| ENTREPRENEURSHIP PATHWAY - MINUTES |
|
Nebraska Career Pathways Project
FutureForce Entrepreneurship - NET Force Steering Team
Meeting Summary
Oct. 12, 2007
Central Community College
Attendees: Gregg Christensen, Nebraska Dept. of Education
Kathy Thornton, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln
Kathy Eitzmann, Southeast Community College
Dennis Headrick, Southeast Community College
Guy Suganuma, Central Community College
Pat Allison, Mid-Plains Community College
Tim Mittan, Southeast Community College
Monica Braun, Center for Rural Affairs
Jennifer Hoagland, Central Community College
Randy Vlasin, FutureForce of Nebraska
Nancy Eberle, Nebraska 4-H Council
Daryl Hansen, Metropolitan Community College
Doris Lux, Central Community College
Patricia Fairchild, UNL
Gene Manhart, Central Community College
Glennis McClure, Kansas City Federal Bank – Omaha Branch
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Dennis Headrick
- Introductions
- Updated Leadership Roster: Please review the information and submit any changes to Dennis at dheadric@southeast.edu
- Updates: Updates were provided by each representative in attendance:
Central Community College – Gene reported the curriculum for entrepreneurship is being focused on. The courses, with the exception of one, are now being offered thru the WEB. Telecourses are available, but Gene indicated the main barrier is low enrollment. They will be meeting to discuss enrollment and possible ways to promote the courses. He indicated there is a lot of interest in the program, but most people want the information in a shorter time frame.
Doris Lux reported on several activities that she has been involved with including an ESI camp in Butler County, an NDE grant that works with 23 high school students who meet on Saturdays, and an Open House for SCORE. She also reported that Columbus became an HTC (Hometown Competiveness).
Southeast Community College – Tim Mittan reported that Gage County received a USDA grant to create a Business Development Academy. This takes the essential entrepreneurship courses and converts them to Continuing Education hours. This is a 7-course program which can be completed in one quarter if the courses are scheduled correctly. There is only one required course. If you would like more detailed information about the program you can visit the Southeast Community College Continuing Education Website.
http://www.southeast.edu/continuing/ce_business.asp
There are currently six businesses located in the incubator and the possibility of 2 more in the near future.
Entrepreneurship Week for the city of Lincoln will be held during the week of October 15. Tim highlighted some of the events which included an Open House for the business incubators, Turbine Flats, and activities at the Technology Park.
Kathy Eitzmann reported that Tim presented information to the Advisory committee and that more options are available in the Associates Degree to allow for more flexibility.
REAP –
MarketPlace – Will be held February 27 in Columbus at the New World Inn. Classes in bookkeeping basics for business success will be offered. For more information on REAP activities: visit their website at http://www2.cfra.org/reap
Mid-Plains Community College - Pat Allison reported that Cinch Munson has been hired as the Associate Vice President for the Center for Entrepreneurship at the North Platte campus.
Pat indicated that a new entrepreneurship center will be located in the old Keystone Hotel in McCook. A grant has been received and will assist with remodeling. Pat indicated that a business incubator type system will be housed in this building.
At this time, Introduction to Entrepreneurship is the only course being offered. It is being offered both online and at the North Platte Campus.
Pat indicated she was impressed with how many students completed the EDGE program recently.
Metro Community College – Daryl reported that 3 entrepreneurship courses are being offered this quarter and the legal course will be offered in the Winter quarter. He indicated they have been marketing their courses to students in trade areas since that is where most of their enrollment comes from and not the business students.
4-H Youth Development – UNL – Patricia Fairchild indicated the Cyberfair held during the Nebraska State Fair was a great success. There was a lot of interest by non-traditional students in the online Entrepreneurship classes. She indicated the Cyberfair will be part of the State Fair again next with year a focus on Entrepreneurship and encouraged more people to take part in the activities.
Federal Reserve Bank of K.C. – Glennis McClure expressed her appreciation for being invited to attend the meeting. She is interested in finding out what NetForce has been doing and what activities have taken place around the state and begin to make some connections. Glennis works in the area of community affairs with a focus on small business entrepreneurships. She indicated there is a critical need in rural Nebraska to address Business Succession.
She shared information on a conference being held October 30 at the Quest Center in Omaha that will focus on moving Nebraska to financial stability with the target audience being resource providers.
Department of Education – Gregg shared a copy of the Nebraska Careers Education Model. He indicated high school teachers were requesting the information be available in a poster format. The model explains career fields and pathways and he is hopeful that in the future the entrepreneurship pathway will cross each field.
