center for Rural 

Affairs has called for the Federal programs that support low income citizens and 

prisoners who are re-entering society to recognize self-employment as a step toward selfsufficiency. Often it is the best option for the lowest income individuals, but Temporary 

Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and Social Security Disability Insurance programs 

do not recognize business creation as an eligible activity for recipients. These 

organizations advocate several reforms including recognizing self-employment as an 

option and facilitating access to affordable health care coverage for self-employed 

entrepreneurs.

In TEGL 16-04 (February 23, 2005) states were asked to encourage local WIBs to 

consider entrepreneurial training programs for WIA customers as part of their menu of 

services and to explore appropriate partnerships to support these training programs. 

States were encouraged to include entrepreneurial training providers on their eligible 

provider lists. TEGL 16-04 described the self-employment assistance program as a 

focused policy initiative of the U.S. DOL/ETA. 

The current WIA (1998) does include the Self-Employment Assistance option, but it is 

insufficient. In TEGL 14-08 issued March 18, 2009, there are 50 pages of policy 

guidance and direction regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 

(the Recovery Act) that funds activities authorized under the WIA and the WagnerPeyser Act. Specific recommendations for modifying WIA and Wagner-Peyser Strategic 

State Plans were also included in TEGL 14-08. Page 12 contains the only reference to 

entrepreneurship, in the list of training services that are options under the WIA. 

Although DOL has policies regarding self-employment, there is little attention paid to it 

in the Recovery Act, even when there are no job openings in existing businesses. Since 

creating a job might be a more acceptable option than having no job, perhaps serious 

attention should be given to this possibility in the revised WIA.

4. Collaboration among Federal Agencies as a Model for States

Multiple Federal agencies receive appropriations from Congress that are focused on 

different aspects of economic development, assistance to unemployed individuals, and 

assistance to fledgling entrepreneurs. In order to optimize the impact of these 

appropriations, there must be coordination at the domestic policy level. According to the 

U.S. Census Bureau, Non-Employer Statistics, 2006, nearly 88 percent of the businesses 

in the United States have five employees or fewer. Certainly, it is appropriate to focus 

funds and energy on coordinating small business assistance as we look at revitalizing the 

economy. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 26 of 198

Even with the Obama administration's focus on change, Congress in 2009 has 

reauthorized many former pieces of legislation that continue to create silos of work and 

funding for workforce development initiatives throughout the nation. While the funding 

allowed by these individual pieces of legislation is helpful, it perpetuates a piecemeal 

approach to workforce and economic development. A more comprehensive review and 

reauthorization of workforce development legislation as a whole would be appropriate. 

In order for the various funds to benefit local economies most, funding streams must be 

coordinated at the Federal, state and local levels. We need a person, possibly at the 

cabinet level, who has the authority and responsibility to help Federal agencies 

coordinate their economic development work. It is not possible to expect local partners 

to understand and navigate the links between the various legislative initiatives without 

leadership from Federal and state partners. The Domestic Policy Council, policy advisor 

to the White House, could provide organizational support for this coordination, thereby 

promoting economic stability, business growth, and innovation. Successful collaboration 

on the Federal level would provide a model for states, regional councils, and local 

agencies to follow. 

For Example:

One example of successful coordination at the Federal level is a government Web site 

(www.Business.gov) with links to all Federal agencies providing business resources. It is 

designed to help small business owners understand their legal requirements and locate 

relevant government services. Having all these links together in one place saves people 

time and frustration, and demonstrates the coordination of resources. There is a wealth of 

information available on the Business.gov linked sites that expands on the information 

provided on the original agencies' sites. See the Appendix B for a list of Sixty-Five 

Indispensable Web sites for Entrepreneurs.

22

 

22The list was compiled by the Entrepreneur.com staff, with major assistance from Mikal E. 

Belicove, author of the 2009 Internet Directory: Web 2.0 Edition.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 27 of 198

Section C: Self-Employment Assistance Option (SEA)

The Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) policy initiative, authorized by Congress in 

1993, and funded with Wagner-Peyser funds, authorized states to establish SelfEmployment Assistance programs for recipients of unemployment insurance benefits. 

Eleven states passed enabling legislation, and eight states implemented the programs: 

California, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and 

Pennsylvania. States such as Maine were able to win approval by appealing to the 

principles that have made the United States great. Despite opposition to the bill, 

legislators understood that allowing individuals to pursue their dreams is the American 

way. (California terminated its SEA program in July 1998, and Pennsylvania, at the end 

of June 2008.) 

Under the SEA program, states can pay a self-employed allowance, in lieu of regular 

unemployment insurance benefits, to help unemployed workers while they are getting 

their businesses off the ground. Generally, in order to receive these benefits, an 

individual must first be eligible to receive regular unemployment insurance benefits 

under State law. Individuals who have been permanently laid off from their previous 

jobs and are identified (through a state's profiling system) as likely to exhaust regular 

unemployment benefits are eligible to participate in the program.

A second feature of the SEA program provides for the use of funds from discretionary 

state funding for training, and unemployment benefits only from the Unemployment 

Trust Fund. More effective integration of the two features is needed so that unemployed 

workers can access training while receiving benefits and starting a business. CEE calls 

this the double major concept (like a college student pursuing two programs of study at 

the same time.)

Individuals may be eligible for the SEA options even if they are engaged full-time in selfemployment activities including entrepreneurial training, business counseling, and 

technical assistance. Self-employment allowances are the same weekly amounts as the 

worker‘s regular unemployment insurance benefits. Participants work full-time on 

starting their business instead of looking for wage-and-salary jobs.

The One-Stop Career Center staff has an important role to play in implementing the SEA 

option with unemployed workers who want to create their own businesses. Together, 

they develop an individual employment plan that identifies the participant‘s employment 

goals, sets achievement objectives, and recommends the appropriate combination of 

services for the participant to achieve his/her goals. This approach gives the aspiring 

entrepreneur time, training, and financial support to plan and start the business and work 

toward self-sufficiency. 

1. The Choice for All States to Adopt SEA

Self Employment Assistance (SEA) is a voluntary program; to date, eight states have 

adopted it. (See listing of states above in first paragraph of C.) Other states have tried to 

pass enabling legislation but have encountered opposition from groups that typically 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 28 of 198

lobby for small businesses (apparently their members did not want more competition in 

the marketplace.) Even in the states that offer the SEA program, many One-Stop Career 

Centers offer lots of information about SEA, but provide little or no actual assistance 

related to business start-up. Most of the training funded out of One-Stop Career Centers

focuses on preparing individuals for a job in a particular wage-and-salary occupation 

within an existing company.

For Example:

Project GATE (Growing America through Entrepreneurship) was a project funded 

by the U.S. DOL/ETA and piloted at seven sites in three states— Minnesota, 

Pennsylvania, and Maine—between fall 2003 and summer 2005. The program did not 

screen out applicants based on their likelihood of success, as many entrepreneurial 

preparation programs do. One reason for such screening may be the multiple barriers a 

participant faces (e.g., lack of capital, lack of skills or knowledge to produce the services 

or product, naiveté about the challenges of starting a business, or an unrealistic business 

idea.) 

Project GATE accepted into the program everyone who met the eligibility criteria. It was 

designed to serve almost anyone, employed or unemployed, who was lawfully able to 

work in the United States and wished to start or expand a business that was legal and 

appropriate for federal support. The project was billed as another service to be added to 

the array of employment services already provided by the Public Workforce System. 

The One-Stop Career Centers were the first stop in the provision of GATE services. 

They conducted outreach by housing electronic kiosks with information about project 

within the centers themselves, placing brochures about GATE in their resource rooms, 

displaying posters, and describing the program in orientation sessions. The One-Stop 

Career Centers also hosted a mandatory orientation for those interested in Project GATE.

Project GATE offered three basic services to program participants—assessment, training, 

and business counseling. Research showed that the services had a small but significant 

impact on business ownership, increasing the probability of owning a business during the 

18-month period after enrollment. Both the program and control groups experienced a 

steep growth in business ownership soon after random assignment into the program 

services. By the sixth quarter after random assignment, 44 percent of the program group 

owned a business. GATE participants started businesses at a higher rate than control 

group members. While the increase in business ownership was statistically significant, 

the magnitude of the impact between program participants and the control group was 

relatively modest—six percentage points. Just offering the self-employment option

helped people focus on creating their own self-sufficiency!

Project GATE recognizes that potential entrepreneurs often need capital up front as a 

lump sum (rather than weekly payments) to get a business off the ground. It is 

recommended that participants be given the option of receiving a lump sum early on and 

then the balance of the unemployment payments at the end of their eligibility period.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 29 of 198

Based on the success of the original program, additional Project GATE grants were made 

in 2008 to four states—Alabama, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Virginia. 

2. Changing the Mindset toward the SEA Option

In a questionnaire of leading WIB directors, more than 56 percent said they do not have 

the SEA option in their states. They noted that they were either not aware of it or did not 

have enough information to know how it might work. In states that do provide the SEA 

option, it has been a challenge to get staff who work with the unemployed to think about 

these job seekers as potential entrepreneurs. Policy leadership affirming the use of the 

SEA option throughout the WDA system will make it easier to do so, but individual 

Centers will need to help staff adopt a new mindset. Data on the opportunities for selfemployment and systems to facilitate assistance will help.

 

Wagner-Peyser Act funds provide for counseling staff who first meet with the 

unemployed. These staff member‘s normal duties are to assess and assist in placement of 

unemployed persons into businesses that have employment needs for persons with the 

skill sets that the unemployed person possesses. The major opportunity to encourage 

more use of SEA will be to expand the measure of success beyond counting only those 

who get a job. As long as staff gets no positive recognition and benefits from working 

intensively toward self-employment, and they know relatively little about being an 

entrepreneur themselves, it will be very hard to change the mindset.

Some counselors from One-Stop Career Centers and other organizations have focused on 

the belief that low income or unemployed individuals can become self-employed even 

without loans if they are given access to the resources they need to fully develop their 

business idea. This mindset has been helpful in assisting individuals become selfemployed. 

For Example:

Leaders of the Maine Enterprise Option (MEO) searched many sources of research for 

ideas that help individuals as they start micro-enterprises. One useful concept learned is 

that women need to be earning at least minimum wage in order to be thought of as 

successful. Because of the MEO initiative, Maine One-Stop Career Center staff members 

are trained to think entrepreneurially. One person in each center acts as the 

entrepreneurship program (MEO) leader to counsel individuals, sign them up for the 

initiative, and refer them to small business counselors as needed. The MEO is seen as 

another tool in their counseling toolkit for meeting the needs of clients.

3. Dealing with Business Organizations and Legislatures

Focusing on the fundamental capitalist approach to economic development allowed state 

legislatures to approve the Self Employment Assistance option as a tool for working with 

the unemployed. Even when small business organizations spoke against it, they had to 

agree with the fundamental right of persons to enter business. Legislators realize, when 

the economy has stalled and employment rates have fallen as much as they have in 2009, 

that self-employment is a needed strategy; some unemployed people must become 

entrepreneurs in order to remain self-sufficient. Individuals who start their own 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 30 of 198

businesses provide their own jobs, and may have the opportunity eventually to employ 

others. In April 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the only 

segment of the economy that is growing is self-employed individuals. 

New businesses contribute to the local economy, the local tax base, and the state and

national tax bases. Helping state legislators to see the benefits of entrepreneurial activity 

by looking at the multiplier effect their payment of taxes and wages has on their economy 

is probably the best way to convince legislators to support the SEA program. 

For Example:

In Maine, when business organizations insisted that tax funds should not be used to help 

individuals create competition for existing businesses, those favoring the Maine 

Enterprise Option insisted that the American way was to recognize all individuals‘ right 

to enter business and succeed or fail based on their innovation, work ethic, and ideas. 

The legislature was convinced and approved the enabling legislation and funding to 

provide counselors to assist the unemployed as they established their businesses.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 31 of 198

Section D: Leadership of Local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs)

The Workforce Investment Board is the organization that is legally responsible for 

receiving the funds and guiding the policies for delivery of unemployment funds and 

services to assist job seekers in One-Stop Career Centers and other unemployment 

offices. 

1. Embracing Self-Employment as an Option

Unemployed workers typically go to One-Stop Career Centers to find jobs and apply for 

unemployment services including training. Even when they have a business idea, they 

often do not see the One-Stop Career Center as a source of assistance for implementing 

that idea. Traditionally, WIBs have worked as an employer support system, providing 

workers for companies that need them. TEGL 17-05 (issued February 17, 2006) states, 

―The Public Workforce System continues to focus on connecting employers with skilled 

workers, and connecting workers with good jobs.” If DOL continues to guide WIBs in 

this direction, little self-employment preparation will be done in the One-Stop Career 

Centers.

WIBs are leaders in establishing local attitudes toward entrepreneurship. Working with 

policy makers and political agencies to develop policies and laws that encourage 

entrepreneurial activity in the community, state, and region is often a key part of the 

strategic plan generated by WIBs. 

Whether a person establishes a business to produce products or services, or works as a 

contractor doing essential work for other organizations, s/he must know how to operate 

independently. Contractors must engage in marketing their products and services, pricing 

them appropriately to cover operational costs and make a profit, delivering them as the 

customer desires, billing appropriately, paying taxes and meeting other governmental 

regulations. The entrepreneurial skill set allows individuals to succeed as entrepreneurs 

even when traditional workplaces are not hiring. When the traditional career ladder of 

business and industry is no longer available, managing one‘s personal career requires one 

to be entrepreneurial. 

What has emerged in the education and workforce development literature is the term 

entrepreneurial mindset to identify the skill set that allows one to have both the technical 

skills essential to deliver a product or service as well as the business and entrepreneurial 

skills essential to direct one‘s own career. This mindset must permeate the One-Stop 

Career Centers as well as the community at large for entrepreneurs to succeed in the 

community.

For Example:

In Michigan, scientists and business leaders are finding ways to use the engineering and 

manufacturing skills of the area to create products and services that merge biotechnology 

and plastics. Solving problems for the medical field has been especially fruitful, resulting 

in patents and business development in areas of the state where thousands of auto 

industry related jobs have been lost. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 32 of 198

Over seven hundred engineers who were dislocated from Delfi Automotive in Kokomo, 

IN, were provided incubator space to use their skills and imaginations to solve problems 

and start businesses. This has allowed some engineers to begin businesses and others to 

create solutions that they can sell to existing businesses along with their engineering 

guidance.

2. Addressing Regional Needs through Strategic Planning

Many of the Workforce leaders indicated that using economic development strategies to 

look forward is one key approach to enhancing opportunities for the unemployed. Ideas 

from Advantage West and other groups can provide guidance for assessing the selfemployment option used for planning in each local area.

As mentioned earlier, the Advantage West economic development organization in 

Western North Carolina has implemented a Certified Entrepreneurial Community 

initiative that allows communities to self-assess and organize through community 

partners to develop the type of entrepreneur-friendly environment that allows individuals 

to advance their dreams and thus the economy of the region.

23

 In order to become 

certified, a community initiates a 5-step assessment and planning process. Embedded in 

the five steps are numerous indicators that could be built into the reauthorized WIA and 

could become the basis of core performance measures relevant to self-employment.

24

 

When these support systems are in place, the Public Workforce System can focus on 

helping individuals advance toward self-employment.

Strategic planning for WIB region or service area positions the director to partner with 

others in the region to help achieve their strategic planning goals. WIB staff can develop 

an operations plan for operating effective One-Stop Career Centers and contracting to 

meet the training needs of individuals and businesses in the region. Often in the strategic 

planning process, the region finds that one of its key assets is the area‘s entrepreneurial 

spirit. Through the strategic planning process WIB members can put in place policies 

that empower WIB director and staff to focus on the entrepreneurial climate of the 

region. 

For example:

Lancaster County, PA serves as a good example of successful strategic planning. For 

the last three years, the Lancaster County WIB has been a partner in Lancaster Prospers, 

the economic development collaborative that has been charged with building an 

entrepreneurship-friendly geographic community. WIB functions as strategic planning 

leader, contractor, broker of ideas, and program evaluator. Their operation model allows 

them to operate as if they are independent brokers. WIB oversees a broad range of 

customer-focused operations based upon the needs of local businesses. 

 

23 http://www.advantagewest.com/content.cfm/content_id/227/section/entrepreneur

24 http://www.advantagewest.com/content.cfm/content_id/229/section/entrepreneur
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 33 of 198

Taking the long view, WIB sees itself as part of a network for organizations in Lancaster 

County that form a local innovation system whose purpose is to assure that the 

competitive advantages of key area industries are sustained and grow. WIB knows that a 

skilled workforce is essential to competitiveness but also knows that technology 

commercialization, entrepreneurship, local research and development, and location 

amenities are components of regional economic growth, as shown in their strategic 

plan.

25

 

According to Gregg Lichtenstein and Thomas Lyons writing in the Economic 

Development Quarterly in 2006, entrepreneurs must be ready, willing, and able in terms 

of their skills to make use of the technical and financial assistance being provided in 

order to quickly achieve business results. In order to optimize the help provided to 

clients who want to become self-employed, the South Sound WIB in Olympia, WA has 

developed a regional framework for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to guide their 

efforts to help people become self-employed and use their business skills for their 

personal self-sufficiency as well as generate employment for others. First, the regional 

framework helps establish a seamless network of active, committed, collaborative 

partners to serve diverse entrepreneurs in various stages of business development. 

Second, they host an awareness campaign to help people understand how innovation and 

entrepreneurship are fostered and advanced by the partners. Third, partnerships are 

established that facilitate the successful acquisition of capital to fuel businesses of all 

sizes. Fourth, the framework organizes to expand linkages among educational 

institutions, faculty researchers, and centers of innovation to accelerate technology 

transfers to businesses. Finally, the framework organizes to advocate for public policies 

and government intervention that underscores the value of entrepreneurship and success 

for small firms.

3. Training Workforce Investment Board Leadership

Orchestrating the continuing economic development of WIB service area and ensuring 

that individuals are properly prepared to be self-sufficient is the key work of WIB 

members. If asset mapping of the region shows—as it does in most communities—that 

entrepreneurs are key to the continuing economic development of the region, then 

policies and training that focus on self-employment must be enacted. 

Training for WIB leadership is especially important when new self-employment policies 

are adopted through the strategic planning process. Examining the contributions of small 

business to the regional economy is a great place to begin with such training. Often, 

Board members can focus their training during retreats or on-going meetings. 

Often, it is reported that WIB comes together, hears the reports, discusses the issues...and 

nothing changes. Specific training is needed to keep WIBs focused on self-employment 

issues as they change. Working in small groups toward a specific outcome where people 

are accountable and responsible for taking action is a way to move the needle toward a 

 

25 www.lancastercountyWIB.com/index.php
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 34 of 198

healthier economy. Accurate economic information will allow Board members to feel 

connected to the issues and accountable for the results. 

For example:

The results of a questionnaire of selected WIB directors done in April 2009 showed that 

more than half of respondents did not publicize self-employment within their One-Stop 

Career Centers. This finding indicated the lack of attention being given to 

entrepreneurship as a way to gain self-sufficiency.

In Vermont, a local WIB director who has some experience as a project manager is now 

training other local WIB directors, as there has been no training for directors within the

state. The director learned by doing and because of her background she was tapped to 

train other directors in five different communities. When asked what she needed to make 

her a successful director, she enthusiastically responded that training could make her 

even more successful.

4. Fostering Entrepreneurial Behavior among Local WIB Directors

Once board policies are in place and strategic planning is underway, WIB director will 

need to demonstrate entrepreneurial behaviors themselves. This involves establishing 

creative operations to solve problems and create income streams to provide needed 

services. The director will need to find better ways to provide the services essential to 

the region, while at the same time generating enough revenue to pair with funding from 

WIA moneys to provide for the programs and services essential for the economic growth 

of the region. Partners who have common needs can be extremely helpful in the work of 

the entrepreneurial WIB director. Just as a savvy entrepreneur bundles products and 

services in a way that makes customers want to buy them, WIB directors must look for 

entrepreneurial ways to offer their services. 

For example: 

The Lancaster County, PA Workforce Investment Board provides general preparation 

services in its CareerLink Center for unemployed persons using 16 video sections of the 

ALCHEMY work skills program. After completing the video series, clients can take the 

Work Keys assessment to determine if they meet a cut score established in collaboration 

with local businesses for the 31⁄2-hour assessment. If clients meet the cut score, they 

receive a Work Readiness Certificate from the Lancaster WIB. Once a client with a 

Work Readiness Certificate is interviewed, hired, and successful on the job for 3 months 

with a participating area company, the company contributes $75 to WIB for personnel 

selection services. This entrepreneurial approach provides much of the necessary funding 

for the Work Readiness Certificate program. 

In order to equip prospective employees with the skill sets and résumés or portfolios that 

they need to secure a job in the private sector, some WIBs provide training to welfare 

clients to get their skills up to industry standards. In one location where printing was 

done, the income from the printing jobs funded the materials and instructor to manage the 

Corporate Skills Center. This entrepreneurial approach allowed printing needs to be met 

in the One-Stop Career Center, skills to be developed or enhanced in welfare clients, and 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 35 of 198

revenue to be generated for other endeavors. Entrepreneurial approaches to service 

delivery allow some WIBs to generate nearly a third of the funding for their annual 

budget.

5. Making Decisions Based on Strategic Planning and Partnerships 

Once WIB‘s strategic planning process for a region is in place, the director and staff can 

seek economic and workforce development partners throughout the region to interact 

with and to seek assistance from for achieving the strategic plan goals. As WIB staff 

members interact with economic and workforce development partners, they can agree on 

the actions that each can take to enhance the region as called for in the WIB strategic 

plan. 

As economic and workforce development partners sign on to the WIB strategic plan, and 

efforts are targeted to enhance the region‘s economic assets, the power of the region is 

unleashed. This planning and implementation process works well throughout the region 

as all partners are familiar with the strategic plan and focus on implementing the 

strategies called for in the plan. 

One challenge, of course, is getting partner networks to be effective in translating ideas 

into action quickly enough to meet needs effectively. One of the tools being advocated 

by many is called strategic doing. Eric Beinhocker, in his writings on strategic action in 

open networks, says that traditional approaches to strategic planning developed by 

corporations 40 years ago are too slow and too rigid for today‘s fast cycle world. In an 

era of open networking, with key partners engaged in thinking sessions and action 

planning, some key strategies can be translated quickly into action. The planning and 

action steps become a roadmap for guiding future conversations to a deeper level more 

quickly. The strategic doing balances the open participation in the network and 

leadership direction of the partners.

26

 

Strategic doing is a set of principles, practices, and disciplines for implementing 

strategies in a network. Strategic doing guides activity across organizational and political 

boundaries with a discipline to build collaboration. In strategic doing, four questions are 

addressed by partners:

• What could we do together?

• What should we do together?

• What will we do together?

• How will we learn together?

These questions guide the network‘s joint thinking. When strategic doing is successful, 

the process of strategy implementation becomes faster, and partners see that ideas are 

translated into action so that the network is rewarded with meaningful progress. 

Creativity, innovation, and learning happen faster in networks that are using strategic 

 

26Beinhocker, Eric. ―The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking 

of Economics.‖ Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 36 of 198

doing. By practicing strategic doing, WIBs can guide the development of their region 

and the entrepreneur-friendly economy that is needed. 

WIB directors indicate that working with partners that have a bent toward action is one of 

the most positive entrepreneurial behaviors they can engage in to create movement 

toward meeting the needs of businesses and unemployed individuals in the region. 

Action-oriented partners tend to think entrepreneurially and are willing to take risks to 

advance the strategic thinking and planning of the network/partnership.

One of the opportunities that can be advanced through rapid response to client needs is to 

position the WIB and One-Stop Career Centers as an organizations that provide essential 

services in such an effective way that clients will pay for the services. Through WIB 

director's leadership, WIB operates entrepreneurially in its service to the businesses and 

unemployed persons in the region.

For example: 

This type of planning and doing can be found in the South Puget Sound region of 

Washington. WIB put in place a regional framework for innovation and entrepreneurship 

that has five strategic initiatives. The first strategy is to establish a seamless network of 

active, committed, collaborative partners within the region to help focus on common 

interests on behalf of businesses and the unemployed in the region. The partners work 

jointly in open networks to advance WIB‘s initiatives.

At Saginaw Valley State University (MI), the Center for Business and Economic 

Development became the key coordinator for the Michigan Innovation Team through the 

work of the Prima Civitas Foundation to catalyze regional economic transformation. 

They focused on fostering innovation, connecting ideas and assets, and engaging people 

within and across communities in order to renew central Michigan‘s economic prosperity 

by capitalizing on the region‘s assets, partnerships, and networks. After their asset 

mapping work, they sought to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit beginning in the K-14 

education system and working with the three WIBs in the region and other partners to reeducate workers who needed to update their skills for new economic opportunities. 

They are working hard to create an entrepreneurial culture in a region where the culture 

has been focused on working for a lifetime in an auto-related industry. The various 

networks are the key to getting the information about small business contributions to the 

Michigan economy into the minds of individuals so that they can begin to change their 

perspective regarding self-employment.

6. The Need for Effective Management 

Workforce Investment Boards orchestrate strategic planning and establish policies to 

guide strategic doing. WIB director is a key manager for the region who is responsible 

for delegating actions, hiring needed contractors, assessing results, and other duties. The 

innovative thinking of the director needs to guide the work of staff members who are 

entrepreneurial and are good at creating partnerships. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 37 of 198

WIB director is the key leader in the Public Workforce System. The director‘s 

management skills impact hiring decisions, as staff members are positioned to lead the 

key projects of WIB. Once staff is on board, the director and staff provide key guidance 

to their strategic partners and contractors toward establishing the entrepreneurial culture 

of the region.

When actions are delegated effectively to partners and contractors, the director and staff 

can focus on guiding the contractors to implement the strategic plan, and using core 

performance metrics to assess results. Only when performance requirements are clearly 

stated can the results be measured. 

Specifying how One-Stop Career Center staff members present the self-employment 

option to clients will allow a pro-entrepreneurship mindset to permeate the organization 

and thus the community of unemployed persons seeking assistance. Effective 

management by WIB director is a key to successful implementation of the strategic plan 

and stated policies, especially when implementing self-employment initiatives. 

For example: 

The WIB director in Lancaster, PA, is an exemplary manager for the territory. He 

oversees the work of the One-Stop Center manager, oversees the work of nine targeted 

industry consortium managers, collaborates with community partners, and works with the 

Lancaster Prospers Alliance to deliver the strategic plan as mapped and approved by the 

WIB board.

7. Developing Assets

One of the practices that effective WIBs have found to be extremely useful is to map the 

economic assets of their region. Asset mapping allows WIB to understand the strengths 

of the region and often unveils opportunities for improving the economic climate of the 

region. WIB can then focus on asset-based economic development strategies, which can 

then help them work with unemployed individuals who have entrepreneurial aspirations. 

Adopting an entrepreneurial mindset helps WIB identify what clients need that they are 

willing to pay for. WIA funds can then be stretched to meet the needs of other target 

populations and to fund economic development activities not allowed under WIA 

legislation. 

The income stream generated by the entrepreneurial activities of WIB director can 

provide resources to meet needs identified in the strategic planning processes. Income 

streams allow the organization to remain healthy and to offer services to clients that assist 

in enhancing the economic climate of the region.

For example: 

In Will County, IL, the Workforce Development Board receives data requests 

from area employers who are looking for workforce and wage information. They 

use data to get a heads up of changes in the economy and to plan accordingly. As 

a WIB they use the data from the mapping for business services and business 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 38 of 198

recruitment. Recently the WIB used wage information to show the prospective 

employers that (contrary to their concerns), Will County‘s wage scale was 

competitive with the surrounding regions. From this very specific analysis to an 

economic overview of the entire region, the data from their asset mapping is 

helping the Will County WDB achieve it goals.

 

The WIB in Lancaster, PA, operates its programs from a budget made up of 

approximately 33 percent WIA dollars, and 33 percent Welfare dollars, and 33 percent 

private sector, state, and foundation funds. As partners join in the strategic doing of 

WIB, they work to find funding streams to support the services clients need. Often 

services are provided for a small fee, allowing clients literally to be invested in the 

process. For example businesses in the community pay a placement services fee for 

students who have been a successful employee for 90 days. Participation is higher when 

there is some financial stake in their involvement. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 39 of 198

Section E: Local Staff Motivation

1. Training Staff to Value and have a Vision of Entrepreneurship as a Viable Option

One-Stop Career Center staff needs to believe that the option of helping unemployed 

workers to start their own businesses is equal in value and validity to seeking a job with 

another business. In order for this to happen, the staff has to be shown data that illustrate 

the positive impact of entrepreneurial activity on individuals and the community. 

Helping One-Stop Career Center staff to know individuals in their local region who have 

started businesses and who are contributing successfully to the economy of the region is 

an important start at helping them believe in the self-employment option. 

For example:

Supporting self-employment as a career choice requires WIB staff to accept the human 

needs of the unemployed. The Gallup World poll has found that people world-wide say 

that ―having a good job‖ is their greatest need.

27

 Research regarding personal 

development shows that people desire to be valued as individuals with unique 

capabilities. The One-Stop Career Centers of the nation need to focus on these core 

human values as they plan to advance self-employment in the Public Workforce System. 

Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education project staff created a list of 12 values that 

support self-employment and that are essential to assisting potential entrepreneurs 

through local WIBs. (See Entrepreneurship Values for Career Centers in the Appendix.) 

In a focus group at the North Carolina Workforce Conference participants, as well as the 

Northern Virginia One-Stop Career Center staff, state these values are exactly what their 

staff needs as a focus. 

We were interested in learning how a number of WIB directors felt about the 12 values 

and their acceptance by their One-Stop Career Centers. The chart below shows responses 

to the following question: How important are the following values to the One-Stop 

Center in helping the unemployed become self-employed? While respondents 

strongly support an attitude of helping the unemployed, they rarely promote selfemployment. 

Yes Sometimes Not Often No

1. Values the capabilities of each individual to fulfill 

their highest potential. 79.2 16.7 4.2 0

2. Encourages self-employment as an equal choice to 

traditional jobs 0 43.5 56.5 0

3. Value creativity and innovation 26.2 43.5 21.7 8.7

 

27 www.gallupworldpoll.com 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 40 of 198

4. Value self-employment, actively seek creative 

ways to inspire, support and attract the people who 

have entrepreneurial interests.

26.1 47.8 21.7 4.3

5. Create a person-focused training program that 

includes tools, knowledge, connections and 

resources

87 13 0 0

6. Appreciate that changes in the workplace can 

create a need for people to create their own jobs 

rather than look for a job which may not suitable 

for them or be in their communities

65.2 26.1 8.7 0

7. Will create access to opportunity 52.2 30.4 17.4 0

8. Will provide access to micro-enterprise financing 9.1 22.7 31.8 36.4

9. Values community based support in a safe place 56.5 39.1 4.3 0

10. Break isolation, create social and business 

relationships 73.9 26.1 0 0

11. Celebrates and recognizes self-employment 8.7 30.4 52.2 8.7

12. Encourages entrepreneurship education in schools 

and community organizations. 26.1 39.1 30.4 4.3

Training and strategic planning need to focus on values such as those listed above in 

order for One-Stop Career Centers to help the unemployed achieve self-sufficiency. 

However, results of questions administered to a focus group in April, 2009, revealed that 

60 percent of WIB directors indicated that their One-Stop Career Center staff rarely or 

never encouraged self-employment as an equal choice to traditional job-seeking. This 

mindset will result in missed opportunity and prolonged unemployment. One-Stop 

Career Center staff members must be guided to value self-employment as a choice equal 

to working for someone else.

2. Developing Positive Orientation toward Contributions of Small Business

Providing data and relevant facts to local One-Stop Career Center staff help them 

understand the realities of self-employment, the contributions of small businesses in their 

region to employment (of the owners as well as others), and their tax contributions to the 

local, state, and Federal base. For example, many people erroneously believe that 

business bankruptcy is a leading cause of small business failure. The facts do not support 

this assumption: Of an estimated 560,300 businesses that closed in 2007, only five

percent declared bankruptcy. In fact, more businesses open in the United States during a 

typical two-week period than close because of bankruptcy in an entire year. 

Some of the information at the beginning of this report could be useful in presenting the 

big picture case for the benefits of small business to the economy. State-sponsored data 

centers have information that will help make the case with One-Stop Center staff that 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 41 of 198

promoting entrepreneurial activity in their region could have big benefits for the local 

economy and citizenry. 

Chambers of Commerce may be one source of compelling small business data in a 

region. In Lancaster, PA, the Chamber has 11,500 member businesses. Over half of 

them employ four or fewer employees, and 90 percent have fewer than 50 employees, 

even in an area that is heavily focused on manufacturing. 

Helping staff appreciate the contributions of small business to the economy will help 

them understand that if they help individuals find the resources to implement their 

business idea successfully, the staff member will have helped not only the individual, but 

also the region as a whole. Once this process works numerous times, the snowball effect 

kicks in, and staff develops a sense of personal success. 

With knowledge, the staff can help aspiring entrepreneurs discover what business best 

suits them. If they know where the business needs are in a community, they can guide 

clients to finding a problem that needs to be solved. Knowing the facts helps Center staff 

feel confident that they can help their clients make good decisions. Encouraging an 

entrepreneurial mindset among staff would go a long way to providing the unemployed 

with meaningful information. If customer satisfaction is the goal of the One-Stop Career 

Centers, then helping them present all employment options to clients in a balanced, 

unbiased manner would be valuable.

For example:

Because many of the staff members in One-Stop Career Centers come from the human 

services training system, they often have not worked as entrepreneurs or in 

entrepreneurial businesses. Therefore, they do not understand how entrepreneurs think 

and what they contribute in their communities. At a 2008 workforce development 

conference in North Carolina, WIB members and staff indicated that there was a great 

need for training to ensure that staff understood the opportunity and economic 

contributions that small business represent. 

3. Benefits of Entrepreneurship for Staff and Region

Staff in local career centers can take pride in being able to help people create their own 

jobs...and jobs for others. Self-employment provides real help for the community. A 

specialist in each One-Stop Center with in-depth understanding of self-employment can 

be an enthusiastic and informed source about local opportunities for small business startups. 

As noted above (see Section A: The Case for Entrepreneurship), the contributions of 

small businesses to the U.S. economy should not be underestimated. State data centers 

can provide information regarding the tax contributions that are made by small businesses 

in each state. Tax records and economic development reports for the counties served by 

WIB can illustrate the benefits that are brought to the tax base alone. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 42 of 198

Examination of charitable contributions to the arts often shows that entrepreneurs are 

patrons of local theater, museums, orchestras, and other cultural resources. Local schools 

and charities depend on local businesses to support the community. Most entrepreneurs 

are thankful to the community for supporting their business and thus are committed to 

supporting their communities. Contributing to local culture is a business benefit for them 

as well as a way of giving back to those who have helped their business. 

When One-Stop staff members want to provide local role models in the community for 

aspiring entrepreneurs, they turn to successful business owners to access their valuable 

experience. When WIB desires assistance with projects, they often go to local business 

owners who can make decisions quickly about supporting an initiative and bring their 

resources to bear on supporting the project. 

Often when we reflect on who in a community is key to making it a better place, we find 

entrepreneurs—it‘s just good business! Healthy communities are dependent on 

entrepreneurs, and vice versa.

For example: 

Women’s Rural Economic Network (WREN), started in 1994 in New Hampshire, with 

an ambitious plan to create an eight-month training and support program to assist twelve 

very low-income women in achieving their dreams of business ownership. By the spring 

of 1995, these WREN pioneers were operating their own enterprises. Encouraged by the 

positive results from this pilot project, they began building what they today refer to as the 

WREN Community.

28

 

Now, more than a decade later, WREN is a membership-driven organization with over 

750 members, men and women living in New England and beyond, who benefit from and 

support WREN's many initiatives and resources, including Local Works, the retail store 

featuring the products of nearly 200 vendors, the Gallery at WREN, the Wings of Wren 

(WINGS) program for girls aged 10-18 and the public access technology center. Over 

the past 14 years, WREN has helped more than 1,500 business owners. Fifty-six percent 

of WREN members fall within low or moderate-income categories, and nearly 

400 members currently operate their own businesses. 

WREN inspires possibilities, creates opportunities, and builds connections through 

community. The work connects people with one another, provides access to resources 

many couldn't afford on their own, offers learning opportunities including entrepreneurial 

business training and technical assistance, creates and supports markets for entrepreneurs, 

actively engages in the community‘s revitalization, and serves as a national model for 

rural economic and community development. 

4. Role Models

It is important for staff in One-Stop Career Centers to be aware that many successful 

entrepreneurs started with nothing and were able to create thriving businesses with help 

 

28 www.wren.org
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 43 of 198

from local finance, training, and mentoring services. There are many nationally known 

success stories of this kind, but stories and role models from the immediate community 

may be even more compelling for the local entrepreneur. 

For example: 

In Olympia, WA, Enterprise for Equity has helped numerous unemployed people to start 

their own businesses. Their Web site says, 

―Our mission is to ensure that low-income people in the South Sound 

region have access to credit, technical assistance, training, and support for 

small business development. These services are provided with the belief 

that people can and do transform their lives as they bring their strengths, 

initiative and dreams to their entrepreneurial efforts.‖ 

More than 100 businesses have started with the aid of this private non-profit organization. 

Enterprise for Equity‘s Web site (www.enterpriseforequity.org) has a business directory 

that lists the broad range of businesses that have been started. Enterprise for Equity 

provides training, capital assistance, and networking events with targeted partners who 

work to support aspiring entrepreneurs.

People are inspired by the success of others. Examples of widely-recognized 

entrepreneurs who took a basic idea and delivered a successful company include: 

a. Colonel Harland Sanders started his business using his social security earnings 

and his confidence in his chicken recipe.

29

 

b. Clifton Taulbert grew up in an environment surrounded by poverty, working in 

the cotton fields of Mississippi. He learned from significant people in his life and 

applied creative thinking to opportunities that came his way. He grew his 

entrepreneurial base by being part of the team that introduced the world to the 

StairMaster, and since then has become ―one of the nation's outstanding 

entrepreneurs‖ according to Time magazine. As owner of the Building 

Community Institute in Tulsa, OK, Taulbert provides leadership for community 

growth and shares his ideas worldwide.

30

 

c. Lynn Donohue: One Brick at a Time tells the story of a brick masonry firm that 

started Lynn Donohue, who struggled as a woman in a field where she was 

subjected to harassment by the male masons. She could see that her minority 

contractor status would allow her to gain contracts in a field dominated by men. 

After learning her trade and the necessary entrepreneurial skills, Donohue set out 

on her own.

31

 

d. Ryan Allis as a college students saw an opportunity to sell his network contact 

software to help businesses communicate more effectively with their customers. 

Soon he was managing employees as he was completing his college degree. Allis 

is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of iContact, the leading provider 

 

29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC

30 http://cliftontaulbert.com/

31 http://www.lynndonohue.com/foundation.html
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 44 of 198

of e-mail marketing tools for small businesses. iContact currently has over 150 

employees, 43,000 customers, and $25 million in annual sales.

32

e. Robert Kiyosaki: Entrepreneur and author of the best-seller, Rich Dad, Poor 

Dad, Robert and his wife once lived out of their car. He failed many times before 

he succeeded in business. He learned his financial lessons and created a course 

that has taught thousands how to succeed by managing money properly.

