SYRACUSE — The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV) is an initiative “combining entrepreneurial education with hands-on experience,” the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) says. Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) operates the EBV program. The SBA on Sept. 16 awarded the university a federal grant of $100,000 to further develop the initiative […]
SYRACUSE — The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV) is an initiative “combining entrepreneurial education with hands-on experience,” the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) says.
Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) operates the EBV program. The SBA on Sept. 16 awarded the university a federal grant of $100,000 to further develop the initiative both locally and at partner institutions.
Syracuse has hosted the program annually since it founded and launched EBV in 2007.
The grant award represents one-third of the $300,000 in funding distributed nationally to organizations offering entrepreneurship training to service-disabled vets.
It’s similar to funding that the SBA has awarded Syracuse previously, and this latest award will continue helping the IVMF to develop the EBV.
That’s according to Misty Stutsman, director of the entrepreneurship and small-business portfolio at the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University.
“The thing that people don’t realize is that … we host the EBV at Syracuse University but we actually have partnering universities across the nation that are also hosting this program,” says Stutsman. “It allows us to really give those schools the support that they need … as well as the ones that come through the [program at] Syracuse University.”
She spoke with CNYBJ on Sept. 24.
The partner institutions include Cornell University, University of Connecticut, St. Joseph’s University, University of Missouri, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and Texas A&M University, per the EBV page on the IVMF website.
Syracuse likes to host 30 veterans for its annual EBV program, which is free for participating veterans. The university uses the grant funding for food, lodging, and classroom materials for veterans who come in from out of town, says Stutsman.
The program curriculum is designed to take service-disabled veterans through the stages of venture creation, while providing the training, professional networks and support necessary to successfully launch a business.
The funding — offered through SBA’s Office of Veterans Business Development — supports each organization’s programs for service-disabled veterans planning to start a new business or expand and diversify existing small businesses. The SBA chose Syracuse University based on its “demonstrated history of and commitment to providing training programs and resources to service-disabled veterans.”
“Service-disabled veteran small business owners bring a unique and valued skill set to entrepreneurship,” SBA Acting Administrator Chris Pilkerton said in a statement. “Funding these organizations involved in helping service-disabled veterans establish successful businesses will go a long way toward securing the future for these veterans and their families.”
“Thanks to this new SBA Office of Veteran Business Development grant of $100,000, more service-disabled veterans will be able to access Syracuse University’s IVMF Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities training to help them start and grow their own small businesses,” SBA Syracuse District Director Bernard J. Paprocki contended.
