2007 Chase-Perkins BECA Grant Application

Based on the estimates received the final project cost ended up at $16,230 with a 50% match of $8,115 or slightly over $4,000 per county.

If funded Abraham’s Legal Clinic (Creighton University) has committed approximately 100 hours ($17,000) of In-Kind support to our Business Transition efforts. Their letter was submitted with the application.

The BECA grant application was hand delivered this morning to the North Platte office.

Grant Amount Requested: $8,115 (Project Total: $16,230)

Project Summary: The Chase-Perkins County HTC Steering Committee will be partnering with local governments, chambers of commerce and service agencies to provide educational and technical assistance to businesses and entrepreneurs. These training opportunities will increase the business capacity in our communities in the areas of Business Transition, eCommerce, Marketing/Advertising, Customer Service and Shopping Locally.

The steering committee is submitting five educational and technical assistance trainings for consideration.
1. Business transition: The goal of the business transition workshops is to prevent the loss of goods and services from our communities while providing area youth the choice to stay and/or return to the area to live, work and raise their families. Our intention is to partner with Creighton University’s Abrahams Legal Clinic to provide workshops targeting local attorneys, bankers and accountants followed directly by workshops targeting local business owners, potential buyers and budding entrepreneurs. The budget includes two additional trips to Chase and Perkins Counties in order to provide businesses the opportunity to confidentially receive one-on-one consulting and seek answers to their business transition questions. The intent of Abrahams Legal Clinic is not to complete with local professionals, but to assist in ensuring that essential legal services are being made available in rural communities

2. eCommerce Series: The way business is conducted has changed. The availability of modern technology in rural communities provides new possibilities for both existing businesses and potential entrepreneurs to market goods and services globally. According to a Technology Business Survey conducted in 2003 by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Educators 59% of the 600 small businesses surveyed did not have a web presence. In order for our communities to use modern technology as a business tool, residents of all ages need to become better educated on the use and capabilities of the internet. In addition to assisting existing businesses tap into new markets, the eCommerce Series provides an excellent opportunity to plant the seed of entrepreneurship in area youth. The e-Commerce Series will consist of three workshops presented by UNL Extension Staff and “The BIT Mobile:”
­ eKnowledge: The master navigator program provides an opportunity for individuals of all ages to learn how to navigate the Internet and incorporate its use at home, school and work. This workshop focuses on the “basics” including how to surf the net, use search engines and email.
­ eBusiness: This workshop will help business owners and entrepreneurs explore the aspects of starting a web-based business and selling on the internet.
­ More eBusiness: This workshop is more advanced and will delve deeper into internet marketing and web-store design.


3. Marketing/Advertising: As the market place has become more competitive, it is imperative that businesses understand who their customer is, what that customer wants, what motivates that customer and who the competition is. This workshop will help existing business and potential entrepreneurs understand who their customers really are and how this information can be used to effectively target their advertising dollars towards that demographic. Mid Plains Community College will be partnering on this workshop and has committed class room and computers as part of their In-Kind contribution.

4. Customer Service: As local business and potential entrepreneurs are encouraged to develop goods and services to fit “niche markets” as a strategy to survive the encroachment of the big box store, good customer service will be a must. To meet this need Red Carpet Training will be offered in both Chase and Perkins County. The cost of the dual location training includes:
­ A pre-meeting to answer questions and to create enthusiasm for the program
­ Teaching the sessions
­ Mystery shopper evaluation before and after the program to establish baseline data and capture program success stories
­ An evaluation summary of the class
­ A CD containing the entire curriculum customized to our area – so it is ready for us to teach again and again
­ The rights to use the customized material to teach additional Red Carpet Service classes

5. Shop Local Campaign: The shop local campaign will be a concentrated 12 week public education effort leading up to Christmas 2007 emphasizing the benefits of shopping locally. The shop local campaign will use factual information to combat the local consumer’s perception of the convenience and savings derived from shopping at the big box stores. The goal of this program is to educate area residents on the goods and services available in our communities, what the cost differential really is between local businesses and the box stores and how keeping local dollars in our communities benefits all area residents.