33

 

f. Juliette Brindak came up with the idea for the Web-based Miss O and Friends at 

age 10. Now, at age 19, her business is worth over $15 million and is visited by 

millions of girls every month. When Juliette was 16, she released her first book, 

which has now sold over 120,000 copies. Juliette talks about her experiences 

running a large Web site at such a young age and offers some great advice.

34

 

32 http://www.ryanallis.com/bio/

33 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Dad,_Poor_Dad

34 www.missoandfriends.com
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 45 of 198

Section F: Local Career Center Model

This exploration seeks to identify new approaches that could help increase assistance for the 

unemployed who might prefer to start their own business instead of getting a job working for 

another company. It is important to create a model that will encourage One-Stop Career Centers

nationwide to recognize this missed opportunity and find ways to change the mindset and 

systems.

1. Approach and Induction Practices

The One-Stop Career Centers in our nation have traditionally designed and delivered 

programs designed to meet the needs of existing businesses and the people who are 

currently unemployed or underemployed in their area. Essential services that have 

generally been offered at One-Stop Career Centers are:

a. Initial Assessment 

b. Résumé Assistance

c. Job Interviewing

d. Job Search Planning 

e. Staff Assisted Job Match 

f. Job Referrals

g. Job Development 

h. Employment Referral

A key question that should be asked is whether or not the option of self-employment is 

offered in each of these steps. As reported above, a questionnaire of WIB directors in 

April 2009 showed that 87.5 percent indicated that entrepreneurship/self-employment 

should be included as a career path option in assistance provided for the unemployed. 

However, 61 percent of respondents indicated that their One-Stop Center staff rarely or 

never recognized entrepreneurship as a career choice. 

Communities interested in advancing their economic development initiatives often realize 

that upgrading the skills of the available workers in the community is an essential task to 

be led by WIB. Whether it is encouraging partner organizations to provide specialized 

training to upgrade workers skills or creating courses that are offered at the One-Stop 

Center, WIB needs solid, current information to guide the skills training. With upgraded 

skills and credentials, workers can then contribute to developing the local economy. If the 

skill set lends itself to a need to be filled by an aspiring entrepreneur and the worker has

the desire to own their own business they may be able to create their own job and develop 

the economy of the region.

Businesses that are already in a region often find that they need economic development 

strategies focused on improving or increasing the pipeline of workers with essential skills 

to fill replacement and expansion slots in their businesses. WIB can strategically plan for 

this pipeline to be enhanced through the many education and training partners in the 

region. Always having entrepreneurship in the mix is an essential component for the 

economic health of the region.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 46 of 198

Operators of the One-Stop Career Centers in each WIB area should be asking themselves 

if there are self-employment focused services or activities that might be added to their 

menu of services. For example:

a. Provide an introductory letter that suggests experiences the unemployed could 

find locally to prepare for creating a small business as opposed to taking any job 

that is available.

b. Use a self-employment assessment or entrepreneurship checklist as part of the 

assessment process. One such assessment35 was developed from the 

Entrepreneurship Technical Competency Standards from the United States DOL 

Competency Model.

36

 

c. Send those interested in self-employment to an information interview with an 

existing business owner.

d. Provide a list of community resources and Web sites that might improve the 

unemployed person‘s decision-making regarding self-employment. One-Stop 

Career Centers in Maine have developed a system that provides good listings of 

easy-to-reach resources and Web sites. They have also linked the resources 

across the state through a Web site.

37

 

For example: 

North Carolina is one of four states participating in Project GATE, which will run from 

2009 through 2011. Project GATE allows the One-Stop Career Centers to have more 

options for entrepreneurial job-seekers to allow them to continue to live at home. Project 

GATE, or Growing America Through Entrepreneurship, is a scholarship program that 

provides training and coaching to help rural dislocated workers interested in starting a 

business. The program will award up to 750 scholarships in North Carolina. Selected 

individuals will be eligible for individual assessment of entrepreneurial skills, business 

and entrepreneurship courses, and focused, one-on-one business counseling. Participants 

also will be introduced to a statewide network of business resource professionals. Those 

who complete workable business plans will be eligible to apply for micro-enterprise 

loans. In North Carolina, the demonstration is being led by the N.C. Department of 

Commerce in cooperation with the N.C. Community College System – Small Business 

Center Network, the N.C. Employment Security Commission, the N.C. Rural Economic 

Development Center, North Carolina REAL Enterprises, and local JobLink Career 

Centers. Funding is provided by the U.S. Department of Labor/Employment and 

Training Administration. 

In Lancaster County, PA, the partnership between WIB, the county economic 

development organization, and the Chamber of Commerce has become a key leadership 

group for the area‘s workforce development initiatives. The contract for the One-Stop 

Career Center ensures that participants are assessed to determine if they might benefit 

 

35 http://www.entre-ed.org/_how/ccr/tools.html

36 http://www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/pyramid.aspx?ENTRE=Y

37 http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=unemployment_forms&id=16965
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 47 of 198

from some of the self-employment assistance programs available in Pennsylvania when 

funding is available. Currently, the 2009 budget does not provide any self-employment 

assistance to unemployed workers in Pennsylvania.

2. Placement Success Factors that Honor Entrepreneurship as a Career Choice

Current common core performance measures focus almost exclusively on job placement 

and procurement in existing businesses. They largely ignore the possibility of 

unemployed persons starting their own businesses and creating their own jobs. Selfemployment must be seen and measured as a viable career choice.

One-Stop Career Centers use the following performance indicators as they assist 

individual clients. Self-employment/entrepreneurial measures must become a part of this 

system if we are to support individual needs and economic growth of each community. 

Current measures include.

38

 

• Entry into unsubsidized employment 

• Retention in unsubsidized employment six months after entry into the 

employment 

• Earnings received in unsubsidized employment six months after entry into the 

employment 

• Attainment of a recognized credential relating to achievement of educational 

skills, which may include attainment of a secondary school diploma or its 

recognized equivalent, or occupational skills, by participants who enter 

unsubsidized employment

• Customer satisfaction for participants 

• Customer satisfaction for employers. 

Some additional performance indicators that would recognize self-employment might be:

• Use of entrepreneurial intake assessment process

• Participation in training, mentoring, and coaching to develop entrepreneurial 

skills

• Participation in double major programs (developing both entrepreneurial skills 

and specific technical skills) 

• New business starts as documented by the following:

a. New business license and registration 

b. Lease or deed for place of business

c. Business plan as validated by community support system 

d. Business financial records 

e. Self-certification of hours spent on business

f. List of customers

• New business starts supported by external investors 

• Clients moved from welfare roles to taxpayers as business owners

The number of jobs created is not one of the measures recommended. Not all 

entrepreneurs and small businesses have the same employment impact on their 

 

38 http://www.doleta.gov/performance/quickview/WIAPMeasures.cfm
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 48 of 198

communities. For example, lifestyle entrepreneurs may create a business that allows 

them to live where and how they wish but may not create any additional jobs. An 

entrepreneur focused on an emerging technology field might create many jobs if the 

business is pushed to expand as much as the market allows. Many entrepreneurs initially 

run their enterprise alone, but as they become established in the community and expand 

their business, additional jobs may be created. 

For example:

When the North Carolina Department of Commerce and other partners decided to 

implement Project GATE, the Commission on Workforce Development requested a 

waiver from the Core Performance Indicators. Team members implementing the 

demonstration project understood from earlier work with entrepreneur-focused initiatives 

that it was unrealistic to expect all new businesses to deliver an income greater than what 

the owner had previously earned within the given time limits. Once the waiver was in 

place, partners were willing to provide scholarships for training and support programs for 

aspiring entrepreneurs. 

The Women's Opportunity Resource Center (WORC) in Philadelphia, PA, since its 

beginnings in 1993, has provided self-employment training. They have worked closely 

with the Association for Enterprise Organizations as well as the Aspen Institute to 

document their success with clients who want to start a business. The micro-enterprise 

development programs in Pennsylvania worked jointly and developed 15 benchmarks 

that measure how an aspiring entrepreneur is advancing toward achieving his/her 

business goals. WORC has determined that if 6 key indicators of the 15 benchmarks are 

met, the individual could be counted as a success within the Public Workforce System.

39

WORC uses six key documents to confirm that a business has been established: 

• Business license

• The business plan used for acquiring capital

• Lease or deed for place of business

• Book-keeping records

• Self-certification regarding the amount of hours being put into the business

• List of customers.

They understand that coaching is required to advance the aspiring entrepreneur toward 

success. Their experience has taught them to use a combination of external documents 

that entrepreneurs can provide and self-certification to show how they are advancing. 

The Aspen Institute has been monitoring the success rate of businesses started by microenterprise organizations and attests to the success of this type of monitoring.

Gerry, one WORC client, was the Director of Private Duty for Lehigh Valley Health 

Services until the program ended in 2000. After completing WORC Self Employment 

Assistance training, she used her previous education and work experience to start a 

community-based private duty and staffing agency to provide home-based health care 

services to clients. She started her business from her home with a $2,500 loan she 

 

39 www.worc-pa.com
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 49 of 198

received from WORC‘s loan fund. She currently employs 45 people and has contracts 

with the Montgomery County Office on Aging, Foxchase and Grandview Hospitals. 

Gerry‘s story illustrates how micro-enterprise loans and entrepreneurial training can help 

position displaced workers for self-sufficiency. 

3. Developing One-Stop Career Centers that Encourage Self-Employment

If self-employment is to be promoted effectively, then One-Stop Career Centers must 

feature that option in signs, displays, mailings, Web pages, and other appealing and 

prominent visual aids. Effective graphics, consistent branding of the concept, and 

repeated exposure in a visual format increase the likelihood that the idea of starting a 

business will catch on among the unemployed, and that Center staff will be accountable 

for promoting the option. 

Daily we receive all types of visual messages related to conservation that remind us to be 

wise users of our resources, from the gasoline in our cars to the water coming out of our 

taps. When options for employment are limited, as they are in mid 2009, a strong 

marketing message about self-employment may open the eyes of job seekers to their own 

best ideas.

For Example:

The One-Stop Center in Northern Virginia provides an inviting and encouraging 

environment featuring visual displays for all types of careers including entrepreneurship. 

They also have many written materials related to self-employment available to clients 

from wall pockets. 

The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education has developed slogans that promote 

entrepreneurship as a career option. These slogans may be displayed (in the form of 

bumper stickers, signs, or posters) on walls within a One-Stop Career Center to prompt 

clients to think about self-employment as a way to develop self-sufficiency. (See Sample 

Entrepreneurship Signs in Appendix C)

4. Tools for Assessing Self-Employment Readiness 

One of the common causes of business failure is that the entrepreneur has the technical 

skills but lacks the entrepreneurial skills that are essential for success. Program 

developers must identify the performance indicators that are missing in the educational 

development or experiences of their students. 

Research with first-time business owners reveals five distinct stages that entrepreneurs go 

through as they advance their business ideas. The five stages are:

a. Discovery: the entrepreneur generates ideas, recognizes opportunities, and 

determines the feasibility of ideas, markets, ventures, etc.

b. Concept Development: the entrepreneur plans the venture, identifies needed 

resources using a business plan, identifies strategies to protect intellectual 

property, etc.

c. Resourcing: the entrepreneur identifies and acquires the financial, human, and 

capital resources needed for the venture startup, etc. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 50 of 198

d. Actualization: the entrepreneur operates the venture and utilizes resources to 

achieve its goals and objectives.

e. Harvesting: the entrepreneur decides on the venture‘s future—growth, 

development, or demise.

The authors of this report suggest that it would be helpful to provide an assessment that 

differentiates the type of help a person might need, based on his/her stage of development 

in the business formation process. 

DOL-sponsored Entrepreneurship Competency Model was developed to guide the work 

of educators and trainers in the workplaces of the United States. It provides a collection 

of competencies and performance indicators (personal, academic, general workplace, and 

entrepreneurial) that together define successful performance in a particular work setting. 

The Model was posted to the U.S. DOL One-Stop Career Center Web site in February 

2009 and is one of eleven industry-based competency models on the site.

40

 WIBs may 

also use the Model to develop performance contracts for individuals as they prepare to 

start a business. 

The Consortium has used the Entrepreneurship Technical Competencies in Tier 4 of DOL 

Entrepreneurship Competency Model to develop a systematic process for assessing 

individuals‘ readiness for self-employment. The Entrepreneurship Technical 

Competencies Checklist (see Appendix) is an assessment tool that may help One-Stop 

professionals as they work with clients to gauge their potential for success as business 

owners.

In WIB questionnaire, 69.6 percent of respondents indicated that their One-Stop Career 

Centers sought information about clients‘ creativity or unique gifts during the intake 

process. With relevant information about individual clients, Center staff is equipped to 

work with community and state partners to provide needed services and support. The 

Entrepreneurship Process Readiness Checklist (see Appendix) helps Centers link clients 

with appropriate resources. This strategic doing assists unemployed individuals and the 

community at large as new businesses are formed, grow, pay taxes, and (in some cases) 

employ others within the community. 

For example:

Peggy Hosea, of the North Central Indiana program, describes how the 14 counties she

works with support entrepreneurship at different levels of development. She says, ―You 

have to hit it over time from every direction. You have to begin early in education and 

keep providing programs to encourage and support the growth and spirit of the 

entrepreneurship pipeline.‖ While their 3-year funded program is coming to an end, their 

success has been established and will be sustained by other sources of income outside 

DOL. Tools such as the Entrepreneurship Technical Competencies Checklist will 

provide nationally recognized, research-based competencies to aid the work Indiana is 

doing with middle and high school students as well as adults. The Entrepreneurship 

 

40 http://www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/pyramid.aspx?ENTRE=Y 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 51 of 198

Process Readiness Checklist will be useful to the One-Stop Career Centers in Indiana as

they work with persons who are already toying with a business idea.

5. Training, Coaching, and Mentoring Entrepreneurs

Once it is known what entrepreneurial competencies are needed, WIB can work with key 

partners to align resources for aspiring and current entrepreneurs. WIB partners must 

respect, trust, listen to, and communicate with one another as they seek to innovate 

through shared and negotiated project goals to meet the needs of clients seeking selfemployment. WIB may contract for training, work with organizations such as SCORE 

for coaching, or connect self-employment clients with individuals in businesses that can 

mentor them. 

One key resource that should exist in every community is an entrepreneurship education 

program. Entrepreneurship education based on the life-long learning model can help 

develop a pipeline of students who understand how to develop a business venture when 

they emerge from schools, community colleges, and universities. Even students who 

have not had the benefit of entrepreneurship preparation programs can gain the skills 

needed by returning to institutions or participating in faith- or community-based 

programs that offer life-long learning options for adults. Many programs focus on 

entrepreneurial skill development, while others help existing business owners solve 

entrepreneurial problems. One-Stop Career Center staff can point individuals in the right 

direction, based on the client‘s personal assessment, needs, and goals. 

When entrepreneurial skill development is needed, there are typically many partners in a 

region that can provide the training. WIB staff must communicate frequently in order for 

partners to coordinate services effectively for individual clients or groups. WIBs need 

partners who can assist entrepreneurs at each of the five stages of development (see 

segment # 4 above), providing help with:

a. Analyzing business ideas 

b. Facilitating access to local opportunities and resources, including financing

c. Connecting business owners with suppliers and contractors

d. Helping established businesses advance to the next level

The lack of connections by individuals can greatly limit the potential of a great business 

idea; therefore, networking may be one of the most valuable services WIBs provide. 

Creating a supportive environment and sponsoring activities that bring together potential 

entrepreneurs with persons who can help them make connections and find customers can 

be great tools for economic development in the region. 

For example: 

In Lancaster County, PA, WIB works with partners to provide mentors for aspiring 

entrepreneurs in the exact field they hope to enter. This approach provides a much better 

mentoring situation than what is often available with local SCORE chapters, where 

volunteers are often retired from large businesses and must extrapolate on their 

experiences in order to advise the entrepreneur. Linking new business owners with 

experienced entrepreneurs who have walked the same path provides a closer connection 

(business and personal) and greater likelihood of meaningful assistance.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 52 of 198

Enterprise for Equity in Olympia, WA, recognizes that many unemployed, low-income 

individuals do not have access to people on whom they can test their business ideas and 

target market goals. They sponsor networking events to bring together key contacts and 

aspiring entrepreneurs as a tool for assisting in business development. Partnering with 

organizations such as the local Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business 

Development Centers in a state allows WIBs to connect their clients to this much-needed 

resource. 

RochesterWorks, Rochester, NY, offers introductory 2-hour workshops for 

unemployed or underemployed individuals to introduce them to the possibility of 

business ownership. Through this mechanism, individuals are identified as truly 

interested in advancing toward being a business owner and connected with resources to 

move forward with the process. 

Similar concepts are being used in North Carolina in Project GATE as there appears to 

be a need for a detailed look at the benefits as well as the hard work that is required of 

individuals in order to implement ones dream and passion as an entrepreneurial venture. 

Some indicate that this cold shower approach helps them really determine if they truly 

desire to advance their entrepreneurial venture. 

6. Researching Essential Business Information

As mentioned previously, the Federal Web site (www.business.gov) is designed to 

provide a wealth of resources that local One-Stop Career Centers can access to help their 

clients. Center staff should be familiar with a great variety of Web sites that can provide 

specific local data helpful to the unemployed. These Web resources may be identified by 

economic development organizations, small business assistance centers, trade 

associations, and education/training organizations. An excellent list of 65 Indispensable 

Websites for Business Owners is available in Appendix B. 

With so many people accessing the information they need via the Internet, it is essential 

that all entrepreneurial support organizations have a presence on the Web. Having linked 

networks of Web resources enhances the ability of aspiring entrepreneurs to get the 

information they need to get their business up and running. 

As a partner of the Lancaster County WIB in PA, the Biz Center in the public libraries is 

a wonderful asset for all the counseling and mentoring organizations in the community 

who work with aspiring entrepreneurs. The main library in downtown Lancaster has two 

staff members who run the Biz Center who are extremely competent with marketing 

research. Biz Centers exist in all branches, but not every branch has this concentrated 

staff assistance. This resource was developed to help a wide variety of economic and 

workforce initiatives in the community to enable potential and current business owners to 

easily optimize their markets and business decisions.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 53 of 198

For example:

Vermont Community Business Connections is a joint project of the Vermont Secretary 

of State's Office, the U.S. Small Business Administration (Vermont District), and the 

Vermont Small Business Development Center. Vermont‘s Secretary of State realized 

that new business registrations were declining. She facilitated the project to make sure 

every librarian and municipal employee who interfaces with the public is trained to guide 

aspiring entrepreneurs to the free resources found on the SBDC Web site. The goal of 

the project is to consolidate all the resources needed to start or expand a business in one 

easy-to-access Web location. The Web site provides a business checklist to help those 

beginning a business to navigate the start-up process in the state of Vermont. Active 

links connect the aspiring entrepreneur to sites where they may obtain information, 

licenses, planning templates, and other help.

41

 

The state of Maine has a myriad of service providers and resources to assist existing and 

prospective small business owners develop and grow their businesses. Business First is a 

model collaboration program that helps regional assistance providers and resources to be 

of better service to the small business communities they serve.

42

Maine Small Business Development Centers have a Web site that is user-friendly and 

comprehensive. At one Web site, entrepreneurs can find resources for training, planning, 

and financing businesses throughout the state.

43

 

 

41 www.startabusinessinvermont.net

42 www.MaineBusinessworks.com

43 www.Mainesbdc.org
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 54 of 198

Section G: Local Organization Collaboration

Assistance for entrepreneurs exists in many forms in every community. It is counterproductive 

for community development when various government-funded and private organizations 

compete to assist job seekers. WIBs can serve as leaders in encouraging collaboration in each 

region. 

1. Creating Trusting Partnerships

Each community has a variety of organizations that can choose to work together, merging 

resources, networks, funding options, etc. Such partnerships need to identify individual 

benefits and agreements in order to establish an environment of trust and provide needed 

services to the community without competition or unnecessary duplication. 

WIB staff and members should provide leadership in strategic planning and doing, 

including convening partners, encouraging bottom up planning and initiatives, modeling 

open communication, managing contractors who run targeting industry clusters, and 

keeping partners focused on agreed-upon goals. WIB strategic plan drives the projects 

that it undertakes as well as the partnerships it seeks.

Having goals to assist individuals desiring self-employment allows the partner 

organizations to focus on the issues that create an entrepreneur-friendly economy and 

thus leads to improved economic conditions. Partners can focus where their strengths 

allow them to have the most impact and thus clients are more effectively served than if 

one organization tries to be all things to all clients.

For example: 

In Portland, ME, there is a group for the professional unemployed. They know how to 

support one another and find resources that will benefit others in the group. Socialization 

and networking are especially important for the unemployed, and ideas come when 

resources are shared. The Chamber of Commerce hosts the group for free at its monthly 

business-after-hours networking sessions, where they can connect with potential 

employers or learn of needs that could be met with a new entrepreneurial initiative. 

In Lancaster, PA, a variety of organizations support entrepreneurs. For example: 

a. Lancaster Prospers is a broad alliance of organizations that work jointly to 

enhance the economy of Lancaster County. They use metrics that allow them to 

benchmark Lancaster County against 167 other metro areas in the nation. 

b. The Lancaster County Economic Development Company seeks to communicate a 

vision for the community and keep the community in touch with progress in the 

county toward the benchmarks that Lancaster Prospers uses. Action projects are 

initiated to drive the vision.

c. The Lancaster Chamber of Commerce is a leading partner, as 90 percent of the 

employers in Lancaster have fewer than 50 employees. Of the 11,500 Chamber 

members, over one-half employ four or fewer workers. They strive to build a 

strong culture of entrepreneurship so that Lancaster can be a model economy for 

the 21st Century; therefore they spend time in aligning projects to create an 

entrepreneur-friendly community.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 55 of 198

d. Partners such as SCORE work not only with new start-up businesses but also with 

existing businesses. They provide continuing counseling and mentoring, and 

SCORE volunteers serve on non-profit boards of directors. SCORE provides, 

through volunteer retail and contractor roundtables, learning communities that 

encourage business to prosper. 

e. The Small Business Development Center is connected with universities in PA to 

impact business development. In Keystone Innovation Zones, the SBDC focuses 

on technology transfer between the university and private sector partners. 

f. Assets Lancaster is a Small Business Development organization that operates a 

business incubator and connects all of its clients with mentors in the client's 

specific business field. They have about an 80 percent success rate, and to date 

count 237 businesses they have helped start and they offer connections for

funding through the First Community Fund.

2. Interactions that Support an Entrepreneurial Climate

WIB staff members should co-sponsor community events and activities that enhance the 

alignment of WIB's strategic priorities and projects. Through these opportunities to work 

with like-minded organizations, staff members often find partners who operate with a 

priority for action projects with no fear of failing, always seeking a better way to serve 

clients. These types of partners are a great resource, critical to serving the clients who 

come to the One-Stop Career Centers. 

Partners focused on the enhancement of the entrepreneurial climate of the community and 

with a desire to work with aspiring entrepreneurs are essential to providing for the 

development of jobs on a continuing basis. In these times of economic downturn, it is 

essential to encourage entrepreneurial development so that individuals find selfsufficiency and the community expands its economic base. 

For example: 

The economic development group in Lancaster County, PA, the Lancaster Chamber of 

Commerce, and other organizations have found ways to play different but collaborative 

roles in developing a community that supports entrepreneurial activity. Having various 

partners focus on their strengths allows them to optimize the services they offer, and 

economic stability and growth have been enhanced through this model.

3. Defining Partners’ Roles and Support Systems

Because there is so much work to be done to support entrepreneurship in each 

community, it is essential that the strategic planning and strategic doing by WIB focus on 

critical strategies to create an entrepreneurial climate as well as support entrepreneurs in 

the region. Once the strategies are identified, it is essential to work with partners who 

desire to participate so that the work can be done without undue duplication of services. 

Volunteer cooperation can optimize the work of the partners as they work jointly to 

ensure that aspiring entrepreneurs benefit from the climate and support they need.

Once partners are on board, joint action planning can be done between WIB and the 

partners, allowing partners to decide who will spearhead specific projects and how they 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 56 of 198

will collaborate on common projects. On joint projects, partners must openly discuss 

who will own a common project, who will share the project, and who will ignore the 

project, making clear the role of each partner while the work is underway. Then, if turf

issues arise, partners can call one another on the problem being created so that they can 

jointly advance the common vision and strategic plan of WIB.

For example:

In the state of Maine, the State Department of Labor; the Small Business Development 

Center; and the Maine Centers for Women, Work, and Community have partnered for 

several years to ensure that the Maine Enterprise Option (MEO) continues. They 

developed an Entrepreneurial Working Group to break down the barriers between 

organizations that were all focused on enhancing the economy of Maine. These three 

groups have partnered to put in place an effective program that Maine‘s 21 One-Stop 

Career Centers can use to connect those interested in self-employment (over 3,000 since 

its inception) with appropriate agencies. The Small Business Development Centers work 

from 25 locations across the state to counsel and mentor those desiring their assistance. 

They also offer online courses as well as various courses at the universities and in their 

centers. In 16 locations, the women‘s centers allow for development of assets through 

personal savings or family development accounts that are matched to help women start 

businesses. Trainers are provided as needed.

In the Finger Lakes Initiative in the nine counties surrounding Rochester, NY, a 

partnership has developed among 32 different organizations, including county units of 

government, city governments, community colleges, universities, economic development 

organizations, and public school local education agencies (LEAs.) The Board has 

worked to position the Finger Lakes staff members as agents of change focused on 

advancing their economy. One of the four major focuses of the initiative is to advance 

the entrepreneurial network and establish an entrepreneurial culture in the region. The 

partners have worked to develop programs to support the pipeline of future entrepreneurs 

with public LEAs. Other agencies have focused on existing business owners who need to 

change their businesses in order to become more competitive. By defining roles, they 

have been able to orchestrate the regional development of the nine counties and have 

begun changing the culture to one that is more entrepreneurial. 

In Lancaster County, PA, the partnership between WIB, the county economic 

development organization, and the Chamber of Commerce has become a key leadership 

group. These partners guide the work of other asset development organizations, the 

university-based Small Business Development Center, the county library system, and the 

local SCORE chapter. Because of the asset mapping, strategic planning, and strategic 

doing that these partners have accomplished, they have been able to advance the selfemployment options for dislocated workers in the region.

4. Communication Between Entrepreneurship Assistance Providers

In today‘s environment, a critical communication tool is the Internet. WIBs and their 

partner organizations will find that establishing a Web site that can communicate training 

opportunities as well as events supporting aspiring entrepreneurs is a key tool for 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 57 of 198

assisting clients. Individuals seeking assistance for becoming self-sufficient—whether 

due to unemployment or because they are entering the workplaces for the first time—

need a coordinated way to locate information. 

Being able to sort through the information available to find the assistance they need is a 

critical skill. Internet research can quickly become overwhelming and frustrating, 

especially for those whose former jobs did not require them to keep up with the latest 

technology or search techniques. It‘s hard to know which sites to trust and when enough 

is enough information. Linking Web sites with key words is a simple yet powerful tool 

for those seeking information about the road to self-employment. The result is a situation 

in which accurate and relevant information flows freely, and every door is the right door 

for the seeker. Linked sources of information from the Federal, state, and regional levels 

would help provide the total picture of assistance available to those desiring to become 

self-employed. 

For example: 

The Finger Lakes Business Information Clearinghouse (BIC) is a one-stop, Webbased, business information center. It puts resources, associations, incentives, and 

information specific to the nine county Finger Lakes (NY) region under one roof. By 

exploring the BIC, one discovers all that the region can do to help support business 

success. Whether clients are starting a business, thinking about moving an existing 

business to the region, or preparing to expand a business, the BIC points them in the right 

direction. 

BIC was able to interest RochesterWorks, the largest WIB in the region, to get involved 

in linking resource partners. It is totally focused on entrepreneurs, connecting WIB, 

entrepreneurs, the existing business community, government, and economic development 

entities across the region. The site is sponsored by the RochesterWorks WIB but also 

includes the other two WIBs in the Finger Lakes region.

44

 

In Maine, a network of about 25 Small Business Development Center counselors serves 

Maine Employment Option clients when referred from the One-Stop Career Centers at 

SBDC regional offices.

45

 With 18 locations throughout the state, the SBDC network 

allows clients to get counseling services near their homes—a valuable benefit in a large 

state with a climate that is often not conducive to travel. Clients can access the main 

SBDC Web site and determine whether or not the services they need are available from 

local partners. If they are, the site also provides links to provider Web sites, allowing 

seamless service to clients. 

5. Coordinating Training for the Self-Employed 

One of the most important areas for collaboration is to pull together all available 

resources for training those interested in self-employment. There are myriad content 

 

44 http://fingerlakes.natbic.org/

45 www.MaineSBDC.org
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 58 of 198

resources available as published materials or specialized content created by various 

training groups. One place to go for resource ideas is the SBA Web site.

46

 

The DOL Entrepreneurship Competency Model, as described earlier, is the place to start 

for a unifying approach to determining what the many education and training 

organizations are equipped to provide. In addition, they give us a common language to 

identify where gaps exist in the training offered. Detailed competency statements may be 

found in the Appendix of this document.

As community partners plan for training, there are two tools (see Appendix) that will help 

define program outcomes:

a. The ―Entrepreneurship Process Readiness Checklist‖ is designed to tailor training 

options for different levels of readiness as identified by One-Stop Career Centers

in the intake process. This would help to provide appropriate training options. 

b. The ―Entrepreneurship Technical Competencies Checklist‖ provides more 

specific direction for client needs and can be used during intake, and by all 

training and mentoring organizations in the community.

Both of these tools, derived from DOL Competency Model, provide community partners 

with a common approach that could be adopted nationwide. These tools will help 

promote understanding that potential entrepreneurs come for training and mentoring with 

diverse levels of entrepreneurship readiness and preparation, the natural result of diverse 

exposure to entrepreneurship education and life experiences.

As a result all technical assistance providers and those providing training for aspiring 

entrepreneurs can be working from a common core competency listing for developing 

their courses and assistance. As communities begin to use the DOL Competency Model 

and assessment tools published on the Department of Labor One-Stop Career Center Web 

site, they can be working with the same core performance indicators. The tools shared in 

this report should be useful to all providers.

47

 

6. Local Benefits of Legislation that Eliminates Silos in Federal System

When local WIBs have begun developing a more inviting entrepreneurial climate or 

working with the Self Employment Assistance (SEA) initiative, they have found that 

their actions have inspired additional actions. Visits to states or reviews of the reports 

from Web sites of WIB projects have shown that once action is taken by the Public 

Workforce System organization, other organizations initiate action to collaborate with 

them. 

 

For example:

In the questionnaire administered in April 2009 to WIB directors, 87.5 percent of 

respondents indicated that self-employment should be included as a career path option 

 

46 http://www.sba.gov/tools/resourcelibrary/publications/index.html

47 http://www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/pyramid.aspx?ENTRE=Y
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 59 of 198

among the assistance provided for the unemployed. However, when they were asked to 

identify the barriers to the self-employment assistance option, more than a third indicated 

that they did not coordinate with schools and community organizations that provide 

entrepreneurial preparation, and only 39 percent said they did it sometimes. This 

illustrates the challenge of building bridges between the Public Workforce System and 

education and training opportunities.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 60 of 198

Conclusion and Recommendations

In summary, this project staff had an opportunity to review the Public Workforce System to learn 

how self-employment is treated. Our belief in entrepreneurship as the fuel for keeping the 

United States strong as we adapt to constantly changing world markets and competition led us to 

ask how the unemployed are treated as they seek to become employed again with the help of 

government services.

We are grateful to the many local, state, and national leaders who taught us how the system 

works...and mostly does not work ...for becoming self-employed. We encourage leaders to 

consider the following actions to enable the system to support creating all kinds of employment 

opportunities for all kinds of people.

Specific recommendations for bringing self-employment/entrepreneurship fully into DOLsponsored programs for the unemployed are:

1. Pass new federal legislation to break down the silos of community development, 

economic development, workforce development, and small business legislation in various 

Federal agencies to optimize our economy and encourage small business creation. The 

legislation should include funding to support a central coordinator, demonstration 

projects, and nationwide implementation of cooperation strategies.

2. Build a partnership at the national level that demonstrates the integration of 

entrepreneurship as a career option in every industry and as one answer to all displacing 

events. This partnership would include federal agencies for Agriculture, Economic 

Development, Health and Human Services, Labor, Small Business Administration, and 

Education, with leadership in policy decisions and professional development nationwide. 

Convene the leaders of these agencies for a roundtable discussion about the essential 

needs for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education, using the expertise of the 

Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education to broker continuing meetings.

3. Provide focused on-going self-employment leadership in Federal agencies involved with 

economic, community, and workforce development through rules, regulations, and 

legislation that foster entrepreneurial development and self-employment. Promote 

availability of appropriate federal Web sites and access to the Consortium Web site to 

provide information for self-employment leadership across all agencies.

4. Train Workforce Investment Boards in every state to implement strategic planning and 

strategic doing around employment opportunities that optimize the resources available in 

their locations, including opportunities for self-employment. Provide targeted TEGLs 

identifying recommended strategies. Host a session at the National Workforce 

Development Conference and the National Workforce Boards Conference for state 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 61 of 198

boards and other leaders to focus on successful strategic planning examples that 

encourage integration of entrepreneurship in the statewide Public Workforce System.

5. Change Federal and State policies to include performance indicators and success factors 

that focus on changing future economic conditions and recognize the value of 

entrepreneurship as a career choice. Create policy initiatives that link economic 

development with workforce development communities and establish environments in 

which the self-employed can prosper. Business establishment and success should be a 

continuing focus of the policies. Indicators might include: 

• Business owner accesses needed training in the community 

• New business starts exhibit six specific indicators of success 

• Business has external investors

• One or more individuals move off welfare 

6. Organize One-Stop Career Centers and other Unemployment Intake Centers to participate 

in professional development to enhance their orientation to and understanding of 

opportunities for the unemployed to develop self-sufficiency as entrepreneurs. Create 

professional development experiences based on staff exploration of model case studies 

and assessment plans provided by the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education at their 

web site.

48

7. Modify intake systems for the unemployed to focus on the interests, skills, experiences, 

and needs of each applicant while maintaining an open mind about employment or 

entrepreneurial opportunities that best suit the client as s/he seeks self-sufficiency. 

Practice helping job-seekers use the self-assessment checklist followed by coordination 

of training and mentoring capacities in the community to serve the needs of each 

potential entrepreneur.

8. Encourage partnerships between local organizations that support the training, counseling, 

and mentoring needs of the unemployed who choose to become entrepreneurs. Avoid 

duplication of services, and capitalize on the strengths of the partners to deliver needed 

services. Hold regular meetings with representatives of colleges, community colleges, 

SBA-sponsored training programs, micro-enterprise assistance providers, community 

entrepreneur development agencies, and all related providers of training, mentoring, and 

coaching to potential and new small businesses. Share the One-Stop Career Center

assessment process to facilitate selection of appropriate referrals.

 

48 http://www.entre-ed.org/where/unemployment programs
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 62 of 198

9. Help new entrepreneurs establish their businesses as sustainable, tax-paying entities that 

can be counted as placement successes as they obtain training and plan, develop, and 

grow their enterprises. Use the tools and processes provided throughout this report to

work with establishing and helping businesses succeed.

10. Develop demonstration projects of statewide systems that model recommendations in this 

report for assisting individuals to become self-employed. This would include revised 

performance indicators, strategic planning (and doing), double major training, community 

partnerships, training of all staff, and ideas learned through Project GATE about lump 

sum payments to provide seed capital and aid business start-ups. Evaluate the acceptance 

of this project‘s proposed Entrepreneurship Values for One-Stop Career Centers as a 

result of the demonstration projects.

As you review these recommendations the authors encourage those involved in the Workforce 

Investment System to consider the following idea: A job is work that needs to be done...that 

someone will pay you to do. For the self-employed, their employer is the customer.

Despite the current economic climate and acknowledged barriers to success, we believe that 

these recommendations, implemented with an entrepreneurial mindset, will lead to vigorous 

growth for individual entrepreneurs, enterprising communities, and the U.S. economy as a 

whole. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 63 of 198

APPENDIX

Appendix A - Case Studies

Appendix B - Resources for Career Centers

Appendix C - Tools for Self-Employment

Appendix D - Unemployment Issues
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 64 of 198

APPENDIX

The materials included in this Appendix will also be posted on the Consortium for 

Entrepreneurship Education Web site for continuous access49. 

Appendix A - Case Studies

• ME: Maine Career Centers Page 65

• ME: North Star Alliance Page 70

• NC: Advantage West Economic Development Group Page 74

• NC: Project GATE Demonstration Project Page 77

• NH: WREN (Women's Rural Entrepreneurial Network) Page 80

• PA: Lancaster County WIB Page 85

• PA: Philadelphia, WORC (Women‘s Opportunity Resource Center) Page 90

• VA: Northern Virginia Center for Business Planning and Development Page 93

• VT: Vermont Workforce Development Council Page 97

• WA: Enterprise for Equity Page 100

• FL: Great Northwest Page 103

• IN: North Central Indiana Page 107

• MI: Mid-Michigan Innovation Team Page 112

• MI: West Michigan Strategic Alliance Page 118

• NC: Piedmont Triad Page 121

• NY: Finger Lakes WIS Initiative Page 124

• PA: Northeast Pennsylvania, Wall Street West Page 130

Appendix B - Resources for Career Centers

• ―Filling a Need‖ by Greg Newton Page 134

• I-Open White Paper on ―Strategic Doing‖ Page 135

• Sixty-five Indispensable Web Sites for Business Owners Page 142

Appendix C - Tools for Self-Employment

• DOL Entrepreneurship Competency Model Page 151

• DOL Focus on Career Clusters with Entrepreneurial Occupations Page 173

• Entrepreneurship Technical Competencies Checklist Page 180

• Entrepreneurship Process Readiness Checklist Page 189

• Entrepreneurship Values for Career Centers Page 191

• Sample Entrepreneurship Signs Page 192

•

Appendix D - Unemployment Issues

• Kauffman Poll on Entrepreneurship and Economic Recovery50 Page 194

• WIB Focus Group Questions Analysis Summary Page 195

 

49 www.entre-ed.org/careerctr.htm

50 www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/Enterpreneurship/Entrepreneurship_and_Economic_Recovery_poll.pdf
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 65 of 198

Maine CareerCenters, Maine Department of Labor

Steve Duval, Director

Maine Career Centers

Maine Department of Labor

55 State House Station

Augusta, ME 04333 

Phone: (207)-623-7981 

E-mail: Stephen.R.Duval@maine.Gov 

Website: www.mainecareercenter.com 

Focus: Helping Businesses locate qualified workers, helping job seekers find employment or 

help with establishing their own businesses, helping connect professional training and 

development providers, and providing information about employment and business legislation 

and regulations.

Geographic Area Served: Augusta Maine is the headquarters and programs operate throughout 

the state. There are four Workforce Investment Boards serving Maine.

Participant Age Level: Clients must be of age to be employed.

