Project Description
IMPLEMENTATION PLAYBOOK FOR FOSTERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP & ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION in the POTOMAC HIGHLANDS
Client: Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College (EWVCTC)
Community Colleges play a critical role in the Nation’s workforce education and training. Very few community colleges go beyond this important mission. Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College (EWVCTC) is one of those colleges.
In 2014, EWVCTC created an entrepreneurship program called the Institute for Rural Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (IREED), which led to
- An Entrepreneur-in-Residence program;
- The NewBiz Launchpad in the community of Wardensville; and
- A strategic planning initiative to create a “Playbook” for IREED to take the regional entrepreneurship initiatives to the next level.
In 2015, CAS team members spearheaded the drafting of the final Playbook for IREED and EWVCTC. Rather than generating a generic report, we rendered a succinct implementation plan to guide the region’s growth in entrepreneurship and economic diversification. The Playbook focused on three main areas: Agriculture, Tourism and the Arts.