Gregg encouraged people to submit items for the monthly newsletter or any material they would like to be part of exhibits at various conferences or events. If you are interested in reading the monthly newsletter you can go to the following website: www.nde.state.ne.us/entreped/enews.html
FutureForce – Randy informed the group that career pathways are now featured on the Website and entrepreneurship is part of it. He is hopeful that the Website will become a central portal for people to look at a lot of different areas. He encouraged members to send him information on anylinks that you would like. If you would like to review the site, click on the following link
http://www.futureforcenebraska.org
He indicated a meeting in December is being planned that will include representatives from every pathway. He hopes the meeting will address the future direction of pathways and the priority work that needs to be accomplished. He will be sending more information as it become available.
UNL – Kathy Thornton, Associate Director of the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship reported on activities that have been held including a Kids Invent Toy Camp and Fourth Annual Women in Business Benefit, an Open House at Technology Park, and the MIT Enterprise Forum. Kathy also indicated that the Regents have requested information on Entrepreneurship activities within the University system. Kathy indicated that she will follow up on the articulation of Entrepreneurship course articulation. If you would like to visit their website, please click on the following link.
http://www.cba.unl.edu/outreach/ent/eteam.aspx
4. 4-H Curriculum
Patricia updated the group on the status of the ESI curriculum. She indicated the pilot evaluations are being reviewed and it appears very few revisions will need to be made. She indicated the target audience for the ESI curriculum is camps, schools, clubs and nonprofit organizations.
Patricia indicated that comments from teachers and administrators have been very positive and they are pleased the curriculum is based on national standards and meets the K-12 national and state standards.
She hopes the curriculum will encourage youth to
--Think as an Entrepreneur
--See Entrepreneurship as a viable career goal
--Encourage youth to stay in Nebraska
Patricia encouraged the community college representatives to contact her if they are interested in working with the 4-H Extension Offices to host the “roll-out” event for the ESI curriculum.
Nancy Eberle indicated it is likely the project will be funded to the full extent. She indicated teachers have been commenting that they find the website to be a good resource. The following website provides detailed information on ESI. http://4h.unl.edu/esi/.
5. Website/Brochure Update
The group was in consensus the Entrepreneurship portion of the FutureForce website can be a workable site for this committee and there is not a need to develop a brochure at this time. Activities and Events that you would like included should be submitted to Randy.
6. Career Clusters
Gregg shared a copy of the Nebraska Career Education Model. He also presented some draft information that will be shared with his staff of a possible model that will include Career and Life Literacy categories. The intent is to enhance the foundational skills and to enhance the clusters and prepare an individual for life-long learning, earning and living.
The NetForce Committee unanimously supports the Career and Life Literacies for the Nebraska Education Model as presented by Gregg Christensen.
7. Entrepreneurship Center Structures
Tim indicated the model is being well received. The most critical component is to have identified staff available for resources. Delivery methods should vary for all types of entrepreneurship education, such as offering Extended Learning Workshops thru Continuing Education and the utilization of mentors and advisory boards. Tim indicated that the Entrepreneurship Centers should be perceived as an outreach for people along with education.
Tim shared a list of questions developed to assist with the mentoring process. He also has information available in a shorter version on How to Write a Business plan. If you would like the information electronically, please contact Tim. Doris Lux also offered to share the version that she is using.
8. Curriculum
The curriculum committee will be meeting to discuss assessment of the Entrepreneurship courses. Tim shared information on possible articulation with other institutions and will provide an update at the next meeting.
UNK and Peru were the only institutions that responded regarding articulation of the Entrepreneurship courses. The curriculum will be reviewed in the future and sent to 4-year institutions for review.
9. Instructor List
The group was in consensus that a list of instructors teaching Entrepreneurship courses would be a useful resource. Please send the following information to Dennis: Instructor Name; Phone Number; Email address; and courses they are teaching. It was also suggested that EDGE and REAP Instructors be included on this list. Dennis will send an email out with the requested information.
10. Professional Development
The group discussed possible professional development opportunities forcurrent and new instructors. One topic the group felt would be useful would be how to develop a financial plan. As curriculum is reviewed, if there are professional development areas you would like addressed, please make a note of them for future meetings.
11. Advisory Groups:
Advisory groups are a good way to spread the word about Entrepreneurship and involve the community. It is important if you have an advisory committee that they need to be a viable organization, meetings are productive, and that your institution is open to the recommendations of the advisory board.
12. Funding:
Following are areas that will require outside funding: Incubator funds, Creation of E-Centers, Professional Development for high school and college instructors, Rollout of ESI curriculum, Instructional Funds and Coordination of Activities. If you have any other areas that you would like funding sources explored for, please email them to Dennis.
Randy indicated that if grant proposals are submitted that Futureforce would be more than willing to provide letters of support and that he feels that it would be very beneficial to build a collaborative network for grants.
13. Goals and Objectives:
Goals and objectives were reviewed. An updated copy is provided.
14. Good of the Order:
Glennis McClure indicated that a good target market for Entrepreneurship courses may be Women, Hispanics and Asians.
Next Meeting: January 25 10:00-3:00 Grand Island
Meeting Adjourned
|