Funding Sources: State funding of the One-Stop Career Centers, the scholarship programs and 

the Small Business Development Centers has allowed them to partner with private organizations, 

private non-profits, and other funders to expand the services to Maine's citizens. Workforce 

Investment Act Funds are used to provide the services allowed under the various titles of the Act.

Key Services Abstract: The Maine Department of Labor (DOL) manages a system of services 

designed to help persons seeking employment and businesses seeking employees. They manage 

a system of 21 One-Stop Career Centers throughout Maine where services are available to 

citizens. They partner with many organizations such as the Community Colleges within Maine 

who offer training and the Center for Women, Work and Community who are focused on helping 

women succeed in business through their 18 centers throughout the state of Maine. They manage 

the funds for the Life Long Learning Accounts (LILAs) 401 K type accounts (Contributions 

from Employers and Worker) to help individuals gain training for job advancement. Pre 

Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship programs are managed and encouraged by the DOL as well 

as Competitive Skills Scholarships to assist citizens in advancing in their chosen occupation.

The Maine Enterprise Option (MEO) is the self-employment focus of the Maine Department of 

Labor. The Maine Enterprise Option is managed by the 21 One-Stop Career Centers to help 

those who have a specific business idea and are about to exhaust their unemployment benefits. 

Counselors from Career Centers and other organizations have focused on the belief that low 

income or unemployed individuals can become self employed even without loans if they are 

exposed to the correct resources that they need to assist their personal development of their 

business idea.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 66 of 198

Wagner-Peyser Act funds provide for counseling staff who first meet with the unemployed. 

Funding through Maine‘s supplemental budget provided funding for capacity building for the 

Maine Employment Opportunity initiative through various organizations involved in making the 

training possible. Career Center staff members have found the initiative to be very case intensive. 

Leaders of Maine Employment Option (MEO) have used the Association for Enterprise 

Opportunity (AEO) and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANIF) studies to seek ideas 

that work to help individuals as they enter the micro-enterprise segment of business. (For 

example in TANIF women need to be earning at least minimum wage in order to be thought of 

as being successful.)

Because the normal operation of the DOL is to place students into wage jobs the One-Stop 

Career Center staff had to be constantly encouraged to get beyond the normal culture of 

achieving core performance measures of placing persons into jobs (wage at placement 

mentality.) They had to refocus as an additional way of helping people to become self sufficient 

by thinking of how unemployed persons could earn income and create wealth for themselves 

through self employment (Business development over time.) One-Stop Career Center Counselors 

had to come to know in general terms what is required to start a business if they are to direct the 

clients properly. 

Through the MEO initiative they trained One-Stop Career Center staff to think entrepreneurially 

and have one person in each center to be the entrepreneurship program leader to counsel with 

individuals, sign them up for the initiative and to send them to the small business counselors as 

needed. The MEO is just another tool in their counseling box for meeting the needs of the 

clients. Continuing communication with the persons in the One-Stop Career Center allowed staff 

to learn from one another and allowed the state leadership to understand the needs that should be 

addressed as the initiative evolved. 

Coastal Enterprises was developed in 1977 as a private non-profit community development 

organization focused on micro-enterprise financing and business development strategies to help 

fledging businesses in coastal and natural resources businesses. 

The Small Business Development Centers network based at the Southern University of Maine 

operates out of 31 different offices throughout Maine to provide business counseling, training, 

and information. They are a key partner for delivering training, counseling and mentoring 

services as a partner to the One-Stop Career Centers across the state. Their web site MaineWorks 

allows individuals to see training available and registration on line with the entity offering the 

training. This has been a great service to the state. 

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: In the state of Maine the State Department of Labor, 

the Small Business Development Center, and the Maine Centers for Women, Work and 

Community have been partnering for several years to ensure that the Maine Enterprise Option 

(MEO) continues. They developed an Entrepreneurial Working Group to break down the barriers 

between groups who were all focused on enhancing the economy of Maine. These three groups 

have partnered to put in place an effective program that the twenty-one One-Stop Career Centers

can use to connect those interested in self employment (over 3,000 since its inception) with the 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 67 of 198

appropriate agency. The Small Business Development Centers work from twenty-five locations 

across the state to counsel and mentor those desiring their assistance. They also offer on line 

courses, as well as various courses at the universities and in their centers. The Women‘s Centers 

in 16 locations across the state allow for development of assets through personal savings or 

family development accounts that are matched to help women start businesses. Trainers are 

provided as needed.

The DOL web site has links for those individuals who desire to start their own businesses. OneStop Career Center staff help counsel citizens who have interest in developing their own 

businesses toward the service provider who can assist them advance their dream. The Maine 

Business Works web site operated by the SBDC is an effective vehicle for linking clients to the 

events available to help them improve their business effectiveness. The web site can be searched 

by service provider, by month of the event, by topic of training, by region or county where the 

service will be provided. The Maine Business Works web site links clients back to the service 

provider so that clients can learn more about the service provider or register for events/services.

Governor John Elias Baldacci established Maine's North Star Alliance Initiative in 2006. The 

North Star Alliance Initiative, (NSAI) is an industry-led collaborative, synthesizing business, 

R&D, education, workforce, and economic development resources to re-skill a workforce and 

launch a new regional economy in coastal Maine. Referred to as the Four Pillars of Economic 

Development, the strategy focuses on building capacity and addressing gaps in Workforce 

Development, Research and Development, Outreach and Market Development, and 

Capitalization and Infrastructure Development. The targeted industry sectors of Maine's North 

Star Alliance include a range of enterprises that make up or support the marine trades and those 

that utilize advanced composite materials, including boat building, marine/waterfront 

infrastructure, marine service and repair, building products, sporting goods, and ballistic armor. 

These industries represent the majority of the economic base of Maine's mid-coast region.

The Small Business Development Centers works with the Governor‘s office to coordinate 

regional Small Business Conferences held every two years in various areas of the state. These 

Small Businesses Conference events provides needed training, allows the small business owners 

to have a voice in the policies of the State of Maine, provide feedback to policy makers as to 

what needs to be enhanced through legislation or policy enhancement. The Governor has used 

the opportunity to interact with this critical component of the economy as both a listening board 

and a time to share policy changes. 

Lessons Learned: A state leadership team in the DOL, in the Small Business Development 

Centers, and through the Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community that provided 

leadership, advocacy and consistency for the Maine Employment Option (MEO) self 

employment initiative. State level leadership over a period of 15 years has generated enthusiasm 

among the program deliverers for continuing the work and empowering individuals to create 

businesses. 

Focusing on the fundamental capitalist approach to economic development allowed the 

legislature in Maine to approve the Self Employment Assistance option as a tool for working

with the unemployed. Even when organizations such as National Federation of Independent 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 68 of 198

Business (NFIB) spoke against it, they had to agree with the fundamental right of persons to 

enter business. 

Counselors from One-Stop Career Centers and other organizations have focused on the belief 

that low income or unemployed individuals can become self employed even without loans if they 

are exposed to the correct resources that they need to assist their personal development of their 

business idea.

Wagner-Peyser Act funds provide for counseling staff who first meet with the unemployed. 

Funding through Maine‘s supplemental budget provided funding for capacity building for the 

Maine Employment Opportunity initiative through various organizations involved in making the 

training possible. One-Stop Career Centers have found the initiative to be very case intensive. 

The development of The Entrepreneurship Working Group was a way of breaking down barriers 

between various groups offering services to enhance the economy of Maine and to assist 

unemployed persons become self sufficient. The time together allowed development of shared 

goals among the groups.

The Entrepreneurship Working Group has worked through a Kauffman funded teacher training 

initiative preparing teachers in the K-12 system to present core academic concepts in an 

entrepreneurial context. The Maine Public Schools Learning Results includes entrepreneurship 

as a goal of their curriculum so the future pipeline of entrepreneurs will be more knowledgeable 

of entrepreneurial processes. This should help focus some young talented persons to remain in 

Maine rather than feeling that they must move out of the state to meet their personal goals

The Maine Micro Enterprise Loan Fund allows early stage entrepreneurs to have access to 

capital.

Because the normal operation of the DOL is to place students into wage jobs the Career Staff had 

to be constantly encouraged to get beyond the normal culture of achieving core performance 

measures of placing persons into jobs (wage at placement mentality.) They had to refocus as an 

additional way of helping people to become self sufficient by thinking of how unemployed 

persons could earn income and create wealth for themselves through self employment (Business 

development over time.) One-Stop Career Center Counselors had to come to know in general 

terms what is required to start a business if they are to direct the clients properly. 

Through the MEO initiative they trained One-Stop Career Center staff to think entrepreneurially 

and have one person in each center to be the entrepreneurship program leader to counsel with 

individuals, sign them up for the initiative and to send them to the small business counselors as 

needed. The MEO is just another tool in their counseling box for meeting the needs of the 

clients. Working with dislocated unemployed with some business skills (as opposed to 

individuals who desired to open a business but had no business skills) who desired to enter their 

own business allowed for greater potential for success as they opened their own business. 

Personal relationships between the intake staff at the career centers and the small business 

counseling staff seemed essential for effective connection of the unemployed workers to the self 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 69 of 198

employment options. They have taken an approach within the MEO partnerships that no one can 

do it all but if partners do what they do best; the client‘s need‘s can be met successfully. 

One-Stop Career Centers work to not replicate the role of the certified business counselors and 

the SBDC. They work to provide clients information so that there if No Wrong Door for clients 

by being informed of services available by partner organizations.

The One-Stop Career Center and other organizations schedule training sessions for technical 

training and entrepreneurial preparation training so that there were some complete weeks 

allowed for individuals to focus on developing their self-employment option. Clients indicate 

that this scheduling was very helpful to them. 

Caring counselors and an energetic facilitator has orchestrated an Unemployed Professionals 

Group so that it has emerged as an effective resource for persons who are out of work. It serves 

as a support group, a training group for helping prepare for a job search, a networking group, and 

an effective link to the Chamber of Commerce After Hours Business Networking meetings. The 

Chamber allows members of the Unemployed Professionals Group to attend the after hours 

networking meetings at no cost in order to optimize the opportunity for businesses to have access 

to the talent pool that exists within the group of unemployed professionals. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 70 of 198

The North Star Alliance

Christina Sklarz-Libby, Program Manager

Maine's North Star Alliance Initiative (NSAI)

Brunswick, Maine

Phone: (207) 287-4599

E-mail: Joan.Redmond@maine.gov

Website: www.mainesnorthstaralliance.gov

Focus: This revolutionary industry led collaborative, synthesizes business, R&D, education, 

workforce, and economic development resources to re-skill a workforce and launch a new 

regional economy - coastal Maine. 

The industries participating in this project include a vast range of enterprises that make-up or 

support the Marine Trades and those that utilize advanced composite materials, comprised of: 

boat building, marine/waterfront infrastructure, marine service and repair, building products, 

sporting goods, ballistic armor, and more.

Referred to as the Four Pillars of Economic Development, the proposed strategy focuses on

building capacity and addressing gaps in Workforce Development, Research and Development, 

Outreach and Market Development, and Capitalization and Infrastructure Development. The

North Star Alliance (NSAI) management team works with each of these pillars as they move 

through defined strategies. The overall profile of each pillar is:

(1) Workforce Development

Develops and delivers just in time applied knowledge and skills to both incumbent and 

new workforce, utilizing faculty jointly sponsored by industry and education and space 

within Maine‘s businesses, secondary schools, adult education centers, community 

colleges, and university systems. The team also identifies any existing training resources 

than can be utilized in conjunction with Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic 

Development (WIRED) funding.

(2) Research and Development

Identifies and prioritizes new industry based research initiatives, leveraging existing 

R&D resources with the ultimate goal of increasing Maine‘s industry focused R&D 

workforce. These activities are being accomplished through a contractual arrangement 

with the University Maine Orono‘s Advanced Engineering Wood Products facility.

(3) Outreach and Development

Works to expand new market development initiatives within the boat building and 

composites industries, extending the reach of Maine brand products into both the 

domestic and international markets while showcasing career opportunities within these 

industry sectors.

(4) Capitalization and Infrastructure Development

Engages philanthropic and investment partners throughout the state to develop strategies 

that will provide capital and management assistance targeted for business and industry 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 71 of 198

growth, facility improvement and expansion in the targeted industries in order to provide 

the necessary backdrop for workforce development.

Geographic Area Served: Coastal Maine areas that includes twelve of Maine‘s 16 counties:

Washington, Penobscot, Hancock, Waldo, Knox, Lincoln, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Sagadohoc, 

Cumberland, York, Piscataquis (eight that are coastal and 4 that are greatly impacted by the 

closing of the Brunswick naval base) 

Participant Age Level: Clients must be of age to be employed.

Funding Sources: Over $21 million in leveraged resources is brought to this project from the 

partners who are coming together to make this collaborative work for the industries involved. 

$15 million from the first round funding of the US Department of Labor (DOL) WIRED grants 

allowed the Governor to begin the work of the collaborative. Also of interest is the collaboration 

of Maine‘s North Star Alliance Initiative with Southern Maine Community College who jointly 

submitted a $2 million Community-Based Job Training Grant application. The grant will be used 

to establish a composites training facility in the Brunswick community, the site of the future 

naval base closing. The collaborative will work in conjunction with the college through the 

process of creating the composites training curriculum is a world renowned composites training 

institution.

Key Services Abstract: The lead of industry in the initiative manifests itself in the creation of 

an industry coordinator position that works in partnership with the professional organizations and 

agencies that support industry; recruits industry representation to serve as working team 

members on the Steering Committee as well as within each of the four pillars; but more

importantly collaborates with industry to identify and then respond to training and workforce 

needs as well as the identification and utilization of economic development resources and 

support that will allow industry to realize the full potential of advancing and applicable 

technology.

In order to successfully accomplish the overarching goal of the WIRED Project to spur the

integration of education, workforce, and economic development systems, Maine‘s North Star

Alliance partners have identified the following six goals:

1. Create high quality, skilled jobs that support the competitiveness of the targeted

industries, the income of Maine workers, and a return for the public investment.

2. Expand current markets and develop new ones so that the boat building, composites,

and marine trades industries achieve global industry leadership.

3. Transform and build upon the capacity of the public workforce system to nimbly and 

flexibly support competitive boat building, composites, and marine trade industries that 

are looking to expand capacity, create and/or improve their workforce, and/or take their

technology to the next level.

4. Through advanced training opportunities build on the willingness, ability and skill sets 

of both the current and future workforce.

5. Ensure that the economic development delivery model is sustainable and can be

replicated for other targeted industries and regions.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 72 of 198

6. Catalyze innovation through research, development and workforce preparedness that

will sustain and improve the global competitiveness of Maine‘s boatbuilding, composites

and marine trades industry.

The North Star Alliance centers on three major industry associations: the Maine Composites 

Alliance, Maine Built Boats Inc, and the Maine Marine Trade Association, jointly representing 

over 285 companies across a wide range of manufacturing and service industries who desire to 

upskill their workforces and expand their markets. 

Additional members include the University of Maine, the Maine Community College System, 

the Maine Technology Institute, Eastern Maine Development Corporation, the Maine 

Community Foundation, local and regional Workforce Investment Boards, the Governor‘s 

Office, and the State Departments of Labor, Economic and Community Development, and 

Education who bring education initiatives and support for the six goals.

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: A collaborative effort of this size has never been 

attempted within Maine before so it is a real opportunity to see if the work of various 

government entities, associations, and nearly 300 businesses can work jointly to achieve goals of 

revitalizing and expanding a regional economy through innovation.

Key Partner Organization Roster of Maine‘s North Star Alliance Initiative:

Brunswick Municipal Government

Governor‘s Office of Redevelopment, Reemployment and Business Support

Harbor Technologies

Maine Built Boats

Maine Community Foundation

Maine Composite Alliance

Maine Department of Economic and Community Development

Maine Department of Education

Maine Department of Labor

Maine Marine Trades Association

Maine State Planning Office

Maine Technology Institute

Private Industry Representation (individually listed in Attachment, Pillar Membership )

Solera Capital

Southern Maine Community College

University of Maine of Orono, Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center

US Department of Labor

Washington County Community College

Workforce Development Boards of Aroostook/Washington, Central/Western Maine, 

Coastal County, and Tri-County

Currently, the Initiative Management Team is working with both USDOL/Employment Training 

Administration (ETA) WIRED staff and several state agencies that already track many 

components necessary to document the initiative‘s progress. A set of standards by which activity 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 73 of 198

can be measured is currently being created. To this end, in addition to acquiring a more concise 

profile of the targeted industry sector, the management team is working in conjunction with the 

Workforce Pillar as well as industry representatives to conduct a business visitation with each 

individual company. An obvious benchmark will be employment and past revenues of each 

company prior to accessing assistance from the NSAI. Additionally, machinery and equipment 

costs associated with upgrading labor skill sets and the always desired value of non NSAI 

leveraging will be included. A major portion of the evaluation process will involve the standard 

activities associated with workforce development.

By matching benchmarks and standards to periodic monitoring, the management team will be

able to better identify when and where the initiative may be straying or ineffective in its efforts.

These findings will then be brought back to the Executive Committee for further evaluation and

then if necessary to the Steering Committee for revision. Until this activity is formalized in the

near future, the management team will continue to capture individual company profiles via a 

basic database while the Workforce Pillar team tracks individual activity via the already 

established One-Stop Career Center system.

Lessons Learned: 

Maine‘s North Star Alliance management team is charged with identifying and then 

recommending to the Executive Committee a long-term strategy by which to continue the efforts 

of the Initiative after the grant has closed. This process will be ongoing through the end of the 

grant period. All NSAI partners will be solicited for their suggestions as well.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 74 of 198

AdvantageWest Economic Development Group

Certified Entrepreneurial Community Program (CEC)

Pam Lewis, Senior Director of Programs and Events

AdvantageWest Economic Development Group

134 Wright Brothers Way 

Fletcher NC 28732 

Phone: (828)-687-7234 

E-mail: plewis@awnc.org 

Web site: www.advantagewest.com

Focus: The goal of the Certified Entrepreneurial Community Program is to create communities 

of entrepreneurial interest by promoting public and governmental awareness of the need for 

entrepreneurship through certifying governmental bodies and local units of government 

regarding their approach, strategy and state of readiness with respect to entrepreneurship.

Geographic Area Served: AdvantageWest serves 23 counties in western North Carolina. The 

counties served are: Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, 

Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, 

Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yancey.

The North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management estimates that the population of 

Western North Carolina is approximately 1.2 million people, approximately 20 percent greater 

than the population in the region a decade ago. Much of this increase has been the result of 

migration from other parts of the country to the mountain region. North Carolina ranks third in 

the nation as a retirement destination, behind Florida and Arizona.

Western North Carolina‘s (WNC) regional economy is strong and growing. Asheville and other 

cities in the region have garnered recognition as best places for entrepreneurship and innovation 

(from the Small Business Administration), hot places for manufacturing expansions and 

relocations (Expansion Management magazine), best high-tech output growth (Forbes and 

Milken Institute) best places for business and careers (Forbes), and best places to live and work 

(from sources too numerous to mention.)

Participant Age Level: Age is not really a key issue with the work of AdvantageWest at they 

work generally with organization leaders. AdvantageWest works closely with employers and 

workforce training providers — including four-year public and private universities, community 

colleges, Workforce Investment Boards, K-12 school systems and private training organizations 

— to identify and meet employers‘ needs for skilled, productive employees.

Funding Sources: Funding is provided by six different Federal Agencies, State Agencies, 

Foundations, Educational Institutions, and more than 100 private sponsors that desire to assist 

and participate in the economic development of the 23 county region of western North Carolina.

Key Services Abstract: Through extensive research AdvantageWest has learned that regions 

who boast a healthy economy and high levels of prosperity are typically regions that also foster 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 75 of 198

strong entrepreneurial environments. Much like the rest of the nation many counties in the WNC 

region has experienced significant job losses due to a number of plant closings. It is becoming 

more apparent to local business leaders that in order to be competitive in today's global economy 

WNC must include entrepreneurship and small business as part of our economic development 

infrastructure and policy for the future of our country. 

It is for this reason that in early 2007, AdvantageWest Economic Development Group took its 

entrepreneurial initiatives one step further down to the community level and created The 

Certified Entrepreneurial Community Program (CEC) to educate and empower local leaders with 

the critical foundational building blocks necessary to attract and retain entrepreneurs in their 

community. 

The CEC Program consists of a five step process that is outlined in a guidebook that each 

approved leadership team is given at the onset of the certification process. Highlights of the 

program include the formation of a leadership team, community visioning, asset mapping, 

identification of entrepreneurial talent, comprehensive plan for including the youth in

entrepreneurship, and streamlining the business licensing and permitting for entrepreneurs. The 

Certified Entrepreneurial Community Program and the contents of the guidebook are 

copyrighted materials and the business method is currently patent pending. 

Upon successful completion of all required elements of the program, AdvantageWest is 

providing marketing for these communities as well as access to a revolving loan fund for 

qualified entrepreneurs, funding for last-mile telecom broadband, training for leadership teams 

and signage for communities.

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: Blue Ridge Economic Council (BREC) supports 

entrepreneurs through the following four focus areas: education, mentoring and networking, 

communications and capital formation. BREC meets monthly, and provides quarterly 

opportunities for qualified entrepreneurial businesses to present plans before a group of local 

investors, the Blue Ridge Angel Investors Network.

In 2008 Haywood County became the first Certified Entrepreneurial Community (CEC) in 

America using the CEC guidelines and process. They had developed the first Small business 

incubator in NC back in 1985. Haywood Community College was the first CC in the country to 

implement a Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning (REAL) program which has been 

providing hands-on entrepreneurial education for the skilled craftsperson in the region. Haywood 

County is now poised to assist aspiring and current entrepreneurs to succeed in their county.

Fourteen different communities in the AdvantageWest region are currently seeking the CEC 

designation. People in eight different states have worked with AdvantageWest about doing CEC 

in their states. The former director of AdvantageWest Dale Carroll (Now Assistant Secretary of 

Commerce for NC) has testified before Congress twice about the merits of the CEC program and 

the advantages it has allowed the counties in western NC. He shared that AdvantageWest is the 

first Economic Development Consortium (EDC) in the US to develop a professional Economic 

Developer Certificate program with a university. (Appalachian State University)
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 76 of 198

The five Workforce Development Boards across the AdvantageWest region have entered into 

compacts with AdvantageWest. Over 30 partners have joined with AdvantageWest to complete 

an Allied Healthcare Worker Study for the region. AdvantageWest is the first regional EDC in 

the US to develop a Center for Health and Aging with legislative leaders and university partners. 

(University of NC at Asheville) Ashville Buncombe Technical College and Buncombe County 

have joined with AdvantageWest to launch the first Wet-Lab in Western North Carolina. They 

are also exploring an inland port in the region with university partner Western Carolina 

University. 

Several metrics are used to measure economic performance of the 23 county region served by 

AdvantageWest. Many of them use the year 2000 as a baseline. The WNC Economic Index 

produced by the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University indicates a climb of 

18 points from 100 in the year 2000 to 118.2 in August 2008. The Working Capital Index 

produced by Business North Carolina Magazine indicated that a three percent gain in the number 

of jobs within the AdvantageWest region has been achieved from 2000 until August 2008. The 

NC Commerce Department Capital and Investment tracking system indicated that the largest 

number of new jobs in more than two years occurred in the third quarter of 2008 with 2,122 new 

jobs being announced as a result of capital investments. 

Lessons Learned: Focusing on the needs of the region has been very helpful in causing interest 

in the Certified Entrepreneurial Community program. The work with Advanced manufacturing 

professionals, Blue Ridge Food Ventures, the WNC Film Commission, the Blue Ridge 

Entrepreneurial Council have all brought to the surface the needs of the many entrepreneurs in 

this region of North Carolina. 

Because of the number of home based and small businesses in the region the EDC learned of the 

importance of the Internet to businesses in the region and has worked to get the 177 mile fiber 

network Carolina Connect in place to allow connection to the marketplaces of the world. 

A regional initiative that focuses on critical needs of a region can add value to a concept such as 

the Certified Entrepreneurial Communities and enhance the resources of individual communities. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 77 of 198

Project Gate Demonstration Grant in North Carolina

Myra Beatty, State Project Officer

The N.C. Department of Commerce Commission on Workforce Development

313 Chapanoke Road, Suite 120

Raleigh, NC 27699

Mailing Address: 

4316 Mail Service Center

Raleigh, NC 27699-4316

Phone: (919)–329-5577 or (877)-962-4283

E-mail: Mbeatty@nccommerce.com

Website: http://www.ncprojectgate.org

Focus: Growing America Through Entrepreneurship (GATE) is a scholarship program 

for custom training and coaching to help individuals plan and start their businesses. GATE is a 

scholarship program that provides training and coaching to help laid-off, or dislocated, workers 

interested in starting a business. It is being offered to rural North Carolinians from 2009 through 

2011.

Geographic Area Served: The GATE program is a rural demonstration program of the U.S. 

Department of Labor (USDOL.) GATE is being offered to dislocated workers throughout North 

Carolina‘s 85 rural counties. There are two possible ways to participate:

Persons living near the small business centers in the community colleges at Isothermal, 

Lenoir, Randolph, Richmond, Robeson, Rockingham, Surry, and Western Piedmont will 

be served by the college that serves the 13 rural counties in their service areas. 

Individuals will be able to work with a local GATE counselor in person at these centers.

Dislocated workers from the remaining 72 rural counties in North Carolina will be served 

through a virtual site. This will include counseling by phone and online training 

programs combined with training and business counseling through the Small Business 

Center of other community colleges (58 total Community College Small Business 

centers) throughout the state. Individuals served this way will still have access to local 

training and programs, but will be expected to communicate by phone and Internet 

generally.

Participant Age Level: No specific age is specified but applicants must be dislocated workers 

(lost a job through no fault of their own due to a business closing or layoff) and be eligible for 

the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program. 

Funding Sources: The U.S. Department of Labor is funding GATE as a demonstration project 

testing self-employment as an alternative career path for dislocated workers. There will be a total 

of 750 scholarships for participants offered in NC (260 Scholarships have been granted as of the 

end of August 2009.) North Carolina is one of four participating states in the current GATE 

demonstration. In North Carolina, the demonstration is being led by the N.C. Department of 

Commerce in cooperation with the N.C. Community College System - Small Business Network, 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 78 of 198

the N.C. Employment Security Commission, the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, 

North Carolina REAL Enterprises and local JobLink Career Centers. All partners are 

contributing through the provision of their services to the clients.

Key Services Abstract: At any of the JobLink Centers dislocated workers can attend an 

orientation session and the staff can help interested persons apply for the GATE scholarship. A 

limited number of GATE scholarships will be offered in each location based on an application 

process. Those selected for the scholarship will receive: 

• Individual assessment of entrepreneurial skills 

• Entrepreneurship training and counseling 

• An introduction to resource professionals who can help throughout the life of the 

business. 

• Help applying for a micro-enterprise loan upon completion of a workable business plan 

Those receiving the scholarship will receive:

• The new, three-hour seminar ―From Losing My Job to Owning My Job‖ offered at the 

community college 

• The N.C. REAL Entrepreneurship course (see www.ncreal.org for more information) 

• Other business and entrepreneurship courses at the community college 

• Online modules of courses offered by N.C. REAL and other sources 

• Technical and vocational courses related to the particular business participants are 

starting 

• Free ongoing coaching and confidential counseling from the Small Business Center at 

the community college. This may include assistance developing a business plan, financial 

counseling or credit repair, and help on other issues specific to the business. 

After you take the recommended course of training, the GATE counselor will help participants 

determine if they and their business idea are ready to go. Participants may decide they don‘t want 

to start this business, or at least not now. Participants may need additional training or counseling. 

If startup capital is needed, the GATE team will assess and offer various options, including the 

N.C. Rural Center‘s Micro-enterprise Loan Program, but no grant money will be awarded for the 

business. 

After the start of a business, the GATE counselor will continue to check in with business owners 

monthly and offer ongoing coaching and troubleshooting, provided that participants agree to an 

open books policy for the first year with the business counselor. All of the counseling received 

through GATE will be strictly confidential. 

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: The Director of the NC Rural Economic Development 

Center says ―Project Gate can help us build homegrown economies in struggling communities all 

across the state.‖

The project is just beginning and thus the metrics identified for success will be measured as the 

project progresses. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 79 of 198

The USDOL/ETA, The North Carolina Commission on Workforce Development, and the 

Employment Security Commission put in place waivers prior to the beginning of the effort to 

ensure that Project GATE participation will not interfere with unemployment insurance or any 

other benefits persons may be receiving as dislocated workers. Full-time GATE enrollees will be 

eligible for a waiver from the Employment Security Commission allowing them to suspend the 

job search activities and visits to the ESC office while they work on developing their business.

Lessons Learned: Unemployment in North Carolina‘s 85 rural counties hit 12.3 percent in 

February 2009. Seventeen rural counties had jobless rates of 15 percent or higher. 

Rural unemployment can be attributed in large part to continuing layoffs and closings by textile, 

furniture and other traditional manufacturers throughout the state. With other jobs scarce, selfemployment may help keep rural workers in their communities. That potential is reflected in the 

growing numbers of dislocated workers expressing interest in creating their own job or small 

business.

Working with multiple partners to put in place a statewide project such as Project Gate takes 

considerable start up time as all boards have to be informed and appropriate approvals granted, 

as well as budget proposals approved before all partners can officially say they are ready to 

begin. 

Having a web site for communicating information to the public is essential. 

Access to Micro-Enterprise loans state-wide is a hard component to put in place.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 80 of 198

Women’s Rural Entrepreneur Network (WREN)

Marilyn Cooper, Director

2013 Main Street

Bethlehem, NH 03574

Phone: (603)- 869-9736 

E-mail: wren@wrencommunity.org

Website: www.wrencommunity.org

Focus: WREN began by helping low-income women start businesses, but it wasn't long before 

this work led into new territory. Today the mission embraces business development, creating and 

supporting markets for local artists, artisans, and rural entrepreneurs, arts and empowerment 

workshops for girls, education and advocacy around buying ''local'', Main Street revitalization, 

pursuing sustainable models for rural economic development and acting as an access point for 

community and business networking.

Geographic Area Served: The Women‘s Rural Entrepreneur Network is located in the small 

town of Bethlehem, NH in the northwestern part of the state. WREN has succeeded in 

revitalizing this small town. They have become the economic development center for the town. 

They offer activities that support entrepreneurs to build and grow their businesses. It is located 

on Main Street and as you go up and down Main Street you will discover that many of these 

businesses got their start at 2013 Main Street the office/incubator of WREN.

Funding Sources: WREN addresses the needs and aspirations of a diversity of rural people, 

including over 400 business owners. Their work connects people with one another, provides

access to resources many couldn't afford on their own, offers learning opportunities, creates and 

supports markets for entrepreneurs, actively engages in Bethlehem's revitalization, and serves as 

a national model for rural economics and community development.

WREN chose to become a membership organization in the second year of operations 

reinforcing the notion of community. Through membership people invest in the work, feel a 

sense of ownership in the organization, and shape WREN's development. Members live near and 

far and in as many as 13 states. Members receive The WRENzine (published three times a year), 

a weekly e-mail newsletter, discounts on classes and store/gallery purchases, and more - all while 

supporting the work of WREN.

WREN began in 1994 with 15 women participants, supporting their dreams of becoming 

business owners. Over the next decade WREN built on this success, growing in scope and 

mission. Today, the 'WREN Community' includes 900+ members - men and women living in 

New England and beyond - who benefit from and support WREN's many initiatives and 

resources.

Key Services Abstract: Networking and educational services are the main assets that WREN 

provides as the following list shows:
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 81 of 198

Community Revitalization - As part of WREN's commitment to community building, they 

work to make Bethlehem a better and more prosperous place. Bethlehem, New Hampshire was 

known as a ''premier tourist destination'' from the 1890s through the 1950s. But this ended as the 

travel patterns and expectations of Americans changed. Over the years, the town's grand hotels 

and businesses disappeared. When WREN relocated to Bethlehem in 1999, many of the store 

fronts were empty and little Main Street economic activity was evident. As WREN began to 

operate the retail store, they also put energy into bringing new life to our downtown. Thanks to a 

USDA Rural Development grant, they launched the ''The Stars Come Out in Bethlehem'' project. 

Convening residents, civic leaders and business owners, the group identified a number of short 

and long term revitalization goals. WREN began the Street Banner Project, a volunteer driven 

effort to create original, hand-painted banners for the Main Street. Today WREN supports the 

development of both summer and winter designs. WREN also partners with the Colonial 

Theater, the nation's oldest, continuously-operating movie house. The theater, operates from May 

through October, offering independent and foreign films, as well as live performances.

WREN BETA (Business and Entrepreneurial Technical Assistance) Program -

In 2007, to address the needs of the community, WREN developed the BETA program. WREN 

staff members are trained as instructors in the Core Four business planning course and as 

business coaches for this comprehensive program. The nationally known, award-winning Core 

Four curriculum is integrated with WREN's own brand of business coaching, marketing 

assistance and networking. The course covers successful strategies for business including 

marketing, financial management and operations planning. Classes are scheduled on a year round 

basis and instructors are available to help entrepreneurs as the need arises. Since September of 

2007, 110 participants have graduated from the BETA program.

WREN SUCCEED Program - The SUCCEED program is designed to take entrepreneurs to the 

next level by addressing specific training needs that WREN has identified and that members 

have requested. SUCCEED gives participants a solid background in Business Communications, 

Financial Planning and Web Marketing. Group sessions of Business Coaching help to integrate 

class work with the real life issues of starting or running a business, and puts personal goals into 

proper perspective with business goals.

Vendor-Readiness Classes - To ensure that vendors are prepared to enjoy the maximum benefit 

of participation in the Local Works Marketplace and/or Farmers Market, WREN provides classes 

in packaging, pricing, marketing, customer relations and booth display. Ongoing workshops are 

scheduled throughout the year as a need is identified. All business owners are encouraged to take 

advantage of these learning opportunities.

WREN MARKET ACESS Program - "I have a great product or service, but where are the 

markets?" This is often the greatest challenge for rural business owners. Since 2000, WREN has 

made Access to Markets a key part of their mission. As is often done, WREN has used a 

''community'' approach in addressing this challenge and have focused on developing 

opportunities that can benefit many simultaneously. 

Wren Market Access provides real business world experience and technical assistance to first 

time entrepreneurs and existing businesses, giving them the opportunity to sell or promote their 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 82 of 198

products through the various aspects of the program. The Market Access program has assisted 

hundreds of entrepreneurs. WREN has learned much about self-sustainability; and has turned the 

retail store, gallery and farmers market into important sources of earned income for both 

members and the organization. It is an important element of the holistic approach to incorporate 

training, coaching, networking and market access into the services offered to members. 

Local Works Marketplace - When the retail store (formerly known as WrenOvation!) opened 

in 2000, it had 52 vendors; today the store supports over 200 product-based businesses. Products 

are reviewed for store readiness. The review includes assistance with product packaging, display, 

marketing, pricing and quality control. The store program provides more than the typical retail 

experience; sellers are offered valuable, honest feedback. Local Works also provides a venue for 

buyers seeking unique locally made products. Products are taken on consignment, with 60% of 

the sales price going to vendors and 40% towards supporting the store itself. Since opening, the 

store has generated over three-quarter million dollars in sales and serves as a retail anchor for 

Bethlehem's Main Street. The store is open 7 days a week from 10 am to 5 pm.

The Gallery at WREN - In rural northern New Hampshire, opportunities for artists and art 

appreciation are limited. Galleries are few and far between; funding for the arts is virtually 

nonexistent. In a reaction to this void, the Gallery at WREN was created in 2001 as a cultural 

outlet for the creativity of a community, a place where local artists could display and sell their 

work, where the public could learn about and appreciate art. Today a new show opens each 

month. Painters, photographers, sculptors and multi-media artists have exhibited their work. 

Artists receive 60% of sales; WREN puts 40% back into the operating budget. The mere 

presence of the gallery has helped revitalize the economy of Bethlehem.

Local Works Farmers Market and Outdoor Marketplace - To expand the market access 

beyond the retail store, and to initiate the process of getting the community to think local and buy 

local, WREN now hosts a twice-weekly farmers market and outdoor craft marketplace from the 

end of May through mid-October. This is an ideal launching pad for beginning entrepreneurs to 

get visibility, publicity and to start growing their customer bases. The market experience itself is 

WREN at its purest connecting small entrepreneurs with the local residents and tourists, creating 

a focal point for the community, bringing more foot traffic to the village business district and 

increasing local prosperity overall. Vendors have the opportunity to sell locally grown and 

produced food, baked goods, flowers, plants and crafts in a relaxed outdoor venue. The 2009 

Local Works Farmers Market and Outdoor Marketplace is open every Wednesday, 3-6pm, and 

Saturdays, 9am-1pm, from the May 23 to October 10.

Incubator Office Program - One of the greatest challenges facing emerging entrepreneurs is 

affordable office space. WREN currently has three economically priced offices in the WREN 

Central building. Ten Health and Wellness professionals rotate use of two of these spaces; the 

third is used by a financial consultant. The presence of these businesses boosts the physical 

vibrancy of WREN and the economy of Bethlehem by bringing more customer traffic into the 

village on a regular basis.

WREN's Technology Center - For entrepreneurs and those living in a rural setting, so much 

depends upon access to and an understanding of technology. In 2000, the Technology Center 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 83 of 198

opened as a place where members and the wider community could access hardware, software, 

and affordable training that they couldn't find elsewhere in northern New Hampshire. That same 

year, WREN received an AOL Rural Telecommunication Leadership Award for these services. 

Every year hundreds of women, men and children use the Center to access the Internet, work on 

projects, and other technology tasks. The Center offers beginner and advanced classes. 

Multi-Media Resource Studio - In 2005, WREN was selected as one of nine grantees for the 

Hewlett Packard (HP) Microenterprise Acceleration Program. This award provided over 

$150,000 in technology planning, equipment, and software, allowing WREN to completely 

update the Technology Center. WREN also launched the Multi-Media Resource Studio that 

offers advanced print and website development tools, including a digital photo shoot space.

Business Directories - WREN takes every opportunity to advocate on behalf of supporting the 

local economy and educates the public about the impact of keeping local dollars circulating 

within the region. WREN's On-Line Member Business Directory not only promotes members' 

enterprises, it also allows searching for the services and products desired. As part of the Buy 

Local, Local Works campaign, WREN has also published the Local Works Business Directory,

a free 56-page handbook featuring business listings from over 230 member businesses. Designed 

and produced by WREN, the actual listings were written by the business owners themselves, 

with a minimal amount of editing. 

WRENzine - WREN publishes a magazine, the WRENzine, three times a year. The WRENzine 

is a highly acclaimed publication where members are invited to write columns, publish 

photographs or share experiences; it also provides market access and advertising opportunities. 

Viewed by over 1500 households and businesses, it is considered by members to be one of the 

most important assets of their membership.

e-WREN - The weekly e-mail broadcast is a resource for upcoming events, classes, news and 

more.

Equity Awards for Low and Moderate Income Women Entrepreneurs - Sometimes money 

makes all the difference, as WREN discovered in 2005 when two generous funders gave WREN 

$13,500 to award to nine low or moderate income women business owners. Since then, as local 

partners, WREN has been able to provide 35 women with equity awards through the Citigroup 

Women and Company Microenterprise Boost Program and the Fairy Godmother Fund, an 

initiative of the Ms. Foundation for Women. 

