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Four dozen students enrolled in a business bootcamp program run by Indiana University Northwest’s School of Business and Economics will be eligible to apply for start-up grants from the city of Gary once they complete their coursework.
The city has roughly $400,000 from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) set aside for the grants, Gary Community Development Director Arlene Colvin told the Post-Tribune. The start-up funds will be the latest in a series of ARPA grants awarded by the city, which have already benefited existing businesses and nonprofits. In September, mayor Jerome Prince announced that 91 Gary-based small businesses had been selected to receive between $5,000 and $60,000.
The 12-hour, four-week IUN course is a requirement for prospective start-up grantees.
“The idea of the program is to give them basic information on a variety of different issues that they need to make sure that they’re aware of,” said Jana Szoztek, Director of IU Northwest’s Business Academy. “We’re really brushing the surface on things that they need to be aware of.”
IUN ran a similar start-up course in 2019, but it was derailed the following year by the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics covered in the course include marketing, bookkeeping, and handling consumer relations.
The 48 students, split between two class sections, brought a diverse array of business ideas, ranging from transportation to food service to home remodeling. Some participants entered the program with business ideas that they had been mulling for years.
Tieana Walker first conceived of her idea for a company that teaches life skills to youth in the foster care system nearly a decade ago. Walker, who spent time in the system herself, said that the class has helped her refine the concept.
“In 2014, I actually had wrote a business plan, and it was nothing like the components that I’m learning about in this course,” she said.
Like Walker, J’Kia Tatum wants to use the grant for an enterprise with a positive social impact. Her business, Transparent Progression, aims to help victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence heal through the practice of social-emotional learning.
“We are working to help individuals heal from within” she said. “I am actually tired of seeing people use a bandage.”
Emmani Ellis, an IU student studying mechatronics and robotics who is set to graduate in December, enrolled in the course with the hope of receiving funding for a real estate company that she founded last year. It’s a career path that she hopes can help bolster her home city’s economy.
“With real estate, we have the power to change what the city looks like,” Ellis said. “Fixing up abandoned homes, driving economic stability through home ownership here. Let me be that piece of the puzzle.”
Ellis said she might seek to do business with fellow participant Elyssa Lampton, who is launching a business that installs epoxy countertops and floors.
At the end of the course, students will submit a completed business plan and participate in a vendor showcase. The event will be open to the public from 7-9 p.m. on Oct. 25 at IUN’s Library Conference Center.
At the penultimate class session held on Monday, Szoztek coached participants on how to pitch their business to prospective clients at an in-person event.
“How are you going to change their life?” she said. “That’s what it’s all about, right?”
Grant awards will be determined by a six-member committee that includes Cynthia Roberts, Dean of the IUN School of Business and Economics, alongside representatives of the city and the local business community. The committee will review applications and award grants based on their assessment of applicants’ ability to succeed and bolster the city’s tax base, Colvin said.
adalton@chicagotribune.com
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