Case Study
Hope Enterprise Corporation, with a commitment from Goldman Sachs, partnered with seven cities and nine historically Black colleges and universities to launch the Deep South Economic Mobility Collaborative (DSEMC). These include Alabama State University, Miles College, Philander Smith College, Southern University and A&M College, Dillard University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Jackson State University, Tougaloo College, and LeMoyne-Owen College. This collaborative formed to stabilize and strengthen businesses and communities devastated by the economic crisis. DSEMC invests in small businesses and entrepreneurs in the Deep South, particularly those from underserved and under-resourced communities. As a member of this collaborative, Alabama State University will expand its work to provide more technical assistance, business support and procurement opportunities to local businesses. The ASU Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has helped to launch and support hundreds of small and minority-owned businesses and its involvement in DSEMC allows the SBDC to continue to build their capacity to support the growth and advancement of community businesses.
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Case Study
Hope Enterprise Corporation, with a commitment from Goldman Sachs, partnered with seven cities and nine historically Black colleges and universities to launch the Deep South Economic Mobility Collaborative (DSEMC). These include Alabama State University, Miles College, Philander Smith College, Southern University and A&M College, Dillard University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Jackson State University, Tougaloo College, and LeMoyne-Owen College. This collaborative formed to stabilize and strengthen businesses and communities devastated by the economic crisis. DSEMC invests in small businesses and entrepreneurs in the Deep South, particularly those from underserved and under-resourced communities. As a member of this collaborative, Alabama State University will expand its work to provide more technical assistance, business support and procurement opportunities to local businesses. The ASU Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has helped to launch and support hundreds of small and minority-owned businesses and its involvement in DSEMC allows the SBDC to continue to build their capacity to support the growth and advancement of community businesses.
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Case Study
As Rowan began to increase its capital spending locally, the city of Glassboro saw a unique opportunity to leverage the Rowan investments by developing a plan for the transformation of the downtown area leading to the university. This plan ultimately became the $476 million, mixed-use development of Rowan Boulevard. In the city of Glassboro more than 30 percent of school-aged children qualified for the free lunch program and 20 percent of families earn under the poverty line. The growth that was transforming Rowan was noticed by the former mayor of Glassboro and the business community. Policy and business leaders were encouraged by the growing student market for retail services, housing and food coupled with the university’s strategic focus on becoming an “engine of growth” for Southern New Jersey. In 2008, the town purchased and demolished rundown properties to make way for the development. The Rowan Boulevard design plan generated significant interest by developers, in part because it included lease-back arrangements with the university for student housing and academic buildings.
The South Jersey Technology Park at Rowan University is located approximately one mile from the Rowan campus. According to Dr. Beena Sukumaran, who directed the management of the park for Rowan, the growth of business and investment in the Glassboro area was initiated in partnership with a local philanthropist, Sam Jones, who donated $1 million in 2006 for the establishment of the technology park. According to university literature, “The mission of the Technology Park is to establish a technology based entrepreneurial economy; expand and strengthen the unique research and learning environment of Rowan University; and create value for its surrounding communities in their economic, physical and social development.”
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St. Joseph’s accreditation was suspended in 2019 because of financial concerns. Now, the college’s space and land is being evaluated for potentially becoming an innovation center for the surrounding community. The creation of the CSJ Center for Excellence & Innovation as a community-focused Opportunity Zone project will “align, engage, and partner local government and institutions with private capital and philanthropy to address the challenges of job creation and building scalable businesses in Rutland.” Goals for the CSJ Center for Excellence and Innovation are to serve the community by “providing certificate programs, workforce training, co-working spaces, and start-up support.”
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Using a $1.25M grant from the Economic Development Administration and matching local OZ funds, the University plans to expand its efactory business incubator in Springfield, MO. According to Missouri State, this investment is expected to create “360 jobs and spur $27 million in private investment.” The efactory opened in March 2013 with the goal of serving entrepreneurs and business owners in southwest Missouri. Their programming includes providing support to large and small businesses through mentorship, accelerator programs, and networking opportunities.
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Local universities leveraging their faculty and staff to help spur expansion of critical local businesses and industries makes those businesses and industries more investable – and Maine lobster is a perfect example. Ready Seafood developed a lobster processing plant, creating a surge in local economic development and business expansion. With funding from the Maine Technology Institute, Ready Seafood, in collaboration with the University of Maine and St. Joseph’s College will study lobsters and the sustainability of the lobster industry in Maine by exploring ways to improve lobster quality, shipability and yield.
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Livable City Year program is a partnership between cities in Washington state and UW’s faculty and students from various disciplines to strategize solutions to the specific community’s needs. Since 2016, this university program has produced numerous projects for the cities of Auburn, Tacoma, and Bellevue including enhancing Startup 425, a program that provides value-adding services to local startups and neighborhood planning projects.
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The Resource Amplification & Management Program within Seattle University lives in its Albers School of Business and Economics and serves local underserved businesses. A team of faculty, staff and students works with the particular business for a year or more in order to encourage growth through business coaching, resource connections, business planning, technical support, and project management. The university has built connections with local neighborhoods in Seattle with more than 2,000 hours of coaching over 150 businesses since 2016.
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Western Colorado University’s ICELab is a “community organization with a keen interest in mountain town sustainability and economic diversity in rural Western Colorado.” The lab provides startups and growing businesses affordable coworking/office space as well as an Incubator Program.
In addition to serving as a space for community engagement and business incubation, ICELab is a nonprofit intermediary in applying for and deploying Opportunity Zone Mini Grants from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT). Recently, OEDIT awarded ICELab with two grants on behalf of two private companies using Opportunity Zones for their community-oriented projects. One project is a sustainable hotel and the other a workforce housing development called Gunnison Rising sponsored by Williford LLC in the land use and affordable housing space.