HAMILTON — Colgate University’s Thought Into Action (TIA) entrepreneurship incubator and Hamilton’s Partnership for Community Development (PCD) will use a state grant of $625,000 over the next five years. Colgate and PCD will use most of the money to hire a director for the incubator, says Mary Galvez, director of Thought Into Action entrepreneurship at […]
Get Instant Access to This Article
Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Central New York business news and analysis updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Get a year's worth of the Print Edition of The Central New York Business Journal.
- Special Feature Publications such as the Book of Lists and Revitalize Greater Binghamton, Mohawk Valley, and Syracuse Magazines
[bypass-paywall-buynow-link link_text="Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article"].
HAMILTON — Colgate University’s Thought Into Action (TIA) entrepreneurship incubator and Hamilton’s Partnership for Community Development (PCD) will use a state grant of $625,000 over the next five years.
Colgate and PCD will use most of the money to hire a director for the incubator, says Mary Galvez, director of Thought Into Action entrepreneurship at Colgate University.
“That person will be responsible for actually running the incubator … the day-to-day administrative duties,” she adds.
Empire State Development awarded the funding that will benefit the 3,000-square-foot business incubator located at 20 Utica St. in Hamilton.
The organizations will spend a “large portion” of the remaining funding on programming and marketing. The programming could include experts on building a website, dealing with taxes and labor laws, and matters pertaining to agriculture.
Both Colgate and PCD want “to try to reach as many people as possible to help drive economic development in the region and then have the incubator as the hub,” says Galvez.
The funding will “solidify” the space as an official New York State-certified business incubator, “the only designee this year” for Cayuga, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, and Oswego counties, according to Colgate.
The incubator, described as a “low-cost alternative” to renting an office, also provides Hamilton–area startups with access to Colgate’s entrepreneurship program and mentors, the school added.
“The thought that we can really help drive economic development and sustainable development is really exciting for me, and I think this grant is really going to help us do that,” says Galvez.
About the grant recipients
TIA is an entrepreneurship program that started with Colgate alumni a decade ago, says Michael Sciola, associate VP of institutional advancement and career initiatives at Colgate. It was started initially for Colgate students. Both Sciola and Galvez spoke with CNYBJ in a Feb. 12 telephone conference call.
Colgate’s TIA initiative, now in its 10th year, has helped 528 entrepreneurs to develop 349 ventures, the school said.
Established in 1998, the nonprofit PCD “works to enhance sustainable economic opportunity and community vitality in the village and town of Hamilton and the surrounding areas,” per its website.
“We are very excited about the implementation of this grant and the impact it will have on our community,” Jennifer Marotto Lutter, executive director of the PCD, said in a Colgate news release. “The PCD has worked very hard over the years to create a favorable entrepreneurial ecosystem, and the expansion of co-working incubator services and staffing will take us to a new level.”
About the incubator
Colgate leases the 20 Utica St. property in downtown Hamilton. The site was once home to a car dealership and a hardware store, says Sciola
TIA three years ago opened the incubator up to local residents who weren’t Colgate students, he adds.
Colgate eventually approached the PCD and learned that it had conducted a survey to find out how many home-based startup businesses were operating in the area. “We very quickly identified that there was great interest and opportunity to support our local businesses more,” says Sciola.
He calls the grant funding a “game changer” for Colgate, Hamilton, and the PCD.
When it was decided to open the incubator to people who aren’t enrolled at Colgate, it provided a chance for students to meet people from the community, says Sciola. The additional funding will allow the school to “broaden and deepen that experience” and the overall relationship with the Hamilton community.
“The goal of what we want out of this grant is to broaden and diversify the economic base here and to bring new people to our area to start businesses and to stay. That is a win-win for everybody,” says Sciola.
