Ignite Staunton celebrates innovation, community spirit, entrepreneurs
It’s time to celebrate community-centered innovation in Staunton. This Thursday, a winning entrepreneurial idea will be given a chance to flourish with a $5,000 grant award.
This fall, Staunton Creative Community Fund teamed up with Mary Baldwin College to launch an innovative, community-spirited entrepreneurial event called Ignite.
The Ignite Staunton events, which were held on the third Thursday of September, October, and November, was an information exchange designed to foster and inspire Staunton’s creative community. During an Ignite session, the audience listened to new ideas from the area’s creative, technical, and business communities. Local entrepreneurs were invited to take the stage to pitch a current project or favorite idea. Each presenter got five minutes to make their case … and $5,000 in seed money if their idea was selected as the final winner after the three rounds of presentations. Continue reading “Ignite Staunton celebrates innovation, community spirit, entrepreneurs” »
Ignite Staunton to meet on Thursday
Ignite Staunton brought together odd minds, young ideas, and inspired energy to celebrate the creative potential of our local community. Come hear how local residents are changing the face of business, food, transportation, and investment within our communities. Their short, yet lively, conversations celebrate the evolution of ideas to action, and provide inspiration for new approaches to our local economy.
The topics for the Ignite Staunton event scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 15, include Rethinking Business: Home Grown Style with Michael Reeps (Staunton Fresh) and Suzi Carter (Friendly City Food Co-op), Moving Forward: The Choice for Public Transportation with Nick Swanson (Staunton Green) and Justin Van Kleeck (Staunton Creative Community Fund), Bringing it Home: Household Economy meets the New Economy with John Methany (Nu-Beginning Farm) and Adam Campbell (New Community Project), and Investing Locally: Reclaiming our Local Economy with Robyn Stegman (Mary Baldwin College Spencer Center for Civic and Global Engagement) and Joelle Hackney (Staunton Creative Community Fund).
The event will begin at 6 p.m. at a new location – above the Wine Cellar, right next to Blue Mountain Coffee, at 10 Byers Street,Staunton.
Info: StauntonFund.com.
Staunton: Open for business
Staunton is finding new and innovative ways to compete in the 21st century economy.
Access to funding is often described as the most significant challenge to the creation and growth of start-up companies. Not so in Staunton. Staunton’s economic development team, in partnership with the Staunton Creative Community Fund, is quickly changing what the entrepreneurial ecosystem looks like in the region.
“It’s no secret: entrepreneurs are an essential building block of any local economic economy,” says Bill Hamilton, director of economic development. “In Staunton, we’re supplying the tools and resources to allow people to move from idea to action very quickly.”
The Staunton Creative Community Fund, which receives support from the City, is focused on helping qualified entrepreneurs start and scale their companies so that they are on the path for sustainable growth.
The purpose of SCCF is to help small- and micro-sized business succeed through flexible loans and accompanying business training. Since 2008, the fund has helped more than 20 local businesses launch by investing approximately $300,000 of capital. SCCF offers $500,000 in lending capacity.
“Right now we’re engaging in some intensive community outreach with local-food networks and the creative community,” says SCCF Executive Director Meghan Williamson. “This creative community includes designers, engineers, technology firms, as well as green industries and agri-artisan enterprises.”
SCCF’s outreach can take several forms. One of the ideas getting some attention this week is “Ignite Staunton.” Ignite is a fast-paced, crowd-sourced entrepreneurial event. Sponsored by SCCF and Mary Baldwin College, Ignite will award $5,000 to the winning start-up concept. To see Ignite in action – visit the Darjeeling Café in downtown Staunton at 7 pm on Thursday, November 17th. The event is free and open to the public.
“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if the idea comes from a fun, public process like Ignite, or goes through our office in a more traditional channel – our job is simply to partner with the City of Staunton to incentivize, support, and accelerate the growth of small business,” says Williamson.
“Our goal is to launch the right startups for our community in a much shorter timeframe,” adds Hamilton, who sits on the SCCF Board and works closely with Williamson.
There are other benefits. Local start-ups have a positive economic ripple effect; for example, they often use other businesses in the community (like accounting and legal services.) Local businesses pay taxes that are returned into the local economy. Additionally, innovators contribute to Staunton’s community in ways that go beyond mere economics – by fostering a culture of positivity and creativity.
According to economic development staff, Staunton is cultivating business clusters in advanced manufacturing, arts and culture, hospitality and tourism, agri-business, and professional service / technology services.
