Syracuse and upstate New York are among the markets that will benefit from a donation that the KeyBank Foundation has made to a business-assistance program. The organization has awarded a four-year, $24 million grant to the “KeyBank Business Boost & Build Program, powered by JumpStart.” On its website, Cleveland, Ohio–based JumpStart Inc. describes itself as […]
Syracuse and upstate New York are among the markets that will benefit from a donation that the KeyBank Foundation has made to a business-assistance program.
The organization has awarded a four-year, $24 million grant to the “KeyBank Business Boost & Build Program, powered by JumpStart.”
On its website, Cleveland, Ohio–based JumpStart Inc. describes itself as a “private-public partnership” that provides venture capital and “intensive, high-impact assistance to diverse entrepreneurs and small-businesses owners.”
The program is designed to “stimulate economic growth and workforce development by fostering small-business success” in communities across Ohio and upstate New York, including Syracuse.
The grant represents the KeyBank Foundation’s “single largest philanthropic commitment to date, at more than six times the size of any past gift,” according to its news release issued July 31.
The “KeyBank Business Boost & Build Program, powered by JumpStart” grant and initiative support KeyBank’s $16.5 billion “National Community Benefits Plan,” which established a $175 million philanthropic commitment in 2016, the bank said.
Founded in 1969, KeyBank Foundation is a nonprofit charitable organization funded by Cleveland, Ohio–based KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY), the parent company of KeyBank.
About the program
The “KeyBank Business Boost & Build Program, powered by JumpStart” will provide “support and structure” for individuals, entrepreneurs, and small-business owners; create “thousands” of jobs; and prepare students for careers in the “growing” technology, service, and manufacturing industries.
Specifically, the program will work to create a “minimum” of 5,350 jobs and connect 800 individuals to open job opportunities in the targeted markets.
It’ll also “accelerate the growth” of more than 2,500 small businesses and micro-enterprises in the targeted markets, the “majority of which” will be women or minority-owned businesses.
The program will “accelerate the growth” of more than 2,000 tech startup and scale-up companies.
The initiative will also provide support for participation in the tech economy by meeting business needs or enabling workforce training for 1,000 individuals
It will prepare more than 1,000 students to enter the workforce after graduating high school.
KeyBank and JumpStart contend they’ll “accomplish their aims” by providing small business technical assistance in Cleveland, Ohio, along with Syracuse, Buffalo, Rochester, and Albany.
They’ll offer technical assistance and grant/equity capital for technology startups and scaleups.
In addition, they’ll work to establish the KeyBank Center for Technology, Innovation and Inclusive Growth to serve individuals across Ohio.
The effort will include vocational education and workforce training for students in Cleveland.
