SYRACUSE — The KeyBank (NYSE: KEY) Business Boost & Build program on May 1 awarded $115,000 to CenterState CEO. The funding will help CenterState CEO expand its popular UP Start Syracuse program, KeyBank said in a news release issued that day. KeyBank announced the funding award at the South Side Innovation Center to help mark […]
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SYRACUSE — The KeyBank (NYSE: KEY) Business Boost & Build program on May 1 awarded $115,000 to CenterState CEO.
The funding will help CenterState CEO expand its popular UP Start Syracuse program, KeyBank said in a news release issued that day. KeyBank announced the funding award at the South Side Innovation Center to help mark the start of National Small Business Month.
UP Start Syracuse helps grow businesses “within vulnerable communities, contributing to stronger neighborhoods and shared prosperity,” KeyBank said. The program connects existing businesses and “aspiring” entrepreneurs to the tools and networks that help them “thrive, bringing together the collective resources of existing business organizations and community partners while also bridging the work of CenterState CEO’s Economic Inclusion and Innovation and Entrepreneurship portfolios.”
“We are very excited about this partnership with JumpStart,” Dominic Robinson, VP of economic inclusion at CenterState CEO, said. “The investment from the KeyBank Business Boost & Build program will help us expand our collective work to help expand prosperity in our community through the growth of women and minority owned businesses.”
The KeyBank Business Boost & Build program is supported by JumpStart, a Cleveland, Ohio–based nonprofit. It describes its mission as one that works to “unlock the full potential of diverse and ambitious entrepreneurs to economically transform entire communities,” according to its website.
It provides assistance to startups and small businesses, helps companies secure capital, and matches people with companies, the JumpStart website says.
New York’s Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA) is also a “key player” in this collaborative project with the UP Start Syracuse program, KeyBank said. On its website, CenterState CEO lists UMEA among its “organizational partners.”
As “the only chamber of commerce in the Central New York Region for minority business owners and professionals of color,” UMEA will offer discounted memberships to clients of CenterState’s UP Start Syracuse program. It will also offer small-business owners assistance with obtaining minority and women owned business enterprise (MWBE) certification and securing other economic-development investments.
Additional program support
Besides the UP Start Syracuse program, CenterState CEO will also use the funding in its collaboration with two programs that the Syracuse University Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship oversees. The Falcone Center is a program of Syracuse’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management.
The programs include the South Side Innovation Center (SSIC) at 2610 S. Salina St. in Syracuse. The SSIC is a community-based microenterprise incubator that provides office space, training, test kitchen space, and MWBE certification for neighborhood entrepreneurs. CenterState will refer clients to SSIC, provide supplemental technical assistance to residents, and continue to work with the organization to successfully launch and grow south-side businesses.
The second program is the Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship (WISE), which CenterState will provide with new funding to deliver more workshops and technical assistance for entrepreneurs, specifically for its Exito program.
Funding will also support the annual WISE Women’s Symposium, which the organization held April 18 at SKY Armory.
Funded by a grant from the KeyBank Foundation in 2017, the KeyBank Business Boost & Build program is “designed to stimulate economic growth” in Ohio and upstate New York by helping startups and small businesses grow and “preparing the workforce for the needs of those companies.”
