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>> RIT's Center for Urban
Entrepreneurship is an exciting
new initiative to help
revitalize the regional economy
and build wealth within the
urban community.
More specifically we're talking
about the community of
Rochester, New York.
There is a tremendous amount of
economic development going on in
the city right now,
but if you can just go blocks
either direction, what you'll
find is that we have some of the
highest rates of poverty that
exist in our state and even in
our nation.
So one of the things we're
trying to do with the Center for Urban
Entrepreneurship is be a bridge
between this economic
development activity and the
community needs.
And we want to do that through
entrepreneurship.
We want to bring the resources
together that exist in the
Rochester community, bring
people to the table so that we
can help create solutions
that will help these companies
grow and succeed.
>> VLSP is delighted to partner
with the Center on this project.
There are a number of people
coming through the Center with
an array of business issues, and
certainly lawyers will be able
to fulfill one of the obligations
in making those people
successful.
It's very difficult to start a
business and almost impossible
to start a business without the
help of a lawyer.
What we're going to do in our
partnership is match those
people with experienced
attorneys who can help them not
make those missteps that often
happen when you're starting a
business, be able to talk to them
about what their needs are.
We'll be able to help them and
guide them through the process.
>> Here in the city we have
5,000 small businesses as will
be defined by this business
administration.
And I really think that if we're
able to get those folks started
in the right lane, they'll finish
getting to the right exit.
>> The Venture Jobs Foundation
will work actively to bring
capital to businesses in urban
settings so that when
entrepreneurs come to us seeking
capital for new businesses, we can
have them first go to the Center
to develop their needed skills and
knowledge to get us to a point
where we are comfortable
deploying capital into that
business.
Because we would like it to be
returned to the Foundation so
that we can redeploy it into
other urban businesses.
>> What Peko is interested in
doing through our development in
manufacturing is we're looking
to create a more organic growth,
if you will, through innovation.
And having something like that
that's built that you can show
to investors is real physical evidence
of a product that really could
have a future really allows all
these resources that the Center
can provide to really congeal
around it and really focus on it
to bring it to that next step.
>> I think the Center for Urban
Entrepreneurship is important to
the city of Rochester because
it's really the first time we've
had a downtown based incubator.
So much innovation or a change
in innovation going on in downtown
now that having this spot where
startups can aggregate and
collaborate is going to be a
major change in things.
It's something that will be a
very important driver for the
future of the city.
>> The city and RIT are the two
groups that I really want to
continue to be affiliated with.
I think that's why the Center
for Urban Entrepreneurship is a
perfect fit for us as a company.
>> We are really excited to be
working with the Center.
It's been a few years, quite a
few years, we've been working on
our own trying to get this to
happen.
And the major thing the Center
has done for us, first, they
brought all the major players
together like the bank, the
city, and representative from
the SBA that has helped
establish us as a major grocery
center in the area.
>> I don't believe the Center is
helping me fulfill my dream.
I know the Center is helping me
fulfill my dream.
The Center is helping me to go
beyond where I could have gone
myself.
There is so much information;
they're so helpful, so resourceful.
And I can't stress it enough how
resourceful the Center is.
They have everything that you
need to be successful.
If you try to do it on your own,
you'll miss steps.
Then you have to go back and
repeat steps.
Working with the Center, everything
is straight and forward.
You'll go straight to your goal,
to your point; and you'll drive
it home.
>> The Center for Urban
Entrepreneurship provides
entrepreneurs hope.
And hope is not all they need.
Of course, they need resources;
they need guidance; they need
mentoring.
And what we do is we help
provide those resources and
combine it with their hope and
their passion and their dreams.
And then we throw in a little
bit of our passion and our
dreams along with it, and what
we create is something special.
What we create is a success.
And I really believe that that's
what the Center for Urban
Entrepreneurship creates.
We create success.