Carbon County, PA – The Carbon County Economic Development Corporation (CCEDC) is taking the lead in helping to create a stronger culture of entrepreneurship in Carbon County. The move is a rare partnering of eight agencies that serve Carbon County businesses in some form or another. The agencies include the Small Business Administration, Carbon County CareerLink, Lehigh Carbon Community College, Lehigh Valley SCORE, the Small Business Development Center at Wilkes University, the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce and the Carbon County Career and Technical Institute Adult Education. Additionally, local banks and area financial institutions will be featured in one of the seven workshops planned.
These agencies will be gathering to answer questions about the program and provide an opportunity for individual interviews and a group photo on May 18th at 11:00 a.m. in Josiah White Park in Jim Thorpe.
Seven workshops have been developed starting June and running through September. The project is a pilot and the organizers hope that attendance will be strong so that it can be offered again in the fall. The first workshop is on June 3rd, 2011.
“An important part of Economic Development for Carbon County is developing an environment that supports individuals who have an idea or a product and want to start their own business. To date, we as a community have struggled to provide services that enable individuals to do that. We hope to begin to change that by offering these workshops,” said Dawn Ferrante, Executive Director of the CCEDC.
The workshops begin with two titled, “The Realities of Entrepreneurship and Getting Started” and end with a workshop on “Human Resources” that addresses when businesses should consider hiring that first employee.
Ninety-nine percent of businesses in Carbon County have fewer than 10 employees and 50% of those have fewer than five. It is hoped that existing businesses can also take advantage of the workshops to help grow their business. The workshops were designed to be taken on an a la carte basis, but could also be taken together.
The most attractive part of the program is that it is FREE to participants (some courses have a small fee for handouts). For more information on classes, please see FREE Workshops at www.carbonecon.com. To register, please call or email Linda Rex at 570-325-2810 or lindarex@carboncounty.net
