A new grant-funded initiative developed through a partnership of educational, nonprofit and governmental entities will serve as the catalyst for growing new businesses and strengthening existing ones in four predominately rural regions in West Virginia.

The program, titled”Supporting and Sustaining Entrepreneurial CommunitiesDeveloping a Statewide Network of Regional Clusters in West Virginia,”recently received a two-year $200,000 grant from the Claude W. Benedum Foundation.

The program targets 15 counties with a population of 568,000 people, which is nearly one-third of the state’s residents according to the 2000 Census. The county clusters are: Greenbrier, Monroe, Pocahontas and Summers; Braxton and Webster; McDowell and Wyoming; and Boone, Clay, Kanawha, Lincoln, Nicholas, Putnam and Raleigh.

The initiative partners will develop partnerships with state and local economic development organizations to assist program success and complement available resources. The project’s goal is to develop viable small businesses and strengthen others that satisfy local needs through products and jobs created. The program is an important step toward increasing rural small business development statewide. Additional private and government-based funding sources will be sought to enhance the Benedum grant.

The program partners include: the WVU Office of Service Learning Programs (OSLP), WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Science Division of Resource Management, Lightstone Community Development Corporation (LCDC), West Virginia University Extension Service (WVU-ES), and the recently established WVU Entrepreneurship Center (WVU-EC).

Through the program, WVU students, academic, and Extension faculty work with local LCDC business development coordinators, and business development partners. As part of their course work, students identify business types most stakeholders envision through needs assessments, community asset mapping and data analysis.

The students work with local economic development groups to coordinate community-based participatory research (CBPR) to define appropriate business development. WVU -EC faculty and students will administer impact assessments to measure business creation, full-time jobs created, self-employment levels and loans offered to individuals.

“The WVU partners involved in this grant are delighted to be working with LCDC and the four community clusters to address research issues related to rural economic development,”said Jill Kriesky, director, WVU Office of Service Learning Programs.”We view this as a win-win project. Communities will receive new forms of assistance from WVU faculty and students, and WVU students will experience the impact they can have in contributing to economic solutions in rural communities.”

WVU -ES agents and specialists will participate in a range of activities including co-facilitation of economic development visioning exercises at local meetings, business development training and CBPR activities.

“This program will prove to be extremely beneficial to the state’s business development initiatives because it will help encourage local citizens to consider starting their own businesses,”said Dr. Larry Cote, director, WVU Extension Service.”The business support and research done by WVU faculty and Lightstone staff will help determine the positive impacts the new businesses are having on the local community.”

LCDC , based in Pendleton County, will assist prospective and current business owners with financing packages, business development techniques and analysis. LCDC will

collaborate with WVU -ES, WVU Division of Resource Management and WVU -EC faculty to conduct business development coordinator and business planning seminars.

“We are grateful for the Benedum Foundation’s interest in community economic development,”said Alex Struminger, interim executive director, Lightstone Foundation.”We are thrilled to have partners from WVU involved in this project because they bring many academic resources and research capabilities to the table. By getting community people involved, the program will continue after the grant ends.”