Northside UP aims to foster entrepreneurship with grant

SYRACUSE — A grant from the Central New York Community Foundation will help the Northside Urban Partnership (Northside UP) launch a business incubation project on the city’s Northside.

The project will assist entrepreneurs in starting small businesses in Northside neighborhoods by providing support, education, and lending assistance, according to the foundation. The foundation made the $85,000 grant in celebration of its 85th anniversary.

Northside UP beat out 15 other applications. Northside UP is a collaboration of business and community organizations aiming to revitalize the Northside neighborhood of Syracuse. It is led by organizations including St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, CenterState CEO, and Catholic Charities.

The Community Foundation-funded project is an outgrowth of work Northside UP has already been doing, says Dominic Robinson, director of Northside UP. One of the organization’s main goals throughout its history has been to develop neighborhood businesses.

But the group was finding that some people it helped faced challenging barriers to success, including lack of business knowledge and basic education. Many Northside residents are recent immigrants or refugees and their ideas were good, Robinson notes.

But their lack of experience was a major obstacle.

“It really prohibited them from pursuing those ideas any further,” Robinson says.

Others the group worked with were able to get businesses off the ground, but then needed lots of help after the fact dealing with zoning issues, permitting problems, and basic financial reporting.

The new grant will allow Northside UP to establish a formal program that will allow the group to select participants with the best chance for success. Participants will go through an intensive training program over several weeks that will provide a grounding in business basics and entrepreneurship and help them refine their ideas, Robinson says.

The plan is then to help participants launch their business in an incubator setting and continue to provide them with counseling and support as they get their ventures off the ground. Launching first in an incubator will allow participants to determine whether their ideas are truly viable, Robinson says.

Plans are in place for a pilot program this spring with three to five participants, who will incubate their companies at the Central New York Regional Market and Downtown Farmers’ Market in Syracuse this summer. Northside UP eventually wants to open a marketplace for program participants on the Northside, Robinson says.

After the pilot program, the organization will launch a larger version next summer with seven to 12 participants. The goal is to run two to three program sessions per year, Robinson says.

Although Northside UP has been working on developing local businesses for years, the new program is a big step forward.

“There really are needs beyond what we’ve been doing,” Robinson says.

The Community Foundation is a charitable foundation with assets of more than $130 million. It awards close to $6.7 million in grants to nonprofit organizations annually.

Northside UP’s application stood out for the level of collaboration it involved, says John Eberle, vice president for grants and community initiatives at the Community Foundation. Some partners on the project include Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union, the Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse, and ProLiteracy.

Many of the residents on the Northside have incredible skills and creative ideas they could transform into vibrant businesses with a little help, Eberle adds.

“The idea of helping create pathways for entrepreneurs to start businesses and create jobs — that was just really exciting,” he says. “It really resonated with us.”

Contact Tampone at ktampone@cnybj.com