The CNY Community Foundation is celebrating their 85th anniversary by offering grants through the CNY85 Giving Project to address Central New York’s greatest needs. Grant winners will be selected by a popular vote. Please vote for the project we’ve partnered to develop with several local organizations. We’ll need you to vote every day to keep the project in the running!
Our project:
Hopeprint is partnering with Northside UP, Cooperative Federal Credit Union, the Onondaga Small Business Development Center (SBDC), and the Tech Garden to submit an application supporting a Northside business incubator. Hope Print will offer mentoring to refugee entrepreneurs with Northside UP, Cooperative Federal Credit Union, SBDC and the Tech Garden offering technical and financial assistance. The funds would underwrite the startup costs (permitting, licensing, accounting, marketing, etc) for our pilot business. A portion of the funds would also be leveraged as seed capital for a microloan fund, which will help finance future businesses.
Many ethnic populations already are starting businesses on the Northside, with varying results. Our program will establish successful business models among refugee entrepreneurs and help build entrepreneurial capacity within their communities. A concerted effort will also be made to place incubated businesses in vacant North Salina Street storefronts – adding to neighborhood vitality. If we can establish seed capital and fund our pilot business, we will establish the framework to energize the North Salina business corridor while providing exciting opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs in Syracuse.
So what are you waiting for? Go vote (click here)!