Women's Investment Groups - Many North Country women don't have retirement plans or 

savings. WREN hosts two investment groups (Nest Egg and Gold Diggers) that bring women 

together once a month to collectively educate themselves about investment opportunities and to 

develop a group stock portfolio.

Networking Events - The WREN Community knows what it is like to work AND play. Many of 

our WREN events are free and open to the public. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 84 of 198

The WINGS Program for Girls - Created in 1997, the Wings of the Wren program is a way to 

share the richness of the WREN Community with girls of the region. Girls ages 8-14 are invited 

to take part in free workshops and adventures. In the process, they get to know themselves, each 

other and the women who volunteer to oversee the program. WINGS emphasizes the arts as a 

pathway for self-knowledge and creativity. All Wings events are listed in the WRENzine and on 

the WREN web site.

Key Benefits and Results: The WREN organization has the benefit of being the hub of the 

economic wheel in Bethlehem New Hampshire. WREN operates as a close knit community that 

can offer collaborative space and a shared vision for the community. 

They have received grants from the United States Department of Agriculture, the Economic 

Development Administration, and the Community Development Business Group. The challenge 

is to create new programs that will bring the funding into the community. Funders want new 

programs and after 15 years of success, they are looking for sustainability and a living wage for 

all participants in WREN. 

Most of the people who complete their entrepreneurial education training, do not develop a fulltime business but rather a part-time addition to their income.

Lessons Learned: Businesses and individuals being bold and resourceful, networking, and 

being involved in activities in the supportive community can improve the economic capabilities 

of the entire community. 

Leaders need to keep creating and always keep a positive spirit to developing entrepreneurial 

organizations.

WREN is a small non-profit and is finding it a challenge to be able to access the Recovery 

Funding. WREN operators express that funding seems to always be a big issue with this nonprofit.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 85 of 198

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board Program

Scott Sheely, Executive Director

Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board

313 West Liberty Street – Suite 114

Lancaster, PA 17603-2798

Phone: (717)–735-0333

E-mail: ssheely@dejazzd.com

Website: http://www.lancastercountywib.com/index.php

Focus: The mission of the Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board (WIB) is to 

coordinate, develop, and maintain an effective and responsive system of programs and services

that integrates the needs of employers for an ample and productive workforce with the needs of 

Lancaster County residents for meaningful work that enhances their quality of life.

Geographic Area Served: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania – population of approximately 

500,000 – One of the top 20 Agricultural producing counties in the USA. (Largest Non-irrigated 

producer) Large producer of both chickens and cows and their products. Lancaster County 

generally has had one of the lowest unemployment rates in Pennsylvania.

The PA Turnpike is just north of the county and is a heavy logistics area. High tech in the region 

focuses on wire and plastics. New Holland Farm machinery is in the eastern portion of the 

county. Banking is large in the Reading area north of Lancaster County. There is a good bit of 

food manufacturing and printing in Lancaster County. Nearby there is a biotechnology initiative 

and it has helped fuel the regional healthcare initiative. 

Participant Age Level: Generally, age 14 is the minimum but there are a few funding sources 

that permit service to youth as young as age five. There is not maximum age. 

Funding Sources: The WIB operates its programs from a budget made up of approximately 33

percent WIA dollars and 33 percent Welfare dollars and 33 percent private sector, state and 

foundational funding. The WIB staff and its partners are constantly seeking opportunities to 

secure funding to advance its strategic plan initiatives. Private funding primarily allows and 

drives the work of the targeted industry consortiums.

Key Services Abstract: The Lancaster WIB has a diverse approach to economic development. 

It has developed numerous partnerships that allow for developing a pipeline of workers through 

the education system as well as enhancing the skills of existing workers in order to continue the 

focus on high wage and high skill work in the region. 

In response to the perceived needs of employers, the One-Stop Career Center (CareerLink) of 

Lancaster County has added a workforce readiness process called Ready2Work to its traditional 

program of labor exchange in an effort to better prepare prospective employees for work. The 

new system accommodates people who are currently working but looking for a better job, people 

who have been dislocated because of being laid off, people who are re-entering the workforce 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 86 of 198

after incarceration or a lengthy time on welfare, and young people who are out-of-school and 

unemployed. Job placement and retention of the job is the ultimate outcome. 

There are essentially five steps to the process...

• Assessment

• Pre-Employment training

• Job Readiness preparation

• Placement

• Retention

Upon completion of the Job Readiness part of the program, participants will have a portfolio as 

they move into the placement phase that includes at minimum a WorkKeys profile. It is 

anticipated that participants will also have other credentials to include in their files as a result of 

their participation in other parts of the process. Persons who complete the Job Readiness part of 

the curriculum and are judged by the cut score established with input from the area business 

people to be job ready receive a Career Readiness Credential, endorsed by the Lancaster 

Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the CareerLink of Lancaster County. 

Companies around Lancaster County guarantee a job interview to graduates of the Job Readiness 

program who match their job profiles. When the CareerLink Center matches the graduate and the 

company and the graduate completes 3 months of successful employment the company makes a 

donation of $75 to the WIB to help re-coop the training costs.

Entrepreneurial Development Program activities are organized and directed by the Lancaster 

WIB and staff with the partnership of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce that works with the 

Keystone Innovation Zone initiative and other Self Employment initiatives. 

The Self Employment Assistance (SEA) program is a state funded initiative for individuals 

recently unemployed and who have a strong business plan in mind. SEA is small as the region 

seems more focused on place based economic development strategies than people based 

economic development strategies. The Lancaster WIB seems to see entrepreneurial preparation 

programs as a small component of the broader work of economic development for the region. 

Partners such as SCORE are working with not only new start-up businesses but they are also 

working with existing businesses. They provide continuing counseling and mentoring, as well as 

SCORE volunteers serving as boards of directors for non-profits. SCORE provides through its 

volunteer‘s retail and contractor roundtables a vehicle to allow learning communities to develop 

to allow business to prosper. (Only one type of business is allowed in a specific roundtable in 

order to not have competitors limit the openness of discussions- (e.g, only one ladies dress shop 

in a retail roundtable)

The Small Business Development Center connected with Universities in Pennsylvania works 

with the WIB to impact businesses especially those in Keystone Innovation Zones who are 

involved with technology transfer along with a private sector partner. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 87 of 198

Assets Lancaster is a Small Business Development organization that operates a business 

incubator and connects all of its clients with mentors in the same business field as they are 

initiating. They have about an 80 percent success rate and to date had 237 businesses they have 

helped start. They offer connections to funding through the First Community Fund.

The Biz Center in the Lancaster County Public Libraries is a wonderful asset for all the 

counseling and mentoring organizations who work with aspiring entrepreneurs. The main library 

in downtown Lancaster has two staff members who run the Biz Center and they are extremely 

helpful with marketing research. Biz Centers exist in all branches but all do not have the 

concentrated staff assistance.

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: By letting the industry personnel guide the WIB 

initiatives there seems to have been an effective partnership for focusing on high skill high wage 

industries. 

The USDOL has provided a regional Innovation Grant to allow the region to continue its focus 

on improving the economic conditions of the entire region. 

The State of Pennsylvania has put in place the Keystone Innovation Zone program that allows 

state and local taxes to be reduced on tracts of land so that businesses are encouraged to establish 

themselves in the state. This work has caused many organizations to view Pennsylvania as 

entrepreneur friendly. 

Taking the long view, the Lancaster WIB sees itself as part of a network for organizations in 

Lancaster County that form a local Innovation System whose purpose is to assure that the 

competitive advantages of key regional industries are sustained and grow. The WIB knows that a 

skilled workforce is essential to competitiveness but also know that technology 

commercialization, entrepreneurship, local research and development, and location amenities are 

components of regional economic growth.

For the last three years, the Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board has been a partner in 

Lancaster Prospers, the economic development collaborative that has been charged with building 

a local Innovation System for Lancaster County. The WIB has been responsible for 

implementing the Centers of Excellence strategy, one of seven strategies in the current work 

plan.

There are currently four Centers of Excellence

 Production Agriculture; 

 Long-Term Care Practice; 

 Packaging Operations; and

 Radio Frequency Identification 

As the Lancaster WIB has defined them, Centers of Excellence have five essential functions

 Local research and development; 

 Technology transfer activities; 

 Entrepreneurial development activities; See the PowerPoint on Entrepreneurship at 

http://www.lancastercountywib.com/images/stories/documents/PPT/Entrepreneurship.ppt
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 88 of 198

 Incumbent worker training; and 

 Maintenance of a pipeline from school to work for essential careers 

Major economic development organizations, community-based organizations, and educations 

institutions have partnered with the WIB to achieve its mission. Lancaster County WIB has been 

a leader in developing industry partnerships from 2002 when the Lancaster County Workforce 

Investment Board received a grant to work in the health care industry. The WIB now operate 

industry partnerships in food processing, industrial maintenance, metal manufacturing, plastics 

manufacturing, printing, and construction. 

The WIB participates in the logistics and transportation partnership run by the South Central 

Workforce Investment Board and the biotechnology partnership run by the Life Science Career 

Alliance.

Several partnerships have become Centers of Excellence...Production Agriculture, Long-Term 

Care Practice, Packaging Operations, and Radio Frequency Identification where the mission of 

incumbent worker training joins school to career pipeline development, local research and 

development, technology transfer activities, and entrepreneurial development as a way of 

connecting to local innovation systems.

The Incumbent Worker Training program has provided nearly $2 Million state dollars for 

training within the eight industry partnerships that presently exist. There is a shared approach to 

ensure that all industries are able to hire some of the newly trained workers. 

The WIB and staff have been aggressive in establishing training and partnerships that seem to be 

needed and have reached out into other counties as needed. (For example the Bio-Tech initiative 

involves 9 different counties.)

Lessons Learned: The WIB meets the WIA core performance standards but realizes that the 

measures are measuring what was accomplished primarily in the CareerLink Center 1 to 2 years 

in the past. The focus on current and future needs is not a focus of the WIA common 

performance measures and that should be changed.

Some of the local research and development empower entrepreneurs. There remains a need for a 

place for a person with an innovation or improvement idea to go and test that idea. Communities 

of practice or centers of excellence could provide innovation centers for persons (intrapreneurs) 

to tinker with improvement processes or innovation that might result in patents. For example, the 

many organizations currently focusing on energy conservation practices could spend more 

focused discussions as well as R&D as a community of practice or centers of excellence to focus 

on this emerging green initiative if there was a innovation center to encourage this type of 

innovation focus. 

More research and development in the Lancaster area to generate concepts that are needed and 

proven that could be executed by innovative businesses in the region would help build the 

economy. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 89 of 198

Quicker access to training, counseling and mentoring is needed. Continuing support from the 

unemployment funds if they are unemployed, greater access to funds to assist with start up of 

their business concept if they desire to become entrepreneurs. 

The strategic initiatives are an on-going initiative of the Lancaster WIB and its numerous 

partners that are constantly working as a network of partners and all participate in the strategic 

doing essential to enhance the economy of the region.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 90 of 198

Women’s Opportunities Resource Center

Lynne Cutler, President

Women‘s Opportunities Resource Center (WORC)

2010 Chestnut Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103

Phone: (215)-564-5500

E-mail: Lcutler@worc-pa.com

Website: http://www.worc-pa.com/index.html

Focus: The mission of the WORC is to promote social and economic self-sufficiency primarily 

for economically disadvantaged women and their families. WORC provides training, individual 

business assistance, job placement, and access to business and financial resources. WORC 

empowers its constituents through various self-help strategies including savings mobilization, a 

self-employment network, and access to its local, national and international affiliations.

Geographic Area Served: Headquartered in Philadelphia but serves citizens throughout PA 

with most of their focus being on the five counties that surround Philadelphia. 

Participant Age Level: One needs to be at least 18 to sign contracts for business operations 

and loans. The loan program is built on a sliding scale with limits as to the amounts based upon 

earnings and family size. The program is somewhat of a self-selection program for welfare 

clients; however it is thought by program leaders that the success rate of the clients would be 

greater if there was more of a selection process used. Eighty percent of the clients have at one 

time been median income adults.

Funding Sources: The state leadership that provides funding for the Self Employment 

Assistance program has been instrumental in making the funding available to meet the needs of 

the clients. That funding has been reduced and finally in 2008 completely deleted from the 

budget by the Governor of Pennsylvania. Now individual participants pay for the training 

courses they attend. If they are being encouraged to take the training from a welfare agency or 

from the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) then they may have some funding available from 

these agencies to support their training. 

Key Services Abstract: WORC started in 1985 to focus on micro enterprises to provide women 

an additional alternative for earning income. They were one of about four micro enterprise 

centers operating within the US at that time. They took many of their ideas from Bob Friedman 

who was doing similar work in England and France in the early 1980‘s.

Beginning in 1993 WORC began to offer individuals who were underemployed and/dislocated 

workers self employment assistance to become self sufficient. Today, WORC works with 

Philadelphia, Bucks and Delaware counties to respond to the needs shown by those who go to 

the one-stop centers seeking assistance with their unemployment. The counties that provide a 

notice about WORC services in the informational letter given to unemployment applicants seem 

to have a higher response rate seeking self-employment assistance.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 91 of 198

The Women‘s Opportunity Resource Center (WORC) of Pennsylvania helps those from lowincome and disadvantaged families, who may have an idea for starting their own business, even a 

home based business, turn that idea into a reality. The classes that are offered have been 

organized by the WORC staff and provide for specific outcomes that move the client toward the 

goal of having a working business plan and operation.

Women who have a viable business idea or self-employment idea may participate in the WORC 

6-week Self-Employment Training which runs six to seven times each year. The first step is to 

attend an orientation to present their business concept and any related experience(s) to a WORC 

representative. A home based business needs the same careful analysis as any other type of 

business idea. Once accepted into the Self Employment Training program, participants will start 

a series of 12-classes, meeting twice a week, three-hours each session. The classes provide the 

basic skills needed to form the business's legal entity, complete a business plan, and develop the 

revenue from sales projections. Following the successful completion of class, funding is 

available for those that qualify. 

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: WORC (www.worc-pa.com) provides training and 

access to funding for self employment or those who want to own a home-based business. 

WORC offers its own small business loan programs. There are 5 loan products for the lowincome borrower offering loans from $500 to $35,000. WORC staff helps business owners 

through the loan application process. Orientations are held weekly. 

Participants can market their Businesses - on www.worcweb.com. Worcweb is a Philadelphia 

directory of women-owned, minority owned, and socially responsible businesses, and is a great 

way to market home based business via the web.

When funding has been available 300+ individuals have been served in one year (2006.)

Generally the number of clients has ranged from 125 to 250 annually. Currently, approximately 

125 individuals are being served as funding has been cut for people based economic 

development in Pennsylvania.

Lessons Learned: If poverty elimination is a goal, then the self employment initiatives can help 

individuals become self sufficient. Research conducted by the WORC staff shows that about 1 in 

9 persons are entrepreneurial by nature. If proper training, modeling, and mentoring are provided 

to those desiring to become entrepreneurs most can develop an income stream that will allow for 

self sufficiency through their self employment. 

It is believed that training and technical assistance is the key to helping individuals start 

businesses. Capital is not the major problem encountered in working with the clients who come 

to WORC. It is believed that micro-enterprise loans are widely available throughout America. 

WORC uses a credit builder program in order to help clients to restore their credit worthiness.

The mission of the WORC is to promote social and economic self-sufficiency primarily for 

economically disadvantaged women and their families. The WORC provides individuals that 

have several business ideas and possessing transferable skills or owners of existing part-time 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 92 of 198

businesses or those with fewer than 12 months of business operations, an opportunity to take 

their business to the next level. The Start Smart business model employs next level marketing 

and formal business structures incorporated into a highly developed written business plan. 

Successful graduates will have developed and implemented legal business operations and are 

invited to participate in the WORC lending program. This seems to be the guidance essential to 

ensure that these women can get businesses up and operating. 

The Self-Employment Assistance funding from the State of Pennsylvania was extremely useful 

in assisting to provide the funding that covers the difference between what the client pays and 

what the program costs to provide the leadership for getting the clients businesses up and 

operating successfully. Without that funding the participant cost is more than most low income 

women can pay.

Funding for the loan program has been organized through various partnerships such as the SBA 

small business loans and other bank loans. WORC has made some small character based loans in 

order to assist clients to begin their businesses. Of the participants who complete the WORC 

program, it is estimated that 40 percent will pursue their business plan and of the enrollees 20 

percent will need capital to start their business.

The program is an on-going program since the mid 1980‘s. It is not for everyone as some people 

want to become employed by someone else. It is believed by the program leadership that if self 

sufficiency is the goal, then those who desire to become self-employed or to supplement their 

income when they are dislocated from a job or as a retiree, then the program works. The system 

should not penalize those who can generate personal income within the Workforce Investment 

System. 

The Association for Enterprise Organizations (AEO) has an outcomes study that shows results of 

the programs offered by micro-enterprise organizations which includes WROC.

The Aspen Institute has been studying the numbers to determine how effective micro-enterprise 

programs are throughout America. WROC is included in that study.

Benchmarks have been developed by John Fogel to measure the success of micro-enterprise 

development programs. It is thought that if 6 of the 15 benchmarks are met then the client should 

be positively shown as a successful completer within the workforce investment system. 

Partners of WORC are listed at http://www.worc- pa.com/ebusinesspartners.html
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 93 of 198

Center for Business Planning and Development

Partnership among the Fairfax County Department of Family Services, the Business 

Development Assistance Group, and the Northern Virginia Workforce Investment Board

Aimee Brobst, Director

Fairfax County Department of Family Services, Employment and Training Program

12011 Government Center Parkway, Suite 246E 

Fairfax, VA 22035

Phone: (703)-324-7514 Cell (571)-722-9230

e-mail: Aimee.brobst@fairfaxcounty.gov 

Website : http://www.myskillsource.org/home/index.shtml

 http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dfs/EmploymentTraining/Etonweb.htm 

 www.bdag.org 

Toa Do, President, 

Business Development Assistance Group

P. O. Box 100204, Arlington, VA 22210 

Phone: (703)- 538-7412 www.bdag.org

e-mail : tquangdo@aol.com

Site Location: 6245 Leesburg Pike, Suite 410, Falls Church, VA 22044 (c703)-538-7412

Focus: The Fairfax County Department of Family Services (DFS) is the contracted service 

provider for the Workforce Investment Act program throughout Northern Virginia, and operates 

three of the five one-stop employment centers in the region. As the operator, DFS acts as a host

and provides the space for the center, including rent and associated costs, for the centers and the 

co-located partners which deliver on-site employment and training services. One of the colocated service delivery partners in the Falls Church one-stop center is the Business 

Development Assistance Group, Inc.( BDAG), a community-based non-profit which specializes 

in assisting people in starting or expanding a small business. BDAG places a special focus on 

serving new immigrants and language minorities, who often use entrepreneurship as their first 

entry into American economic life. In fulfillment of this mission, and in response to the widely 

diverse community in Falls Church and the surrounding areas, BDAG offers all counseling 

services and information materials in English, Spanish, Korean, and Vietnamese. 

The Center for Business Planning and Development provides business startup, retention, and 

expansion services to emerging entrepreneurs and existing small businesses. In 2008 they helped 

create 25 businesses. The Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) provides scheduled 

training classes on their campuses. The US Small Business Administration (SBA) offers Service 

Corp of Retired Exectives (SCORE) counseling and other services that the center or clients 

access; clients are also referred to Small Business Development Centers as needed.

Geographic Area Served: The workforce area includes One-Stop Career Centers in Fairfax, 

Loudoun, and Prince William Counties; only the Falls Church SkillSource (one-stop) Center has 

a co-located small business development center. The Falls Church Center also operates a Job 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 94 of 198

Corner, a program for youth ages 14-21. 

http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dfs/webdocs/publicassistance/jobcorner.htm 

Participant Age Level: The One-Stop Career Center and the Center for Business Planning and 

Development work with adults of all ages. BDAG clients must be of age to be employed and 

make contracts.

Funding Sources: The center was started with a Model One-Stop Center grant from the US 

Department of Labor to the Northern Virginia Workforce Investment Board in 2001; it is 

currently supported through cash and in-kind funding from the Fairfax County Department of 

Family Services and the Business Development Assistance Group, as well as special events, 

which are funded through business registration fees and sponsorships. Local government (nonWIA) funding from Fairfax County DFS is combined with the Business Development Assistance 

Group‘s resources, which comes from a variety of grants. The partners operate under a 

Memorandum of Understanding with a related cost-sharing agreement. Project GATE began 

implementation in December 2008, and has a control group and a performance improvement 

group in order to study results of interventions provided. 

Key Services Abstract: As individuals are in the One-Stop Career Center and mention to staff 

members that they desire to begin a business or as they exhaust their job search and determine 

that they must develop their opportunity for self sufficiency they are referred to the Center for 

Business Planning and Development. BDAG business counselors start with a short 1 page self 

assessment to determine if they are ready to begin the planning process. Next, the client receives 

intensive one-on-one counseling, technical assistance, or marketing plan assistance, business 

plan assistance, and business training as needed. BDAG works with the clients to assist them 

with networking and with capital for start up or expansion as needed. 

If a client is not ready to start a business, or decides that he or she prefers to find a job, they will 

be referred to the One-Stop Career Center for employment assistance. The co-location of the 

employment and entrepreneurship service components are critical to the successful integration of 

workforce and economic development. 

The primary partners are the Fairfax County Department of Family Services, the Business 

Development Assistance Group, and the Northern Virginia Workforce Investment Board. The 

center works with other organizations as needed, including the Northern Virginia Community 

College system, Service Source (a community-based non-profit to serve people with disabilities), 

the Small Business Administration, the Virginia Department of Business Assistance, and the 

Virginia Employment Commission. The Model One-Stop Grant in 2001 from the US 

Department of Labor jump-started the program, but it has been sustained through extremely 

committed leadership within the Fairfax County Department of Family Services, and the 

Business Development Assistance Group.

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: The Business Planning and Development Center 

served approximately 220 individuals per quarter of 2008, for a total of nearly 900 clients during 

that year. Of the clients served, 45 percent were Hispanic, 15 percent were Asian, 15 percent

were Black, 10 percent were White and 15% were other ethnic origins. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 95 of 198

The BDAG helped 42 businesses last year. 25 (59 percent) were new business starts, 4 (10

percent) were businesses that were turned around and salvaged from closing, and 13 (31 percent) 

were business expansions. These efforts created 48 jobs. The types of businesses served ranged 

from Adult Home Care, Construction, Cleaning Services, Child Care, Retail Operations, and this 

largest group (32 percent) was not easily classified as they were so diverse. 

The common performance standards used by the USDOL/ETA do not apply to the The Center 

for Business Planning and Development program, as WIA funds are not used. They evaluate 

their services based upon serving the clients who come to them and based upon how well the 

clients needs are met. The staff at BDAG desires to have a value for each job saved or created by 

a business development initiative established in order to indicate how successful the work is in 

the economy. (The Staff believes that a formula should be developed that can be used universally 

for the value of a job created; it could include tax base contributions, the labor and wages the 

business provides, the lack of Health and Human Services being accessed, and the contribution 

to the community such as rental or home ownership.)

Lessons Learned: A small group of committed partners can decide that helping aspiring 

entrepreneurs is critical, and then find shared resources to support the idea. The partners 

determined that if they build it, they will come. There must be a true political partnership 

between various agencies serving clients if they want to help families become self-sufficient. 

Each partner does what they do best and contributes to the whole initiative. If there is a

government and non-profit in partnership, they must value the contributions each can bring to the 

partnership and work to enhance opportunities for clients through the strengths of each 

organization. 

One-Stop Career Centers and business development centers must be well connected to the 

community they are going to serve. Co-location of service providers is one key to serving clients 

effectively. It helps to reduce the turf wars that can develop by not knowing what each partner is 

contributing on a continuing basis. There must be a true partnership between the one-stop center 

staff, leading training partners, and the business development consultants if the clients are going 

to be effectively served. 

Networking events are hard to make effective in a diverse cultural community as people of one 

nationality are often more comfortable with friends from their culture and do not willingly 

network. Some concept such as speed networking needs to be used to ensure that people connect 

with others who can help with their business expansion. (Language is often a barrier also)

There is a great need for one-on-one assistance (hand holding) for helping new business owners 

with business license applications, tax identification numbers, and business registrations as 

people are unfamiliar with the processes, the forms and the computer (in some cases.) BDAG 

staff attempt to meet this nurturing role. The largest barrier faced by prospective entrepreneurs is 

the lack of available startup capital and no effective source has been secured. 

There is a need for a Business Planning and Development Center in the Ft. Belvoir area of 

Northern Virginia to focus on assisting veterans who are leaving service to advance their careers 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 96 of 198

as entrepreneurs while they have the military clearances and contacts essential to do government 

contracting. 

Funding is a key to the sustainability of any workforce development program. The programs for 

clients must be advanced (built) first and then funding secured to provide the programming. 

Then there needs to be champions to help keep the program in place through budgets of various 

organizations. 

When asked what enhancements are needed or desired the staff at the Northern Virginia 

Workforce site indicated that what has provided them the most opportunities for aspiring 

entrepreneurs and they are listed below:

Intensive business counseling assistance in multiple languages

Referrals to and from the one-stop employment center (also, referrals to on-site support 

services as needed)

Networking opportunities

Facility use for aspiring entrepreneurs (conference room, computer lab, resource library)

Business Startup marketing kit

When asked about what was needed as enhancements to the program in order to optimize the 

services they offer, they replied as listed below:

A consolidated calendar on a website of partner services/training events, etc. would help 

all who counsel clients to be able to help clients locate the training or services they need. 

A matrix of specific services offered by partner organizations is needed to define 

concepts such as technical assistance, so that clients and counselors alike can have a clear 

understanding of what is available from a specific service provider. 

There is need for a resource pool of funds that can be used with individuals with a great 

business concept, a good business plan, and an opportunity to implement effectively but 

whose credit rating is not very good. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 97 of 198

Vermont Workforce Development Council

Allen Evans, Executive Director 

Vermont Department of Labor

5 Green Mountain Drive 

PO Box 488 

Montpelier,VT 05601-0488 

Phone: (802)-828-4156

E-mail: allen.evans@state.vt.us

Website: http://labor.vermont.gov

Focus: The Workforce Development Council (WDC) advises the governor on the establishment 

of an integrated network of workforce education and training for Vermont and coordinates

planning services for this task as well as over see its implementation. It also oversees and 

establishes workforce investment boards. 

The Workforce Development Council was established in State law in 2006 as the successor to 

the Human Resources Investment Council, originally established in 1993. The mission of the 

Council is to ensure that Vermonters have the skills they need to get and keep good jobs, and that 

Vermont employers have the skilled workers they need to compete in a rapidly changing world 

economy. The Council advises the Governor on the development and implementation of a 

comprehensive, flexible and responsive workforce education and training system. The Council is 

also designated as the State Workforce Investment Board under the Federal Workforce 

Investment Act.

Geographic Area Served: All geographic regions of the State and all sectors of the economy 

are represented on the council and are served by the services provided by the council.

Participant Age Level: Students are served from ages 14 to graduation as allowed under the 

WIA and adult workers are also served by the various services provided by the Council. 

Funding Sources: The Council identified a number of strategies common to many partner 

organizations designed to respond to the aging of the Vermont workforce, the shrinking cohort of 

younger workers, and the escalating skill requirements and technology applications in the 

workplace. Act 46 was drafted to address these challenges by linking training and economic 

development efforts with a range of immediate and longer term strategies. During FY '09 Next 

Generation Legislation Act 46 provided eight million dollars to be distributed from July 1. 2008 

through June 30, 2009. Included were funds for college scholarships, a targeted student loan 

repayment program, increased funding for the VSAC Non-Degree Grant Program, and expanded 

dual enrollment opportunities, as well as increases in funding for the Workforce Education and 

Training Fund, and the Vermont Training Program that provide grants to assist employers to 

meet their needs for training new and incumbent workers. The Act also established new 

programs for secondary and postsecondary internships, adult programs at the regional technical 

centers, career awareness programs, alternative secondary vocational/academic programs, and 

funds to be used for two regional pilots of workplace readiness credentials.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 98 of 198

Key Services Abstract: The WDC is charged in State law with authorizing Regional Workforce 

Investment Boards (WIBs.) These twelve regional volunteer boards are the local component of 

the system, working closely with employers, schools, colleges and community organizations to 

identify needs and implement training solutions. The Regional WIBs continued to address the 

workforce needs of specific employment sectors in their regions that are experiencing shortages 

of skilled workers. These include construction, manufacturing, healthcare, information 

technology and others. 

The Council has undertaken several new initiatives in partnership with the Department of 

Education (DOE) during 2008-2009. First, recognizing the need to create more effective 

pathways from secondary career and technical education programs to further education and to 

better meet needs of employers, the WDC and DOE have formed a partnership with the State 

Chamber of Commerce and the New England Culinary Institute. This partnership will develop 

the first Industry and Education Center of Excellence (IECE) which will focus on the Hospitality 

sector. If successful, this approach will be expanded to other sectors in the future. Second, 

discussions are underway with DOE to explore the potential for utilizing the Department of 

Labor's Next Generation secondary programs, including the WETF Internship Program, the 

Career Awareness Program and the Alternative Technical Education Program in support of 

DOE's School Transformation initiative.

Act 46 also established a new committee of the WDC, the Workforce Leadership Committee,

as a standing committee of the Council chaired by the Commissioner of Labor. The Committee

includes the Commissioners of Education and Economic Development as well as the Secretary 

of Human Services, the Chancellor of the State Colleges, the Chair of the WDC, and three 

business members of the WDC. The committee was charged with developing a limited number 

of over-arching goals and measurable criteria for the workforce development system, and 

reviewing reports from each entity that receives funding to determine the contribution made to 

accomplishment of the goals. The committee completed its first full report in December 2008. It 

identified four broad goals supported by recommended strategies and performance measures. 

Copies of the full report are available on the Workforce Development Council web site.

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: 2008 was the second year of implementation of the 

High School Completion Program by the newly established Learning Works statewide adult 

education system (formerly Adult Basic Education.) The development of such a program was 

part of the WDC's strategic plan and was supported by the Council throughout its development. 

It is estimated that between 1,000 And 1,200 students leave Vermont's public schools each year 

without a diploma. This is an important workforce development issue because Vermont has a 

shortage of young workers, and those lacking basic skills are often unable to meet entry level job 

requirements. This new program, the first of its kind in the nation, has enrolled 522 students and 

graduated 258 students through June of 2008. To date 84 percent of participants are successful in 

earning their high school diploma. The program targets out-of-school youth between the ages of 

16 and 21 who can participate through the Learning Works Centers across the state where they 

develop an individualized learning plan in partnership with their home high school. Under the 

supervision of the Learning Works instructors, students can access classes at the high school or 

regional technical center, enroll in adult education programs, take college courses, or participate 

in a wide range of educational options that meet their individual needs. Once the goals in their 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 99 of 198

plan are completed, students may participate in graduation ceremonies at their high school and 

receive a diploma. This program has received national attention for its innovative approach. 

The Council continues to respond to the workforce needs of the Healthcare sectors with new and 

innovative training solutions.

The Council is also developing an Industry and Education Center of Excellence in hospitality as 

a pilot for the concept of forming close partnerships with employers to create comprehensive 

career pathways that improve student success and that provide employers with fully prepared 

workers.

Lessons Learned: Vermont's workforce is older than the average in most other states, and as 

these baby boomers retire, a large number of skilled workers will leave the workforce. Census 

data continues to show a decline the 20-34 year old population. There will be an 18 percent

decline in Vermont's high school population over the next ten years.

The aging-out of current workers is not being offset by a sufficient number of new entrants into 

the workforce, creating a shortage in most sectors.

Much higher skills are required to get and keep a good job than in the past, and skilled workers 

are increasingly difficult to find.

Of the top ten fastest growing jobs in Vermont, seven require two year college degrees or more 

for entry, and two others require specific post-high school training.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 100 of 198

Enterprise for Equity

Lisa Smith, Director

P.O. Box 1291

Olympia, WA 98507

Phone: (360)-704-3375 or cell (360)-480-8048

E-mail: Lisa@EnterpriseforEquity.org 

Website: www.enterpriseforequity.org

Focus: The mission of Enterprise for Equity is to ensure that low-income people in the South 

Puget Sound region near Olympia have access to training, technical assistance, support and 

credit for small business development. These services are provided with the belief that people 

can and do transform their lives as they bring their strengths, initiative and dreams to their 

entrepreneurial efforts. 

Enterprise for Equity grows entrepreneurs! Enterprise for Equity is a community supported 

nonprofit that helps people with limited incomes start and sustain small businesses.

Geographic Area Served: South Puget Sound Region.

Participant Age Level: No age is specified only income limitations. To be eligible, 

participants must have an income of no more than 185 percent of the federal poverty level (in 

2009: $20,036 for a single person, $26,955 for a household of two, $33,874 for a household of 

three, $40,793 for a household of four, or $47,712 for a household of 5.) 

Funding Sources: The Board of Directors are actively involved in the development and 

expansion of the program, raises funds, and oversees the management of the organization. 

Volunteer Board members and other volunteers serve on organizational pillars (committees) and 

provide valuable expertise and guidance for the operation and expansion of Enterprise for 

Equity. Scholarships are available for classes; no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Key Services Abstract: The decision to start a small business often stems from the need to 

supplement income due to low wage work, job loss, divorce, illness or disability, lack of 

affordable child care, and/or lack of alternatives in the labor market. We have worked to ensure 

that our support is relevant, meaningful and compatible with the needs of these entrepreneurs. 

Grants have assisted with funding for operations and partner organizations provide benefits to 

clients that assist with the training they desire in order to become self-sufficient.

Enterprise for Equity has implemented a full menu of business training, technical assistance and 

support services to help people increase their income, confidence and financial security. 

Enterprise for Equity is uniquely qualified to support low-income entrepreneurs in the 

development of their business. The curriculum is comprehensive and the staff, trainers and 

volunteers are experienced in supporting micro-businesses.

Enterprise For Equity offers assistance to individuals in the following ways: 

 Training to build skills and confidence:

o Technical assistance and support 

o Peer support from learning circles 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 101 of 198

o Assistance in obtaining start-up funds 

 Each Participant will: 

o Pay a fee* (Scholarships are available for classes; therefore no one will be 

turned away for lack of funds.)

o Attend classes and complete homework 

o Develop and write a business plan 

o Receive technical assistance 

o Learn practical business skills 

o Present his or her business at the Business Showcase (formally known as 

Community Graduation) 

Enterprise for Equity has been helping low-income people start small businesses since 1999. The 

Microcredit Summit in Washington, D.C in 1997 initially inspired this effort. After the Summit a 

small group of volunteers brought together 30 representatives of low-income serving agencies in 

the South Sound such as the Food Bank, Refugee and Immigrant Services Center, and Housing 

Authority to learn about the self-employment needs of the people they serve. Since then they 

have developed relationships with these agencies, conducted comprehensive training programs, 

obtained our 501(c)3 designation, established an active Board of Directors, and received 

sponsorships and funding from foundations, businesses and public agencies.

Within the field of other employment and income assistance programs that target disadvantaged 

individuals, Enterprise for Equity is distinguished for its appreciation of the skills, assets, and 

potential of its participants. Because of this they provide entrepreneur training, technical 

assistance and micro-credit assistance with one eye on who these entrepreneurs are, and another 

on who they can become. With the guidance and support provided by Enterprise for Equity, even 

a person with limited income can dream of owning their own business.

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: The best national research shows that: 

 Low-income micro-entrepreneurs reduced their reliance on government assistance by 61 

percent with the greatest reduction in the amount of cash benefits received. Average benefits 

declined by $1,679. 

 72 percent of low-income micro-entrepreneurs experienced gains in household income over 

five years. The average change in household income was $8,485, rising from $13,889 to 

$22,374 over five years. 

 53 percent of low-income micro-entrepreneurs had large enough household gains to move 

out of poverty. The micro-enterprise business was a major source of earnings for households 

moving out of poverty. 

 Average household assets of low-income micro-entrepreneurs grew by $15,909 over five 

years. 

 49 percent of micro-enterprises owned by low-income entrepreneurs survived after five years 

- a rate comparable to the national average. 

 On average, micro-enterprises create 1.5 full and part-time jobs per business. 

 Micro-enterprises also generate a wide range of social and economic benefits such as lifelong skills development, further education and training, improvement in self-esteem and 

family relationships. 

- The Aspen Institute
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 102 of 198

Lessons Learned: The business directory web pages at the Enterprise for Equity site feature 

only a few of the business owners who have graduated from Enterprise for Equity's business 

training program. All of these businesses have been in operation for at least six months, and 

many of them have been profitable for much longer. They have invested time, energy, and 

passion in order to bring their unique talents and gifts to the South Puget Sound community 

through their business enterprises. Enterprise for Equity is proud to showcase them as buying 

their products and services will keep consumer dollars in the South Puget Sound region, and 

foster the creation of an inclusive local economy in the South Sound. Information is provided 

with each business so that you can contact each of them directly through the contact information 

listed on their individual pages.

Enterprise for Equity Graduates shared these lessons they have learned through the 

programs and services provided to them as shown below:

"Enterprise for Equity helped me to evaluate my business interest, develop a business 

plan that will continue to be refined, provided a supportive environment and extensive 

information. The instructors helped a diverse group of individuals in the class strive to 

meet their goals." - Enterprise for Equity Graduate 

"... Enterprise for Equity provided me with the support I needed to find a way to fit into the 

work force. My ideas and organization skills were recognized as strengths and the interactions 

with others broke up the routine pattern of isolation I sometimes get in. 

-Enterprise for Equity Graduate

"I have had struggles with DSHS about self-employment as a viable option for getting off 

welfare, but many of the skills I learned in class gave me the resource base necessary to 

demonstrate my business could successfully meet requirements for getting my family off 

welfare." - Enterprise for Equity Graduate 

―If you don't have a solid business plan you're not going to go anywhere. It is vitally 

important to define your goals and have them close to you." At Enterprise for Equity, "I 

got to hear other people's versions of what they're doing. I realized the amount of time I 

needed to give to my business, especially the marketing end of things, and now I'm more 

focused than I've ever been." - Enterprise for Equity Graduate
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 103 of 198

Florida‘s Great Northwest INC

Al Wenstrand, President

4471 Legendary Drive, Suite 100

Destin, FL 32541 

Phone: (850)-337-3469 - call toll-free: (888.)859.3469

E-mail: Awenstrand@fgnw.org

Website: http://www.floridasgreatnorthwest.com

Focus: Grow a vibrant and sustainable economy for all 16 counties in Northwest Florida that 

creates nationally and globally competitive advantages for the development of key industry 

clusters, increases the income and prosperity of workers and families, ensures healthy 

communities and a vibrant quality of life, and preserves the natural beauty and resources of the 

region. 

Geographic Area Served: Sixteen counties in the Northwest Peninsula of Florida are a part of 

the Great Northwest Initiative. The counties are: Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, 

Holmes, Washington, Bay, Jackson, Calhoun, Gulf, Liberty, Gadsden, Leon, Wakulla, Jefferson, 

and Franklin

Participant Age Level: No age is specified in the web site but the program of work generally 

focuses on working with high school, as well as the five community colleges, and four university 

level education institutions in the region as well as business persons who would be able to 

execute business contracts. 

