Our Partners and Sponsors
COLLABORATING FOR A ROBUST REGIONAL ECONOMY
The Business Growth Center helps businesses by partnering with other organizations that are also committed to business growth. Working together, we are stronger, and we can better achieve our goal of building a robust regional economy.
Our Programming Partners, who co-organize the small business growth programming we do at the Business Growth Center.
Our Sponsors, who provide financial support for the Business Growth Center programming and operations.
Our Growth Center Partners, organizations that are co-located with the Business Growth Center at the Scibelli Enterprise Center or that are affiliated with the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. They provide training, advising, counseling funding and support to entrepreneurs and small businesses in western Mass.
Programming Partners
Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield. The Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, Inc. is a business association representing East Longmeadow, Hampden, Longmeadow, Ludlow, Wilbraham, Springfield, the Professional Women’s Chamber and nearly 1,000 businesses of all sizes, industries and professions, providing leadership in creating a healthy economic climate.
Common Capital. Common Capital is a nonprofit organization that is committed to a thriving local economy in order to create positive social and community impacts. It aligns capital and other resources to community needs and opportunities and helps accomplish goals by providing financing and business assistance consultation to small businesses and high-impact community projects.
Springfield Technology Park. Springfield’s Technology Park is a 15.3-acre site that provides attractive work environments for technology-based and other companies. Businesses are attracted to the Tech Park through its physical resources, location, unique historic setting on the grounds of the former Springfield Armory and the close proximity to the faculty and highly-skilled graduates of Springfield Technical Community College and other regional institutions of higher education.
The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Western New England University. The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is a resource for small business development in the Pioneer Valley. It offers personal, professional assistance to pre-startups free of charge through the Small Business Clinic and community outreach events.
Urban League of Springfield. The Urban League of Springfield, Inc., serves the African American Community in Greater Springfield by advocating for and providing model services that enhance the academic and social development of young people and families, promoting economic self-sufficiency, and fostering racial inclusion and social justice.
Sponsors
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center is dedicated to accelerating the success of clean energy technologies, companies and projects in the Commonwealth while creating high-quality jobs and long-term economic growth for the people of Massachusetts. Since it began operating in 2009, this center has helped clean energy companies grow, supported municipal clean energy projects and invested in residential and commercial renewable energy installations, creating a robust marketplace for innovative clean technology companies and service providers.
Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation. The mission of the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation is to create and preserve jobs at small businesses, women- and minority-owned businesses and to promote economic development in underserved, gateway municipalities and low- and moderate-income communities. The corporation provides a centralized resource at the state level that offers working capital, loan guarantees and targeted technical assistance to solve specific financial and operational problems.
Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. Since 1962, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission has been the designated regional planning body for the Pioneer Valley region, which encompasses 43 cities and towns in the Hampden and Hampshire county areas. The commission is the primary agency responsible for increasing communication, cooperation and coordination among all levels of government as well as the private business and civic sectors in order to benefit the Pioneer Valley region and to improve its residents’ quality of life.
U.S. Economic Development Administration. The U.S. Economic Development Administration leads our country’s economic development agenda. Its investment policy is designed to establish a foundation for sustainable job growth and the building of durable regional economies throughout the U.S. This foundation builds upon two key economic drivers - innovation and regional collaboration.
Growth Center Partners
Association of Cleantech Incubators of New England. ACTION’s mission is to accelerate the success of early-stage cleantech companies that are supported by our membership of incubator organizations. Through the comprehensive ACTIONetwork of New England-based incubators, ACTION is dedicated to providing cleantech startups with a variety of support services that include the use of specialized technical facilities for research and development, subsidized office space and administrative support, research and patent collaboration, quality business mentoring and professional services, and potential funding opportunities to facilitate commercialization.
Berthiume Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The Berthiume Center’s mission is to promote entrepreneurship and innovation across the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, campus and throughout the region and state. The center serves as the central hub of a cross-campus network of scholars, innovators, and entrepreneurs, with a three-fold mission of supporting education, practice, and research, all targeted at facilitating the transformation of ideas into business realities.
Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network. The Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network’s Western Regional Office provides free and confidential one-to-one business advising to prospective and existing small businesses in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties. Areas of assistance include business plan development, pre-venture feasibility, conventional and non-conventional financing, cash flow analysis, organizational and personnel issues and marketing.
Massachusetts Small Business Development Center Network’s Procurement Technical Assistance Center. The Massachusetts Procurement Technical Assistance Center provides marketing and procurement assistance to Massachusetts businesses that have been in business more than two years and are interested in selling their goods or services to federal, state, or local governments. It provides confidential counseling, seminars, and conferences.
New England Business Associates Business Development Center. The NEBA Business Development Center provides an innovative approach to assisting individuals with disabilities and/or employment barriers in starting their own business. It offers entrepreneurial training necessary to the development of a business concept, the writing of a SCORE-reviewed business plan and the implementation of a business. Individuals are accepted into this center based on the feasibility of their business concept and their commitment to the program’s requirements.
SCORE. The Western Massachusetts chapter of SCORE provides free, confidential counseling to small business owners at six locations in Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin and Berkshire counties. SCORE, the nation’s largest volunteer business counseling service, is a nonprofit association dedicated to help those in business, about to start one or just thinking about it. SCORE chapters provide free mentoring to small business owners and startups and affordable workshops as well.
University of Massachusetts Family Business Center. The UMass Family Business Center provides a practical, inspirational resource for family companies, partnerships and sole proprietorships of every size and industry throughout Western Massachusetts. It helps owners, managers and advisors transition peaceably, govern wisely, communicate clearly, risk and reward appropriately, mediate resolutely and strategize thoughtfully.
U.S. Small Business Administration. Since its founding on July 30, 1953, the U.S. Small Business Administration has delivered millions of loans, loan guarantees, contracts, counseling sessions and other forms of assistance to small businesses. It provides small businesses with an array of financing for small businesses from the smallest needs in micro lending - to substantial debt and venture capital.