Staunton boasts an impressive legacy of entrepreneurial companies:
· Entrepreneurs like Martin Lightsey, founder of Cadence, Inc., have already had a profound impact on Staunton’s economy, providing both jobs and innovation. Cadence, founded in 1985, is an advanced manufacturer of cutting and piercing instruments for industrial and medical applications. Recently, Cadence announced that it plans to invest $15.9 million to expand its operation and create 65 additional jobs.
· Art Fisher founded Fisher Auto Parts in Staunton. Now run by his son, Bo Fisher, the Staunton-based company is now the dominant regional provider of high-quality name brand auto parts in 14 states. Nearly a decade ago, Fisher converted a major shopping center into a national distribution center for Federated Auto Parts. This summer, Fisher recently announced plans to further expand with the purchase of a 259,000-square-foot warehouse complex.
· Other visionaries like Ralph Cohen and Jim Warren, co-founders of the American Shakespeare Center, took a big leap by building the world’s only recreation of the Blackfriars Playhouse. Now 10 years old, the playhouse has entertained more than half a million people and is a major tourism draw for the city.
“Working together with partners like SCCF allows Staunton to start, grow, and stabilize small locally owned businesses,” says Hamilton. “Staunton has built an incredibly promising springboard for entrepreneurs.”
Idea time: SCCF to host second Ignite event
This Thursday, Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. at Darjeeling Café, Staunton Creative Community Fund and Mary Baldwin College will host the second of three Ignite® Staunton events.
Ignite is a fast-paced event started by Brady Forrest of O’Reilly Media and Bre Pettis of Makerbot.com. This event, which has been hosted in cities like Seattle, Helsinki, Paris, and New York, is a fun and fast-paced open-mic where presenters share their creative ideas for five minutes to an enthusiastic audience. Staunton is not only the smallest city to host an Ignite event, but also the first in Virginia.
With a uniquely Staunton flavor, Ignite Staunton will be hearing from presenters speaking about a variety of community-centered passions, ideas, and inspirations. This Thursday’s Ignite Staunton event will hear community members speak on everything from outdoor music venues, to youth education projects on a working farm, to initiatives to address hunger in Staunton. These events are held at Darjeeling Cafe on the third Thursdays of September, October, and November. The event opens at 6pm with presentations beginning around 7 p.m. These fun and fast-paced Ignite Staunton events are interactive and audience members will have the opportunity to provide feedback for the Ignite presenters and to vote for the People’s Choice Award of the night. Staunton Creative Community Fund and Mary Baldwin College will be giving away over $5,000 to help winning concepts become a reality in our community.
Ignite comes to Staunton
This Thursday at 6 p.m. at Darjeeling Café, Staunton Creative Community Fund and Mary Baldwin College will host the first of three Ignite® Staunton events. Ignite is a fast-paced event started by Brady Forrest of O’Reilly Media and Bre Pettis of Makerbot.com. This event, which has been hosted in cities like Seattle, Helsinki, Paris, and New York, is a fun and fast-paced open-mic where presenters share their creative ideas for five minutes to an enthusiastic audience. Staunton will not only be the smallest city to host an Ignite event, but also the first in Virginia!
With a uniquely Staunton flavor, Ignite Staunton will be hearing from presenters speaking about a variety of community-centered passions, ideas, and inspirations. This Thursday’s Ignite Staunton event will hear community members speak on everything from edible forest gardens to using dance to promote positive body image in teens. These events will be held at Darjeeling Cafe on the third Thursdays of September, October, and November. The event opens at 6pm with presentations beginning around 7pm. These fun and fast-paced Ignite Staunton events are interactive and audience members will have the opportunity to provide feedback for the Ignite presenters and to vote for the People’s Choice Award of the night. Staunton Creative Community Fund and Mary Baldwin College will be giving away over $5,000 to help winning concepts become a reality in our community.
Come hear some of Staunton’s finest, wildest, and most inventive ideas during this open-mic for the creative idea!
Fund targets business sectors for growth
The Staunton Creative Community Fund, a provider of loans and assistance to empower small businesses, is launching a new outreach campaign targeting emerging businesses with the potential to spawn new industries in the Shenandoah Valley and beyond.
With Virginia’s unemployment rate in November remaining at nearly 7 percent for the third consecutive month with traditional industries such as manufacturing hit hard, the SCCF is focusing on types of businesses that show special promise for success in the current economic climate.
“The American economy is experiencing a level of change not seen in the last 70 years,” said Meghan Williamson, executive director of SCCF. “As many larger employers cut back their operations, more and more workers are going into business for themselves. These entrepreneurs are building creative solutions and new partnerships in their communities today, providing a spark of innovation for the industries of tomorrow.”