Funding Sources: The Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED)

Initiative, created and funded by the United States Department of Labor, Employment and 

Training Administration with a $15 million dollar grant, is designed to support the development 

of a regional, integrated approach to workforce and economic development and education. The 

ultimate goal of WIRED is to expand employment and advancement opportunities for American 

workers and catalyze the creation of high-skill and high-wage jobs. 

The initiative is primarily established as a performance-based grant program that requires a 100 

percent match. Incorporated into the initiative are guidelines that enhance the long-term 

sustainability of the program, establish a minimum wage and benefit structure for which job 

creation assistance will be provided, and incorporate the five workforce investment boards in the 

region and their associated one-stop workforce development centers into the initiative 

governance and program delivery

Key Services Abstract: The vision of Florida ̳s Great Northwest grows a sustainable economy 

throughout Northwest Florida that embraces the rural, suburban and urban components of the 

region. The strategy focuses on job creation and includes:

 Diversifying the Northwest Florida economy, ensuring strength in multiple industry 

clusters, as well as strengthening world trade markets. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 104 of 198

 Lessening the burden of government by focusing on business development that 

complements Northwest Florida‘s existing infrastructure, matches Florida‘s competitive 

strengths, and minimizes the reliance on incentives for business development. 

 Establishing and strengthening international trade, including the import and export of 

goods and services as well as reverse foreign direct investment in the region. 

 Integrating education, workforce, infrastructure, quality of life, and smart growth as 

integral elements to diversify Florida‘s economy. 

 Focusing on quality development through embracing an environment that: 

o Fosters the development of globally competitive businesses. 

o Provides, through the development of high wage/high skill jobs in knowledgebased industries, annual increases in the per capita income of the region. 

o Discourages off-shoring by encouraging the development of high-margin 

businesses. 

o Corrects the region‘s existing two-tiered or barbell economy through a focus on 

job creation in the $30,000 to $80,000 annual income range. 

o Understands that rural projects are different in magnitude than urban/suburban 

projects. 

The strategy incorporates a holistic approach to economic development. It incorporates the basic 

economic development principals of product development, retention and expansion of existing 

industry, attraction, and new business development or entrepreneurship, as well as adding an 

international trade component. 

Florida's Great Northwest WIRED Initiative examined all twenty-six industry clusters 

represented in the region but focuses on creating high wage, high skill jobs in the most promising 

areas which are: Aerospace and Defense, Health Care, Life Sciences, Information Technology 

and Electronics Engineering and Construction Services. Florida's Great Northwest has developed 

a governance council and industry council for each of the targeted industries. Each council 

incorporates membership from the regional partners, including businesses, which must represent 

at least fifty percent of the councils' membership in order to keep the initiatives business driven. 

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: 

Northwest Florida is working hard to create an environment that attracts new jobs and 

businesses, retains, attracts, and educates the kinds of workers needed in the knowledge-based 

economy, and builds a platform for innovation and entrepreneurship, all encompassed in a 

uniquely positive quality of life.

The entrepreneurial focus of Florida‘s Great Northwest is on bringing new technology to the 

market as well as supporting research and development activities across the region and within 

target industries. A key strategy in Florida‘s Great Northwest regional economic development 

plan is to support the growth of locally-founded target industry businesses. Current efforts in 

supporting entrepreneurial development include the formation of an Entrepreneurship Advisory 

Council tasked with identifying the spectrum of needs to assist entrepreneurs, plus an analysis of 

the status of the region. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 105 of 198

The initiative is focused on development of an entrepreneurial business climate and creative 

communities that appeal to the new generation of workers. To be successful in new business 

development in knowledge-based industry clusters, the region must embrace an environment 

supportive of entrepreneurial activity and must create the type of work and living environment 

supportive of the creative Class or the techie society. 

The creative community philosophy has been gaining exposure and acceptance in Tallahassee 

and Pensacola. Additionally, the Gulf Coast from Pensacola to Mexico Beach already has in 

place many of the attributes critical to creative communities

Florida‘s Great Northwest focuses on supporting the philosophy of developing creative 

communities that attract and retain the increasingly diverse, mobile workers who will drive 

tomorrow‘s economy.

Florida‘s Great Northwest has created a publicity campaign that promotes the entrepreneurial 

foundations that are already in place across Northwest Florida as well as the region‘s 

entrepreneurial success stories in an effort to draw attention to and build on the positive 

entrepreneurial climate already in existence in the region.

Florida‘s Great Northwest developed a strategy that fosters the development of a regional 

infrastructure embracing emerging businesses.

Florida‘s Great Northwest facilitated the development of local New Business Investment Clubs, 

a strategy that is working in other states. The investment club is a partnership of local 

community philanthropists who fill in missing parts of emerging clusters by actually providing 

the necessary start-up capital.

One example occurred when a group of community leaders decided their community needed a 

hotel, so they each contributed monthly to an investment club until they had the equity necessary 

for down payment on a hotel, with the local bank providing the balance of the financing. This is 

a particularly effective rural development strategy. 

Another example was a group of manufacturers who realized they each had a need for a specific 

supplier. They invested the equity to start the business and secured the operating line of credit by 

guaranteeing orders for the product. This strategy is essentially a buy your own business 

philosophy that incorporates enough local support to make the business profitable.

Florida's Great Northwest is endeavoring to strengthen and expand incubators and related 

entrepreneurial services throughout the region. Though the Northwest Florida region boasts a 

number of strong R&D institutions, the innovation support framework that helps to translate 

research into commercially viable products or services emerged as an area in which 

improvements can be made. This initiative focuses on strengthening business incubation and 

entrepreneurial services resources and thereby enabling the region to capitalize fully on its 

innovative capacity.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 106 of 198

Florida's Great Northwest continues to develop services such as the Small Business Innovation 

Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase 0 and Phase 1.5 

Programs that enhance the research and commercialization capacity of the region‘s 

entrepreneurial businesses.

Lessons Learned: The common performance measures that the Workforce Investment Board 

(WIBS) have to focus on to continue funding are outdated and focused on placing people in jobs 

not on job creation which is the economic development paradigm essential to growing a vibrant 

economy.

Focusing on job creation is the way to ensure that the Florida‘s Great Northwest initiative can 

meet their grant requirements and the needs of the region. They focus on full-time jobs created 

(full-time offering benefits and sustainable.) Communities that embrace failure can create an 

entrepreneur friendly environment.

Florida‘s Great Northwest could not make the Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) program 

work for individuals but could provide incentives for entrepreneurs to focus on target industries. 

Serial entrepreneurs have provided some of the biggest bang for the investment incentives. 

There is often a gap in the needed seed capital beyond the $100,000 that is often available from 

angel or foundational investors. 

The rework of the Panama Canal will positively impact the Gulf Coast region of Florida when 

completed because of the interstate routes north to the densely populated east coast regions.

The low wage jobs in the hospitality industry have a negative impact on raising the wage scale in 

the region. 

Spin off companies to become supply chain partners in the aerospace and defense industry have 

been good entrepreneurial ventures in the region. 

Tax credits are not very helpful to start up entrepreneurs. Refundable items are more helpful as 

they help with cash flow of new businesses. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 107 of 198

IndianaWIRED (North Central Indiana)

Peggy Hosea, Office Manager

NCI Wired

700 East Firmin Street, Suite 218

Kokomo, IN 46902

Phone: (765)-236-0955 

E-mail: phosea@purdue.edu

Website: www.indiana-wired.net

Focus: North Central Indiana is focusing on the following dimensions of high performance 

production:

• Strengthen entrepreneurship networks

• Launch next generation cluster initiatives

• Leverage talents of older workers

• Create a process of stronger civic engagement

• Invest in promising innovations to align our resources

A model of loose hierarchy to guide these initiatives is used. A Core Team of partners is 

responsible for design and implementation. Individual initiatives are guided through initiative 

charters. A Policy Team holds the Core Team accountable and removes obstacles to stronger 

alignments within the region.

Five industries are targeted in the initiatives: Advanced Manufacturing; Advanced Materials; 

Agribusiness, Entrepreneurship and education opportunities for older workers

Geographic Area Served: North Central Indiana Wired serves 14 counties: White, Carroll, 

Clinton, Benton, Warren, Fountain, Montgomery, Tippecanoe, Fulton, Cass, Howard, Tipton, 

Miami, Wabash. North Central Indiana has a major partnership with Purdue University Center 

for Regional Development.

Participant Age Level: Programs begin with Kindergarten-12, and advance through 

community college, university and older adults being served as needed to develop the 

entrepreneurial pipeline of workers as well as bringing up the skill levels of current workers.

Funding Sources: The initiative began with a first round $15 million grant from the USDOL 

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant. WIRED engaged the 

region‘s community foundations in a discussion of the recent wealth transfer study - conducted 

by the Indiana Grantmakers Alliance and innovative models for capturing a portion of that 

wealth for ongoing investment in community-based entrepreneurship and economic and 

community development. 

Other sources of funding are angel investors from across the region that were convened for a 

workshop facilitated by the Indiana Venture Center along with would-be angel investors, 

especially from the rural agricultural community to put in place a region-wide angel network. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 108 of 198

Key Services Abstract: IndianWIRED is all about transformation. Transformation at many 

levels from how we define our regional economy, what we recognize as our core economic 

assets, our approaches, systems, structures, and institutions that support our regional economy.

Technology and innovation have created a need to evolve how our communities foster economic 

growth. This evolution requires taking a regional approach. The city, county, state, and 

institutional boundaries are irrelevant in a global economy. The North Central region is made up 

of fourteen counties, with a lot of strong local economic assets. Linking and leveraging those 

assets to contribute to the future regional economic transformation is part of our charge.

IndianaWIRED has four major components:

1. Creating Globally Competitive Industries: This effort combines university research with 

existing advanced manufacturing, advanced materials and agribusiness firms to create clusters of 

innovation to strengthen the competitive position of Hoosier companies.

2. Building an Entrepreneurship Super-Region: The goal here is to develop and grow new 

business while equipping existing industry with the tools to think and act entrepreneurially. 

Emerging and existing entrepreneurs – including students – along with community leaders and 

economic development support organizations collaborate in this effort.

3. Developing a Workforce with 21st Century Skills: This two-pronged initiative focuses on both 

older and younger workers. We are enhancing the skills of older workers so they can remain

employable in the future. At the same time we are deploying educational approaches to 

strengthen Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) disciplines for K-12 students.

4. Weaving Supportive Civic Networks: To ensure a region‘s viability, we must work across 

organizational and political boundaries. Those boundaries are irrelevant in a global economy

that places an emphasis on entrepreneurship, innovation and high performance.

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: From a grassroots perspective, emerging regional 

leaders across this 14-county region have solidified regional leadership positions that drive 

structural change, nurture high growth industries, train the workforce and transform the region.

North Central Indiana (NCI) obtained $730,000 in newly leveraged funds during the last quarter 

of 2008 alone. The region has now exceeded all four, end-of-grant target goals and leveraged 

$16 million of reported partner leverage. Measures of success include: 13,641 individuals began 

Workforce Training; 6,594 individuals completed Workforce Training; 1,044 certificates or 

Degrees Awarded, and; 3,130 Workers Placed. 

North Central Indiana‘s Investment Portfolio features over fifty individual programs that are 

managed by twenty-two independent partners. As of December 31, 2008 the region had 

successfully concluded fifty percent of all portfolio programming or 28 of 56 programs. While 

the percentage of new participants has eased as the project winds down, the number of 

recognized emerging regional leaders demonstrates the effective manner in which NCI has 

generated sustainability over time through persistent leadership development. NCI has shared 

and embedded the Opportunity Fund structure with Southeastern Wisconsin WIRED; partnered 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 109 of 198

other WIRED grantees on the use of business innovation programs like Green Workforce and 

Energy Efficiency, and; coordinated a learning experience with Southeast Wisconsin that has 

successfully engaged school superintendents.

Over the last 18 months North Central Indiana WIRED has worked closely with regional 

stakeholders, Indiana‘s Office of Governor, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP) and 

the Office of Energy and Defense Development on formation of an energy technology cleantech

industry network. During Q4 of 2008, the effort culminated in the formation of the Indiana 

Energy Systems Network (IESN), a new cluster organization focused on the talent and 

innovation needed to support Indiana‘s energy technology cleantech sector. IESN projects draw 

on the rich diversity of established and emerging companies and institutions across Indiana who 

collectively make-up a world-class cleantech cluster with expertise in advanced technology 

vehicles, distributed power generation, advanced bio-fuels, renewable energy, and energy 

efficiency. IESN member companies and institutions include: Duke Energy, Cummins, Delphi, 

Allison Transmission, Remy, Rolls Royce, Raytheon, Indianapolis Power and Light, Midwest 

ISO, NSWC Crane, Brevini, I-Power, EnerDel, AltiarNano, Bright Automotive, Purdue 

University, Indiana University, The University of Notre Dame and Ivy Tech Community 

College.

NCI is producing excellent results by any stretch of the imagination. To date, WIRED’s PLTW 

initiative has generated 7,187 student enrollments. Indiana continues to build momentum by 

ensuring students are prepared for engineering and technology-related programs offered through 

institutions of higher education and ready to enter the workforce upon graduation.

Classroom Business Enterprise (CBE) has successfully focused on the development of a 

proven, ready-to-go train the trainer program. CBE has demonstrated how trainers have the 

capacity to increase a student‘s knowledge of economics and entrepreneurship in school settings 

within the WIRED service area by operating hands-on classroom businesses. During the quarter: 

(48) teachers received Phase II training on basic economics and entrepreneurship at the CBE 

Training Program held on the Purdue University campus; student pre-test assessment materials 

were provided to teachers with the anticipation of over 1000 respondents; eight (8) Purdue 

extension Educators began working with CBE trainers, and; eight (8) IU Kokomo SIFE 

(Students in Free Enterprise) students began actively working with CBE trainers in Kokomo. 

CBE and ICEE staffs are currently coordinating the 2009 Business showcase and the Economics 

and Entrepreneurship graduate credit workshop for teachers that will occur on Purdue‘s campus.

Classroom Business Enterprise (CBE) has successfully focused on the development of a proven, 

ready-to-go train the trainer program. CBE has demonstrated how trainers have the capacity to 

increase a student‘s knowledge of economics and entrepreneurship in school settings within the 

WIRED service area by operating hands-on classroom businesses. 

Lessons Learned: A great deal of economic research went into determining economic assets 

mapping and defining the region's strongest industry clusters. Each of these assets and clusters 

represents an economic strength. Other regions may have the same sectors but this region of 

Indiana has a different set of businesses, corporate leaders, and workers, who make up that 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 110 of 198

cluster. That uniqueness is what makes the cluster an asset. Our clusters include Advanced 

Manufacturing, Advanced Materials, and Agribusiness Food Processing & Technology.

The presence of a world-class research university (Purdue) a regional campus of another worldclass university (Indiana University Kokomo) and a top-notch community college with two 

campuses (Ivy Tech Kokomo and Ivy Tech Lafayette) are available in the region. North Central 

Indiana is fortunate to have institutions that represent a major source of innovation development, 

technology transfer, technical assistance, knowledge, and teaching.

North Central Indiana is home to both the Purdue Research Park (the #1 university-affiliated 

research park in the U.S. and Inventrek, one of the Indiana's premier non-university technology 

parks. Both of these assets represent a significant source of entrepreneurship-focused economic 

growth in the region.

North Central Indiana is a region that knows how to make stuff because of the strong 

manufacturing heritage. What we make and how we make it changes, but the ability to make 

stuff is part of our regional DNA that will lead to a bright manufacturing future.

The accumulated knowledge of the baby boomers in this region is astounding. Thirty years of 

experience making stuff is an asset the region does not want to lose. This is an asset that must be 

leveraged. We also know that our young people, nearly ready to join the workforce, represents 

another vital talent asset. Giving them a reason to stay in the region is paramount if the region‘s 

workforce is to be poised and ready with the 21st century skills. 

Key Partnership and open network learnings: The North Central Indiana Workforce

Innovation project (see http://www.indiana-wired.net) brought together twenty-six key partners 

over the past three years to deliver on four focus areas of their initiative. The entrepreneurial 

focus of the project worked to make entrepreneurship a vibrant, mainstream part of the region‘s 

economic and educational culture. Along with other networking efforts to help policy-makers, 

start-up entrepreneurs, and students, their work has resulted in 

• Over 13,000 individuals beginning Workforce Training

• Over 6,000 individuals completing Workforce Training

• Over 1,000 degrees or certificates earned

• Over 3,000 individuals placed in workplaces

and has leveraged over $16M in partner investment to sustain the work of the project. 

This work resulted from an open network approach to guiding the project activities and bringing 

together those in a position to make a difference to become strategic partners. The core team 

began the strategic planning with an asset mapping project and then began strategic doing to 

develop the re-employment networks needed in fourteen generally-rural counties. 

Each re-employment network had a different purpose:

Network Purpose

Strategy redesign network Help company execute on 

new or existing strategies
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 111 of 198

Assessment and guidance 

network

Help laid-off or at-risk 

employees assess their 

skills and career options; 

introduce the reemployment system

Direct re-employment 

network

Help laid-off workers find 

employment in a closely 

related business

Growth cluster network Prepare individuals for new 

opportunities in a growing 

cluster

Skunk works network Help individuals launch a 

growth-oriented business

Self-employment network Help individuals with selfemployment or a lifestyle 

business

Career ladder network Help an individual move up 

from a lower-skill, lowerpaying job

Career exploration network Help an individual explore 

career and training options

The Skunk works network became a place for the innovators among the 700+ engineers who 

were laid off from Delphi Automotive to tinker and test out ideas as well as develop the 

entrepreneurship and business skills they needed in order to get their innovative business ideas 

organized and funded so that they could become self-sufficient and self-employed. The OneStop Career Center in Kokomo, IN worked as an essential entry port for telling unemployed 

persons about the various networks and their purposes that were available to meet their needs.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 112 of 198

Mid-Michigan Innovation Team (MMIT)

David Hollister CEO

Prima Civitas Foundation

1614 E. Kalamazoo Street

Lansing, MI 48912

Phone: (517)-999-3382

E-mail: d.hollister@primacivitas.org

Website: www.mainecareercenter.com 

Focus: Renewing mid-Michigan‘s economic prosperity by reorienting and reinventing the 

region‘s industrial base, developing next-generation talent and capitalizing on the region‘s assets, 

partnerships and networks is the focus. The overall project has one central objective: to catalyze 

regional economic transformation, creating better opportunities for more Michiganders who are 

better equipped to take advantage of them—right here in mid Michigan. Fundamentally, the 

project aspires to help mid-Michigan firms, inventors, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs 

reinvent our economy by fostering innovation wherever we find it, connecting ideas and assets, 

and engaging people within and across communities.

Geographic Area Served: Mid-Michigan which includes these thirteen counties: Bay, Midland, 

Saginaw, Shiawassee, Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, Tuscola, Genesee, Huron, Sanilac, 

and Lapeer

Participant Age Level: Students in the K-12 education system are served in programs designed 

to help develop an entrepreneurial innovation mind set. Business clients must be of age to be 

employed.

Funding Sources: The project began with a DOL Workforce Innovation In Regional Economic 

Development (Wired) grant of $15 million. Since then they have leveraged additional dollars 

from partners. A $250,000 grant has been made to focus on how to change the environment of 

the area so that individuals think more entrepreneurially about their future. Many of the 

university personnel are doing pro bono work. There is an investment of $1 billion dollars being 

made $100 million per year to focus on developing 21st century jobs for the region by 

foundations and the state Venture Michigan Fund. 

Key Services Abstract: The Prima Civitas Foundation, supported by Corporation for a Skilled 

Workforce, is responsible for overall project management, with specific emphasis on 

governance, connecting new partners, communications and facilitation aimed at shared learning, 

public choice-making, and structural transformation. 

Partners include Michigan State, Saginaw Valley, and Kettering Universities; Mott, Delta, and 

Lansing Community Colleges; North Coast Ventures; Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; and 

Center for Automotive Research are helping focus on jobs for the 21st Century.


THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 115 of 198

 Greater Flint Health Coalition: helping entry and mid-level health professionals pursue 

more advanced career alternatives; helping unemployed/displaced workers move into 

healthcare occupations. 

 Kettering University: managing the Center for Fuel Cell Systems and Power train 

Integration incubator with a focus on research, education and commercialization of fuel cell 

systems. 

 Lansing Community College (LCC): Launching entrepreneurship curriculum designed to 

prepare the student to own his/her business and a small business service and technology 

incubator to provide emerging businesses with advice, counseling and mentoring. LCC is 

also launching a healthcare initiative focused on an accelerated prior-degree nursing 

program and Fast Track program for certain health professionals. 

Lansing Community College will launch an entrepreneurship curriculum (12 sections of 

entrepreneurship courses will be taught) designed to prepare the student to own his/her 

business by helping the student identify a specialty area coupled with entrepreneurship, the 

steps to developing a business plan, financing, launching the business, and managing a new 

business. Academic course work, seminars for current and potential small business owners, 

and a business incubator will provide emerging small businesses with services including 

advice, counseling and mentoring. A small business service and technology incubator will 

be launched to foster the start up and growth of new companies with ties to the Lansing 

Community College Small Business Exploration Certificate of Completion and Associates 

in Business. The incubator is expected to accommodate up to 40 companies for each year of 

the grant for a total of 120 companies. Lansing Community College is working with the 

Mid-Michigan intermediate school districts, the Michigan Small Business & Technology 

Development Center, and Saginaw Valley State University in the implementation of this

initiative. At the end of the three-year grant period, the anticipated results are:

-40 new businesses launched

-200 K-12 students introduced to entrepreneurship and 80 graduating seniors

will feed into the post secondary credit and non credit entrepreneurship programs

-20 new completers of the Entrepreneurship Studies Certificate and/or

Associates Degree program

-240 small business and potential small business owners trained through contracted 

seminars

-240 occupational program students completing entrepreneurial studies courses

 Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center: Assisting mid-Michigan firms to develop 

new markets and address facility and job retention beyond automotive. 

 Michigan State University: exploring with various partners ways to grow and process biofuels as alternatives to petroleum and fossil fuels and seeding the development of midMichigan‘s bio economy. MSU is the prime contractor for the WIRED grant. 

 Mott Community College: managing a Building and Construction Technology 

Employment initiative and an Advanced Manufacturing project providing focused 

intervention training to five regional companies to use productivity-enhancing technology 

tools. 

 Prima Civitas Foundation, supported by the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce: 

managing overall the MMIT/WIRED initiative, with specific emphasis on governance, 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 116 of 198

connecting new partners, communications and facilitation aimed at shared learning, public 

choice making and structural transformation. 

 Saginaw Valley State University will manage an Accelerated Entrepreneurship Initiative 

that will consult with, network, incubate, train and otherwise support new ventures. It will 

coordinate the services and supports of over twenty partners to focus on new business 

creation, accelerated market diversification (for existing firms), increase commercialization 

of intellectual property, new market development, self-employment, industrial retraining, 

and assistance to schools in targeting entrepreneurship training efforts in Michigan‘s highgrowth or emerging industries. 

During the life of the grant, we expect a combined impact of: 

-27 firms incubated, 15 of them high-growth; 

-60 firms to receive help with technology integration or market diversification, and eight of 

those in new economy industries to hire at least one new employee; 

-45 entrepreneurs to receive training/ information in commercialization opportunities in the 

region; 

- 48 businesses to be assisted in identifying new markets; 

-300 workers to complete workshops in self-employment opportunities, 

-100 workers to be retrained in high level skills in-demand in the region; and 

-60 high-school trainers to be trained in industry-focused entrepreneurship.

The Center for Business and Economic Development at SVSU has a motto of Real people - Real 

Results. They are open for calls at (989) 964-4475 to discover how CBED can positively impact 

you and your bottom line through the Center for Business and Economic Development. Harry 

Leaver is the Executive Director, (989) 964-4047 hlleaver@svsu.edu

A Michigan Entrepreneurship Score Card is developed annually that shows how the culture is 

becoming more accepting of entrepreneurs. Saginaw Valley State University has put in place a 

minor in Entrepreneurship to connect entrepreneurship to all majors on campus. 

Lessons Learned: If we desire to work with business we have to go to them on their turf to 

learn of their needs and to gain their support of collaborating to enhance the economy of the 

region.

Teacher training is one thing essential to creating a pipeline of persons with an entrepreneurial 

mind-set.

Working with the 2 + 2 program (two years of high school coupled with two years of postsecondary studies) high school students can gain appropriate technical skills and see the value of 

the STEM initiative. 

Most of the work in the Auto Industry today is requiring two years of post high school training. 

The graduation promise initiative encourages staying in school until training is appropriate for 

the work of the future.

Work Readiness testing will be a part of the state testing program beginning in 2010 in order to 

show that students can meet the skills needed by industry and shown through the WorkKeys 

assessment.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 117 of 198

Economic development today must focus on creating an entrepreneurial friendly region and 

state. Entrepreneurial innovation is the key to a growing economy. 

Universities can provide great assistance to small entrepreneurs through providing market 

research database capabilities which small businesses could rent time for using them to gain the 

market information they need. 

Rural enterprise networks are focusing on economic gardening and this helps communities focus 

on how they can encourage business development and growth. 

The Federal budget has lots of funding for R & D but less than one percent of the budget comes 

from selling innovations into the market place. There seems to be a huge disconnect in the

budgeting process. America needs to be smarter about getting innovation from R & D to the 

marketplace. Currently Universities don‘t have incentives to transfer the innovations so they wait 

until some person comes to them and writes a check to the university for use of the technology. 

Some serial entrepreneurs are housing other entrepreneurs and mentoring (Incur Mentoring) 

them in their new business ventures. There needs to be a tax credit for this type of work with new 

entrepreneurs. 

There needs to be better connections between SBA and EPA on the Federal level to add 

capabilities to the system if we are to solve problems rather than regulating things related to the 

environment. 

Daniel Goldstein of Case Western Reserve University has done a lot of work, which he is 

publishing, with worker emotional intelligence that helps with the understanding of 

entrepreneurs.

There is some support for the concept of - if a student completes a degree in the state and starts a 

business that employs persons in the state, there should be forgiveness of college tuition loans 

just like we forgive teacher loans for those who teach.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 118 of 198

West Michigan Strategic Alliance

Greg Northrup, President

951 Wealthy Ave SE

Grand Rapids, MI 49506-1214

Phone: (616)-356-6060

E-mail: northrupg@wm-alliance.org

Website: http://www.wm-alliance.org

Focus: The West Michigan Strategic Alliance serves as a catalyst for regional collaboration in 

order to make West Michigan a better place to live, learn, work and play. Workforce Innovation 

in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) West Michigan which operates within the 

Alliance has a Goal: to develop and manage an innovations lab designed to spawn a wide range 

of innovations in our regional economic development, workforce development and educational 

systems. 

Geographic Area Served: West Michigan Alliance operates in seven counties. They are:

Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo and Ottawa counties.

Participant Age Level: The Alliance serves all people who are eligible to become employed.

Funding Sources: The Alliance began its work in June 2000 and has worked since then to bring 

together partners throughout the region. These partners brought together the funding essential to 

do the work of the alliance. In 2006 a first round $15 million dollar WIRED grant was secured 

and has been merged into the operation of the alliance. Phillip Rios, has served as the director of 

the WIRED initiative. They are located at 10 Straight Avenue SW, Grand Rapids, MI 49504. 

Their phone number is (616)-331-6967 and the WIRED office e-mail is 

admin@wiredwestmi.org The three-year, $15 million West Michigan WIRED grant is funding 

several regional initiatives and programs – called Innovations – that will help the West Michigan 

region overcome many of its workforce, education and economic challenges.

Key Services Abstract: Industries that are targeted are: Advanced Manufacturing, Health Care, 

Life Sciences, and Entrepreneurship.

The Guiding Principles that guides the WIRED initiative are:

Innovation

• Invest in genuine innovations that deliver performance improvements at reduced costs

• Compress cycle times

• Create customer pull

International 

• Target performance outcomes against global benchmarks and global value chains

• Create global awareness at every level of the system

• Source from the best in the world

Integration

• Create seamless integration between the K-16 education system; workforce 

development and training; economic development; and enterprise development

• Integrate work and learning
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 119 of 198

WIRED Sub Goals and Strategies for the West Michigan Entrepreneurial League System

Stimulate entrepreneurship and new business creation in key sectors of the innovation 

economy.

Enterprise Development

•Global School Model

•Accelerated Engineering Program

•Manufacturing Skill Development Coop

•Performance Based Credentialing Using WorkKeys

•Manufacturing Skills Standards

•Health Care RSA

•TriSector - Workforce Development (SOURCE)

Restructure key elements of our workforce development and education systems for emerging, 

existing and transitional workers.

Workforce System Transformations

•Innovation Curriculum

•Industrial Design Council

•Innovation Forum

•Intellectual Property Commercialization

Catalyze, support and sustain strategies to support innovation in our regional economy.

Innovation

•Emerging Sector Skill Analysis

•Regional Supply Chain Evolution analysis

•Knowledge Workers & Economic Development

Better understand the structure of regional employment clusters and the emerging skill 

requirements for the innovation economy.

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: The Result that the Alliance is seeking is - to compete 

and win in the innovation economy.

Focus has been on implementing the Entrepreneurial League System® (ELS) to create a system 

that consistently supports the development of entrepreneurs from early stages of business 

development through business growth. (Collaborative Strategies.) This work has created a more 

entrepreneurial friendly region.

Lessons Learned: Partners are key in advancing the broad initiatives in a region. West 

Michigan‘s partnership members represent both sectoral and geographic diversity. They include 

West Michigan Strategic Alliance; Grand Valley State University; Grand Rapids Community 

College; The Right Place, Inc.; Lakeshore Advantage; Newaygo County Economic Development 

Office; Muskegon/Oceana County Consortium; Ionia County Economic Alliance; Delta 

Strategy; New Urban Learning; Work Design Collaborative, LLC; W.E. Upjohn Institute for 

Employment & Research; Metrics Reporting; Collaborative Strategies LLC; IRN; Michigan 

Small Business & Technology Development Center; Alliance for Health; the Council for Adult 

and Experiential Learning (CAEL); Continuous Quality Improvement Network (CQIN); Best 

Michigan; Lambert, Edwards & Associates; Strategic Communication Group and 2GTech.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 120 of 198

In the eight county West Michigan area there are 96,701 firms registered to do business of that 

number 79,711 or 82 percent of the firms have no employees. The entrepreneur is the key to the 

success of the economy of the West Michigan area. 

The key to a region’s economic success is its entrepreneurial capital. We are not referring to 

financial capital, but to human capital. The most common mistake communities make is to focus on 

the results of the entrepreneurial process – the enterprise and its assets, and to ignore its source – the 

individuals who generate that wealth.

The pipeline of entrepreneurs in a region reflects a continuous flow of entrepreneurs and 

enterprises over time. Each communities‘ Pipeline of Entrepreneurs and Enterprises is different. 

That is why in order to get a true picture of the regions pipeline – researchers must aggregate and 

map the variety of local pipelines to make sure that the whole is (and can be) representative of 

the parts. 

We must acknowledge that to compete successfully in the global economy of the 21st century 

requires regions to have an enterprise development system, where the whole is greater than the sum 

of the parts. This is something that West Michigan needs to create.

The entrepreneur and the enterprise are not one and the same, and the lack of attention to the 

entrepreneur, as distinct from the business, has become a source of failure. Service providers can 

provide numerous stories where the proper assistance was delivered but it had no impact on the 

business at all because (as is commonly recognized after the fact) the entrepreneur was either 

unwilling or unable to take the necessary actions to grow the business. 

By itself, there is no guarantee that the natural movement of the pipeline (i.e., the current startup, 

growth and failure rates) is in accordance with the needs and strategies of the region. 

The critical determinant of a community‘s economic vitality is the quantity and quality of its 

entrepreneurs and how well they are matched to the market opportunities they pursue. Communities 

can and must do something to improve their supply of entrepreneurs. We methodically cultivate 

many other kinds of talent, why not entrepreneurs? 

Most of the above lessons learned come from a Study of Feasibility of and Requirements for 

Implementing an Entrepreneurial League System® in West Michigan, prepared By: Gregg A. 

Lichtenstein, Ph.D President Collaborative Strategies, LLC.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 121 of 198

Piedmont Triad WIRED Project 

Theresa Reynolds, Senior Vice President/WIRED Project Manager

7025 Albert Pick Road, Suite 303 

Greensboro, NC 27409 

Phone: (800)-669-4556 or (336)-668-4556

E-mail: treynolds@piedmonttriadnc.com

Website: www.piedmonttriadnc.com

Focus: There is a transformation team of area university chancellors and presidents working 

under the leadership of Leslie Boney of UNC central administration who are focusing on the big 

leadership needs of economic development. They are focusing on entrepreneurship. Rose 

Johnson of Western Carolina University has led the Associates Degree in Entrepreneurship 

Education. Advantage West has developed the Certified Entrepreneur Communities initiative 

and the Piedmont Triad Partnership (PTP) Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic 

Development (WIRED) is examining that as a concept to be replicated. High School and 

Community Colleges have generally been linked through tech prep initiatives. Grants for REAL 

and Family Health Care have been provided to advance the entrepreneurial preparation of 

students. Elon University has a summer camp for students interested in Entrepreneurship. 

Youth Entrepreneur Surry (YES) is a WIA youth program operating in Surry County that has 

entrepreneurship preparation programs in three school systems - Surry County, Elkin City 

Schools and Mt. Airy City schools. (This is one of PTP‘s WIRED funded grant activities.)

Geographic Area Served: The Piedmont Triad is a dynamic region of more than 1.5 million 

residents and a labor force of approximately 820,000 workers. Geographically, it consists of 

twelve central North Carolina counties, including: Alamance, Caswell, Davidson, Davie, 

Forsyth, Guilford, Montgomery, Randolph, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry and Yadkin. The largest 

cities in the region are Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem.

Participant Age Level: The work has been limited to those over age 16. There can be some 

exceptions for students age 14 to 16 students with DOL approval and in accordance with Youth 

initiatives of the WIA.

Funding Sources: A first round $15 million WIRED grant as well as the use of other funding in 

the region as well as business organization contributions of services has provided needed 

funding. Many of the initiatives have been operations from university or community college 

budgets. 

Key Services Abstract: Six Workforce Boards have linked to a TriadWorks Consortium. PTP 

is working on building a workforce portal for the region. The focus is on 4 different industry 

clusters of the economy as well as building an entrepreneurial network. The region is looking at 

the Certified Entrepreneurial Communities program that Advantage West has developed to

determine how to implement or replicate it. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 122 of 198

The Piedmont Triad Wired is working with the National Information Clearing House project 

which is being developed with a DOL grant. It will help provide information to regions desiring 

to advance their economic structures.

Many partner organizations have developed or shared services to meet the needs of emerging 

entrepreneurs. Some key partners are PTEN, Area Universities, Community Colleges and Surry 

County, Elkin City, and Mt. Airy city school systems. (High schools offering Entrepreneurship 

Education courses) and Elon University offering summer camps for students interested in 

Entrepreneurship. Most people that have been asked to partner have responded positively. People 

in key roles have used their roles to encourage changes that are needed. 

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: There are programs being developed to provide some 

certified regional support networks, such as the Piedmont Triad WIRED, Finger Lakes WIRED, 

and Northwest Florida WIRED. They offer tutorials for small business owners. 

Piedmont Tried Entrepreneur Network (PTEN) has existed for 5 to 8 years and it offers the 

Capital Connections Conference and the Angels Network that focuses on funding for high 

growth businesses. 

Piedmont Triad (PT) Leadership Institute is organized to address the needs of emerging leaders 

in the region as they approach regionalism. There are four areas of focus that they have decided 

to use as their action agenda. One of the four areas is entrepreneurship. The Center for Creative 

Leadership is a partner in this work. 

Many of the initiatives have been pulled together to focus on the needs of the entrepreneurs in 

the community. Entrepreneurs are guiding the initiatives that they see as needed.

A leadership cohort of entrepreneurs are being developed and asked to help make the area more 

entrepreneurial. They are creating the services they determine are needed by them and 

entrepreneurs like them throughout the Piedmont Triad region.

The Yadkin Craft Guild which operates in both NC and VA works to help crafters who are 

dislocated workers to become self-sufficient. They have learned that a mentor/apprenticeship 

system works best. The major problems the guild has encountered are that it is hard to build a 

business with no income and entrepreneurs want to do things their way and don‘t respond to 

mentoring very easily, thus it is hard to keep them afloat. 

Lessons Learned: Rural counties need most assistance and may be the greatest advantage to 

improving economic success. The people generally have ideas for new business ventures and 

have a strong work ethic.

PTN has learned how hard it is to communicate with new entrepreneurs! They are busy, they are 

often isolated, and they are not in organized groups.

There is a wealth of resources but there is little hand holding mentoring support. Many 

organizations want to tell a new entrepreneur to bring in your business plan and we can tell you 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 123 of 198

where to go for resource assistance. The truly needy businesses may not have business planning 

skills. The accelerator concept does not seem to work, many new entrepreneurs need hands on 

assistance or they lose momentum – They are often people with ideas but not business skills –

people need devoted interest and assistance to the project they want to pursue. 

When an incubator – accelerator concept has been tried, there can be turf problems because of 

political clout problems between small business alliances, community colleges, and chamber 

support systems. Reporting on results can be hard also because of privacy issues. Resources are 

generally not the problem. (Community Colleges have small business centers, Universities have 

the Small Business Technology Development Centers, North Carolina State University (NCSU)

has the Industrial Extension Service, Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE) is available in 

conjunction with SBA, Small Business Loans, and Chambers of Commerce has focus for helping 

beginning businesses.)

Co-location of entrepreneurial services is a good thing but it is hard to develop because 

organizations have a hard time paying part of the rent for space. They can pay their rent but to 

co-locate and pay partial rent often gets into some agency or grant funding issues. The issue for 

some organizations is a choice between having funds for client services or paying rent for a place 

to locate. Thus it is hard to get approval for renting space. 

* Perhaps some policy guidelines would be helpful if DOL/ETA would consider this issue. 

One of the best models to learn from is the Prosperity Centers that are operated by Goodwill

Industries of North West NC. They focus on the individuals coming in and ask the new client 

about their hopes and dreams as well as asking about their barriers. Then the Prosperity Center 

Staff works to move the client toward their hopes and dreams by removing the barriers. (In 

Winston-Salem Sherry Carpenter and Art Gibb are contacts.)
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 124 of 198

Workforce Investment System (WIS) Initiative/Program

Rochester, NY Finger Lakes Region

Pat Piles, Program Manager

Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development 

255 N. Goodman Street

Rochester, NY 14607 

Phone: (585)-258-3556 or (585)-258-3533

e-mail: Pliles@fingerlakes.wired.com

Website: www.fingerlakeswired.com

Focus: Finger Lakes Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) was 

created to link the communities of education, workforce development and economic 

development, creating an entrepreneurial, industry-driven, integrated system. The nine-county 

Finger Lakes region is undergoing an historic restructuring. It came to depend on the success of 

Eastman Kodak, Xerox, and Bausch & Lomb, creating a big-company manufacturing culture that 

has floundered as technologies changed and global economic shifts left the region in a state of 

decline. This project is based on a deep commitment to creating fundamental change in the 

region. 

