Looking to expand educational opportunities for those who want to add solid work experience to their resumes in order to start their own companies, the Kauffman Foundation has donated $1 million to help launch the Innovation Fund America program. The new initiative will be modeled after a current program now being run in conjunction with community colleges in Ohio in partnership with the Lorain County Community College Foundation (LCCC). The LCCC campaign helps support high--growth technology entrepreneurs in northeast Ohio. "Kauffman has a rich history of working with colleges and universities to build entrepreneurship education programs and curricula because entrepreneurship is a long-term strategy for job development and economic growth," Thom Ruhe, Kauffman Foundation vice president of entrepreneurship, noted. "With community colleges embedded in more than 1,200 communities across the United States, we see a tremendous opportunity to employ their resources to support, educate and inspire local residents to pursue entrepreneurial ventures." The new project will begin with a pilot in 3 communities across the U.S., which will be selected in the next few months. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 2.5 million jobs were created in the U.S. by newly formed business establishments in 2010. |