The Rural Innovations Strengthening Eastern-29 Counties Program
Grant
Overview
abstract
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The Rural Innovations Strengthening Eastern-29 program (RISE-29) will catalyze regional entrepreneurial activity in Beaufort, Hyde, Martin, and Pitt counties through workforce and business development expertise primarily through the Miller School of Entrepreneurship at ECU. RISE-29 will create near-term success by expansion of ?high-value proposition firms.? Partners will work as a single region to leverage ECU?s new Big Data for Rural NC program. This will provide economic development intelligence that no single town or county could develop on its own. Mid-term, RISE-29 will provide an influx of talent and new enterprises to rural communities to combat population decline and talent migration to urban areas through a newly launched regional microenterprise program. Cohorts of student teams, primarily from rural NC, will launch new businesses in the 4-county region. ECU students, including Golden LEAF Scholars, will work with county partners to develop microenterprises addressing economic, health, and education disparities. Within three years, we expect a minimum of 100 new direct jobs (25 microenterprises). The anticipated number of direct jobs created through expansion of high value firms is 150. As the program expands across eastern NC, the number should substantially increase.
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