During the last quarter of 2011, Jewish Family & Career Services was fortunate to have been selected by one of the YUM! Ignite teams in the Leadership Louisville program for seven months of intensive consulting geared at expanding the capacity and reputation of the agency’s microbusiness program.
Selection for the Ignite program was extremely competitive, and members of the individual consulting teams are drawn from the top corporations and law firms in the city. Over the past six months, the Ignite team worked with the staff and management of the JFCS Center for Enterprise Development to ramp-up the presence and sustainability of the program. Outcomes of the program include a new name, logo and website.
The business program now will be identified as the Navigate Enterprise Center, and individual startup companies will be known as Navigate businesses as part of the city-wide rebranding effort.
Strategic partnerships with SCORE and the MBA program at Indiana University Southeast will provide technical assistance services to existing businesses and coaching expertise to training participants developing a business plan.
A Navigate Business Showcase will be held at the annual M.O.S.A.I.C. Awards, which honors immigrants and refugees who have made a significant contribution to the city and their profession. A new “Navigator of the Year” Award will be presented to recognize JFCS’s top entrepreneur.
A database of corporate donors and marketing materials was created to provide resources for the program’s funding.
In addition, JFCS has also solidified the relationship with Metro Louisville’s Community Development Block Grant-funded microloan program, allowing Navigate business clients to leverage additional funds outside the agency and significantly increasing the number of referrals that JFCS receives for business development services.
As part of this effort, the agency recently revised its training schedule and is now offering four simultaneous classes at different times throughout the day to help meet the needs of the program’s additional clients. Take a look at the new website – www.navigatecenter.org.