Start-Up NY/Inclusive Entrepreneurship began with a process of identifying, blending, and braiding resources from university, business development, and community partners that enabled more than 200 individuals to participate in business training. Nearly 60 of the participants started their own businesses in approximately four years. In Onondaga County, the initiative is led by the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University, the Whitman School of Management/Falcone Center on Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises at Syracuse University, and the Onondaga Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Other partners include Onondaga County Department of Social Services, Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union, and New York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped (CBVH), Access-VR (formerly VESID), CNY Works, social and disability services agencies. The US Small Business Administration/“PRIME Program” and private foundations are among the funding sources for initiative. The Start-Up NY/Inclusive Entrepreneurship partnership improves access to entrepreneurship training, financing, financial literacy and benefits advising to ensure that aspiring entrepreneurs develop feasible business goals and plans and the skills and needed supports to bring their entrepreneurial vision ‘to market.’
What Our Partners are Saying
“Small Business Development Centers are an ideal resource for many people who need help in designing, planning, and starting or refining their business. By providing business advisement to people with disabilities, we help them follow their dream through the hard work it takes to successfully operate a business. These small business owners create their own employment as well as many more job opportunities for others. It is the mission of the NYS SBDC to assist entrepreneurs and small business owners achieve success, one business at a time, and entrepreneurs with disabilities are an important and rewarding segment of the small business sector.”
– James L. King, New York State SBDC Director
“Through its many programs and initiatives, the Burton Blatt Institute has provided individuals who are blind or have visual impairments with additional tools and supports needed to become successfully self-employed in these tough economic times. CBVH is pleased to work with the Burton Blatt Institute and its partners to foster inclusive entrepreneurial opportunities and options for individuals with disabilities.”
– Brian Daniels, CBVH Associate Commissioner
