10,000 Small Businesses Program Graduates Beachwood Residents and Businesses In the past three years, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) has graduated the following Beachwood residents and businesses from its Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program: Amonica Davis, ServiceMaster by Davis; Gary Feldman, Custom Fabricators; Rachel Kabb-Effron, Kabb Law Firm; Jon Kaplan, PearlWind; Chris-Anna Lazar, Luscious Verde Cards, Inc.; Jerry Leeds, Technical Engineered Products; Lisa Muskal, Regency Developers; Montrie Rucker Adams, Visibility Marketing, Inc.; Elisabeth Sapell, All City Candy; Gloria Treister, Wellness Evolution; and Daniel Weiss, Adatasol. Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is a $500 million initiative to unlock the growth and job creation potential of small businesses across the United States by providing them with greater access to business education, financial capital and business support services. The business owners who are accepted into the program represent a wide variety of industries and businesses, including manufacturing, catering, marketing, IT services and more. They spend three months at Tri-C studying a business and management curriculum designed by Babson College, the top-ranked school for entrepreneurial education. Babson trains all 10KSB faculty around the country for uniformity. The curriculum incorporates accounting, human resources, negotiation and marketing. The program also comprises one-onone business advising, accounting workshops and advice from Goldman Sachs’ professionals, and culminates with each participant’s developing a strategic growth plan for their business. 10,000 Small Businesses launched in Cleveland in May 2012, committing $15 million for small business loans, business education and grants for supporting community partners. Additional partners in the Cleveland program are the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE), JumpStart, Inc., the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, WIRE-Net, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and Growth Capital Corporation. These partners help with the recruitment of small business owners and entrepreneurs in Greater Cleveland and assist in providing technical assistance and business support services. “I am so happy to have been a part of such a rewarding program,” stated Gloria Triester, founder/CEO of Wellness Evolution. “The program really gave me insight on the core values of what we provide as well as a strategic approach to marketing those values to potential clients, both on the corporate end and to the individual participant.” For information about the 10,000 Small Businesses Program, please visit www.tri-c.edu/10ksb or call 216.987.3220. Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is a $500 million initiative to unlock the growth and job creation potential of small businesses across the United States by providing them with greater access to business education, financial capital and business support services. Budish and the Literacy Cooperative Join for International Literacy Day More than 400,000 adults in Cuyahoga County are at or below a seventh-grade comprehension level Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and the Literacy Cooperative joined today in honor of International Literacy Day to discuss challenges and opportunities that exist in Cuyahoga County for more than 400,000 adults with low literacy, and have difficulty reading a prescription or completing a job application. The featured speaker was Jeff Conyers, executive director of The Dollywood Foundation whose featured program is Imagination Library. Nearly 125 people gathered to hear from literacy advocates concerning the challenges faced by many in our community who are not able to read or write adequately or do simple math problems, as well as some of the programs and resources in the community to address these difficulties. “Low literacy and a lack of workforce skills are a barrier to progress on social priorities that exist in our region.” said County Executive Budish. “Reducing poverty, promoting public health, and helping people find better jobs remain at the forefront of this administration and we are committed to finding solutions that connect our most vulnerable citizens to the skills they need to succeed.” International Literacy Day is a world-wide awareness campaign founded fifty years ago by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. Improving literacy leads directly to advancing economies, health and social equality. The Dollywood Foundation and Imagination Library have achieved dramatic results. In the twenty years since its founding by Dolly Parton, Imagination Library has mailed sixty million high-quality, age-appropriate books to children in more than 1600 local communities, and 750,000 children are now receiving a new book each and every month. Statistics and independent reports have shown Dolly Parton's Imagination Library drastically improves early childhood literacy for children enrolled in the program. Conyers is hoping to establish a Dolly Parton Imagination Library program in Greater Cleveland. Robert Paponetti, executive director of The Literacy Cooperative, sponsor of the luncheon, said, “International Literacy Day events take place around the world, but we are focused on the needs right here in our community, where 80% of Cleveland children beginning kindergarten are not fully prepared – and adults who have low literacy skills are not able to access job training programs that lead to family-sustaining wages. The investments we make in programs for children, as well as workplace education for adults, are critical to improving the quality of life for everyone. The Literacy Cooperative provides literacy leadership to improve the quality and connectivity of early literacy, parent engagement, and adult literacy and workforce development services that lead to systemic changes. For more information visit www.literacycooperative.org or www.usa.imaginationlibrary.com. 60 Beachwood Buzz n October 2015