Keeping dollars spent by consumers in the local community is
a challenge and a goal for the economic well-being of communities such as
Ashland. Two programs in February will
focus on local entrepreneurship development and how it benefits the local
economy and the community.
“Slow Money” is a term that denotes
keeping local money working in the local economy. These “slow money” programs should be of
interest to anyone who wants to support existing local businesses or think
about starting a new business.
The first program will show what
has been done in southeastern Ohio with the Appalachian Center for Economic
Networks. The second will focus on the possibilities of Ashland Main Street and
will feature a panel of Ashland area entrepreneurs.
The first program, “Slow the Money;
Invigorate the Economy” will feature
Leslie Shaller, director of programming for the Food Ventures program, a
business incubation project of the Athens-area Appalachian Center for Economic
Networks (ACENet). The presentation will be Tuesday, February 19, at 7 p.m. in
the Ridenour Room, Dauch College of Business and Economics, on the Ashland
University campus.
A panel of local entrepreneurs led
by Sandra Tunnell, executive director of Ashland Main Street will discuss “The Ashland
Project: How Local Merchants Can Work Together
to Slow the Money in Ashland.” The local
business owners will talk about what it takes to develop a successful local
business in Ashland and how the community provides support for their efforts. The presentation will be Wednesday, February
27, at 7 p.m., also in the Ridenour Room.
Shaller’s presentation will use her
work with specialty food firms as an example of local business
development. She provides assistance for
start-up assessments and for the actual start-up process. She also provides technical assistance and
coordinates the expertise of the Food Ventures team to provide innovative
product ideas, marketing strategies, business plans and financial management
systems to businesses already in existence.
Local food and farm businesses can
play a significant role in improving the social, environmental and economic
well-being of our community economies.
Yet the majority of food and farm entrepreneurs say lack of access to
capital impedes them from expanding, reaching more customers and hiring
additional employees. Shaller will share
replicable Slow Food, Slow Money strategies from Appalachia Ohio and other
national innovators reinventing approaches to community investing in local food
enterprises.
Tunnell has been involved in
downtown revitalization in Ashland since it was a task force objective in the
2010 county-wide strategic plan. When
that group decided to join the national Main Street organization in 2011,
Tunnell became the director of Ashland Main Street.
Ashland Main Street recently
announced that downtown Ashland has been accepted to the National Register of
Historic Places, which provides an opportunity for downtown building owners to
apply for 45% tax credits for qualified renovations to their buildings. Ashland Main Street has also helped
coordinate the CDBG Tier 1 planning grant with the city of Ashland, whose
results in June will help guide the downtown in a comprehensive plan for growth
and redevelopment.
These programs are sponsored by The
Ashland Center for Nonviolence at Ashland University, located on the AU
campus. The Center seeks a world in
which human conflict at all levels can be resolved without resorting to
violence and in which social justice can be realized.
For more information about these
events, or to learn more about the Ashland Center for Nonviolence, please call
419-289-5313 or visit the website at www.ashland.edu/acn.
Ashland University, ranked in the top 200
colleges and universities in U.S. News and World Report’s National Universities
category for 2012, is a mid-sized, private university conveniently located a
short distance from Akron, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. Ashland University
(www.ashland.edu) values the individual student and offers a unique educational
experience that combines the challenge of strong, applied academic programs
with a faculty and staff who build nurturing relationships with their students.
