The State of Entrepreneurship

Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation CEO Carl Schramm recently gave a speech at the National Press Club, entitled “The State of Entrepreneurship.” Schramm underscored the importance of entrepreneurs to economic recovery, emphasizing that hundreds of new companies are being created each day. Schramm also unveiled a new survey of entrepreneurs, commissioned by the Kauffman Foundation and conducted by Douglas Schoen, LLC that shows entrepreneurs are optimistic about their companies but are struggling to expand and create jobs in the current economy. Other related resource: ETA report: ETA report http://wdr.doleta.gov/research/keyword.cfm?fuseaction=dsp_resultDetails&pub_id=2435&mp=y

(Recording) Youth Entrepreneurship as a Tool in the Workforce Development Kit

New Report Explores Economic Downturn’s Impact on Entrepreneurial Activity

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently released a report exploring the first indications of how the economic downturn has impacted entrepreneurship in the United States and 11 other countries. The Kauffman Foundation-funded report, “Timely Entrepreneurship Indicators,” shows that firm formation declined and firm exits increased in 2008 and most of 2009. The report notes that continuing to encourage and support business startups is important for job creation and, ultimately, economic recovery. The report is part of the second-year results of the Entrepreneurship Indicator Program (EIP), which uses official government data to measure performance in 23 countries. Related Resources: New Kauffman Foundation Study on EntrepreneurshipKauffman Index of Entrepreneurial ActivityEntrepreneurship Summit Entrepreneurship for Veterans with Disabilities: Lessons Learned from the FieldOpportunities for Rural Community and Economic DevelopmentThe Green Coast Innovation ZoneGreen Spotlight: Innovators and EntrepreneursFinal Findings – Project Gate (Growing America Through Entrepreneurship)Entrepreneurship United by the power of ideas

Corporation for Enterprise Development Announces Future of Economic Opportunity Award Winners

The Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) recently announced the winners of its Future of Economic Opportunity Award at the organization’s 30th anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C. CFED honored several organizations for outstanding work in the areas of Financial Security, Entrepreneurship, and Affordable Housing. Awardees were highlighted for their innovative accomplishments in integrating community practice, public policy, and private markets to achieve results at significant scale.

New Kauffman Foundation Study on Entrepreneurship

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has published a new survey report, “Making of a Successful Entrepreneur: The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur,” which presents and explores entrepreneurs’ views about what influences the success or failure of startup businesses. The survey researched the beliefs of 549 company founders of successful businesses in high-growth industries, including aerospace, defense, computing, electronics, and health care. Company founders surveyed indicated that the most critical factors in startup success are prior work experience, learning from previous successes and failures, having a strong management team, and plain luck. Less important factors noted include business location, investor advice, alumni networks, and state or regional assistance. The study notes that understanding what makes entrepreneurs successful could help develop better policies to foster entrepreneurship and increase the numbers of high-growth companies. Related Resources: Entrepreneurship for Veterans with Disabilities: Lessons Learned from the Field Opportunities for Rural Community and Economic Development The Green Coast Innovation Zone Green Spotlight: Innovators and Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship Summit Final Findings – Project Gate (Growing America Through Entrepreneurship) http://www.entrepreneurship.gov http://www.entrepreneurship.org

Leveraging State Economic Development Resources to Create Job Opportunities for People with Disabilities

State and local economic development agencies are a largely untapped resource for increasing employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. This brief highlights existing state, regional, and local economic development resource tools and discusses ways in which states and localities can leverage traditional loan and financing programs that enhance job creation, provide access to local employment opportunities, or help support employment for residents, including those with disabilities. The National Technical Assistance and Research Center (NTAR) Leadership Center promotes leadership for increasing the employment and economic independence of adults with disabilities Related Resources: Entrepreneurship for Veterans with Disabilities: Lessons Learned from the Field Collaborating and Coordinating with Employers

Entrepreneurship for Veterans with Disabilities: Lessons Learned from the Field

This brief examines entrepreneurship as a viable option for veterans with disabilities, particularly those returning from the present-day conflicts in the Middle East. As entrepreneurs, veterans have an array of opportunities to customize their employment, accommodate their challenges, maximize their strengths and skills, and achieve their financial and career goals. This brief takes a close look at one program — the Entrepreneurship Boot Camp — and discusses some lessons learned from the operation of this program. The National Technical Assistance and Research Center (NTAR) Leadership Center promotes leadership for increasing the employment and economic independence of adults with disabilities Related Resources: Collaborating and Coordinating with Employers Leveraging State Economic Development Resources to Create Job Opportunities for People with Disabilities

2009 Excellence in Tech-Based Economic Development Award Winners

The State Science and Technology Institute (SSTI) recently announced the winners of its 2009 Excellence in Tech-Based Economic Development (TBED) Award. The award recognizes outstanding achievements in TBED emphasizing impact, strategic value, and replicability.

New Publication on Career Pathway Models and Programs

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW) and the National Career Pathways Network (NCPN) have released a joint publication, Thriving in Challenging Times: Connecting Education to Economic Development Through Career Pathways. This resource highlights successful career pathway models that create relevant, challenging learning environments for students and are designed to increase American employers' access to highly-skilled, qualified workers. Thriving in Challenging Times profiles 17 local and two statewide career pathways programs in multiple industry sectors, documenting the challenges, strategies, results, and business engagement each partnership has experienced.

