CLEVELAND - Key (NYSE: KEY) today presented a $1 million multiyear Key Foundation grant to Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) to establish "Key Entrepreneur Development Center," a regional hub for business and economic growth across Northeast Ohio. The grant follows Key Foundation's fulfillment last year of a $1 million grant supporting Tri-C's development and operation of the community's comprehensive career information and job search resource, Key Career Place.

In conjunction with Key Career Place, Key Entrepreneur Development Center will be a catalyst for revitalizing greater Cleveland's economy and a national model for advancing regionalism through public and private partnerships, according to Tri-C President Jerry Sue Thornton.

"This is a distinct break from traditional thinking that for years perpetuated the search for an economic cure all," says Thornton. "As a regional collaborative, Key Entrepreneur Development Center will broaden the sphere of influence on how area business development dollars are spent, and it will round-out the continuum of available workforce training and support. Together, we'll make a more profound transformation by engaging people in learning how to build their businesses and a new regional economy inch by inch."

Under the leadership of Dr. Denise Reading, president of Corporate College, and Anne Hach, director of Key Entrepreneur Development Center, Tri-C will tap existing resources and establish new partnerships to deliver multifaceted learning experiences through the center's Entrepreneur Business Institute; Entrepreneurs on the Cuyahoga (College Student Entrepreneurship Program); and Entrepreneurial Business Incubator Challenge.¹

Reading observes that many people possess the ideas and basic skills to pursue their endeavors, but often have absolutely no idea where to begin. That, and starting a business, she says, is a difficult and risky proposition.

"Key Entrepreneur Development Center will help mitigate the risk," says Reading, "and focus on how to build strong, sustainable businesses benefiting everyone, from budding entrepreneurs with new ideas, and established business owners, to veteran professionals applying years of experience to new ventures."

The center will partner with Kauffman Foundation for programs including Fast Trac and materials in the area of business planning and strategic thinking. Fast Trac programs are used by entrepreneur centers around the country and have a measurable record of success, according to Reading.

Among its learning methods and tools, the center will introduce an online Virtual Business Modeling program that surpasses traditional algorithm-based simulation programs. Entrepreneurs can use the program to test their business ideas in a live market environment with approximately 5,000 businesses actively engaged in trading. Center participants will also receive access to "Ask An Expert," an online library of audio presentations by national subject-area experts, with opportunities to ask specific questions answered by local business experts.

Entrepreneurs are invited to participate in free roundtable discussions at each of the center's three locations - Tri-C's Unified Technology Center, Corporate College West and Corporate College East, when the campus opens later this year. Each location will host a monthly Start Up Roundtable as well a separate roundtable that focuses on issues faced by independent businesses. In addition, entrepreneurs will be able to receive advice and counsel via several interactive programs based on the website.

As with Key Career Place, anticipated first-year results for Key Entrepreneur Development Center include outreach and collaboration with all local chambers of commerce and other entrepreneurial support programs; 500 entrepreneurs and 300 established businesses participating in center programs; participation of 100 college students in the Entrepreneurs on the Cuyahoga-College Student Entrepreneurship Program; and identification of 10 winners of the Entrepreneurial Business Incubator Challenge.

Now in its fifth year, Key Career Place serves over 6,500 student, alumni and community jobseekers annually who make over 11,000 visits to four campus locations. Last year, nearly 4,000 Northeast Ohio jobs were posted on the Key Career Place Careers Online job board, and seven job fairs put more than 2,650 jobseekers in touch with recruiters representing 157 area employers.

Key Entrepreneur Development Center brings Key's business and workforce philanthropic relationship with Tri-C full circle, according to Margot J. Copeland, executive vice president and chair of the Key Foundation. The grant, she says, typifies the kinds of Key-supported academic programs and initiatives that are driving upward mobility in communities nationwide.

"When peoples' livelihoods are at stake, we all have a role and responsibility to seize opportunities to work together to help attract and retain businesses and develop a talented employee base," says Copeland, who also serves as director of corporate diversity at KeyCorp. "Ingenuity must be met with a passion and desire to help people from all backgrounds succeed throughout their careers. And if the results of Tri-C's excellence in building a quality workforce and providing superior career transition and job placement through Key Career Place are any indication, great things are in store for Northeast Ohio through Key Entrepreneur Development Center."

The center's first program, Listening to Your Business, starts on April 16 at Corporate College West on 25425 Center Ridge Road in Westlake. For information about Key Entrepreneur Development Center, its classes and programs, call Center Director Anne Hach at 216-987-5829.

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• Entrepreneur Business Institute
  Area professionals interested in creating and managing their own businesses may participate in Entrepreneur Business Institute educational programs, seminars and workshops designed to help clarify entrepreneurial ideas and abilities; develop, implement and sustain solid business plans; and provide essential coaching and technical support for the successful launch and growth of businesses. In addition, the Institute provides on line and classroom programs for entrepreneurs looking to take their business to the next level.

• Entrepreneurs on the Cuyahoga (College Student Entrepreneurship Program)
  The program will invite current and recent college graduates from two- and four-year institutions to participate in a program at Tri-C to develop their own entrepreneurial ideas and small business plans. This new program will strengthen Tri-C's existing Students in Free Enterprise Program by expanding it beyond current business majors to all Tri-C students likely to be engaged in owning and operating their own businesses. It will also serve to engage students who leave the region for secondary education, and provide an essential link to the Cleveland business community. Any student who is interested in establishing a business in the region can participate regardless of where they go to college. The program will blend several instruction methods to reach students in the Cleveland area and around the country.

• Entrepreneurial Business Incubator Challenge
  The goal of the Incubator Challenge is to act as an economic development catalyst by encouraging students to establish companies in the region. Open to individuals who have participated in either the Entrepreneur Business Institute or Entrepreneurs on the Cuyahoga, the Incubator Challenge, through a competitive process, will select 10 entrepreneurs and guide them through the launch of their businesses. These winners will receive office space at Tri-C, technological support, coaches, a stipend and other support services for one year.

KeyBank

KeyBank

KeyCorp's roots trace back 190 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $176.2 billion at March 31, 2021. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management, and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,100 branches and more than 1,400 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC. 

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