Community Solutions & Entrepreneurship Center (CSEC) 

An EMCC collaborative initiative that creates an entrepreneurial ecosystem. It supports new and existing entrepreneurs of all ages in small business and social-capital development. The Center will also be a place where the community can come together to solve community problems.

GOALS: 

• Cultivate gifts, talents, and leadership of youth, adults, organizations, and communities to develop, plan and execute solutions that contribute to a just and equitable society. 
• Families increase income and stability through entrepreneurship. 
• Small-business resources get connected to minority entrepreneurs. 
• Youth and adults gain entrepreneurial skills, certifications, coaching, and mentorship 
• The Martindale-Brightwood community is enhanced by a thriving business climate

EMCC will collaborate with aligned agencies to connect and execute entrepreneurship education programs that directly support business planning, startup, and scale-up efforts, and obtaining access to capital. We will also support initiatives aimed at providing sources of income for residents and rejuvenating economic competitiveness in the Martindale-Brightwood community.

The Center will support programs and projects that are designed to utilize entrepreneurship as a vehicle to learn marketable skills that will lead to career development, entrepreneurship, and community innovation.

Additionally, the Center will be designed to engage with the local population over three distinct age groups:

• Middle school students will engage in interconnected, experiential opportunities related to entrepreneurship and the free market which develop self-confidence, stimulate problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, and develop real-world entrepreneurial skills.
• High school & college students will create projects of exploration and discovery as budding entrepreneurs, taking informed risks while exploring ventures that foster the critical entrepreneurial skills of ideating, problem solving, pivoting, and pitching.
• Out of school youth and adults will be mentored through an industry-discovery period leading into incubation, launch & funding support of new ventures. Initial areas of focus industry-discovery for the Entrepreneurial Center will include: IT/Coding, Agribusiness, Culinary & Hospitality.