Finger Lakes WIRED has been designed and is being implemented by a strong team of business, 

investor, entrepreneurial, philanthropic, government and academic leaders. These leaders share a 

vision to transform the Finger Lakes region into a premier place in which to innovate, invest in 

entrepreneurial operations, educate workers, and empower them to be agile, adaptable and 

aligned with global opportunities. 

Key Strategies to support the focus are: 

1. Energize the region‘s entrepreneurial economy

2. Catalyze regional innovation and convert orphan or under-utilized technology

 into vibrant business ventures

3. Educate and empower workers to successfully compete in the changing global

 economy

4. Build a collaborative regional education, workforce and economic development

 system.

Geographic Area Served: The Finger Lakes initiative is a partnership of more than 23 

economic development, education, workforce development and business organizations in nine 

counties surrounding the Rochester, New York area. The nine counties in the Rochester area that 

are involved in the Finger Lakes economic enhancement initiative are: Orleans, Genesee, 

Monroe, Wayne, Wyoming, Livingston, Ontario, Yates, and Seneca.

Participant Age Level: Students are served as early as middle school in an effort to help 

students understand the opportunities to innovate and become entrepreneurs. High School camps 

and instruction are provided in order to begin the flow of a pipeline of workers with an 

entrepreneurial mind set. Community colleges and universities provide a range of courses for 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 125 of 198

students and adults in the community who need assistance in advancing their entrepreneurial 

efforts. 

Funding Sources: The key funding for beginning the initiative came through a round one $15 

million dollar WIRED grant from the USDOL and has since become a sustainable effort as the 

partners for the initiative have worked to either generate the funding or to get the initiative into 

regular budgets.

Key Services Abstract: The Finger Lakes region was once among America‘s most innovative 

and entrepreneurial. The decline of its large manufacturers in the last two decades is evidenced 

by increasing poverty and unemployment, decreasing wages, low graduation rates and sluggish 

job creation. The area has responded by cultivating technology development organizations and 

funding services and facilities for start-ups. Economic analysis, however, highlights an absence 

of integrated collaboration and sharing of best practices among regional stakeholders; this has 

created a barrier for transforming the Finger Lakes region into an innovative and entrepreneurial 

economy. A report prepared by the US Council on Competitiveness for two local organizations 

reinforced this conclusion: “Greater Rochester has the assets necessary to develop a strong 

entrepreneurial economy. Indeed, the Rochester area surpasses most regions in the U.S. on 

many dimensions relevant to supporting innovation and entrepreneurship. However, to date, the 

region has not become an entrepreneurial success story...A fundamental challenge is cultural -

the region lacks a strong entrepreneurial environment.”

The twenty-one members of the Finger Lakes partnership represent critical leadership throughout 

the Finger Lakes region; strategic leaders from all sectors have worked to be agents for change in 

the region. RochesterWorks Inc., the non-profit arm of the Monroe County/Rochester Workforce 

Investment Board (WIB), leads the project, employing the project management team, facilitating 

partner projects and maintaining communication among regional, state, and federal stakeholders. 

In cooperation, the Genesee, Livingston, Orleans, and Wyoming WIB and the Finger Lakes WIB 

(comprised of Ontario, Seneca, Wayne, and Yates counties) connected the initiatives to job 

seekers, employers and education systems. Government partners include the City of Rochester, 

the County of Monroe, Empire State Development and Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning 

Council, which represents eight rural counties and is the planning entity for the New York Statedesignated Economic Development District. Public/private entrepreneurial leaders for this 

project are Greater Rochester Enterprise, High Tech Finger Lakes Partnership WIRED Program 

Application Rochester, Infotonics Technology Center, Rochester Business Alliance, and the 

Cornell Agriculture and Food Tech Park. 

The academic community is represented by the region‘s leading universities (University of 

Rochester and Rochester Institute of Technology) and the three community colleges (Finger 

Lakes, Monroe and Genesee.) Led by the business community, private and public sectors formed 

Greater Rochester Enterprise three years ago; the community has shown it is now willing to 

work together in ways that were not possible a few years ago. This commitment is evident in that 

the partners that have joined together to increase worker skills and are placing an emphasis on 

the talents of its entrepreneurial community and the sharing of infrastructure, leveraging each 

other‘s strengths, all of which amplify the region‘s capacity for innovation and build a stronger 

economy. The investment community is an important partner, represented by the Rochester 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 126 of 198

Angel Network and Trillium Group, a local venture capital firm. Philanthropic support for 

regional job creation and entrepreneurship is given by Rochester Area Community Foundation.

The Partnership identified seventeen measurable outcomes of this project, including: increased 

employment and retention; improved earnings and reversed decline in wages (relative to the 

national average); increased job growth and the number of start-up companies, including from

orphan technologies; improved employer satisfaction; involvement of high school students and

teachers in entrepreneurial activities; increased participation in training by companies and

individuals, including training of would-be entrepreneurs and innovators in high-growth sectors;

doubled participation in business development; creation of industry-led clusters that stimulate 

sector growth; and economic development intervention with companies identified as high-risk. 

The outcomes directly involve and impact thousands of people and improve the business climate 

for the 1.2 million residents of the Finger Lakes region.

The lead organization for the Partnership is RochesterWorks, Inc.. The Governing Board,

consisting of presidents (including one representing the eighteen schools of the Rochester Area

Colleges), Chief Executives Officers (CEOs) or chairs from partner organizations, a school 

superintendent representative, and chief elected officials of the region, have set overall strategy 

for the Partnership to ensure the project addresses continually its mission of regional 

transformation. The Operations Team, managers from partner organizations, ensure region-wide 

engagement and project execution and initiative sustainability after the WIRED funding no 

longer exists. 

Implementation Teams oversee the four initiative areas: entrepreneurship, innovation, workforce 

development and economic development. Each team, interdisciplinary by membership, 

coordinates specific initiatives and manages the application process from within the region for 

two funds embedded in this proposal: the New Initiatives Fund and the Workforce Innovations 

Fund. A National Advisory Panel of seven internationally recognized experts assure the 

Partnership is utilizing best practices effectively and help the Partnership accelerate the 

integration of economic and workforce development, which is central to this project.

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: 

The Finger Lakes Partnership has leveraged over $22 million of relevant partner funding. The 

funding will catalyze the region, resulting in a true integration of powerful resources, propelling 

the economy from a period of slow decline to one of national leadership in regional innovation 

and entrepreneurship.

Youth Entrepreneur Academy (YEA) teaches students how to establish a business venture or 

enterprise, and participants write a business plan, receive mentorship from local leaders and start 

their own real business. The 2009 program model was redesigned based on student and parent 

feedback and will shift program delivery from college campuses to high schools. The first high 

school cohort launched in Victor in January 2009. In the fall of 2009 nine high schools will begin 

operating YEA on their campuses.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 127 of 198

In the summer of 2008 scholarship opportunities were provided to encourage 16-18 year old high 

school students to explore the possibilities linked to studies in Science, Technology, Engineering 

and Mathematics (STEM), and help enhance awareness among students and parents of the region 

as a premier locale for STEM career opportunities.

In 2008 scholarships were provided for youth at the following locations:

• Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County, 4-H Camp Bristol Hills for 16 

students

• Finger Lakes Institute - Hobart & William Smith Colleges, Kids College for 7 students

• Infotonics Summer Science Camp for 30 students 

• Rochester Institute of Technology, National Institute for the Deaf for 25 students

• Finger Lakes Council, Boy Scouts of America for 30 students

• Monroe Community College Career Track for 15 students

In August of 2008, 26 educators from 14 school districts participated in this four-day industry 

immersion and professional development program. Educators were placed in industry shadow 

teams and interacted with leaders of 25 businesses in Advanced Manufacturing, Food and 

Agriculture, Information Technology, Biotech/Life Sciences and Optics to learn more about 

career opportunities and the skill requirements of those industries. This experience allows the 

educators to connect their classroom instruction with the workplaces their students will be 

entering in the future.

Educators developed informational presentations to take back to their respective schools and 

districts along with personalized plans for implementation in the upcoming school year. It is 

estimated that over 1,000 students will be indirectly impacted by the program.

Five funded programs are dedicated to providing youth ages 16-21 with the skills and 

competencies necessary for success in high-growth industries, and encouraging them to complete 

high school and pursue technical training. The programs provide a combination of on-the-job 

training and work experience in the industry in order for them to be more aware of the demands 

of the workplaces in the region. Nearly 150 students have participated in these programs.

The Entrepreneurial Network (TEN) is a six-month program designed to introduce local 

entrepreneurs to new ideas by optimizing exposure to and interaction with leading 

entrepreneurial experts through boot camps, workshops and panel events. To date TEN has 

served more than 104 executives from 90 companies spanning the nine-county region.

TEN members have won approximately 8 SBIR grants, created more than 50 jobs, increased 

revenue by more than $7 million and secured more than $9 million in angel and venture capital 

investments.

Technology Commercialization trains qualified students, researchers and entrepreneurs with the 

skills technology development via classroom and on-the-job training and experience necessary to 

launch new businesses and raise capital, and positions them to become serial entrepreneurs. 

Specific training is provided in the areas of business and commercialization principles, business 

development and technology development via classroom and on-the-job training. The 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 128 of 198

Technology Commercialization project has directly generated: $2 million+ in investments and 

grants; 3 new jobs created; and 483 entrepreneurs, researchers and students have received tech 

commercialization training.

Pre-Seed workshops (PSWs) foster a collaboration of technologists and/ or inventors 

knowledgeable about business and provide an assessment of potential for a specific invention. In 

November 2008 a multi-regional conference with 70 participants from the Rochester and Geneva 

region pre-seed workshops was held with the aim of increasing the visibility and profile of 

entrepreneurial training and support provided by PSWs, as well as to enhance multi-regional 

collaboration and extend support to underserved areas. Over 170 researchers, entrepreneurs and 

students have benefited from these workshops since 2006.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs advance the region‘s small business 

tech transfer efforts. Specific, hands-on training is provided to businesses services were utilized 

develop three Phase II SBIR/ Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant applications. 

Since the programs inception five firms received SBIR/STTR awards leading to almost $1.3 

million in federal dollars reaching the region.

The Scholarship program allows businesses to apply for up to $25,000 in funding to upgrade the 

skills of their workers to meet the demands of emerging industries including Alternative Energy, 

Biotech & Life Sciences, Food & Agriculture, Optics & Imaging, Advanced Manufacturing, 

Information Technology, Engineering, Business Services and Health Care sectors. All funded 

training leads to the acquisition of transferable skills and/or industry recognized credentials.

Since the program launch in September 2006, Finger Lakes Wired has allocated over $3.7 

million for 205 unique businesses to increase the skills of 5,700 workers, with $6.4 million in 

matching funds provided by business.

Incumbent Worker Training programs have reached over 7,000 workers in the past three years to 

provide them upgraded transferable skills that can be used in emerging industries. See

http://www.fingerlakeswired.com/about.aspx for more details of results achieved in the Finger 

Lakes region through this initiative.

Lessons Learned: Bringing partners together from throughout a region is a key to enhancing 

the economic development of a region. Developing the capacity to work jointly through an open 

network is one key to the communication of the goals that must be driven by all the partners. It 

generally takes 2-3 years to reach a point where the momentum is such that the partnerships can 

achieve shared goals.

Getting beyond talk to strategic doing is very hard. It generally takes longer to ramp things up 

than expected because of the bureaucracies involved. 

Partners must learn together and create win-win situations for all partners in order to continue 

sustainable partnerships that are powerful and focused on shared goals. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 129 of 198

Community colleges need to work jointly to develop courses that will be provided throughout a 

region. They can market the courses jointly, seek scholarship support jointly, select students 

jointly and provide the courses in the most appropriate locations as demanded by the clients. 

When more than one Workforce Investment Board (WIB) exists in a region they can jointly plan 

to meet the needs of the region‘s businesses and unemployed or under-employed persons. The 

joint working of multiple partners focused on common goals will allow the resources available to 

the One-Stop Career Center staff to be enhanced. 

Having a person in a coordination role is one key to ensuring that programs done by multiple 

partners throughout a region are effective and sustainable. 

To develop an entrepreneurial mindset in a region there has to be a lot of learning on behalf of 

educators, parents, students, business and economic development leaders, and those leading 

collaboratives that brings partners together to revitalize a region. 

Business attraction models are no longer going to work to enhance the economies of a region. 

We must learn to develop regional economies through entrepreneurial initiatives.

Developing a pipeline of entrepreneurs must start with changing the K-12 education system and 

continue throughout the higher education system. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 130 of 198

Northeast Pennsylvania WIRED Initiative (Wall Street West)

Jim Ryan, Director of Outreach and Network Development

Wall Street West

125 Goodman Drive

Bethlehem, PA 18015

Phone: (610) 758-5219 

E-mail: jryan@wallstreetwest.org

Website: http://www.wallstreetwest.org/

Focus: Wall Street West is a not-for-profit partnership of more than two dozen local, regional 

and statewide economic development agencies, technology investment groups, workforce 

development organizations, educational and research institutions and experts from the private 

sector. 

The current local financial services and insurance industry cluster includes the core segments of 

insurance, banking and securities and investments already operating in the Northeast Region of 

Pennsylvania. The Wall Street West Initiative is focused on bringing additional headquarters, 

back office/shared services, customer service, sales centers, software development and data 

centers to the Northeast region of Pennsylvania. Wall Street West will provide local support 

services for the financial services industry. These services will include:

• Software development

• Disaster recovery/business continuity

• Records management and electronic imaging

• Data center services

• Tax, audit and advisory services

Geographic Area Served: The northeastern Pennsylvania region is a nine-county area with a 

combined population in excess of 1.7 million, spread over approximately 5,189 square miles. 

There are five different Workforce Development Boards operating in the region. It is home to 27 

colleges and numerous corporations including Bank of America, Wachovia Bank, Guardian Life 

Insurance Company of America and Sovereign Bancorp. More than 25,000 residents are 

employed within the financial services and insurance industries in northeastern Pennsylvania. 

The nine counties included are: Wayne, Lackawanna, Pike, Monroe, Northampton, Lehigh, 

Carbon, Luzerne, and Berks County. 

Participant Age Level: Career Development programs have been designed for students 

beginning in kindergarten through grades 12 in order to create a pipeline of qualified workers for 

financial services occupations. Many students are enrolled in specific preparation programs in 

high school programs as well as post secondary programs. The majority of the initiative works 

with adults who are employed, seeking employment or managing organizations related to the 

Wall Street West initiatives. 

Funding Sources: The Wall Street West group secured a $15 million Workforce Innovation in 

Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grant from the U.S. Department of Labor back in 

2006 to help fund its effort to attract New York City-based financial institutions to establish their 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 131 of 198

back-up and back-room operations in the region. Partners bring lots of additional funding 

through the numerous efforts that are focused on the initiative.

Key Services Abstract: Historically, Northeast Pennsylvania was an economy driven by coal 

and steel. Over the last several years, however, this region has completed several important 

research and planning activities necessary to transform its economy to become a region that 

serves as secondary operations, financial institutions - also known as Wall Street West.

Northeast Pennsylvania is focusing on five facets of transformation:

1. Connectivity: Building the Infrastructure - In order to meet the telecommunications needs 

for Wall Street West, private and public sector resources are united to build the 

broadband network between Northeast Pennsylvania and New York City. 

2. Creating the Talent Pool - Wall Street West utilizes a variety of education and training 

programs to: 

• Create industry specified curriculum; 

• Retrain within the region's the large population of dislocated workers, 

• Create career ladders and current worker training to help workers advance;

• Build a pipeline of workers through high school programs;

• Increase the numbers of students engaged and completing post-secondary education; 

and

• Creating internships for high school and college students.

3. An Innovation Environment -Through expansion of Keystone Innovation Zones and 

University partnerships with community-based organizations, Wall Street West continues 

to build a regional environment that supports technology transfer, research partnerships 

and entrepreneurial activity. 

4. Strategic Investment - By increasing the coordination of existing economic development 

and investment programs, Wall Street West utilizes targeted investment in business 

expansion, attraction and start-ups, along with technology development in the financial 

services sector to enhance the region. 

Stronger Regional Partnerships - In order to sustain momentum, Wall Street West builds on the 

existing Northeast Pennsylvania Telecom Working Group to strengthen partnerships and 

ongoing strategic collaboration between workforce investment organizations, education and 

economic development partners.

Summary of Key Benefits and Results: Wall Street West is focusing on relocating key 

financial services businesses from the Wall Street area in New York. They focus on providing 

incentives to help recruit businesses to the region. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania‘s 

Department of Community and Economic Development offers a variety of incentives depending 

on certain qualifications of the company and the location selected for their operations. Examples 

of available incentives include: 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 132 of 198

Customized Job Training

Grants available for up to 75% of the cost for training newly hired employees that include

the cost of instruction, supplies and materials, contracted services and related travel.

Job Training Tax Credits

Tax credits for creating new jobs for approved businesses. A $1,000 per job tax credit is 

used to offset various business tax liabilities. Business must create 1 job per $1,000 

within 3 years. 25 percent of the tax credits allocated each year must go to businesses 

with less than 100 employees. Tax credits may not be used by a business until the jobs 

are actually created.

Workforce and Economic Development Network of Pennsylvania (WednetPA)

Provide funds for a wide range of basic and high-tech training for qualified companies.

Opportunity Grant Program (OGP)

Funds available to support new jobs that offer significant economic impact and include:

• Machinery and equipment

• Working capital

• Job Training

• Infrastructure

• Land and building improvements

• Acquisition of land and buildings

• Site preparation

Keystone Opportunity Zones (KOZ)

For operations located in designated KOZ locations, the following taxes are reduced 

nearly to zero:

State Level

• Corporate Net Income tax

• Capital Stock and Foreign Franchise tax

• Personal Income tax

• Sales and Use tax (for purchases consumed by the business located in the Zone)

• Mutual Thrift Institution tax

• Bank and Trust Company Shares tax

• Insurance Premiums tax

Local Level

• Earned Income/Net Profits tax

• Business Gross Receipts, Business Occupancy, Business Privilege and Mercantile tax

• Sales and Use tax for purchases consumed by the business located in the Zone

• Property tax

Lessons Learned: Wall Street West wouldn't be possible without the support of the numerous 

public and private partners. The work toward a regional economic development has brought 

many partners together through a shared strategic planned initiative. 

Though more than 2,000 students at the area‘s 21 colleges and universities are pursuing degrees 

relevant to the financial services industry, in 2007, Wall Street West conducted a Gap Analysis 

to identify gaps between the available workforce and needs of the financial services industry. 

According to the report, which can be accessed as shown below, the region, like many regions 

across the country, has room for improvement. 

http://www.wallstreetwest.org/assets/base/pdfs/WSW-MSB-GapAnalysis.pdf As such, Wall 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 133 of 198

Street West has developed several programs, including the Innovation Investments and 

Workforce Investment programs, to address these gaps and ensure essential education and 

training are in place for Pennsylvania workers and students. For additional information on the 

Gap Analysis or these funding programs, please contact Susan Shaffer at 

sshaffer@wallstreetwest.org.

A number of education partnerships have been developed to focus on generating the pipeline of 

students essential to staff the businesses operating and coming to the Northeast Region of 

Pennsylvania known as Wall Street West. Northeastern Pennsylvania has the resources in place 

to ensure the workforce receives the best possible training. In addition to the 49,000 students 

currently attending the 21 area colleges and universities, programs are offered to advance the 

connectivity among business/industry, education, and workforce and economic development 

stakeholders to people at all stages of their education and career. The following is a sampling of 

regional programs available in Northeastern Pennsylvania:

Northeastern PA Tech Prep Consortium - A consortium of schools, colleges 

and industry members working together to help students and parents better 

understand career opportunities available in the region and helps schools develop 

training programs that prepare students for highly technical careers. The 

Consortium offers a Leadership Academy, for 11th grade students at a college 

campus that focuses on teamwork, critical thinking, problem-solving and 

customer service.

Berks Business Education Coalition - Coordinates the resources of the business 

community in partnership with the education community, toward selective 

initiatives that will improve student competency. The coalition developed a 

Career Pathways model to help students explore and make career choices. 

Additionally, they partner with Project 720 high schools to infuse the Career 

Pathways into the strategic plan of each school.

Luzerne County Business & Education Partnership - A program designed to 

develop a cohesive, comprehensive and viable school-to-work system to enhance 

the career and decision-making skills of all students within Luzerne County. The 

partnership created the Luzerne County Academic Assessment Tracking System 

(LUCAATS) linking students to higher education, community agencies, 

volunteer opportunities and career/employment information. In conjunction with 

the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber, they also produced a Guide to Business 

Education Connections to help educators connect with programs and services 

offered to students and teachers by area businesses.

Lehigh Valley Business Education Partnership - Collaborates with school 

districts to raise student achievement levels, support and align education with 

career preparation and workforce development, and advocate for sound 

educational policies. The partnership established more than 150 job shadowing 

opportunities for students in member school districts in 2005-2006 and facilitates 

the Summer Teacher Internship Program, which allows local educators to work 

for local businesses for six weeks in the summer to increase their awareness of 

workforce issues and to relate those experiences to their students.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 134 of 198

Greg Newton....Filling a Need

Greg Newton is a results-oriented consultant and trainer whose widely recognized success 

stories come from Workforce Development areas across the nation. Since 1981, more than 450 

state and local organizations and over 100,000 training participants have benefited from working 

with Greg. Greg has an undergraduate degree in marketing from Ohio University and a Masters 

in Public Administration from Harvard University. His range of expertise is founded on more 

than 20 years of experience in the Workforce Development Community and is complemented by 

tireless review and analysis of trends and promising practices. Greg combines these with his 

perceptive ability to envision successful approaches to position for the future -- so that clients are 

ensured solutions that span from targeted strategic planning to hands-on practical 

implementation.

In the fall of 2008 at a state-wide Workforce Development Conference Greg focused on the work 

of One-Stop Career Center personnel working to help enhance client skills and place them in 

jobs with existing businesses and industries. After listening to Greg Newton in three different 

sessions for more than 3 hours a conference participant asked Greg why he had not talked about 

Self Employment Assistance or entrepreneurship as a service tool of the One-Stop Center 

personnel. He responded that ―very little focus is provided within the Workforce Development 

System currently to assist persons to become self-sufficient through their own entrepreneurial 

endeavors.‖ Then he went on to share his personal story. As an unemployed person he was able 

to get some consulting work within the Workforce Development System. He was effective in his 

training and continued to receive requests for services. After a while he was turning down 

requests as his calendar was so filled. At this point he realized that he had a business that was 

allowing him to be self-sufficient without being employed by any one organization. No one had 

ever suggested to him that he consider starting a business of his own when he became 

unemployed, he just took his skills and talents and determined that he could meet clients needs 

and be rewarded for his preparation time and training delivery.

After launching his successful consultation business in 1981, it continued to grow, Greg 

expanded in 1994 to add other consultants and trainers to meet increased demand for his 

services. Greg Newton Associates have worked in every state, and customers cover the full 

spectrum of public and non-profit workforce development programs. 

We share Greg Newton‘s story to say that One-Stop Career Center staff can and should assist 

individuals to become self-sufficient as a self-employed person if they have the skills to meet 

customer‘s needs. For some clients this is the most acceptable way to help them return to the 

workforce.

http://www.gregnewtonassociates.com/pages/home.php 

NewtonGreg@aol.com

One Hanson Street, Boston, MA 02118

(617)-426-5588
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 135 of 198

STRATEGIC DOING:

THE ART AND PRACTICE OF STRATEGIC ACTION IN OPEN NETWORKS

Economies are not just metaphorically like open systems, they literally and physically

are a member of the universal class of open systems.

 Eric D. Beinhocker, The Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity and the Radical Remaking of Economics

The future ain't what it used to be. Yogi Berra

Strategic doing guides strategy in open innovation networks

As we move into the world of networks, we need to find new ways of thinking together.

Strategic thinking and the capacity to translate ideas into action have never been more important. 

Yet, traditional approaches of strategic planning, developed by corporations 40 years ago, are too 

slow, too rigid for today's fast cycle world. Command-and-control management styles also don't 

work very well. Long, drawn-out strategic planning exercises sap our energy and predictably 

lead to frustration and discouragement.

Networks are different. In a world of open networks, strategy becomes the art of guiding 

purposeful conversations. Effective strategy translates ideas into action quickly, so we can learn 

what works. That's what strategic doing is all about. It's a roadmap for guiding our conversations 

to a deeper level...quickly. Strategic doing balances both open participation and leadership 

direction. It helps us identify and keep focused on the transformational questions that move 

people. At the same time, strategic doing is never far from execution: What‘s our next step?

Developing an executing strategy in open networks requires a new approach: Strategic doing

While inflexible approaches to strategic planning are becoming obsolete, we still need practical 

strategies. We need to find fast ways to link and leverage our assets in order to achieve 

transformational outcomes. How do we reduce high school dropouts and by 30% in three years? 

How do we accelerate the number of start-ups in our region by a factor of ten? How do we 

double or triple the number of health care technicians or machinists we are training? These are 

the big questions, the transformative questions.

Strategic doing can help us answer them. Strategic doing is a set of principles, practices and 

disciplines for implementing strategy in a network. Old models of strategic planning were 

designed for hierarchical organizations, and they do not work well. Strategic doing is different. It 

guides strategy across organizational and political boundaries with a discipline to build 

collaborations quickly. Strategic doing answers four questions:

• What could we do together?

• What should we do together?

• What will we do together?

• How will we learn together?

Sounds simple, yet, it is not easy. Too few of us have learned the civic habits of keeping our

conversations focused and on track. Too few of us have learned the skills of thinking together. 

Too few of us follow the handful of simple rules we need to manage complex projects in an open 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 136 of 198

network. This should not surprise us. Hitting a golf ball straight looks easy, but it's not. Cooking 

a good meal from scratch looks easy, but it‘s not. Like any new skill, strategic doing takes 

practice.

Here's the good news. Once we learn the discipline of strategic doing, the process of strategy 

becomes faster, much faster...and a lot more fun. Translating ideas into action is no longer an 

obstacle, but an opportunity. Moving ideas to action becomes an integral part of how we work 

together. Once we understand the process, we can move ideas into action quickly. And it is not 

limited to just a few ideas. We can move a lot of them. That‘s what creativity, innovation and 

learning are all about.

Action plans are still important for a simple reason: We tend to get lost unless we write down our 

tasks and next steps. At the same time, our strategic plan is no longer a thick dust collector on the 

shelf. Rather, it becomes a concise guide that quickly explains where we are going and how we 

are going to get there. It‘s fast to read and easy to understand.

At the same time, with strategic doing, there is no final strategic plan. Instead, our plans are more 

like strategic agendas that we can quickly revise to reflect midcourse corrections, new insights 

from what we have learned, and new opportunities that pop up from time to time. Learning is 

what makes strategic doing fun. Making connections, learning, collaborating: this work is hardly 

work at all. It's both gratifying and rewarding, because it takes place in an atmosphere of trust, 

mutual respect, and enduring relationships. We collaborate and learn from people whom we trust 

and respect. At the same time, we are willing to share what we know when we sense that others 

value our insights and perspectives.

Strategic doing is also a skill that we can teach to others, once we have learned it ourselves. So, 

strategic doing is low cost and scalable. It can become a convenient framework for igniting and 

managing creative collaborations. We need enduring collaborations to integrate education, 

workforce development, and economic development. Strategic doing can deliver them. It helps 

us set quality standards for our civic collaborations. It becomes how we get stuff done when we 

venture outside the four walls of our own organizations.

There's more good news. Strategic doing is flexible. You can start the process in as little as an 

hour. Of course, as with most things, more time is better. But in today's world, we need to adjust 

to the fact that everyone's time is both scarce and precious. So we need to be flexible. We need to 

be prepared to do our strategic thinking on-the-fly.

The Simple, Guiding Questions of Strategic Doing

Let's look at more detail to the questions that guide strategic doing. 

What could we do together? Strategic doing starts with our assets. Asset mapping is a critical 

first step, but it is not enough to list our assets. We need to probe. We need to ask questions 

about how our assets -- our strengths -- could be combined in new and different ways. This step 

calls us to creativity. We need to see new patterns in our assets, new connections that we could 

form, new collaborations that align interests and help us achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. 

During this first step, we gain some insights about the importance of purposeful conversation. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 137 of 198

First, we learn that the key to deep conversation is not speaking, it‘s listening. (Another Yogi 

Berra quote comes to mind: ―It was impossible to get a conversation going, everybody was 

talking too much.‖) We also learn another important lesson: Our thinking follows the direction of 

our conversation. That‘s why focusing on our assets is so important. Our future prosperity will 

flow from the opportunities we see by linking, leveraging and aligning our assets.

Every person, every organization has an infinite list of deficiencies: things we do not have or 

cannot do. At the same time, every individual, organization, community possesses some clear 

and unique attributes, a set of assets that define who you are, what you can do, and how you live 

your life.

To understand the power of linking assets, follow a small thought experiment. Consider a

group of three people: you and two of your friends. The combination of your attributes -- your 

skills, your experiences, your intelligences -- is unique on the planet. No group has quite the 

same mix. How can you combine your assets to create something new? Only your friends and 

you can answer that question, of course. And you‘ll need some deep, engaging conversation to 

do it.

Now add another dimension: your networks. Each one of you has a group of trusted people in 

your networks. One of your friends might have a small network, ten people or so. Another might 

have a network that is considerably larger, fifty people or more. In any case, these networks are 

also assets on which you can call for an important purpose. Now, we are not talking just about 

three unique individuals. We are all of the sudden engaging a network twenty to thirty times as 

large.

Our thought experiment started with a small group of three people. Now let‘s go back and 

consider what would happen if we started with a community group of twenty, fifty or two 

hundred. You can begin to see the possibilities that open networks create.

What should we do together? Once we start focusing on our assets and how we can combine 

them in new and different ways, we inevitably come up with a lot of different ideas about how 

we could collaborate. We have all been in brainstorming sessions in which we have covered the 

wall with new ideas. Then reality hits. None of us has the time to pursue all of these ideas. We 

need to decide. We need to choose one two or three things that we can do together.

Simply choosing is not enough; we really also need to focus on defining clear outcomes. We 

need to distill and integrate our thinking. We need to be clear about where we are heading. We 

need practical, tangible outcomes. Visions can be vague. Outcomes are not. There‘s an important 

reason to focus on practical outcomes. If we want others to follow our leadership, we will need 

to explain our outcomes concretely. Most people are intensely practical. They will only spend 

their time on projects they think can succeed. Our verbal picture of a strategic outcome needs to 

be specific enough to move people. We need to give people the opportunity to experience our 

outcomes in their mind‘s eye. They need to picture in concrete terms how things will be 

different.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 138 of 198

Clear, concise strategic outcomes have another benefit. Clarity points us to the metrics we need 

to measure our progress. For example, if we have a strategic outcome of teaching every third 

grader to read and comprehend well, we will clearly measure our progress by following third 

grade reading scores.

What will we do together? Now comes the step of translating ideas into action. To move 

forward, we need to make mutual commitments. We need to come up with an action plan of who 

does what, when. Action plans map our path ahead. They are also critical if we are going to 

enlist the support of others.

By definition, transformation requires us to step outside our comfort zones, outside the familiar 

patterns of how we lead our lives. People will not move in a new direction without a clear 

strategic outcome. They need to feel an emotional investment in a strategic outcome. Yet, that is 

not enough. Before they begin altering old patterns, people also need confidence that there is a 

practical path to get to our outcome.

People -- rightfully -- see some risk if they are asked to abandon old patterns, old habits, in favor 

of something new. What if the new path leads nowhere? What if we fail? What if I fail? These 

are all legitimate concerns. A clear, concise action plan helps us understand the magnitude of the 

risks we face and make a decision about whether we will personally commit to moving ahead.

How will we learn together? An action plan and even executing an action plan is not enough. 

We need to chart out a process for learning together; we need to create a learning loop. No one is 

clear what works. What we learn, we learn by doing. So the last question of strategic doing is 

probably the most important: How will we learn together?

In practical terms, this comes down to answering two questions. First, how we will leverage the 

Internet to share information and experiences before we meet again? Second, how and when will 

we come together to assess our progress? To be an effective discipline, we must map a process 

by which we will reconnect -- both in person and on-line – to continue our learning and the 

strategic doing cycle.

A continuous commitment to learning and sharing also distinguishes the process of strategic 

doing from traditional strategic planning. In the traditional approaches to strategy, decisions rest 

in the hands of a few. With strategic doing, decisions continuously emerge through focused 

conversation and consensus. We listen to opposing views and reach new insights by integrating 

new perspectives. Then, we move toward action. Consensus emerges from a shared 

understanding that talking has its limits. If we are going to transform, it‘s less important what we 

do, and it is more important that we do something.

Consensus does not mean unanimity. It does, however, mean open participation in the process of 

choosing among alternatives. Not everyone needs to agree, but everyone who wishes to 

participate needs to be heard. We need full open and full debate of our strategic alternatives.

Managing these conversations, guiding consensus, and moving toward action quickly requires 

leadership direction. So, open participation needs to be balanced with leadership: The ability to 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 139 of 198

see patterns, restate issues, integrate diverse perspectives, and move ahead. Good leaders give 

voice to new insights. They move us toward shared outcomes, and they see the tensions that 

inevitably emerge as new opportunities for creativity and innovation.

One last point: Throughout the strategic doing process, transparency becomes a critical 

component of successful collaborations. As trust builds within a community or network, gaining 

consensus becomes faster. Transparency has other benefits. Not everyone can be everywhere. 

For people who must momentarily step outside the process -- or for latecomers to a strategic 

doing process -- transparency helps people engage more quickly. They can quickly make up for 

what they have missed.

Developing New Civic Spaces with Strategic Doing

To promote innovation, we need new habits to think and act together. In region after region, the 

central challenge involves moving people out of old patterns of thought and behavior. The best 

way to move past these old traps is to form new collaborations across organizational and political 

boundaries.

The irony is, of course, that these boundaries are, for the most part, no longer boundaries at all. 

In a world of global competition and the Internet, traditional boundaries – boundaries often 

drawn decades ago -- simply limit our thinking of what is possible. When you think about it, 

submitting our thinking to these boundaries doesn‘t make much sense. It‘s a little like driving 

your car by looking in the rear view mirror.

In crossing our traditional organizational and political boundaries, we face some very practical 

problems, though. Again, it may sound simple, but it is not easy. As a first matter, we often do 

not have a habit of coming together on a regular basis to explore the big opportunities of 

transformation. A trusted convener may be hard to find. Or, simply locating a place where people 

feel comfortable poses problems. More typically, though, we often do not know how to act. We 

do not behave toward each other in ways that build trust and mutual respect.

Incivility emerges in a wide range of behaviors. People withhold information from each other. 

People may shout at each other. People may simply ignore each other. Recall a time when you 

left a civic or public meeting angry or frustrated. Now think about the behaviors (not the people) 

that gave rise to your frustration. Chances are, at the core, someone‘s incivility pushed you over 

the edge.

The irony, of course, is that we do not have to put up with incivility. We can agree to behave 

toward each other in ways that build trust and mutual respect. We can agree to follow some 

simple rules. It‘s not hard. Libraries do it every day.

Leveraging the Collaborative Power of Web 2.0

Strategic doing is not an event. It‘s a process. Indeed, with strategic doing, the process is the 

product. By connecting assets to our emerging opportunities, defining clear outcomes, setting 

action plans, and committing to learning, we are strengthening the habits we need to build 

networks and the trust that powers them. The collaborative tools of Web 2.0 -- blogs, wikis, RSS
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 140 of 198

feeds, and others -- energizes strategic doing. These tools enable us to collaborate remotely. Web 

2.0 unleashes the true power of the Internet – its interactivity. Web 2.0 tools make the two way 

flow of information easy. We can now communicate one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-one. 

We can embed or stream video and audio files, so that people can be in the room. We can share 

files and co-author documents. All this power is now in the hands of everyone. These tools are 

now simple enough for anyone who can type.

This interactivity creates profound implications. Information is freely available, and we can 

locate just what we need quickly. We can filter vast amounts of information and receive only 

what we want. Continuous learning is open to anyone with a connection to the Internet. People 

with similar interests can now find each other easily. Equally important, these tools enable online communities to thrive. They facilitate creativity, collaboration and sharing among members 

of a community. Strategic doing quickly leads to the formation of new communities. Web 2.0 

tools empower these communities to continue their collaborations.

Strategic Doing and Regional Leadership

Finally, strategic doing requires a different kind of leader, someone who understands the 

importance of distributing responsibility and decision making widely. With strategic doing, 

leaders understand that a big part of the job involves helping others to learn.

Leaders lead by helping others find and follow their passions. Effective leaders understand that 

creativity and innovation is not the product of a single mind but the blending of diverse 

perspectives. Leaders skilled in strategic doing understand when they must lead from the front 

and when to lead from the rear. They are comfortable doing both.

Regional leaders can play a range of roles. The following table outlines the key roles. As we

move toward new models of strategic doing, these roles will evolve.

Different Mental Models of Regional Leadership 

An Appreciative mindset:

Focus on our assets, on what we do want, do have, can do, what is working and why, what we 

want to move toward, what matters to us.

A Deficiency mindset:

Focus on what we don‘t want, don‘t have, can‘t do, what‘s not working and why, what we want 

to move away from, what we feel constrains us.

NEW NETWORK LEADER ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

Conveys or Maintains the civic spaces

Connector - Links people, networks and assets

Civic entrepreneur - Sees new opportunities

Guide, mentor - Maps a complex process

Strategist - Reveals larger patterns
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 141 of 198

About I-Open

The Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) develops and deploys new models of 

economic and workforce development based on open networks and the principles of open source 

software development. These models accelerate innovation in cities, rural counties and regions 

by strengthening collaborations among individuals representing diverse interests in business, 

education, economic development, workforce development, politics and philanthropy. I-Open‘s 

approach revolves around new principles, practices, and disciplines of strategic doing. I-Open is 

currently deploying these models in collaboration with the Purdue Center for Regional 

Development and the Edward Lowe Foundation.

Learning More

Contact Ed Morrison at I-Open: edmorrison@i-open.org

http://www.indiana-wired.net/documents/white_papers/I-Open_White_Paper_Strategic_Doing_v1.pdf

White paper version 1.2 Ed Morrison, Institute for Open Economic Networks, December 2008

www.i-open.org Telephone: (216) – 650 – 7267 e-mail - edmorrison@i-open.org
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 142 of 198

65 Indispensable Web Sites for Business Owners

Get your business going, keep it going strong or take it in a new direction with this compilation 

of web sites for entrepreneurs. January 15, 2009

URL: http://www.entrepreneur.com/websmarts/article199544.html

At last count there were approximately 10 gazillion web sites out there. Where's a business 

owner to start when looking for valuable information? If you're reading this, it means you're on 

www.Entrepreneur.com, which is a good start. The next eight pages provide the basic 

information and URL for 64 more vital online spots you should know about. Read on and try 

them out!

Accounting Terminology Guide

http://nysscpa.org/prof_library/guide.htm

If you need to know what a specific accounting term means, no matter how obscure, this is the 

site for you. Hosted and maintained by the New York State Society of CPAs, nearly 500 

accounting terms are defined on this site, all sorted in an easy-to-use alphabetical list.

