Rural Entrepreneurial Venture
Rural Entrepreneurial Venture
At the January 16th City Council meeting, Tim Penny and Pam Bishop from the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) presented the City with a plaque for completion of the Rural Entrepreneur Venture Program. This program, sponsored by SMIF and supported by the Blandin Foundation, Region Nine Development Commission, and the University of Minnesota Extension, consisting of local volunteers, strived to find and ignite existing entrepreneurs in our community by adopting a “grow your own” approach, helping create a more vibrant community by growing from within.
The program focused on a range of groups, from business startups to existing businesses that want to grow and worked to encourage youth to remain or return to the community. Some of the activities the group completed include providing small business workshops, conducting a Civic Summit to bring our civic groups together, work with TCU to support their STEAM Initiative, and conduct one-on-one interviews and focus groups with our local businesses.
The REV group has transitioned to a subcommittee of the Economic Development Authority to continue the ideas, programs, and initiatives it started, continuing to work to assist the area businesses and entrepreneurs.
REV recipients: Kathy Peterson, Brian Heck, Jean Keogh, Erin Barry, Joshua Mankowski