Opportunities for Rural Community and Economic Development

The Rural Sociological Society’s latest Rural Realities publication, “Homegrown Responses to Economic Uncertainty in Rural America,” explores three interconnected "homegrown" approaches for reinvigorating and growing struggling rural economies, which have been particularly hard-hit by the economic recession. The paper also offers several policy and strategic options for fostering homegrown rural development efforts. Related resources: Link to "Innovation in Action" article:http://www.workforce3one.org/view/3000929241996925905 Economic Gardening http://groups.google.com/group/econ-dev?msg=subscribe&hl=en The Farm Act of 2008 established the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program. This program will provide technical and financial assistance in the form of loans and grants to qualified Microenterprise Development Organizations (MDOs) to support microentrepreneurs in the development and ongoing success of rural microenterprises. An MDO is an organization that provides access to capital and business-based training services to very small (micro) businesses. A microentrepreneur is an owner and operator, or prospective owner and operator, of a rural business with not more than 10 full-time equivalent employees who is unable to obtain sufficient training, technical assistance, or credit. USDA’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service today has published a proposed rule in support of the implementation of this program to meet the goals and requirements of the Act. Comments are due by November 23, 2009. The October 7, 2009 FEDERAL REGISTER" contains the proposed rule.

Iowa Leverages Social Networking Media to Launch Career Hub

The Iowa Coalition for Innovation and Growth has launched the Iowa Career Hub on the Facebook social networking platform. The Iowa Career Hub is designed to raise awareness about career pathways and related academic opportunities among Iowans of all ages. Through the Career Hub, Iowans can access organizations in both the public and private sectors to learn more about career opportunities and planning.

New STEM Collaborative Launched in Colorado

Secondary and post-secondary education partners in Colorado have teamed to launch the Colorado Academy for the Development of STEM-related Careers (Colorado ADSC). The Colorado ADSC alliance seeks to position the state as a leader in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education, from kindergarten to the post-secondary graduate studies level, and to ready students for entry into high-growth, STEM-related industries and sectors. The collaborative will offer students training, multi-level certifications and degrees, and job placement assistance. Other related resource: TEN 23-07: Building and Sustaining an Educated and Prepared STEM Workforce

The Green Coast Innovation Zone

The Green Coast Innovation Zone (GCiZ) is a regional strategy to leverage public and private assets and natural resources to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship through research, business incubation, focused workforce development, targeted economic development and policy development. The GCiZ will focus on the emerging green economy including, renewable energy, and other technologies that promote sustainability as well as public engagement in the process of “going green.” The goal of the GCiZ is to facilitate in the transformation of a more sustainable economy and environment through targeted economic and workforce development opportunities in the three contiguous counties of Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo in California. The three counties also have common geographic, demographic and economic profiles including similar industry sectors. Each county has at least one major university and a military installation where research and product development can occur.

Austin Green Job Task Force Initiative Report

In February 2009 the Austin Chamber of Commerce began efforts to coordinate a community-wide approach to green job education and training. The Chamber’s Business Retention & Expansion team coordinated a “Green Job” Task Force to coordinate regional workforce training issues for the Austin and Round Rock areas of the state around the numerous opportunities in the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors. This Task Force report is a Community Roadmap that identifies, defines and sizes green collar job opportunities specifically for the Austin region. Although the data contained in the report is geographically-specific, the featured strategies and plans may serve as models for the many communities and regions with similar circumstances.

Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity

The Kauffman Foundation has released its annual Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity. There was substantial variation in entrepreneurial activity rates across states in 2008. Pennsylvania exhibited the lowest entrepreneurial activity rate with 140 per 100,000 adults starting new businesses each month. Georgia had the highest entrepreneurial activity rate, with 590 per 100,000 adults creating businesses each month. Entrepreneurial activity rates follow strong geographical patterns. Entrepreneurial activity generally is highest in Western and Southern states, and lowest in the Midwestern and Northeastern states.

Ann Arbor SPARK Helps Michigan Shift Gears

The decline in Michigan’s overall workforce infrastructure has put numerous well-seasoned and well-educated managers, engineers, and technical professionals in a position of needing to analyze their vocational options. A new initiative, Shifting Gears, hopes to provide an opportunity for these professionals to do just that, and to assist professionals in the transition to an entrepreneurial environment.

Green Spotlight: Innovators and Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship and innovation plays a key role in job growth. This spotlight highlights a few entrepreneurs in the green economy that may play a role in creating the jobs for economic recovery.

Promoting Entrepreneurship, Through The One Stop Career Center System for Persons with Disabilities, Including Disabled Veterans

This Webinar will highlight promising practices and lessons learned to facilitate the State and Local Worforce Investment Boards and One Stop Career Centers connecting with the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Ticket to Work Program. This program provides work incentives for beneficiaries with disabilities who want to work. Examples of service coordination among workforce partners utilizing the Ticket to Work incentives will be shared during this Webinar.

Entrepreneurship Summit

The Entrepreneurship Summit, co sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation and the International Economic Development Council brought together 40 experts and practitioners to determine what makes an entrepreneurship initiative successful. Article provides a good overview of current thinking and shares numerous program links of successful programs and resources available. Summit examined the questions: What are the core components for effective entrepreneurship support? What is the essential infrastructure for an entrepreneurial eco-system? What are new avenues for research? What steps should be taken next to facilitate high-growth entrepreneurs? Appendix includes a discussion of "economic gardening".

Leveraging Postsecondary Partners to Build a College-Going Culture: Tools for High School-Postsecondary Partnerships

A number of schools and school districts seek to revitalize their partnerships with postsecondary institutions as a way to create pathways to postsecondary education and training for all students, not just those who enter high school academically prepared. Jobs for the Future (JFF) developed this toolkit for schools that wish to create, broaden, and deepen their postsecondary partnerships for maximum impact on college-going. The toolkit draws upon the lessons of three important efforts to create clear, tightly designed pathways from high school to college on behalf of students traditionally underrepresented in higher education: the Early College High School Initiative; University Park Campus School in Worcester, Massachusetts; and entrepreneurial efforts undertaken by new small schools in Boston to leverage partnerships that benefit all students.