Under its new initiative, the fund is targeting two groups of entrepreneurs known for innovation, owners of green businesses and younger generations. Both have potential to create high paying jobs, to attract customers from both inside and outside the Valley, and to help expand already growing industries or help initiate promising new ones.
So far, SCCF has provided loans to green businesses including George Bowers Grocery in Staunton, a specialty neighborhood grocery store offering local and sustainably produced meat, eggs and dairy products; Tidy Green, based in Staunton, an environmentally friendly, non-toxic, child and pet-safe cleaning service; and the Friendly City Food Coop, which will sell a full selection of organic and local groceries when it opens in Harrisonburg later in 2011.
Tidy Green and George Bowers Grocery are also businesses run by younger entrepreneurs–age 40 or under. Others that are working with the Staunton Fund include Tiller Strings, a provider of music and stings instruments in Harrisonburg and Short Box Comics, a Staunton retailer of premium comic books and comic book memorabilia.
“To connect with younger and more innovative entrepreneurs, the old economic development tools aren’t as effective. We wanted to make our communications fresher, more relevant to their concerns, and effective at a grassroots level,” said Williamson, who at age 27 also embodies much of the same youthful enthusiasm as the Staunton Fund’s target audience.
The heart of SCCF’s new outreach campaign is a revamped website that serves as a hub for a multi-pronged online marketing effort including social media, blogging and regular direct email.
“As consumers and entrepreneurs alike spend more time on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, marketing increasingly means online marketing,” said Erik Curren, member of the SCCF’s board of directors.
Curren’s marketing firm, the Curren Media Group, donated its time to develop the new SCCF website along with an online strategy to roll out the fund’s new outreach initiative.
Employing the strategy of content marketing, the new SCCF website works in conjunction with the fund’s social networking, blog and email newsletter to provide a regular stream of news and resources of interest to local entrepreneurs starting and growing small businesses in the current challenging economy.
“SCCF’s communications are an extension of its mission, both online and in person,” said Curren. “The fund practices what it preaches – innovation to reach business goals while stretching precious resources. In today’s economy, using the latest technology to do more with less is vital and SCCF is showing the way.”
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Think Little, Go Big: A fun, informal, can’t-miss-it workshop in Staunton this Saturday
In Staunton, the approach to economic development is that local businesses, jobs, community, and wealth are created here at home. This January, the city is celebrating the entrepreneurs, farmers, and dreamers who aren’t afraid to start small.
The Think Little, Go Big workshop sponsored by the Staunton Creative Community Fund will include special speakers who are making it happen here at home: building small businesses, growing nonprofit organizations, forming guilds, and starting consulting services, we’re coming together in this community forum to ask one question: How do we begin?
Topics include: Marketing, Funding, Creative Partnerships, Getting Started, No Excuse Entrepreneurism, and Open Discussion
Speakers include: Karen Lawrence (Staunton Music Guild, Karen Lawrence Creative Services, and Staunton Downtown Development Association); Erik Curren (Curren Media Group); Katie McCaskey (George Bowers Grocery and Katie McCaskey LLC); Jack Morgan (Queen City Market Place); Meghan Williamson (Staunton Creative Community Fund) and more to come!
Location: Queen City Market Place, 110 W Johnson St., Staunton
Date: Saturday, Jan. 22, 2 p.m.
Free and open to the public.
Project connects students, farmers, developers to design sustainable strategies for Valley
Local university professors, farmers, businesses, community development leaders, and students are gathering together this spring for a Permaculture Design Certification Course. Organized by New Community Project and hosted at their new Sustainable Living Center at 715 N. Main in Harrisonburg, the course is bringing together people and talents from all different areas of the Valley to design a more sustainable region.
Based on patterns and processes of ecological systems, permaculture is the art and science of creating healthy and resilient human environments abundant in food, water, shelter, energy, and community. This course will focus specifically on exploring sustainability strategies for the Shenandoah Valley, and participants will emerge as a thriving practitioner network, each with the ability to design and build gardens, homes, and communities modeled on living ecosystems.
“This is a great opportunity for partnership building in the Valley,” said Tom Benevento, director of New Community Project in Harrisonburg. “I am very excited to see this course unfold, and I’m especially inspired by its nontraditional approach that emphasizes hands-on work and play, group discussion, local site tours, student-driven design projects, and work parties that create a dynamic learning environment.”
