MVCC president signs entrepreneurship pledge during SUNY Chancellor visit

UTICA, N.Y. — Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) President Randall VanWagoner has signed a pledge to increase MVCC’s focus on entrepreneurship.

He signed the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) “Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge” during SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson’s recent visit to MVCC’s Utica campus, MVCC announced. Johnson’s visit included remarks at MVCC’s thINCubator to discuss the “importance and value” of entrepreneurship.

“Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart,” Johnson said, according to an MVCC news release. “You have to be strong. You have to be resilient. You have to be all of the things that Mohawk Valley gives its graduates.”

About the pledge

The “Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge” is in response to former president Barack Obama’s Startup America “call-to-action to stimulate economic growth state-by-state by encouraging entrepreneurs to start their own businesses,” MVCC said.

NACCE is a founding affiliate of the Startup America partnership, an alliance of the country’s “most innovative” entrepreneurs, corporations, universities, foundations, and other leaders.

Community-college presidents who take the pledge commit to developing “transparency” of community college and community assets; creating internal and external teams dedicated to entrepreneurship; increasing entrepreneurs’ “engagement” in community colleges; a focus on industry-cluster development; and creating “broad exposure to their college’s commitment” to entrepreneurship.

“Through all the incredible efforts, MVCC and our many partners continue to foster a culture of entrepreneurship and creative collisions here in our area using the thINCubator as the hub for connecting entrepreneurs, colleges, students, and community organizations,” VanWagoner said in the release. “Today is not only about celebrating successes associated with launching more than one business every month for the past two years, but to affirm and amplify our commitment and enthusiasm to entrepreneurship right here in the Mohawk Valley.”

MVCC thINCubator

The MVCC thINCubator provides resources for startups and is described by the college as “the first co-working space in the Mohawk Valley.”

Since 2015, the MVCC thINCubator has worked with more than 150 entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs through workshops, training sessions, and mentorships; has assisted in creation, deployment, or acceleration of 27 new businesses; and has hosted almost 100 events and workshops, the school said.

MVCC is the “only” community college with a New York State Regional Innovation Hot Spot designation, per the release.

“Through a competitive process, NYSTAR has designated 10 Innovation Hot Spots —one for each of New York’s economic-development regions … which receive funding to reach a greater number of early-stage companies,” according to the website of Empire State Development (ESD), the New York’s primary economic-development agency.

ESD’s division of science, technology and innovation (NYSTAR) programs and centers “emphasize the importance of working with industry as a way to leverage New York State’s technology strengths to produce new products,” the ESD website says.

ThINCubator also secured an i6 grant from the federal Economic Development Administration (EDA), MVCC said. The EDA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

An i6 grant allows the thINCubator to provide funding for startups and connect them with the resources needed to “succeed and create jobs.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com