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Lackawanna College has made no secret of our deep commitment to our local and regional economy. Supporting entrepreneurship and encouraging our students and alumni to start small businesses is centrally linked to our mission of helping others better their lives and the communities in which they live.

Why is entrepreneurship important?

Small businesses:

• Create jobs close to home
• Help local individual pursue the ‘American Dream’
• Encourage innovation in a much different way than large, traditional corporations
• Support our local economy
• Keep money in our local neighborhoods

How can higher education foster a mindset that encourages entrepreneurship among students and graduates?

While discrete entrepreneurship programs and classes are important, there are other ways higher education can use our resources to help our students, graduates, and neighbors to start small businesses. In fact, some of the best tools for starting small businesses are housed at colleges or universities. The University of Scranton’s Small Business Development Center provides one such example, and many of our neighboring institutions offer various resources to help support entrepreneurship in different stages and forms.

What is LC doing in this area?

Lackawanna College is helping our community in a few interesting ways:

• Partnering with local start-ups to assist with projects and provide student interns. Are you an owner of a small business and looking for the time and talent of our creative, hard-working students? We’d love to hear from you to see how we can assist you in your business while giving our students valuable, real-world experience!
• Our new Venture Lab. This Fall, we launched a Venture Lab to connect our students and others with faculty members who provide support in developing a business plan, launching a business, and marketing a new business. Have an idea for a new enterprise and not sure what do next? Visit our Venture Lab for some advice and brainstorming!
• Empowering our students to believe they can make their ideas a reality. Our curriculum focuses on the content students need to consider starting their own businesses in a variety of disciplines. In addition to that content, we also help our students believe they are capable of achieving their dreams – however large or unreachable that dream may seem at the beginning.

The City of Scranton and surrounding communities need small businesses to flourish. How can we help? From your perspective, what can Lackawanna College do to further encourage entrepreneurship?