Sparking entrepreneurship and innovation in Mid-Michigan is focus of $200,000 grant from Mott Foundation to the Prima Civitas Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2009

CONTACT:
Holly Hetzner
517-999-3382 ext. 306
h.hetzner@primacivitas.org

Sparking entrepreneurship and innovation in Mid-Michigan is focus of
$200,000 grant from Mott Foundation to the Prima Civitas Foundation

   
 Lansing, MI - Ongoing efforts to nurture a Mid-Michigan environment that encourages and supports entrepreneurship received an important boost today, thanks to a one-year, $200,000 grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to the Lansing-based Prima Civitas Foundation (PCF).

The grant will provide continued support for the Moving Ideas to Market (MI2M) initiative, which was launched by PCF in 2007 with an initial focus of helping area colleges and universities collaborate and promote entrepreneurship and innovation among the region's young people. In 2008 and 2009, the initiative expanded that focus to a life-cycle approach, engaging a range of partners to create resources, competitions and networks for local entrepreneurs of every age.

The participating schools are currently launching entrepreneurial conferences and workshops; holding invention and business plan competitions for junior high through post-secondary students; and establishing dialogue with state and local policymakers and leaders from the public and private sectors on issues of entrepreneurship.

Mott support for PCF, including Moving Ideas to Market, has totaled $1.4 million since 2007.

"Prima Civitas has encouraged entrepreneurship throughout Mid-Michigan using imagination and enthusiasm," said Jack Litzenberg, interim program director for Mott's Pathways Out of Poverty Program. "This new grant will allow this creativity and cultural change to blossom further and bear fruit for the region's future."

Specifically, the Mott funding will enable PCF, using its extensive network through the Mid-Michigan Innovation Team, to collaborate with the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce and MSU Extension 4-H Youth Development to support three entrepreneurship action groups throughout the next year. Those groups are:

• EnGen group, focused on post-secondary entrepreneurship education;
• IGNITE team, focused on entrepreneurship education at the kindergarten through high school level; and
• Jumpstart, focused on developing a network that will mentor and coach early-stage businesses to pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists.

Work will also include the development of a large-scale, strategic plan to implement specific actions throughout the region.  

Creating an environment focused on entrepreneurship is no easy task, notes David Hollister, CEO and president of PCF, and is only made possible through the participation, support and collaboration of various stakeholders.

 "The commitment of Mott, our partners and regional universities, moves us significantly forward toward reinventing our entrepreneurship strategies for the region," said Hollister.

For more information on Moving Ideas to Market, please visit the PCF Web site at http://www.primacivitas.org/initiatives/moving-ideas-to-market/.
    
    
 About the Prima Civitas Foundation
The Prima Civitas Foundation (PCF) is a regional community and economic development collaborative operating throughout the state and is centered in Mid-Michigan. PCF encourages and facilitates cooperative economic development projects among and between business, educational institutions, and governmental units. PCF assists the expansion of industries including next generation transportation, alternative energy, bio-manufacturing, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, information technology, and homeland security. PCF is the home of the Mid-Michigan Innovation Team (MMIT), a 13+ county network of people, projects, and partners reinventing Mid-Michigan's economy, the Mid-Michigan Partnership for Training in Healthcare (M-PaTH), an initiative to retrain dislocated workers in health care related occupations, and the Moving Ideas to Market (MI2M) initiative, whose focus is improving the entrepreneurship culture in Mid-Michigan. PCF is organized under section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as a not-for-profit organization. For more information, visit www.primacivitas.org.
 
About the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
Mott, established in 1926 in Flint, Michigan, by an automotive pioneer, is a private philanthropy committed to supporting projects that promote a just, equitable and sustainable society. It supports nonprofit programs throughout the U.S. and, on a limited geographic basis, internationally. Grantmaking is focused in four programs: Civil Society, Environment, Flint Area and Pathways Out of Poverty. Besides Flint, offices are located in metropolitan Detroit, Johannesburg (South Africa) and London. The Foundation, with year-end assets of approximately $1.96 billion, made 558 grants totaling $110.4 million in 2008. For more information, visit Mott.org.

About Corporation for a Skilled Workforce

Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) is a national non-profit organization that works with policymakers, economic developers, academic leaders, workforce developers and other stakeholders to identify assets, align systems, develop and launch solutions, shape policy, and assist communities in adopting entrepreneurial culture.  

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