Emporia Main Street is in search of two good people as it continues work through a special grant announced earlier this year.
Back in January, Main Street was announced as as a recipient in the Forging Opportunities for Research, Growth and Entrepreneurship, or FORGE, grant program supported by the Kansas Department of Commerce. Main Street got $375,000 through the grant and another $375,000 match through Emporia State University.
Main Street Director Casey Woods says Main Street and ESU are having conversations about strategizing, including outreach to different existing businesses and entrepreneurs about microgrant opportunities and pitch opportunities. The goal is to create new products and services leading to new jobs and more wealth areawide.
Woods also says this means two new positions are available. Woods says these are new positions as opposed to replacing current staff. Main Street is now in search of a Fabrication Lab Outreach and Innovation Specialist to help as Fab Lab Manager Jeremy Wharton oversees an ongoing surge in interest for that aspect of Main Street operations. Woods says interest has “accelerated a lot faster than even we had hoped.”
The other position is a Marketing and Events Coordinator, working alongside Community Development Coordinator Jessica Buchholz.
FORGE is a three-year project designed to do several things:
*Increase access to technology for businesses and entrepreneurs
*Develop partnerships so local and regional businesses can find opportunities that otherwise may not be feasible, especially for smaller businesses
*Using Emporia State to develop skill sets suitable for starting, expanding or recruiting new businesses to the area
The grant also means a lot of work between ESU and Main Street through the next 2.5 years:
*Developing a “one-stop shop” for regional entrepreneurship with team resources setting up a “grow-our-own” strategy enhancing economic diversity, regional job growth and household incomes
*Increasing support for local entrepreneurs through business incubation, microgrants, education activities and “reverse pitch” events
*Monetizing local experiences and regional entrepreneur knowledge to develop business opportunities
*Developing a cooperative approach to funnel resources to entrepreneurial development
*More connections for local and area entrepreneurs to business development services across Kansas
*Adding new equipment to the Main Street Fabrication Lab — a move also funded by Main Street’s involvement in the K-State 105 Entrepreneurial Blueprint Initiative.
By mid-third quarter or early fourth-quarter this year, Woods says there could be announcements about different pitch opportunities for both existing and new businesses.