On June 9, Lightning Leah of Fond du Lac County and Wild Card Willie of Jackson County became the first Entrepreneurs in Training (EIT) to graduate from Bootcamp. Participating with Defy Illinois via Zoom, they successfully completed all the coursework in the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. The Business Pitch Showcase was their opportunity to articulate their business […]
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The Extension Defy Ventures Entrepreneurship Bootcamp is a 14-week program for people with criminal histories who want to explore entrepreneurship and develop their small business idea into formal business concept and pitch. The program is designed for adults (18 and over) who are stable in their reentry (employed and housed) and have been released for […]
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Despite their substantial contribution to economies, little is known about how entrepreneurs of color in rural areas leverage resources to start ventures. Diana and coworker Joseph Malual (University of Illinois-Extension) have published an article in the journal Community Development to explore this in more detail. Based on interviews in Fond du Lac County with 35 […]
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In this session for Startup Wisconsin Week, Black Business Owners Speak (event flyer with speaker details, 295KB) UW-Madison Extension educators and area business owners discuss the results of interviews with 48 African American business owners in northeast Wisconsin in 2019. In the video recording (65 minutes) of the presentation and discussion, you’ll learn about the […]
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Below you will find two resource pages for small businesses – one related to funding and the other related to health and safety considerations to reopen. These webpages are intended to provide quick access to important information. Both sites are “living” resources where information will be updated and added to as needed. Financial Assistance for […]
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Diana met with the Waupun Area Chamber of Commerce Board to teach them about the responsibilities of board members, including setting a vision and long-term strategy for the organization. This type of group planning can be useful in a crisis but is not advisable during a crisis. If you have a COVID-19 related challenge […]
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As a Division of UW-Madison, Extension is following the lead of UW-Madison leadership in responding to the COVID-19 virus outbreak, in conjunction with public health and county officials. The latest guidance from UW-Madison and local government is to limit on-site work in addition to postponing events. This guidance is in reaction to a worldwide event […]
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This summer Extension partnered with Fit Oshkosh to interview 48 African American business owners in Fond du Lac, Winnebago, Outagamie, and Brown Counties. Extension’s Diana Hammer of Extension as well as FITOshkosh’s Rajon Hall and Tracey Robertson discuss their findings on Fresh Take with WHBY’s Josh Dukelow. (40:16) Researching Support for Black Biz-Owners Reporting Names, […]
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This summer Extension partnered with Fit Oshkosh to interview 48 African American business owners in Fond du Lac, Winnebago, Outagamie, and Brown Counties. Preliminary findings are now available in this infographic. In coming months, Extension is analyzing the interviews and will publish on themes including 1) access to financial resources, 2) motivations for starting a […]
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