AccountingWEB

www.accountingweb.com

Updated daily, this site offers accounting industry news, information, tips, tools, resources and 

insight--everything you need to prosper and interact with other accounting professionals.

Adweek Online

www.adweek.com

This is the online edition of Adweek, a popular print magazine focusing on all things advertising 

and marketing. This site features the inside scoop on what's going on in the marketing 

departments of high-profile companies and corporations.

American Association of Franchisees and Dealers

www.aafd.org

This organization represents the rights of both franchisees and dealers. Here you can learn about 

upcoming events, read some free publications online, order other publications from the 

bookstore, and become a member.

Backpack

www.backpackit.com

Backpack is a web-based service that makes organizing your company's information easy. 

Backpack lets you make pages that can contain any combination of notes, to-dos, images, files 

and so on.

Better Business Bureau

http://us.bbb.org

Browse or search for a business or charity's reputation. Included are instructions for how to file a 

consumer or B2B complaint.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 143 of 198

BizBuySell

www.bizbuysell.com

Looking to buy a franchise? There's a good chance you'll find one here. From restaurants in 

California to auto shops in Florida, you can search more than 25,000 businesses currently for 

sale, many of which are franchised.

Bizwomen

www.bizwomen.com

Bizwomen is an online community for women business executives and entrepreneurs to connect, 

support one another, learn and grow. You can share and explore ideas with women across the 

United States or in your neighborhood to help grow your business.

Business Owner's Tool Kit

www.toolkit.com

With an emphasis on problem solving, this site features more than 5,000 pages of free costcutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates 

to small-business owners and entrepreneurs.

Business Owners Idea Cafe

www.businessownersideacafe.com

Managed by successful entrepreneurs and the authors of several guides on forming and running a 

business, this site includes numerous award-winning resources, along with practical advice, 

business news and humor.

BrandChannel.com

www.brandchannel.com

Run by internationally acclaimed brand consultancy Interbrand, BrandChannel.com provides a 

global perspective on brands and the art of branding. Site features include in-depth feature 

articles, conference announcements, career resources and access to white papers.

Brandweek

www.brandweek.com

A leading source of news and information for the branding industry, it's also the only online 

trade magazine to offer saturation coverage at all levels of the brand-activation process.

Catalyst

www.catalystwomen.org

Catalyst is a leading corporate research and advisory organization that works with businesses to 

build inclusive environments and expand professional opportunities for women.

Chief Marketer

www.chiefmarketer.com

A content-rich website, Chief Marketer provides marketing executives with insights into key 

marketing issues, innovations and practical solutions.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 144 of 198

CPAdirectory

www.cpadirectory.com

When April rolls around and you find yourself scrambling to find a CPA, this site will help. 

Billed as the largest online database of Certified Public Accountants, here you can search for 

CPAs by ZIP code, name, industry or area of specialty.

Customer Service Group

www.customerservicegroup.com

New Jersey-based Alexander Communications Group (ACG) uses this site to provide practical 

information free of charge to customer service professionals. If you work in the customer service 

industry, sign up for Service Starters, ACG's free customer service industry eNewsletter.

Customer Service Manager

www.customerservicemanager.com

If you work in customer service, this web site is for you. Here you will find an active community 

of customer service professionals, along with daily news, reviews, articles and resources aimed 

at improving customer service.

Customer Service Zone

www.customerservicezone.com

Customer service expert Robert Bacal's web site for customer service professionals, The Zone 

offers information to help businesses of all sizes and their employees provide efficient and 

effective customer service.

Direct Marketing Association

www.the-dma.org

The Direct Marketing Association is the largest trade association for businesses that are 

interested and involved in direct, database and interactive global marketing. Here you can learn 

more about the DMA, become a member and access its services.

Electronic Frontier Foundation: Intellectual Property

www.eff.org/issues/intellectual-property

EFF works to preserve balance and ensure that the internet and digital technologies empower 

consumers, creators, innovators, scholars, and average citizens. This section of the EFF web site 

spotlights current challenges and solutions facing the intellectual property rights of everyone.

Entrepreneur.com / WomenEntrepreneur.com

www.entrepreneur.com/ womenentrepreneur.com

Published by the same people who bring you Entrepreneur magazine, this is an excellent site for 

entrepreneurs, featuring a solid collection of articles and tips from experts, plus hundreds of links 

to other entrepreneurial resources on the web. WomenEntrepreneur.com offers additional 

articles, blogs and resources specific to women for starting and growing their businesses.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 145 of 198

Entrepreneur Connect

econnect.entrepreneur.com

Entrepreneur's social networking site is a gathering place for thousands of business owners. 

Take part in discussions, join like-minded business owners in groups, and give and receive 

valuable advice from the trenches.

Entrepreneur.com's Trade Publication Directory

www.entrepreneur.com/tradepublication/category/index.html

Don't miss one of the internet's largest searchable databases of trade publications. From 

agriculture and biotech to purchasing and procurement, Entrepreneur.com has your industry's 

trade publication listed here.

Fambiz.com

www.fambiz.com

Fambiz.com is the internet's leading website for owners and employees of family controlled 

companies. Managed by Northeastern University's Center for Family Business, here you will 

find insight on every family run business topic imaginable.

Federal Trade Commission: Franchise and Business Opportunities

www.ftc.gov/bcp/franchise/netfran.htm

This site has lots of information, including an FAQ section, Guide to the FTC Franchise Rule, 

consumer alerts, Before You Buy pamphlets, and state disclosure requirements.

Franchise.com

www.franchise.com

Learn more about available franchise opportunities or advertise your franchise to potential 

buyers at this site, which aims to connect franchise buyers and sellers, as well as anyone thinking 

of starting one.

Franchise Expo

www.franchiseexpo.com

If you're thinking about buying a franchise, do your research here; you'll find detailed 

information on nearly every franchising opportunity known to man.

Franchise Zone by Entrepreneur.com

http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises

Dedicated to linking enthusiastic entrepreneurs with the top franchises, this site provides all the 

information you need to find the best franchises and become a successful franchisee. How-to 

articles, advice from experts and lists of the top franchises in various categories make this the 

first site to turn to for those considering the purchase of a franchise.

FreshBooks

www.freshbooks.com

FreshBooks is an online invoicing and time-tracking service that helps businesses of all sizes 

save time, get paid faster and look professional.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 146 of 198

Fundability

www.fundability.com

Fundability is a marketplace where entrepreneurs and investors can find funding success. 

Founded by entrepreneurs and investors, Fundability's Company SnapShot, Deal Search Engine, 

and DiligenceRoom provide intelligent online tools for the savvy entrepreneur.

Glide

www.glidedigital.com

Glide is a complete mobile desktop providing a secure and scalable platform for personal and 

collaborative computing.

Google Checkout

www.googlecheckout.com

This online payment system works alone or as an alternative to systems already in place. 

Customers don't have to share credit card information with merchants that use the system, and 

identity protection is increased.

Google Docs

www.google.com/docs

The folks at Google deliver a free web-based word processor and spreadsheet, which allow you 

to share and collaborate online. Google Docs accepts most popular file formats, including DOC, 

XLS, ODT, ODS, RTF, CSV, PPT, and more.

Hoover's

www.hoovers.com

Hoover's gives you access to up-to-date information about industries, companies and key 

decision makers. Great for professionals working in sales, marketing, business development, and 

others who need intelligence on U.S. and global companies, industries, and the people who lead 

them.

Idea Locker

www.bkfk.com

One of the best invention/patent sites on the Web for novice innovators of all ages, this site is 

specifically designed for kids. It provides information on how to invent, famous inventors and 

discoveries.

Internal Revenue Service

www.irs.gov

Business owners can get all of their federal and business tax information--not to mention forms--

directly from the source. It's also a good place to stay current on tax laws that affect business 

owners.

Jobfox

www.jobfox.com

Started by the former CEO of CareerBuilder.com, Jobfox walks you through creating a skills 

inventory and then tells you which employers are looking for people with those exact skills. The 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 147 of 198

Jobfox site also provides a free trackable resume and career web page to showcase your skills, 

experience and work samples.

Kauffman Foundation

www.kauffman.org

The Kauffman Foundation delivers an up-to-date and relevant website dedicated to furthering 

our understanding of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship and to advancing entrepreneurship 

education and training. Check out the Resource Center for getting started information on 

business operations, sales and marketing, human resources, finance and accounting, and the like.

LinkedIn Jobs

www.linkedin.com/jobs

Whether you're looking for a new job or trying to help someone else find the perfect job, 

LinkedIn can help you find and get in touch with the people you need to contact. Create a profile 

and click the Jobs tab to get started.

Microsoft Small Business Center

www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness

A vehicle for selling various Microsoft small-business products, this site also provides plenty of 

excellent information and advice entirely for free. If you're starting or running your own small 

business, Microsoft's Small Business Center is an excellent place to learn from the experts.

Mint

www.mint.com

Entrepreneurs can get help with the personal finances, money management and budget planning. 

In addition, Mint offers free financial planning software.

National Association for the Self-Employed

www.nase.org

The NASE provides its self-employed members with support, education and training. The 

organization conducts surveys relevant to the needs of the self-employed and posts articles 

business owners can use.

National Association of Women Business Owners

www.nawbo.org

NAWBO is a fierce advocate for women business owners, providing resources and support. It 

can help women get access to government contracts that most business owners don't know about.

PayPal

www.paypal.com

Perhaps the best-known payment system, PayPal allows web sites to receive and send money 

electronically. Business owners and customers find PayPal easy to use--and secure.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 148 of 198

Salesforce.com

www.salesforce.com

Easy-to-use web-based customer relation management tools for your entire company, including 

online solutions for sales, service, marketing, and call center operations.

Small Business Administration

www.sba.gov

Here you can learn how to start your own business and finance it. The site also provides 

information on business opportunities, local SBA offices, laws and regulations, and much more.

Survey of Current Business

www.bea.gov/scb

The monthly Survey of Current Business is the definitive source of information by the U.S. 

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) about its economic accounts. Monthly updates present the 

latest national, international, regional, and industry estimates, that keep business leaders up to 

date on relevant BEA issues and initiatives.

Survey Monkey

www.surveymonkey.com

Put your finger on the pulse of your customers with this free basic service. Create and publish 

custom online surveys to gather data you can use.

TradePub.com

www.tradepub.com

If you're looking for a trade publication, you're likely to find it here. This site features an 

extensive list of free business, computer, and engineering trade newsletters and magazines, all of 

which you can subscribe to for free.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

www.uschamber.com

Find your local branch, figure out how to start, learn about new taxes and much more at the 

national Chamber of Commerce site.

U.S. Copyright Office

www.copyright.gov

Find all of the forms, publications and information you need to copyright your original work.

U.S. Department of Labor: Office of Small Business Programs

www.dol.gov/osbp

The OSBP promotes opportunities for small businesses, especially disadvantaged businesses, 

women-owned businesses, HUBZone businesses and businesses owned by disabled veterans.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

www.uspto.gov

Official site for searching the U.S. patent database. The site also includes international treaties, 

statutes and patent news.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 149 of 198

VentureDeal

www.venturedeal.com

Easy-to-use database with the latest information on U.S.-based venture-backed technology 

companies, senior management, company financings, and M&A transactions. Updated daily, this 

site offers a convenient way of accessing critical information related to business development, 

funding searches and venture capital investment goals.

VisualCV

www.visualcv.com

VisualCV reinvents your resume using technologies that transform the way in which resume data 

is presented, accessed and shared. VisualCV allows you to easily build and manage online career 

portfolios that come alive with informational keyword pop-ups, video, pictures and professional 

networking.

Wesabe

www.wesabe.com

The site offers financial advice, analysis and planning for business owners.

Word of Mouth Marketing Association

www.womma.org

Official website of Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), where you can find the 

latest thinking on a variety of Web 2.0 marketing strategies, including word of mouth marketing.

Work.com

www.work.com

The small-business owner's manual on where to go, what to know, and how to get the most value 

from the ever-growing array of web resources for business. The site features more than 2,000 

how-to guides written by business experts and organized by common business tasks and 

challenges.

Women's Work

www.wwork.com

Women's Work is dedicated to helping women move from standard 9-to-5 jobs to flex careers--

telecommuting, small business and other options. This site is packed with articles, advice, howto guides, flexible career choices, and success stories to inspire and motivate.

Wufoo

www.wufoo.com

Wufoo is a web-based application that removes inefficiency and tediousness from the formbuilding process. The Wufoo site reduces what used to take trained professionals days (if not 

weeks) into something that can be done by anyone in minutes.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 150 of 198

Yelp

www.yelp.com

Yelp provides a fun and engaging website for passionate and opinionated influencers to share the 

experiences they've had with local businesses and services. Watch out because yelping can be 

quite addictive.

Zimdesk

www.zimdesk.com

Zimdesk provides all the features and functionality you would expect from a standard desktop 

PC. The difference is that Zimdesk runs from an internet browser, allowing you to access all 

your applications, files, games and accessories from any computer.

Zoho

www.zoho.com

Zoho offers a suite of office productivity tools online, including a word processor, spreadsheet 

program, invoicing tool, presentation creator, web-conferencing functions and calendar 

organizers.

This list was compiled by the Entrepreneur.com staff, with a major assist from Mikal E. Belicove, author of 

the 2009 Internet Directory: Web 2.0 Edition.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 151 of 198

Entrepreneurship Competency Model

 

http://www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/pyramid.aspx?ENTRE=Y
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 152 of 198

Entrepreneurship Competency Model

Table of Contents

About the Model ................................................................................................... 3

Tier One: Personal Effectiveness Competencies ............................................. 4

Interpersonal Skills.................................................................................... 4

Initiative ..................................................................................................... 4

Ambition .................................................................................................... 5

Adaptability & Flexibility ............................................................................ 5

Willingness to Take Risks ......................................................................... 6

Willingness to Learn.................................................................................. 6

Tier Two: Academic Competencies ................................................................... 7

Reading..................................................................................................... 7

Writing ....................................................................................................... 7

Mathematics.............................................................................................. 8

Science & Technology .............................................................................. 8

Communication—Listening and Speaking................................................ 9

Critical and Analytical Thinking ................................................................. 9

Tier Three: Workplace Competencies.............................................................. 10

Creative Thinking .................................................................................... 10

Networking .............................................................................................. 11

Planning & Organizing ............................................................................ 11

Problem Solving & Decision Making ....................................................... 12

Checking, Examining & Recording ......................................................... 13

Business Fundamentals.......................................................................... 13

Computer Applications............................................................................ 14

Tier Four: Entrepreneurship Technical Competencies.................................. 15

Principles of Entrepreneurship................................................................ 15

Innovation & Invention ............................................................................ 16

Planning .................................................................................................. 16

Marketing ................................................................................................ 17

Financial Management............................................................................ 19

Business Operations ............................................................................... 19

Risk Assessment and Management ....................................................... 20

Tier Five: Entrepreneurial Focus Areas (TBD)................................................ 21

Resources Reviewed ......................................................................................... 22
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 153 of 198

ABOUT THE MODEL

The Entrepreneurship Competency Model is depicted in a graphic consisting of nine tiers. The 

arrangement of the tiers in a pyramidal shape is not meant to be hierarchical, or to imply that 

competencies at the top are at a higher level of skill. The model’s shape represents the increasing 

specialization and specificity in the application of skills as you move up the tiers. Tiers 1-4 have been 

developed and are divided into blocks. The blocks represent competency areas, that is, the applied skills, 

knowledge, abilities essential to successful entrepreneurial performance. A table of the competency 

definitions and associated key behaviors accompanies the graphic.

Tiers 1 through 3 contain Foundation Competencies, which form the 

foundation needed to be ready to enter the workplace. 

Tier 1 –Personal Effectiveness Competencies are shown as 

hovering below the pyramid because these competencies are 

essential for all life roles. Often referred to as "soft skills," personal 

effectiveness competencies are generally learned in the home or 

community and reinforced and honed at school and in the workplace. 

They represent personal attributes that may present some 

challenges to teach or assess.

Tier 2 – Academic Competencies are critical competencies primarily 

learned in a school setting. They include cognitive functions and 

thinking styles. Academic competencies are likely to apply to all industries and occupations.

Tier 3 – Workplace Competencies represent motives and traits, as well as interpersonal and selfmanagement styles. They generally are applicable to a large number of occupations and industries.

Tiers 4 and 5 contain Industry Competencies, which are specific to an industry or industry sector. Since 

entrepreneurship is not an industry, tiers 4 and 5 have been broken out as follows: 

Tier 4 – Entrepreneurship Technical Competencies represent the knowledge and skills that are 

common to all entrepreneurial activities. These technical competencies build on, but are more 

specific than, competencies represented on lower tiers.

Tier 5 – Entrepreneurial Focus Areas represent types of enterprise. Related competencies may be 

developed by interest groups or communities of practice. 

Tiers 6 through 9 represent the specialization that occurs within specific occupations within an industry. 

Information on occupational competencies is available through O*NET OnLine 

(http://online.onetcenter.org/.)

Competency – A cluster of 

related knowledge, skills, 

and abilities that affects a 

major part of one’s job (a 

role or responsibility), that 

correlates with performance 

on the job, that can be 

measured against wellaccepted standards, and that 

can be improved via training 

and development. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 154 of 198

Tier One – Personal Effectiveness Competencies

1. Interpersonal Skills: Displaying skills to work with others from diverse backgrounds.

Demonstrate Insight into Behavior 

 Interpret accurately the verbal and nonverbal behavior of others

 Show insight into the actions and motives of others

 Recognize when relationships with others are strained

 Assess the abilities and personalities of others

Maintain Open Communication

 Maintain open lines of communication with others

 Encourage others to share problems, successes, and new ideas

 Establish a high degree of trust and credibility with others

 Demonstrate honesty and integrity

Work with Diverse People

 Demonstrate respect for the opinions, perspectives, customs, and individual differences of others

 Value diversity of people and ideas

 Keep an open mind when dealing with a wide-range of people

 Consider others’ viewpoints

 Develop effective relationships with diverse personalities

 Take action to learn about the climate, orientation, needs, and values of other groups, 

organizations, or cultures

2. Initiative: Demonstrating a willingness to work.

Take Initiative

 Exhibit confidence in capabilities 

 Demonstrate the expectation to succeed in future activities

 Seek opportunities to influence events and originate action

Set Challenging Goals

 Establish personally challenging but attainable work goals (short-, medium-, and long-term goals)

 Set definite time spans for the achievement of goals

 Articulate a vision for achieving goals

Work Independently

 Develop own ways of doing things

 Perform effectively with minimal direction, support, or approval 

 Exert effort toward task mastery

 Bring issues to closure by pushing forward until a resolution is achieved
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 155 of 198

3. Ambition: Demonstrating desire and dedication to achieve goals. 

Motivation

 Endeavor to succeed and excel

 Possess a desire for change, improvement, and personal accomplishment

 Strive to exceed standards and expectations

 Embrace challenges

Persistence

 Pursue work with passion, energy, drive, and a strong accomplishment orientation

 Accomplish tasks even when conditions are difficult or deadlines are tight

 Persist at a task or problem despite interruptions, obstacles, or setbacks

Perseverance

 Show patience, tenacity, and determination to achieve goals

 Undertake long-term commitments to new projects

 Cope with stress and ambiguity, especially in times of uncertainty

 Weather the highs and lows of business

4. Adaptability & Flexibility: Displaying the capability to adapt to new, different, or changing 

requirements.

Employ Unique Analyses

 Generate innovative ideas in complex areas

 Integrate seemingly unrelated information to develop creative solutions

 Develop innovative methods of obtaining resources when insufficient resources are available

Entertain New Ideas

 Consider new ways of doing things

 Seek out the merits of new approaches to work

 Embrace new approaches when appropriate 

 Discard approaches that are no longer working

 Be willing to change as the organization evolves

Deal with Ambiguity

 Show tolerance for ambiguous, unstructured situations

 Take effective action even without all the necessary facts in hand

 Change plans, goals, actions, or priorities to deal with unpredictable or unexpected events, 

pressures, situations and job demands

5. Willingness to Take Risks: Displaying a willingness to accept risks associated with 

entrepreneurial activities. 

Evaluate Risks

 Identify the risk associated with a particular action or decision

 Compare the risk of one decision/action with that of alternatives

 Describe the ―worst case scenario‖
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 156 of 198

 Weigh costs and benefits to assess whether a risk is worth assuming

 Evaluate the risks and possible rewards

Assume Risks

 Take calculated risks

 Develop back-up and alternative plans to minimize potential risk factors

 Treat failures, should they occur, as valuable learning experiences

6. Willingness to Learn: Displaying a willingness to learn and apply new knowledge and skills.

Demonstrate an Interest in Learning 

 Be curious and attentive to identify business opportunities (the environment in which businesses 

operate is constantly changing)

 Anticipate changes in work demands 

 Search for and participate in assignments or training that address changing demands

 Treat unexpected circumstances as opportunities to learn

Learning Strategies

 Set lifelong learning goals

 Identify when it is necessary to acquire new knowledge and skills

 Pursue opportunities to develop new knowledge, skills, and expertise

Identify Career Interests

 Take charge of personal career development by identifying interests, strengths, options, and new 

business opportunities

 Make insightful career planning decisions based on consideration of others’ feedback and 

available opportunities
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 157 of 198

Tier Two – Academic Competencies

1. Reading: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents. 

Comprehension

 Locate written information in prose and in documents such as manuals, reports, memos, letters, 

forms, graphs, charts, tables, calendars, schedules, signs, notices, applications, and directions

 Attain meaning and core ideas in written materials

Attention to Detail

 Identify main ideas

 Note details and facts

 Detect inconsistencies

 Identify implied meaning and details, missing information, and trends

Integration

 Analyze information in written materials

 Synthesize information from various written materials

Application

 Integrate what is learned from written materials with prior knowledge

 Apply what is learned from written material to follow instructions and complete tasks

2. Writing: Using standard English to compile information and convey ideas.

Organization and Development

 Prepare accurate, clear, error-free written communications

 Create documents such as letters, directions, manuals, reports, graphs, and flow charts

 Communicate ideas and information, which may contain technical material, in a logical, 

organized, and coherent manner

 Convey ideas that are well developed with supporting information and examples

Mechanics

 Use standard syntax and sentence structure

 Use correct spelling, punctuation, and capitalization

 Use appropriate grammar (e.g., correct tense, subject-verb agreement, no missing words)

Tone

 Write in a manner appropriate for business

 Use language appropriate for the target audience

 Use appropriate tone and word choice (e.g., writing is professional and courteous)
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 158 of 198

3. Mathematics: Using mathematics to express ideas and solve problems.

Quantification

 Read and write numbers

 Count and place numbers in sequence

 Recognize whether one number is larger than another

Computation

 Perform basic math computations accurately

 Translate practical problems into useful mathematical expressions 

 Use appropriate mathematical formulas and techniques

 Add, subtract, multiply, and divide with whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percents

 Graph and chart data

 Calculate percentages, averages, ratios, proportions, and rates

 Convert decimals to fractions and fractions to percents

Financial Literacy

 Apply personal money-management principles and strategies to personal finances

 Explain the functions and services of financial institutions

4. Science & Technology: Applying scientific principles and using technology to solve problems 

or develop solutions.

Comprehension & Application

 Explain basic scientific principles

 Use commonly available technology

 Consider carefully which tools or technological solutions are appropriate for a given job

 Choose consistently the best tool or technological solution for the problem at hand 

 Demonstrate innovative thinking by using new and existing technology in new ways

Keeping Current

 Demonstrate an interest in learning about new and emerging tools and technologies

 Seek out opportunities to improve knowledge of tools and technologies that may assist in 

streamlining work and improving productivity

5. Communication- Listening & Speaking: Giving full attention to what others are saying and 

speaking in English well enough to be understood by others.

Speaking & Presenting

 Express information to individuals or groups taking into account the audience and the nature of 

the information (e.g., technical or controversial)

 Speak using common English conventions including proper grammar, tone, and pace

 Speak clearly and confidently

 Present information in a logically organized manner

 Articulate clearly passion, vision, venture, and commitment

 Use eye contact and non-verbal expression effectively

 Track audience responses and react appropriately to those responses
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 159 of 198

Persuasion/Influence

 Influence others

 Present thoughts and ideas in a persuasive manner

 Gain commitment and support for proposed ideas

 Help others overcome resistance to change

 Woo venture capitalists and other contacts to seek financial support for new ideas

 Persuade key decision makers to invest resources to transform ideas into reality

Active Listening

 Receive verbal messages and other cues

 Pick out important information in verbal messages

 Appreciate feelings and concerns of verbal messages

 Attend to nonverbal cues

 Respond appropriately to verbal and nonverbal messages

 Ask questions to clarify issues or unclear messages

6. Critical & Analytical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to address problems. 

Mental Agility

 Identify connections between issues

 Learn new enterprises quickly

 Shift gears and change direction when working on multiple projects or issues

Analyzing Information

 Analyze points of view

 Categorize and classify data

 Compare and contrast information

Reasoning

 Possess sufficient inductive and deductive reasoning ability to perform job successfully

 Critically review, analyze, synthesize, compare and interpret information

 Draw conclusions from relevant and/or missing information

 Apply knowledge of the relationships among facts when solving problems

 Understand principles of cause and effect
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 160 of 198

Tier Three – Workplace Competencies

1. Creative Thinking: Generating innovative and creative solutions. 

Generate Innovative Solutions

 Reframe problems in a different light to find fresh approaches

 Entertain wide-ranging possibilities others may miss 

 Use information, knowledge, and beliefs to generate original, innovative solutions

 Take advantage of difficult or unusual situations to develop unique approaches and useful 

solutions

 Search for new ways of improving efficiency of existing processes 

 Identify what is missing from current product stream 

 Search for new ideas for product improvement

 Apply innovative new ideas that satisfy the needs of a clearly defined market

 Demonstrate new ways of thinking, not merely about what is, but of what might be

 Conduct brainstorming sessions

 Exhibit capacity for imagination, creativity, and empathy

See the Big Picture

 Possess broad knowledge and perspective

 Piece together seemingly unrelated data to identify patterns and trends to see a bigger picture

 Think expansively by combining ideas in unique ways 

 Make connections between disparate things to see what others may have missed

 Identify the pieces of a system as a whole and the consequences of actions on parts of the 

system

2. Networking: Establishing professional relationships and partnerships.

Building Relationships

 Seek opportunities to make contacts through organizational events, social events, external 

organizations, and professional activities

 Identify partners/employees/consultants who complement one’s own strengths and weaknesses

 Exhibit trustworthy behavior to build successful business relationships

Partnering

 Establish strong and lasting partnerships with business contacts

 Seek ways of increasing business opportunities with contacts

 Negotiate with partners to create opportunities that increase the competitive position of both 

parties

 Propose innovative business deals to customers, suppliers, and business partners
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 161 of 198

Leveraging Contacts

 Leverage contacts to obtain information relevant to the health and continued growth of the 

organization, including feedback on organizational performance

 Access outside consultants who can provide market projections and advice

Collaboration

 Collaborate among partners to ensure buy-in and follow through on strategies

 Identify mutually beneficial goals and work cooperatively with partners to achieve them

 Collaborate in virtual teams via conference calls, web casts, and net meetings

3. Planning & Organizing: Planning and prioritizing work to manage time effectively and 

accomplish assigned tasks. 

Planning

 Approach work in a methodical manner

 Develop business plans to map out approaches to new ventures

 Schedule tasks so that work is completed on time

 Keep track of details to ensure work is performed accurately and completely

Prioritizing

 Prioritize various competing tasks 

 Perform tasks quickly and efficiently according to their urgency

 Find new ways of organizing or planning work to accomplish work more efficiently

Allocating Resources

 Estimate resources needed for project completion

 Allocate time and resources effectively 

 Keep all parties informed of progress and relevant changes to project timelines

Anticipating Obstacles 

 Anticipate obstacles to project completion 

 Develop contingency plans to address obstacles

 Take necessary corrective action when projects go off-track

4. Problem Solving & Decision Making: Applying critical-thinking skills to solve problems by 

generating, evaluating, and implementing solutions.

Identifying the Problem

 Anticipate concerns before they arise

 Recognize the existence of a problem

 Deal with problems and challenges in order or priority

 Identify the nature of the problem by analyzing its component parts

 Recall previously learned information that is relevant to the problem

Locating, Gathering, and Organizing Relevant Information

 Use all available reference systems to locate information relevant to the problem
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 162 of 198

 Collect and analyze data

 Examine information obtained to gain a better understanding of the problem

 Recognize important gaps in existing information

 Takes steps to obtain information to eliminate gaps

Generating Alternatives

 Integrate previously learned and externally obtained information to generate a variety of highquality alternative approaches to the problem

 Identify the strengths and weaknesses, the costs and benefits, and the short- and long-term 

consequences of different approaches

Choosing and Implementing a Solution

 Evaluate numerous potential solutions 

 Make difficult decisions even in the absence of solid data or in ambiguous situations

 Commit to a solution in a timely manner

 Develop a realistic approach for implementing the chosen solution

 Observe the outcomes of implementing the solution

 Assess the need for alternative approaches 

 Identify lessons learned

5. Checking, Examining, and Recording: Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining 

information in written or electronic/magnetic format.

Completing Forms

 Complete appropriate forms quickly and completely

 Expedite forms, orders, or advances that require immediate attention

 Detect and correct errors, even under time pressure

Record Keeping

 Keep logs, records and files that are up-to-date and readily accessible

 Update logs, files, and records, noting important changes in status

 Maintain record of daily financial transactions

 Maintain personnel records

 Maintain customer records

6. Business Fundamentals: Applying knowledge of basic business principles, trends, and 

economics to work activities.

Business Ethics

 Demonstrate respect for colleagues, coworkers, and customers

 Act in the best interest of the company, the community, and the environment

 Comply with applicable laws and rules governing work 

 Recognize relevant, ethical issues in business

Market Knowledge 

 Explain market trends in the industry and the company’s position in the market

 Identify who the company’s primary competitors are 

 Stay current on organizational strategies to maintain competitiveness
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 163 of 198

Business and Economic Principles

 Explain the economic principles and concepts fundamental to entrepreneurship/small-business 

ownership

o Business cycles

o Competition

o International trade

o Private enterprise

o Productivity

o Supply and demand

 Determine factors affecting a business’s profit

 Determine the impact of business cycles on business activities

 Assess impact of government actions on business ventures

7. Computer Applications: Using a computer and related applications to input and retrieve 

information.

Comprehending the Basics

 Use basic computer hardware (e.g. PCs, printers) and software (e.g. word processing software, 

spreadsheet software) to perform tasks

 Use common computer terminology (e.g., program, operating system) 

 Solve routine hardware and software problems 

Preparing Documents

 Use word processing programs to create, edit, and retrieve document files

 Key materials quickly and accurately

 Check work carefully 

 Identify and correct keying errors

 Use basic reference materials and tools (e.g., spell check) to ensure accuracy

 Use correct style and format, consulting style manuals as necessary

Internet Applications

 Use the internet and web-based tools to manage basic workplace tasks (e.g., timekeeping, 

maintaining employee records, conducting information searches)

 Perform internet functions requiring the use of log-in and password information

E-mailing 

 Compose professional e-mails to communicate business-related information to coworkers, 

colleagues, and customers

 Navigate the e-mail system and its basic functions (e.g., replying to/forwarding messages, using 

electronic address books, attaching files)

 Ensure that key stakeholders are kept informed of communications by copying (i.e., ―CCing‖) 

them on important e-mails when appropriate

Spreadsheets

 Use spreadsheet software to enter, manipulate, edit, and format text and numerical data

 Create and save worksheets, charts, and graphs that are well organized, attractive, and useful
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 164 of 198

Tier Four – Entrepreneurship Technical Competencies

1. Principles of Entrepreneurship: Knowledge of processes and characteristics that are central to 

entrepreneurial activities.

Entrepreneurial Process

 Implement processes associated with successful entrepreneurial performance

o Discovery – stage in which the entrepreneur generates ideas, recognizes opportunities, and 

determines the feasibility of ideas, markets, ventures, etc.

o Concept Development – stage in which the entrepreneur plans the venture, identifies needed 

resources using a business plan, identifies strategies to protect intellectual property, etc.

o Resourcing – stage in which the entrepreneur identifies and acquires the financial, human, 

and capital resources needed for the venture startup, etc.

o Actualization – stage in which the entrepreneur operates the venture and utilizes resources 

to achieve its goals/objectives

o Harvesting – stage in which the entrepreneur decides on the venture’s future (growth, 

development, demise)

Leadership & Team Building

 Exhibit passion for goal attainment

 Take responsibility for the enterprise

 Lead others using positive statements 

 Encourage creative thinking and innovation

 Determine the roles and responsibilities that leaders and members bring to an organization

 Enlist others in working toward a shared vision

 Build consensus

 Evaluate characteristics of effective team players and effective teams

 Build a team to compliment one’s own skills and talents

 Select people who are committed, interested, and capable of undertaking the task at hand

 Recognize others’ efforts

Managing Growth

 Use a replicable process to create enterprises that are sustainable

 Manage the implementation and execution of the business plan to grow the enterprise

 Recognize when to seek outside help and use available resources

 Follow advice from trusted sources

 Recognize when the enterprise has reached its potential

 Develop a continuation plan

 Pass over leadership to others when the organization needs change
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 165 of 198

2. Innovation & Invention: Formulating new ideas for and applications of processes and products. 

Opportunity Orientation

 Identify changes in tastes, preferences, and trends as they are evolving

 Identify needs, wants, and problems as they are changing

 Identify smaller niche markets within larger markets

 Seek out opportunities to develop and offer new products and services

 Seek out opportunities to improve, streamline, reinvent work processes

 Maintain fit between business concept and opportunity

 Evaluate opportunities

 Create and undertake new business ventures

Research and Development

 Analyze the failure of other projects as research for a possible new venture

 Conduct research and development

 Conduct experiment and application

 Practice invention and innovation

 Identify design trends

 Incorporate human, environmental, and technological factors in the design process

 Design a system, product, or service

Technology Transfer

 Identify scientific research which has potential commercial value

 Analyze the consequences of societal or technological change

 Develop practical applications for the results of scientific research

 Apply newly created technology to new, innovative, productive uses

3. Planning: Determining the direction of an organization/enterprise and identifying a strategy to 

achieve that direction.

Venture Analysis

 Determine feasibility of ideas

 Assess start-up requirements

 Assess risks associated with venture

 Determine break-even point in venture

 Determine potential for profit or loss

 Estimate costs and potential revenues for planning purposes

Stages of Planning

 The Visionary Plan

o Identify a clear entrepreneurial opportunity

o Demonstrate research to support the viability of the idea

o Develop a rudimentary cash-flow projection

o Describe personnel requirements

 The Concept Plan
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 166 of 198

o Describe and explain the market opportunity the venture will address

o Explain how the product or service will work and how it is innovative

o Identify competition and describe strategy for meeting or beating

o Prepare a concise summary of the venture

o Review the plan and evaluate its effectiveness

 The Detailed Plan

o Develop a detailed description of the venture and of market opportunity

o Prepare complete plans: financial plan, accounting plan, legal plan, management plan, 

production plan, and operational plan

 The Strategic Plan

o Provide the vision and key strategic elements of the plan

o Provide continuing guidance at a strategic level

o Keep the strategy focused

o Sell others on completed plans and on the process of continuous strategic planning

4. Marketing: Planning and executing a strategy to promote and sell products, services, and 

ideas.

Marketing Analysis and Strategy 

 Conduct an environmental scan to obtain marketing information

 Identify a customer base 

 Define a target market

 Conduct market analysis and customer profiling

 Determine unique selling proposition

 Calculate breakeven point

 Forecast sales

 Plan strategies for meeting sales quotas

 Analyze sales reports

 Monitor internal records for marketing information 

 Develop a marketing plan

 Determine image business is to project (positioning)

Product/Service Management

 Implement various methods to generate a product/service idea

 Plan product/service mix

 Choose product/service name

 Build brand/image

 Evaluate customer experience

Pricing

 Establish pricing objectives 

 Select pricing strategies

 Set prices and adjust as necessary to maximize profitability
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 167 of 198

Selling

 Establish relationship with the client/customer

 Determine customer/client needs and motives

 Recommend specific product

 Convert customer/client objections into selling points

 Close the sale

 Manage online sales process

Promotion

 Explain the role of promotion

 Prepare a promotional budget

 Develop a promotional plan

 Write a news release

 Obtain publicity

 Select sales-promotion options such as coupons, display, e-mail

 Compare types of advertising media

 Conceptualize and design advertisements

 Evaluate effectiveness of advertising

5. Financial Management: Managing and controlling money and assets to successfully carry out 

entrepreneurial activities.

Financing

 Determine financing needed to start a business

 Determine risks associated with obtaining business credit

 Identify sources of financial assistance

 Establish relationships with financial institutions

 Explore opportunities to secure venture capital

Accounting

 Implement regular accounting procedures and financial reports

 Prepare estimated/projected income statement

 Estimate cash-flow needs

 Prepare estimated/projected balance sheet

 Determine and deposit payroll taxes

 File tax returns

Money Management

 Establish financial goals and objectives

 Develop and monitor budget

 Manage cash flow

 Record deposits and withdrawals

 Implement procedures for managing debt
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 168 of 198

6. Business Operations: Carrying out ongoing activities involved in the running of a business.

Operations Management

 Plan business layout 

 Determine equipment needs

 Establish operating procedures

 Select business location and distribution channels

 Manage computer-based operating systems

 Establish company buying/purchasing policies

 Choose vendors and negotiate contracts

 Carry out daily operations: schedule staff, maintain inventory, organize shipping/receiving

Human Resource Management

 Develop a personnel organizational plan

 Determine hiring needs

 Recruit new employees

 Interview job applicants

 Select new employees

 Orient new employees

 Delegate responsibility for job tasks

 Encourage team building

 Build organizational culture

 Develop compensation and benefits plans

 Conduct performance evaluations

 Dismiss/fire employees

7. Risk Assessment and Management: Developing a structured approach to managing uncertainty 

and evaluating, assuming, and mitigating risks.

Legal Considerations

 Protect intellectual property rights

 Select form of business ownership (e.g., sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation)

 Obtain legal documents for business operations

 Explain businesses’ reporting requirements

 Adhere to personnel regulations

 Implement workplace regulations (e.g., OSHA, ADA)

 Identify resources to keep current on business related laws and regulations 

Risk Management

 Explain types of business risk

 Evaluate potential risks

 Determine ways that small businesses protect themselves against loss

 Determine business’s liabilities

 Obtain insurance coverage

 Develop safety and security policies and procedures 

 Establish parameters for staff responsibility/authority
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 169 of 198

Tier Five – Entrepreneurial Focus Areas (TBD)

It is beyond the scope of this project to develop competencies around Tier 5 Entrepreneurial Focus 

Areas. The inclusion of focus areas in the model is intended to illustrate that the Entrepreneurship 

Competency Model serves a resource that underlies entrepreneurial activities at various levels of 

enterprise. The focus areas may be built out by interest groups or communities of practice.

