The Journal
The Region 9 Economic Development District of SW Colorado, Inc. has received a Rural Business Development Grant through USDA for the Southwest Colorado Accelerator Program for Entrepreneurs.
The grant funding of $60K will help support the SCAPE program, which offers in-depth mentoring, office space and an equity investment to help new ventures enter markets and raise capital. Since beginning in 2013, the program has worked with 15 local businesses, and created 36 jobs in Southwest Colorado. They have raised $3.02 millionof capital to grow their business, and the majority of this money has been spent locally.
SCAPE companies have been featured in Cadillac Commercials, Modern Family TV show, Denver News, Amazon Launchpad, inc.com, Tech Crunch, and Product Hunt.
The program goal is to create and develop high growth, job creating companies in Southwest Colorado.
“SCAPE is an additional tool in the tool box that identifies the emerging businesses that need intensive mentoring and capital investment to put them on the growth company track,” said Laura Lewis Marchino, assistant director of Region 9. “We greatly appreciate USDA Rural Development for their support of such an innovative project in a rural area.”
Local companies can apply to be a part of the 2017 SCAPE program when the application opens on Sept. 1. For more information about SCAPE, go to www.goscape.org or contact SCAPE Director, Elizabeth Marsh at [email protected].
