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The Daily OrangeSouth side resurgence
University-created center bolsters economic growth downtown
By Dan Briggs
Posted: 2/12/07, 10:11 PM EST Section: Feature
Syracuse University hopes to use the innovation center as a model and export it to universities in other cities, including the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and universities in New York City and Cleveland, Dickson said.
The initial planning for the connect project, the overarching initiative which the center belongs to, began more than four years ago. Michael H. Morris, who holds the Witting Chair in Entrepreneurship at Syracuse, helped develop the idea for a program to create economic growth while teaching in South Africa. Morris and his colleagues started the program to encourage entrepreneurship in South Africa's black townships, which Morris described as the most poverty-stricken areas of the country.
"A lot of what we developed there has some transferability to the inner cities of America," Morris said. "The issue is simply, 'how do you create economic opportunity for people?' And the old, out-of-date thinking is you do that by getting big companies, like General Electric or Wal-Mart to locate facilities in the inner city or wherever. And the reality is that's not how you do it. It doesn't work; it's not sustainable. You do it by doing it organically. By empowering people to create their own ventures and supporting them."
One of the support mechanisms includes helping South Side businesses obtain financing. The connect project's micro-credit loan program is available to help the center's tenants, as well as other South Side businesses, come up with capital.
Graduate students and SU faculty assist businesses interested in applying for micro-credit with the application process. The university itself does not make the loans; the money comes from the Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union. Each loan is typically $5,000, which is then repaid back over a period of up to three years.
Other human resources offered by the center include business classes on the fourth Monday of every month. The classes take place in the morning and last about an hour. Attendance is not limited to the innovation center's members. Faculty, staff and students who work with the center will attempt to accommodate any South Side businesses interested in attending.
The initial planning for the connect project, the overarching initiative which the center belongs to, began more than four years ago. Michael H. Morris, who holds the Witting Chair in Entrepreneurship at Syracuse, helped develop the idea for a program to create economic growth while teaching in South Africa. Morris and his colleagues started the program to encourage entrepreneurship in South Africa's black townships, which Morris described as the most poverty-stricken areas of the country.
"A lot of what we developed there has some transferability to the inner cities of America," Morris said. "The issue is simply, 'how do you create economic opportunity for people?' And the old, out-of-date thinking is you do that by getting big companies, like General Electric or Wal-Mart to locate facilities in the inner city or wherever. And the reality is that's not how you do it. It doesn't work; it's not sustainable. You do it by doing it organically. By empowering people to create their own ventures and supporting them."
One of the support mechanisms includes helping South Side businesses obtain financing. The connect project's micro-credit loan program is available to help the center's tenants, as well as other South Side businesses, come up with capital.
Graduate students and SU faculty assist businesses interested in applying for micro-credit with the application process. The university itself does not make the loans; the money comes from the Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union. Each loan is typically $5,000, which is then repaid back over a period of up to three years.
Other human resources offered by the center include business classes on the fourth Monday of every month. The classes take place in the morning and last about an hour. Attendance is not limited to the innovation center's members. Faculty, staff and students who work with the center will attempt to accommodate any South Side businesses interested in attending.
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Jo Thomas
posted 2/13/07 @ 11:16 AM EST
Thanks to Dan Briggs for a thoughtful and detailed article. His skills as a reporter and writer really shine. I especially appreciated his including interviews with students who are working in this effort. (Continued…)
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