Duke Endowment To Fund Expansion
Of RCC Business Development Center

ASHEBORO, N.C.--Randolph Community College plans to launch a three-year initiative designed "to provide jobs and opportunities for asset building for those left behind in today's economy," according to RCC President Dr. Richard Heckman.

For the first year of the program, funds in the amount of $72,000 are expected from the Duke Endowment's Program for the Rural Carolinas to expand RCC's current business development capacity and create new programs and services through its new Business Development Center (formerly the Small Business Center). Randolph Community College is a partner in the Randolph Vision Task Force created to implement the Duke Endowment grant received through Randolph Hospital.

The Duke Endowment's Program for the Rural Carolinas is an economic development program to provide assistance to rural communities in North Carolina and South Carolina that are facing multiple challenges: flat or declining population growth, job losses, or high rates of poverty.

The goal is to create new employment opportunities for those left behind in the changing economy such as dislocated workers, underskilled/low-wage workers, and a rapidly growing immigrant population through strengthening existing small businesses and through supporting entrepreneurial startups, continued Heckman.

Three strategies have been identified to achieve this goal. The first is to identify and reach out to existing at-risk small businesses and potential entrepreneurs. Heckman noted that the methods identified to achieve this include creating and implementing an adjustable Business Plan Template to assist in business planning and projection; working with the Randolph County Economic Development Corporation, the local Employment Security Commission office, and the Randolph County JobLink to develop a system to identify at-risk small businesses; and creating a Business Development Center advisory group to assist the College in its work with small businesses.

The second strategy is to develop and implement new programs and services at the RCC Business Development Center in collaboration with the RCC Business Technology department and appropriate community and regional partners. RCC will do this by implementing the Kaufman Foundation's FastTrac Entrepreneur Program for displaced workers, expanding and strengthening the Spanish REAL program, providing a traveling business development laboratory that will include laptop computers and business development software, and creating and delivering the first complete Business Development course to help small businesses access financing options through the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center's Microenterprise Loan Program.

Heckman said the third strategy is to "study the feasibility of developing a Randolph County Business Development Incubator through partnerships with community businesses, financial institutions, local governments, and local educational systems."

Additional funds are expected from the Duke Endowment Program for the Rural Carolinas in the second and third years of the project.