Meghan Williamson, executive director of the Staunton Creative Community Fund and one of eight individuals on the teacher team, concurs. “Creating vibrant and sustainable local economies cannot be accomplished through the efforts of a single sector – it is inherently a community wide collaboration. I am honored to be part of a course that celebrates the interdependence of agriculture, economy, community, and family,” Williamson said.
Course registration emphasizes the creation of meaningful local connections between students and teachers, farmers and business owners, and public and private sectors. “We are limiting the course to 24 participants and prioritizing admission for residents of the Shenandoah Valley,” said Adam Campbell, Education Outreach Coordinator for New Community Project. “There are still slots available, but it is filling fast.”
The dates for the four weekend, 12 day course are: February 18-21, March 11-13, April 8-10, and May 14-15. Full bios for course instructors are available on New Community Project’s website at http://ncpharrisonburg.wordpress.com.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Food Co-op closes deals on loan, building contractor
The Friendly City Food Co-op announced today both the closing of a new $50,000 loan from the Staunton Creative Community Fund and the selection of its building contractor, Harman Construction Co.
“We couldn’t be more excited,” said Ben Sandel, president of the Friendly City Food Cooperative. “Launching the Friendly City Food Co-op has truly been a community-based effort, with our members, lenders, and volunteers all playing a vital role in the process.”
The Food Co-op’s latest loan proceeds come from the Staunton Creative Community Fund, a nonprofit community development lender that finances sustainable startups and business ventures generating positive community impact.
“The Friendly City Food Co-op epitomizes the type of projects we seek to support, generating downtown revitalization, forging community-based partnerships, and building infrastructure that supports local farmers and healthy eating choices. We are so proud to be helping the co-op reach its fundraising goals,” said Meghan Williamson, executive director of the Staunton Creative Community Fund.
The new loan was made possible through the creativity and flexibility of both the Friendly City Food Co-op and the Staunton Creative Community Fund. Lacking available collateral for a traditional business loan, 10 Food Co-op members stepped up to guarantee portions of the loan. Recognizing the local economic impact that will be generated by the Food Co-op, the Staunton Creative Community Fund was able to offer a below-average interest rate on the loan.
“Our focus is on building the local economy and helping farmers, entrepreneurs, and consumers keep their dollars local. That means building new systems that emphasize flexibility, as well as finding win-win solutions that reward investors, borrowers, and community members,” said Williamson. “We recognize that economic returns are more than just dollars, they are also jobs, vibrant communities, healthy eating choices, and sustainable development practices.”
The latest loan announcement arrives on the heels of the Friendly City Food Co-op’s summer member loan campaign, which raised more than $675,000 to support the renovation of the Co-op’s new store front and other startup costs.
“We are very fortunate to be operating in a community that understands the value of local investing and which creates its own development solutions,” said Sam Nickels, chair of the Member Loan Campaign. “We’re excited today, with the announcement of our new lender and building contractor, to begin the work of renovations, building construction, and the spring 2011 launch of the Friendly City Food Co-op store.”
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Conference focuses on small business
Virginia has come full circle since Jodi Raskind’s college years.
Raskind, the director of a microloan program in the U.S. Small Business Administration, started college at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College in Clifton Forge. This was before interstates and highway bypasses made it easy to get to Clifton Forge from Northern Virginia.
“My father once said to me, You know, we have to pass 13 colleges on the way to where you go to college. Why can’t you go to one of those?” Raskind said.
The trend toward building bypasses and interstates was meant to divert through traffic away from cities and towns.
“Now we want people to come off the bypass and come off the interstate to see what we have to offer in our cities and towns,” Raskind said in the keynote speech at the Revitalizing Neighborhoods through Entrepreneurism conference that wrapped Friday at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel in Downtown Staunton.
The conference, hosted by the Virginia Enterprise Network and Virginia Main Street, highlighted ongoing community-development efforts in Staunton, with a presentation on Staunton’s efforts to nurture small-business development from Meghan Williamson, the executive director of the Staunton Creative Community Fund, and talks led by several local and regional small-business owners.
Sustainable development was another area of focus, with seminars on the burgeoning green economy bringing attention to local and regional efforts to jumpstart ecofriendly business and industry.
Another highlight was Sam Nickels from the Friendly City Food Co-op in Harrisonburg, which is on track toward an April 2011 opening for its local, member-owned grocery.
“It’s an interesting time to open a grocery store, given the current economic climate,” said Nickels, who spelled out the co-op’s five-year effort to raise $1.8 million toward the opening of the store.