1. Youth Entrepreneurship

o K-12 education

o Community-based entrepreneurship education providers

o Foster innovation and entrepreneurial thinking

2. Micro-Enterprise

o Cottage industry

o Quick startup

o Low capital investment

o Low income

3. Small Business Development

o Startup capital required

o Franchise 

o Revenue - over $25,000 but less than $100,000

4. Social Entrepreneurship

Social Enterprise

o Entrepreneurs who start their own businesses

o ―Sector-bending‖ – blurring lines between business and social sectors

o Social value creation

Social Innovation

o Entrepreneurs as innovators

o New ways to address social problems or meet social needs

o Large scale, lasting, and systemic change

5. High-Growth, High-Value Entrepreneurship

o Venture capital 

o Angel investors

o Requires money management/marketing

o Innovation – research ideas to market

o Creates wealth

o Employs others

o Revenue – over $250,000
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 170 of 198

Resources Reviewed

Organization Resource URL

Content-Rich Entrepreneurship Resources

Arizona Tech Prep Competency and Indicator Lists -

Marketing, Management, and 

Entrepreneurship

http://www.aztechprep.org/levels/Lev

elIII/MktgMgmnt&Entrep/Entrepreneur

ship/Ec&i3-03.pdf

Babson College Course Descriptions http://www3.babson.edu/eship/

Canadian Foundation for Economic 

Education

Mentors, Ventures, & Plans -

Self-Assessment, About 

Entrepreneurs

http://www.mvp.cfee.org/en/starthere

.html

Connecticut Business & Industry 

Association

Industry Skill Standards: Retail, 

Tourism, Recreation & 

Entrepreneurial

http://www.cbia.com/ed/STC/career_

explorations/career_explor_info/zpdf

/industry_standards/Retail&tourismIn

troduc.PDF

Consortium for Entrepreneurship 

Education

National Content Standards 

Entrepreneurship Education

http://www.entre-ed.org

Future Force Nebraska Analysis of Entrepreneurship 

Standards

http://www.futureforcenebraska.org/

Talent_PP/Entrepreneurship/Resour

ces/standards.pdf

Future Force Nebraska Finance Career Cluster Core 

Knowledge & Skills

http://www.futureforcenebraska.org/

Talent_PP/Finance/Resources/2007

_Finance_Core_KS.html

Illinois Department of Commerce 

and Economic Opportunity

Starting a Business in Illinois 

Handbook

http://www.ildceo.net/NR/rdonlyres/5

6B6918C-6FC0-49A6-BA2D03022DCF33FF/0/SBIRrev0106.pdf

Industry Canada About Entrepreneurs http://entrepreneurship.schoolnet.ca/

pub/entrepreneur/index.html

Institute for Entrepreneurship and 

Innovation

Graduate & Undergraduate 

Course Descriptions

http://entrepreneurship.bloch.umkc.e

du/instituteOverview.asp

Junior Achievement Elementary – High School 

Programs Scope & Sequence

http://www.ja.org/files/prgrms_chrts/

SS_Chart_All_Programs.pdf 

Kauffman Foundation Fast Trac Program http://www.fasttrac.org/

Mentors, Ventures, and Plans Framework for Youth 

Entrepreneurship Success

http://www.mvp.cfee.org/en/pdf/catc

hingthewave.pdf

Missouri Center for Career 

Education

Career 

Development/Entrepreneurship 

Assessment

http://missouricareereducation.org/c

urr/Competency_Profiles/Career_De

velopment_Entrepreneurship.pdf

MyBiz Training Categories http://www.mybiz.am/

Ohio State University Center on 

Education and Training for 

Employment

PACE Program for Acquiring 

Competence in Entrepreneurship

http://www.cete.org/Director/PACE.a

sp
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 171 of 198

PACE, Program for Acquiring 

Competence in Entrepreneurship

Competency List http://www.entreed.org/_teach/pacelist.htm

The Business Link Characteristics of Successful 

Entrepreneurs

http://www.canadabusiness.ca/servl

et/ContentServer?pagename=CBSC

_AB/CBSC_WebPage/AB_WebPag

e_Template&cid=1104766631404&c

=CBSC_WebPage

US Department of Education 

(OVAE)

Career Cluster Resources for 

Business, Management and 

Administration

http://www.careerclusters.org/resour

ces/ClusterDocuments/badocuments

/BAFinal.pdf

US Department of Education 

(OVAE)

Career Cluster Resources for 

Science, Technology, 

Engineering & Mathematics

http://www.careerclusters.org/resour

ces/ClusterDocuments/stemdocume

nts/STEMFinal.pdf

Wagner, Tony Rigor Redefined: Seven Survival 

Skills for Careers, College, & 

Citizenship

Hard copy article

Watson, Greg DNA of an Entrepreneur http://www.dnaofanentrepreneur.co

m/

Wisconsin Department of Public 

Instruction

Wisconsin Cooperative Education 

Skill Certification 

Entrepreneurship - Portfolio

http://dpi.wi.gov/cte/doc/entreprp.doc

Wisconsin Department of Public 

Instruction

Wisconsin Coop Skill Standards 

"Marketing-Entrepreneurship" 

Final Evaluation

http://www.dpi.wi.gov/cte/doc/entrepr

e.doc

General Information on Entrepreneurship

Center for the Advancement of 

Social Entrepreneurship 

The Concept and Process of Social 

Entrepreneurship

http://www.caseatduke.org/knowle

dge/seprocess/index.html#defining

CEED Centre for Entrepreneurship 

Education and Development

Entrepreneurship 101 Toolbox http://www.ceed.info/ceed/entrepre

neurs_toolbox/entrepreneurship_1

01/

Council on Competitiveness General Information http://www.compete.org/

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor National / International Reports (ecopy)http://www.gemconsortium.org/

GWU DECA National 

Entrepreneurship Program

Online Learning Modules http://www.gwudeca.org/

Illinois Department of Commerce 

and Economic Opportunity

Illinois Entrepreneurship Network www.ienconnect.com

Indian Institute of Materials 

Management

Entrepreneurship Challenges in the 

21st Century

http://www.iimm.org/knowledge_ba

nk/14_entrepreneurshipchallenges-in-21st-centuty.htm

Kauffman Foundation The Rise of Entrepreneurship 

Education in Graduate Schools of 

Business

http://www.celcee.edu/publications/

digest/99Dig-2.html

Kauffman Foundation General information and links http://www.kauffman.org/entrepren

eurship.cfm

Kauffman Foundation Entrepreneur U Curriculum (links to 

other resources)

http://www.entrepreneuru.org/teach

er/curriculum.php
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 172 of 198

Lester C. Thurow Foreword: on Entrepreneurship http://www.mansfieldfdn.org/progra

ms/program_pdfs/ent_thurow.pdf

National Foundation for Teaching 

Entrepreneurship

Web site with links to other 

resources

http://www.nfte.com/

RUPRI Center for Rural 

Entrepreneurship

Energizing Entrepreneurs http://www.energizingentrepreneur

s.org/content/cr.php

Tennessee Valley Authority 

Economic Development

Entrepreneurial Resources http://www.tvaed.com/obr/index.ht

m

The Academy for Entrepreneurial 

Leadership

General information and links http://www.business.uiuc.edu/ael/e

ntrepillinois.html

Tom Glaser in St. Petersburg 

Times Online

Who is an Entrepreneur? http://www.sptimes.com/News/032

901/NIE/Who_is_an_entrepreneu.s

html

United States Small Business 

Administration

Small Business Resources www.sba.gov

University of North Carolina at 

Chapel Hill

Research Power Point http://www.unc.edu/depts/trustees/

Tech%20Transfer.pdf

Wise Geek What is an Entrepreneur? http://www.wisegeek.com/what-isan-entrepreneur.htm 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 173 of 198

ENTREPRENEURIAL OCCUPATIONS EXIST

IN EVERY CAREER CLUSTER

Unemployed Persons can become self-sufficient as entrepreneurs

It is important that staff throughout the state and local Workforce Development Systems serving 

the unemployed recognize the skills and experience of an unemployed person as an opportunity 

to create their own jobs. Many job-seekers bring expertise related to some industry that could 

be nurtured with needed training and support systems to help them become self-employed 

entrepreneurs.

Persons coming into one-stop centers may want help in identifying possible occupations where 

they might use their technical, business and entrepreneurial skills. The occupations shown as 

entrepreneurial in the following listing may be helpful to employment counselors in identifying 

these entrepreneurial roles. 

Counselors should be aware that often one of the major causes of business failures is that the 

entrepreneur has the technical skills but lacks the entrepreneurial skills that are essential for 

business success. The DOL Entrepreneurship Competency Framework Model will help 

counselors explain the skill sets that persons desiring to become an entrepreneur will need in 

order to succeed with their new venture. It is a tool that will help you explain what skill sets 

entrepreneurial experts believe to be essential for success.

ihttp://www.careeronestop.org/competencymodel/pyramid.aspx?ENTRE=Y

Every community has training and mentoring resources available that could be a resource for 

the potential entrepreneur and a partner in the management of the Career Center's assistance 

plans. Community colleges, Small Business Development Centers, Minority Business 

Development Centers, and a whole host of non-profit organizations and agencies exist 

everywhere to provide necessary skills for the potential entrepreneur. If there are none in your 

community such assistance may also be found on the Internet. The challenge is to empower 

the job seeker to be successful as a self-sufficient citizen.

The Entrepreneurship Technical Competency Check List is often a good tool for counselors 

working with persons desiring to advance toward their dream of entrepreneurship. It is part of 

the Department of Labor's Entrepreneurship Competency Model and can be found at 

www.entre-ed.org/career-center/tools.htm
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 174 of 198

Samples of Entrepreneurial Occupations shown in the 16 Career Clusters 

The specific career specialists/occupations are taken from the listings of occupations that the 

States Career Cluster development teams of the Career Clusters Initiative developed 

www.careerclusters.org. Entrepreneurship is not identified as one of the 16 occupational 

clusters as it permeates all 16 clusters. The occupations are not in alpha order as they were 

picked up in order from the listings shown in each career cluster.

Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources

Farmer

Rancher

Veterinarian

Pet Shop Operator

Agricultural Chemical Dealer

Architecture & Construction

Architect 

General Contractor

Carpenter

Carpet Installer

Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Mechanic 

Modeler

Remodeler

Plumber

Surveyor

Arts, Audio/Video Technology & Communications

Technical Computer Support Technician

Graphic Designer

CAD Technician

Fashion Illustrator

Dancer

Play writer

Screen writer

Script writer
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 175 of 198

Performer

Actor

Musician

Computer Programmer

Systems Analysis

Business Management & Administration

Entrepreneur

Chief Executive

Top Collection Executive 

Top Investment Executive

Accountant

Human Resources Consultant

Interpreters & Translator

Business Consultant

Small Business Owner & Entrepreneur

E-Commerce Manager & Entrepreneur

Public Relations Specialist 

Public Relations Writer 

Demonstrators and Product Promoter

Education & Training

Superintendent

College President

Preschool Teacher/Director

Kindergarten Teacher/Director

Child Care teacher/Director

Finance

Personal Financial Advisor

Tax Preparation Specialist

Accountant

Financial Analyst

Claims Investigator

Appraiser
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 176 of 198

Government & Public Administration

President

Governor

Mayor

City Manager

Business/Enterprise Official)

Director (Various Agencies)

Executive Director - Foundations or Associations

Health Science

Dentist

Massage Therapist 

Mortician

Optometrist

Physician (MD/DO)

Veterinarian

Cytotechnologist

Home Health Care Deliverer

Hospitality & Tourism

Restaurant Owner

Bakery Owner

Caterer

Director of Volunteer Services

Tour Guide

Tour Operator

Reservationist

Interpreter

Resort Instructor
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 177 of 198

Human Services

Marriage, Child and Family Counselor

Coordinators of Volunteers

Career Counselors

Barbers

Cosmetologist

Hairdresser

Hairstylist

Nail Technician

Manicurist

Peticurist

Funeral Director/Mortician

Personal and Home Care Aide

Companion

Personal Trainer

Massage Therapist

Certified Financial Planner

Insurance Representative

Sales Consultant

Field Merchandising Representative

Small business owner

Information Technology

Network Administrator

Systems Administrator

Systems Engineer

Data Systems Designer

Systems Architect

Multimedia Author

Multimedia Developer

Web Adminstrator

Website Developer

Law, Public Safety, Corrections & Security

Grant Writer

Physical Security Specialist
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 178 of 198

Loss Prevention/Security Specialist

Computer Security Specialist

Executive Protection Specialist

Industrial Espionage Security 

Physical Property Security 

Bonds Person

Private Dectective & Investigator

Mediator/Arbitrator

Manufacturing

Process Improvement Technician

Installer/Repairer – Various industries

Safety Engineer

Process Improvement Technician

Pattern and model maker

Marketing

Entrepreneur

Owner

Small Business Owner

Chief Executive Officer

Proprietor

Broker

Store Manager

Web Master

Web Designer

Copy writers-Designer

Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

Computer Hardware Engineer

Computer Programmer

Prototype Engineer

Safety Engineer

Survey Technician

Technical Writer

Nutritionist
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 179 of 198

Transportation, Distribution, & Logistics

Industrial and Packaging Engineer

Civil Engineer

Surveying and Mapping Technician

Inspector – all modes of transportation

Travel and Transportation Agent

The Career Clusters icons are being used with permission of the States‘ Career Clusters 

Initiative, 2007, www.careerclusters.org:

 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 180 of 198

Entrepreneurship Technical Competency Checklist

Competencies are as shown in the DOL Entrepreneurship Competency Model

Entrepreneurship Competency Model

Department Of Labor Entrepreneurship Competency Model

Developed by DOL with assistance of the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education

Released in February 2009

http://www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/pyramid.aspx?ENTRE=Y

Entrepreneurship Technical Competencies

Developed by DOL with assistance of the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education

Released in February 2009

 

http://www.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/pyramid.aspx?ENTRE=Y
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 181 of 198

When trying to determine your capacity to advance your entrepreneurial aspirations you can view 

the Entrepreneurship Technical Competencies in the chart below which represent the knowledge 

and skills that are common to all entrepreneurial endeavors. This checklist helps you assess your 

capabilities as an entrepreneur.

These technical competencies build on, but are more specific than, 

competencies shown in Tiers 1 through 3 shown above in the model. 

They contain Foundation Competencies, which form the foundation 

needed to be ready to enter the workplace. 

Tier 1 –Personal Effectiveness Competencies are shown as hovering 

below the pyramid because these competencies are essential for all life 

roles. Often referred to as "soft skills," personal effectiveness 

competencies are generally learned in the home or community and 

reinforced and honed at school and in the workplace. They represent 

personal attributes that may present some challenges to teach or 

assess.

Tier 2 – Academic Competencies are critical competencies primarily learned in a school setting. They 

include cognitive functions and thinking styles. Academic competencies are likely to apply to all 

industries and occupations.

Tier 3 – Workplace Competencies represent motives and traits, as well as interpersonal and selfmanagement styles. They generally are applicable to a large number of occupations and industries.

Tier 4 – Entrepreneurship Technical Competencies represent the knowledge and skills that are common 

to all entrepreneurial activities. These technical competencies build on, but are more specific than, 

competencies represented on lower tiers.

Tier 5 generally contains Industry specific Competencies, which are specific to an industry or industry 

sector. Since entrepreneurship is not an industry, tier 5 has been broken out to show focus areas that 

may at some point in time generate specific entrepreneurial Competencies related to the specific area of 

entrepreneurial economic activity.

The Chart below allows you to focus on the Tier 4 Entrepreneurial Technical Competencies to determine 

those competencies (1) you are confident that you have and those that (2) you need to acquire. The 

comments column will allow you to note things such as how you acquired the competence or questions 

you might have when you meet with a counselor to clarify issues. If you think that a specific course or 

training event might help with acquiring the competence you might note that in the comments column 

also. 

Principles of Entrepreneurship: Knowledge of processes 

and characteristics that are central to entrepreneurial 

activities.

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Entrepreneurial Process - Implement processes 

associated with successful entrepreneurial performance

Discovery – stage in which the entrepreneur generates 

ideas, recognizes opportunities, and determines the 

feasibility of ideas, markets, ventures, etc.

Concept Development – stage in which the entrepreneur 

plans the venture, identifies needed resources using a 

Competency – A cluster of 

related knowledge, skills, 

and abilities that affects a 

major part of one’s job (a 

role or responsibility), that 

correlates with performance 

on the job, that can be 

measured against wellaccepted standards, and that 

can be improved via training 

and development. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 182 of 198

business plan, identifies strategies to protect intellectual 

property, etc.

Resourcing – stage in which the entrepreneur identifies 

and acquires the financial, human, and capital resources 

needed for the venture startup, etc.

Actualization – stage in which the entrepreneur operates 

the venture and utilizes resources to achieve its 

goals/objectives

Harvesting – stage in which the entrepreneur decides on 

the venture’s future (growth, development, demise)

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Leadership & Team Building

Exhibit passion for goal attainment

Take responsibility for the enterprise

Lead others using positive statements 

Encourage creative thinking and innovation

Determine the roles and responsibilities that leaders and 

members bring to an organization

Enlist others in working toward a shared vision

Build consensus

Evaluate characteristics of effective team players and effective 

teams

Build a team to compliment one’s own skills and talents

Select people who are committed, interested, and capable of 

undertaking the task at hand

Recognize others’ efforts

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Managing Growth

Use a replicable process to create enterprises that are 

sustainable

Manage the implementation and execution of the business plan 

to grow the enterprise

Recognize when to seek outside help and use available 

resources

Follow advice from trusted sources

Recognize when the enterprise has reached its potential

Develop a continuation plan

Pass over leadership to others when the organization needs 

change

Innovation & Invention: Formulating new ideas for 

and applications of processes and products. 

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 183 of 198

Opportunity Orientation

Identify changes in tastes, preferences, and trends as 

they are evolving

Identify needs, wants, and problems as they are 

changing

Identify smaller niche markets within larger markets

Seek out opportunities to develop and offer new 

products and services

Seek out opportunities to improve, streamline, reinvent 

work processes

Maintain fit between business concept and opportunity

Evaluate opportunities

Create and undertake new business ventures

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Research and Development

Conduct research and development

Conduct experiment and application

Practice invention and innovation

Identify design trends

Incorporate human, environmental, and technological 

factors in the design process

Design a system, product, or service

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Technology Transfer

Identify scientific research which has potential commercial 

value

Analyze the consequences of societal or technological change

Develop practical applications for the results of scientific 

research

Apply newly created technology to new, innovative, productive 

uses

Planning: Determining the direction of an 

organization/enterprise and identifying a strategy to 

achieve that direction.

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Venture Analysis

Determine feasibility of ideas

Assess start-up requirements

Assess risks associated with venture
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 184 of 198

Determine break-even point in venture

Determine potential for profit or loss

Estimate costs and potential revenues for planning purposes

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Stages of Planning - The Visionary Plan

 Identify a clear entrepreneurial opportunity

 Demonstrate research to support the viability of the idea

 Develop a rudimentary cash-flow projection

 Describe personnel requirements

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Stages of Planning - The Concept Plan

Describe and explain the market opportunity the venture will 

address

 Explain how the product or service will work and how it is 

innovative

Identify competition and describe strategy for meeting or 

beating

Prepare a concise summary of the venture

Review the plan and evaluate its effectiveness

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Stages of Planning - The Detailed Plan

 Develop a detailed description of the venture and of market 

 opportunity

 Prepare complete plans: financial plan, accounting plan, legal 

plan, management plan, production plan, and operational plan

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Stages of Planning - The Strategic Plan

 Provide the vision and key strategic elements of the plan

 Provide continuing guidance at a strategic level

 Keep the strategy focused

Sell others on completed plans and on the process of 

continuous strategic planning

Marketing: Planning and executing a strategy to 

promote and sell products, services, and ideas.

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Marketing Analysis and Strategy 

Conduct an environmental scan to obtain marketing 

information

Identify a customer base 

Define a target market
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 185 of 198

Conduct market analysis and customer profiling

Determine unique selling proposition

Forecast sales

Plan strategies for meeting sales quotas

Analyze sales reports

Monitor internal records for marketing information 

Develop a marketing plan

Determine image business is to project (positioning)

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Product/Service Management

Implement various methods to generate a product/service idea

Plan product/service mix

Choose product/service name

Build brand/image

Evaluate customer experience

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Pricing

Establish pricing objectives

Select pricing strategies

Set prices and adjust as necessary to maximize profitability

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Selling

Establish relationship with the client/customer

Determine customer/client needs and motives

Recommend specific product

Convert customer/client objections into selling points

Close the sale

Manage online sales process

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Promotion

Explain the role of promotion

Prepare a promotional budget

Develop a promotional plan

Write a news release

Obtain publicity

Select sales-promotion options such as coupons, display, e-
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 186 of 198

mail

Compare types of advertising media

Conceptualize and design advertisements

Evaluate effectiveness of advertising

Financial Management: Managing and controlling 

money and assets to successfully carry out 

entrepreneurial activities.

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Financing

Determine financing needed to start a business

Determine risks associated with obtaining business credit

Identify sources of financial assistance

Establish relationships with financial institutions

Explore opportunities to secure venture capital

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Accounting

Implement regular accounting procedures and financial reports

Prepare estimated/projected income statement

Estimate cash-flow needs

Prepare estimated/projected balance sheet

Determine and deposit payroll taxes

File tax returns

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Money Management

Establish financial goals and objectives

Develop and monitor budget

Manage cash flow

Record deposits and withdrawals

Implement procedures for managing debt

Business Operations: Carrying out ongoing 

activities involved in the running of a business.

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Operations Management

Plan business layout 

Determine equipment needs

Establish operating procedures
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 187 of 198

Select business location and distribution channels

Manage computer-based operating systems

Establish company buying/purchasing policies

Choose vendors and negotiate contracts

Carry out daily operations: schedule staff, maintain inventory, 

organize shipping/receiving

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Human Resource Management

Develop a personnel organizational plan

Determine hiring needs

Recruit new employees

Interview job applicants

Select new employees

Orient new employee

Delegate responsibility for job tasks

Encourage team building

Build organizational culture

Develop compensation and benefits plans

Conduct performance evaluations

Dismiss/fire employees

Risk Assessment and Management: Developing a 

structured approach to managing uncertainty and 

evaluating, assuming, and mitigating risks.

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Legal Considerations

Protect intellectual property rights

Select form of business ownership (e.g., sole proprietorship, 

partnership, corporation)

Obtain legal documents for business operations

Explain businesses’ reporting requirements

Adhere to personnel regulations

Implement workplace regulations (e.g., OSHA, ADA)

Identify resources to keep current on business related laws and 

regulations

Competency Area and Competency Statements Have Need Comments

Risk Management

Explain types of business risk

Evaluate potential risks
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 188 of 198

Determine ways that small businesses protect themselves 

against loss

Determine business’s liabilities

Obtain insurance coverage

Develop safety and security policies and procedures 

Establish parameters for staff responsibility/authority

April 1, 2009 Iteration
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 189 of 198

Entrepreneurship Process Readiness Checklist

Would you like to start your own business but are not sure just how to do it?

A nationwide project asked entrepreneurs to identify what they do, and what you need to know to do it. 

They said that they go through each of these 5 stages shown below in developing a business. This 

checklist will help you assess your readiness as an entrepreneur as you examine where you are in the 

entrepreneurial process.

(This checklist is developed from the National Content Standards 

for Entrepreneurship Education developed by The Consortium for 

Entrepreneurship Education . Details are available in the tool kit 

for the National Content Standards for Entrepreneurship 

Education shown at: http://www.entre-ed.org/Standards_Toolkit/

The entrepreneurial skills are the unique traits, behaviors, and 

processes that differentiate an entrepreneur from an employee or 

manager. The processes help you decide what you need to know to be 

ready to create and run a business. 

After assessing your readiness from education and experiences, use this checklist to talk with a business 

counselor about your next steps and available assistance to get your business started.

Entrepreneurial Processes: Concepts and processes 

associated with successful entrepreneurial performance.

Competency Area and Performance Statements Know 

How or 

Can Do

Need 

Help

With

Comments/Thoughts/Needs

Entrepreneurial Process - Implement processes 

associated with successful entrepreneurial performance

Discovery – stage in which the entrepreneur generates ideas, 

recognizes opportunities, and determines the feasibility of ideas, 

markets, ventures, etc.

Explain the need for entrepreneurial discovery

Discuss entrepreneurial discovery processes

Assess global trends and opportunities

Determine opportunities for venture creation

Assess opportunities for venture creation

Describe idea-generation methods

Generate venture ideas

Determine feasibility of ideas

Concept Development – stage in which the entrepreneur plans the 

venture, identifies needed resources using a business plan, 

Entrepreneurial Skills –

Concepts and processes 

associated with successful 

entrepreneurial performance. 

They are the unique expertise 

that entrepreneurs use during 

the entire process of creating 

and operating a business. 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 190 of 198

identifies strategies to protect intellectual property, etc.

Describe entrepreneurial planning considerations

Explain tools used by entrepreneurs for venture planning

Assess start-up requirements

Assess risks associated with venture

Describe external resources useful to entrepreneurs during 

concept development

Assess the need to use external resources for concept 

development

Describe strategies to protect intellectual property

Use components of a business plan to define venture idea

Resourcing – stage in which the entrepreneur identifies and 

acquires the financial, human, and capital resources needed for the 

venture startup, etc.

Distinguish between debt and equity financing for venture 

creation

Describe processes used to acquire adequate financial 

resources for venture creation/start-up

Select sources to finance venture creation/start-up

Explain factors to consider in determining a venture's 

human-resource needs

Describe considerations in selecting capital resources

Acquire capital resources needed for the venture

Assess the costs/benefits associated with resources

Actualization – stage in which the entrepreneur operates the 

venture and utilizes resources to achieve its goals/objectives

Use external resources to supplement entrepreneur's 

expertise

Explain the complexity of business operations

Evaluate risk-taking opportunities

Explain the need for business systems and procedures

Describe the use of operating procedures

Explain methods/processes for organizing work flow

Develop and/or provide product/service

Use creativity in business activities/decisions

Explain the impact of resource productivity on venture 

success

Create processes for ongoing opportunity recognition

Adapt to changes in business environment

Harvesting – stage in which the entrepreneur decides on the 

venture’s future (growth, development, demise)

Explain the need for continuation planning

Describe methods of venture harvesting

Evaluate options for continued venture involvement

Develop exit strategies

Copyright © 2004 by the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education April 29, 2009 Iteration
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 191 of 198

Career Center Entrepreneurship Values

a. Provide assistance to individuals in understanding their skills, and how well they line 

up to local labor market demand.

b. Encourage self-employment as an equal choice to traditional jobs 

c. Provide assessment of a job seeker’s creativity or unique gifts

d. Value self-employment, actively seek creative ways to inspire, support and attract the 

people who have entrepreneurial interests.

e. Create a person-focused training program that includes tools, knowledge, connections 

and resources

f. Appreciate that changes in the labor market can create a need for people to establish 

their own jobs rather than look for a job which may not suitable for them or be in their 

communities

g. Help job seekers pursue assistance in other places (like business incubators, the small 

business associations, departments of commerce or other groups concerned with helping 

people create their own jobs)

h. Provide access to micro-enterprise financing

i. Value community based support in a safe place 

j. Help job seekers create relationships with other organizations, businesses, or 

employers.

k. Actively support self-employment as a career option in the Career Center

l. Provide education in schools and throughout the community around the concepts of 

entrepreneurship, what jobs are in demand in the region, and general regional labor 

market and industry trends.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 192 of 198

Everyone talks about it....

ENTREPRENEURS DO IT!

Learn How to Earn

 

Entrepreneurship Education

 Be the Boss!!!!!

Try Entrepreneurship Education

 Can’t Spell Entrepreneur?

Be the Boss and hire someone who can!
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 193 of 198

Entrepreneurship Education Today;

You’re BOSS Tomorrow !!!!!!

ENTREPRENE * *

What’s Missing? UR!

When you’re the boss......

You’re never late for work!

When you’re the boss...

Your raise is up to you !
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 194 of 198

Entrepreneurship and Economic Recovery

America’s views on the best ways to stimulate growth

Summary Showing Key Findings

The full report can be found at the URL below:

http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/Enterpreneurship/Entrepreneurship_and_Economic_Recovery_poll.pdf

INTRODUCTION:

With the United States in the midst of an economic crisis that is gripping the globe, the

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation conducted a national survey of Americans to gauge

their opinions about the roles of government and the private sector in achieving

recovery. What follows are findings that reveal a stark and fundamental gap between

the national policy agenda and the attitudes and beliefs of the American people.

KEY FINDINGS:

By a margin of three to one (63 percent to 22 percent) Americans favor business creation 

policies as opposed to government creating new public and private sector jobs. In fact, 79 

percent of respondents say entrepreneurs are critically important to job creation, ranking 

higher than big business, scientists, and government. (Slides: 15, 8) While Americans narrowly 

support the stimulus package, 51 percent to 44 percent, only 33 percent of entrepreneurs 

support it. (Slides: 17, 18)

Only 21 percent of all survey respondents say that the stimulus package supports 

entrepreneurial activity and 33 percent believe it will retard entrepreneurship. (Slide: 20)

53 percent of Americans say that a better stimulus package that creates more jobs could be 

crafted, while 25 percent say the current stimulus will create sustainable jobs. (Slide: 21)

While 78 percent of survey respondents say innovation is important to the health of our 

economy, only 3 percent say they believe the stimulus package will encourage innovation. 

(Slides: 3, 19)

Americans think the government does little to encourage entrepreneurship, despite its 

importance; 72 percent of respondents say the government should do more to encourage 

individuals to start businesses. Almost half of respondents think the laws in America make it 

more difficult to start a business. (Slides: 22, 24)

When asked what would jump-start the recovery and end the recession, 37 percent of 

respondents say cutting payroll taxes, 19 percent say to first pass the stimulus package, and 16 

percent want to rescue the financial system through bank bailouts. (Slide: 14)

Two thirds of survey respondents favor less-costly alternatives to the stimulus package, 

such as reducing legal barriers and red tape for new business development. (Slide: 12)

Despite the collapse of Wall Street, 89 percent of Americans say that capitalism is still the 

best economic system for our country. (Slide: 1)
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 195 of 198

WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD ADMINISTRATORS 

FOCUS GROUP QUESTIONS RESULTS

(Input for the "Integrating Entrepreneurship in the Workforce Investment System" 

Project, funded by the US Department of Labor, July 2008 - June 2009)

In April of 2009, the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education (CEE) was pleased to provide 

some questions to Economic Modeling Specialists Inc (EMSI)* for initial feedback from some 

Workforce Investment Board (WIB) administrators about their involvement with selfemployment/entrepreneurship. Of the 50 people EMSI questioned, 27 returned answers. 

Although this was not an adequate sample to draw any research conclusions, the responses 

supported the ideas The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education have found through 

personal interviews as part of the Department Of Labor (DOL)/Employment Training 

Administration (ETA) ―Integrating Entrepreneurship" report.

Responses were received from 12 states: Delaware, Florida, Illinois (3), Massachusetts, 

Michigan (2), Missouri, North Carolina (2), Oklahoma (2), Pennsylvania(3), Texas, Wisconsin 

(2), and Washington. 

The current high unemployment problems doubtless influenced the outcomes of these answers. 

When asked if they believe that job seekers will have a more difficult time (as compared to 

previous years) finding gainful employment in your region over the next year, two thirds agreed, 

and the balance somewhat agreed, although one administrator said they still have a decent 

amount of job openings in their area.

BARRIERS TO SELF-EMPLOYMENT/ENTREPRENEURSHIP OPTION 

Most of the administrators agreed that entrepreneurship/self-employment should be included as a 

career path option in assistance provided for the unemployed (88 percent.) Comments as shared 

below were related to the needs of the economy and the interests of the individuals. When asked 

for barriers to including entrepreneurship/self-employment as a career option for the unemployed 

in the Workforce Investment System they reported:

Finances: Funding; Lack of funding for basics (signs, advertising, start-up costs); financing; 

Funding; lack of coordination with available funding options; Access to capital, Lack of

funding capital for start-up; Finances to hire support staff - can't do everything themselves; 

Limited resources in offering anything more than low level classes on entrepreneurship.

Training: workforce system lack of knowledge about such opportunities; Lack of business 

knowledge/ experience; Lack of available training in how individuals can be a SUCCESSFUL 

entrepreneur; Staff could use more training for this as an option; front line staff don't recognize 

this as a viable alternative to the unemployed; training; entrepreneurship is not something that 

you can train into someone; Targeted, consistent training and resource options.

* EMSI is Economic Modeling Specialists Inc,, an Idaho based economics firm that provides regional labor market 

analysis tools, reports, and consulting services throughout the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and the Middle East. 

Domestically, EMSI works closely with many workforce development boards, community colleges, universities, 

and economic development groups helping them understand their regional economies and providing them with sort 

of data and analysis they can use to get things done.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 196 of 198

Evaluation: WIA restrictions and conflicting performance mandates; negative outcome measure 

for federal reporting; Performance measures; 

Client Issues: history of poor outcomes - in the past few people advanced or were able to earn 

wages; Over saturation by marketing it as option, too many unqualified people pursuing it as an 

option; level of expertise it takes to make a new company viable financially; People want to own 

businesses but are not really prepare to work hard enough to make it happen.

Partnerships: We do currently offer information/workshops on self-employment and house the 

SBA in our service centers; random resources in the region that need better connectivity; Better 

on-line resources for individuals.

SEA ...STATEWIDE ENTREPRENEURSHIP OPTION

Ten of the administrators said they were in states that had the DOL's Self Employment 

Assistance program (SEA) option. When all administrators were asked what the barriers were to 

the SEA option they reported:

Awareness: Lack of information; Knowledge about it; I never heard of it, but I am not a case 

manager either; Adequate awareness; I don't get to move the state into adopting policy that 

would allow us to use it; I am not clear as to what this is; Not aware of it. Don't have any 

information about the program; Lack of knowledge of the program, accessibility, technical

assistance, outreach efforts; not well established in statewide policy and execution framework; 

DOUBLE MAJOR CONCEPT

To support CEE‘s interest in the possibility of an unemployed person having access to 

entrepreneurship training along with job preparation training as part of the assistance for the 

unemployed, 90 percent of the administrators said yes it should be provided. When asked why, 

or why not the administrators reported:

Positive: Yes - I don't see why not. This is really needed and would be a tremendous option for 

the unemployed.; should be an option due to need of some job seekers; we have planned this 

with our stimulus implementation; If funding is available; Developing entrepreneurial skills will 

help to enhance a job seekers overall knowledge, skills and abilities; It is a win-win situation

Problems: We would have to convince DOL/ETA to include realistic measures; Lack of clear 

metric associated with required performance standards; Just need more individuals willing to do 

the training at no cost; But seems awfully difficult. Self-startups can be time consuming and 

could be awhile before rewards (paychecks) kick in. Most our clients are seeking/require shortterm almost immediate payoffs; it has not been a successful model - people are left poor when 

they need to work

VALUES SUPPORTING SELF-EMPLOYMENT/ENTREPRENEURSHIP

As a result of conversations with many Workforce Development Administrators and staff, the 

project suggested VALUES that the DOL System would need to adopt if the system was willing 

and able to assist job-seekers in choosing self-employment / entrepreneurship as their 

employment solution. For the questions for the WIB focus group there were parallel questions 
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 197 of 198

to each value statement, designed to determine where the Employment and Training System 

stood in relation to entrepreneurship as a career option.

Although the results cannot predict attitudes of the Workforce Development System (WDS) as a 

whole, it was interesting to see that administrators felt the major systems for helping 

entrepreneurs were in place as they helped job seekers. However the acceptance of

entrepreneurship, as an equal choice to traditional jobs, has a long way to go in the minds of 

these administrators.

How important are the following values to the one-stop center 

in helping the unemployed become self-employed?

(Percentages of 27 respondents)

Yes Sometimes Not Often No 

a. Values the capabilities of each individual to fulfill their 

highest potential. 

79.2 16.7 4.2 0 

b. Encourages self-employment as an equal choice to 

traditional jobs 

0 43.5 56.5 0 

c. Value creativity and innovation 26.2 43.5 21.7 8.7 

d. Value self-employment, actively seek creative ways to 

inspire, support and attract the people who have 

entrepreneurial interests. 

26.1 47.8 21.7 4.3 

e. Create a person-focused training program that includes 

tools, knowledge, connections and resources

87.0 13.0 0 0

f. Appreciate that changes in the workplace can create a 

need for people to create their own jobs rather than look 

for a job which may not suitable for them or be in their 

communities

65.2 26.1 8.7 0

g. Will create access to opportunity 52.2 30.4 17.4 0

h. Will provide access to micro-enterprise financing 9.1 22.7 31.8 36.4

i. Values community based support in a safe place 56.5 39.1 4.3 0

j. Break isolation, create social and business relationships 73.9 26.1 0 0

k. Celebrates and recognizes self-employment 8.7 30.4 52.2 8.7

l. Encourages entrepreneurship education in schools and 

community organizations.

26.1 39.1 30.4 4.3

CRITICAL ISSUES RELATED TO SEA/ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE WDS

Support for the staff involved with job seekers will be essential if the Self-Employment/ 

Entrepreneurship career option is to be included in the One-Stop Career Centers. One critical 

issue is the question: Can WIA core performance metrics (like job creation, and community 

partnerships) include entrepreneurial empowerment categories like small business creation 

and/or sole proprietorship registrations? 77 percent said yes they can be included, 22 percent

said no they can not be included, and eight administrators did not respond to this question.
THINK ENTREPRENEURS: A Call to Action p. 198 of 198

The WIB Directors were asked: What legislation and/or regulations would you change to 

facilitate entrepreneurship/ self-employment for the unemployed in the Workforce Development 

System? Requests for ideas about both questions include the follow responses:

Data collection: Seventeen performance measures are DOL mandated; more flexibility in data 

collection for us to demonstrate positive results; How about degree of profitability the first year? 

DOL/ETA MUST be cognizant of unrealistic timeframes for performance. Typical start-ups are 

not profitable for up to 36 months or more. Successful entrepreneurs should be consulted to help 

design realistic performance measures; new performance standards; need to change federal 

performance measures; performance does not support entrepreneurship; Change the core 

performance measures to look at broad employer/ community development criteria and not just 

placement and income measures for individuals.

Legislation: I would like to see legislation from DOL/ETA to support this training. It needs to 

start at the top. This needs to be a priority with DOL/ETA; WIA re-authorization; policy 

revisions that don't conflict with micro-enterprise strategies; Bigger SEA appropriations; I 

would make it a viable component in the WIA re-authorization and have Small Business 

Development Centers be part of the One-Stop system. Remove WIA restrictions (artificial time 

limits, wage increase measures, etc.), limits on access to capital (particularly through microloans), local ordinances restricting or prohibiting home-based businesses. WIA should provide 

funding to train individuals to prepare them for self-employment (as an option); 

Partnerships: This seems to be more of an economic development measure; At least five

community partner organizations have signed agreements to make the community entrepreneur 

friendly; Need to have training vendors with successful placement/start ups on our approved 

vendor list; Our community college system is slow to react to training needs.

SUMMARY

The answers to these questions encourage the Integrating Entrepreneurship Project staff to wish 

to pursue a much larger study, to include not only WIB Administrators but also One-Stop Career 

Center Staff. In the meantime it does reassure CEE that the recommendations of the project are 

in line with the attitudes of a group of WIB administrators from a number of states.