“We’re looking forward to becoming a significant social enterprise business and having an impact on Harrisonburg, Rockingham County and surrounding areas,” Nickels said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Business conference to highlight local success stories
A two-day statewide conference entitled “Revitalizing Neighborhoods through Entrepreneurism” will take a surprising look at Staunton-based success stories.
Hosted by the Virginia Microenterprise Network in association with Virginia Main Street, the conference, to be held Thursday and Friday, will combine national speakers exploring how entrepreneurism and microdevelopment have revitalized communities across the county with a highly-local examination of on-the-ground successes.
“We are excited to use Staunton as a showcase for integrated community development,” says Meghan Williamson, executive director of the Staunton Creative Community Fund, Inc. and Vice-President of the Virginia Microenterprise Network. “The conference will include walking tours and one-on-one discussions with Staunton-based entrepreneurs; panel discussions with environmentally sustainable businesses throughout the Valley; and presentations from local community leaders including Staunton Economic Development, Staunton Downtown Development Association, Valley Conservation Council, and Historic Staunton Foundation.”
“We are excited to be breaking the mold of the traditional conference structure, where expert-led power points dominate the discussion. We’re hoping to put feet on the street and to inspire in-person discussions between community developers, local business owners, arts and cultural destinations, and national policy leaders,” adds Williamson.
Staunton and Shenandoah Valley businesses to be featured during the conference include the Friendly City Food Co-op, George Bowers Grocery, Mockingbird restaurant and music room, and Sunspots Studio, along with non-profit ventures such as the American Shakespeare Center, Staunton Green 2020, Friends of the Middle River, and Mary Baldwin College.
In addition to its local focus, the conference will also feature national economic development leaders including Jodi Raskind, Director of the Office of Capital Access, Microloan Program Branch for the U.S. Small Business Administration and Connie Evans, President and CEO of the national Association for Enterprise Opportunity. A full conference agenda, which includes presentations from the Aspen Institute, Handmade in America, Virginia Main Street and Virginia Enterprise Initiative, is attached to this release.
The conference will be held in the Stonewall Jackson Hotel and Conference Center. Registration is still open to the public and will remain so throughout the event.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
The sweet sound of small business
As the 2010/2011 school year begins, new business Tiller Strings combines local teaching, quality stringed instruments, and microfinance to serve the next generation of local musicians. Tiller Strings, operating out of Harrisonburg, Virginia opened in July of this year. Owned and operated by Virginia native and longtime musician, Megan Tiller, Tiller Strings offers a local option for the purchase and rental of quality stringed instruments and accessories. Tiller, originally from Salem, has been a resident of the Shenandoah Valley for almost eight years, six of which she has spent as a Suzuki violin instructor at Eastern Mennonite University’s Preparatory Music Program.
In her six years of teaching at the Preparatory Music Program, Tiller began to recognize a need for a local option for purchasing, renting, and maintaining stringed instruments. Hundreds of strings students were being directed to purchase instruments, music, and accessories online from companies sourced too far away to ever achieve consistent and reliable customer service. Tiller states, “as a teacher, I know the quality of the instrument can make such a difference in the student’s experience, but finding good quality and affordable instruments within driving
distance of Harrisonburg was impossible.” Understanding the value of face-to-face, experienced service, and in an effort to help connect her students and their families to existing local options, Tiller has now dedicated herself to filling this void in the greater Harrisonburg area.
Tiller Strings specializes in violins, violas, cellos, and string basses, all for purchase or rental and also offers bows, strings and other accessories, a wide variety of books and music including Suzuki method materials, as well as access to quality local instrument repair. Targeting the teacher/student market in the Harrisonburg area, Tiller Strings provides a high-quality, face-to-face purchasing opportunity from a knowledgeable source which will only offer “teacher approved” instrument outfits and materials to suit all ages and levels of experience.
Tiller Strings prides itself in connecting with and utilizing outstanding local luthiers and will also provide a venue through which interested buyers may purchase local Virginian and regionally crafted instruments, including guitars, mandolins, banjos, dulcimers, and more. Tiller hails from a variety of musical traditions and seeks to provide products that will meet the needs of a diverse clientele and serve to strengthen a local network of musicians, luthiers, teachers, and students in the musically rich Shenandoah Valley.
Tiller Strings launched in July of 2010 with a start-up business loan from the Staunton Creative Community Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to enriching communities both culturally and economically by supporting and funding local entrepreneurs.
Tiller sums up her experience with local microlending with enthusiasm: “I simply would never have been able to do this, not without their help and advice and patience! They explained everything and were with me for every step, and for someone with no prior business experience. … I just couldn’t have done it without them.”
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
