Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Planning & Development Services

TO:	Diane Stoddard, Interim City Manager
CC:	Scott McCullough, PDS Director
FROM:	Cyndi Hermocillo-Legg, Small Business Facilitator
DATE:	July 1, 2015
RE:	Invitation to make application for Metropolitan (E-) Entrepreneurship Community Partnership Pilot

Background

“BizFuel” a public/private partnership formed to grow local Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and an entrepreneurial ecosystem through a collective impact approach method. BizFuel partners include:

- City of Lawrence

- Douglas County

- Economic Development Corporation of Lawrence

- Lawrence Chamber of Commerce

- Small Business Development Center

- Lawrence Public Library

NetWork Kansas is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Kansas that connects aspiring, emerging, and established businesses to a wide network of business-building resource organizations across the state. Network Kansas works with communities through its Entrepreneurship (E-) Community Partnership to create local, sustainable funding programs as well as creating a virtual network of expertise and educational resources for entrepreneurs at the local level.

Currently, all E-Communities are rural based in the State of Kansas through Network Kansas. Douglas County has an established E-Community that has gained meaningful results in rural Douglas County businesses to include:

- Small Business Loans = 6

- Total Gap Financing Provided=$120,500.00

- Total Jobs Created/Retained = 14 FTEs

The Metropolitan (E-) Entrepreneurship Community Partnerships do not currently exist and are a newly built program of Network Kansas. Community partners will launch technical supportive programs that will help create a more entrepreneurial mindset, help build and fund a revolving loan fund, start new and/or strengthen existing businesses, provide high end assistance to 2^nd Stage growth companies and work to engage local youth entrepreneurial programming. The ultimate result will be to build a local community vision centered on entrepreneurship as a tool for economic development.

Invitation to Complete RFI for the Metropolitan (E-) Entrepreneurship Community Partnership (MECP) Pilot

The City of Lawrence has recently been selected by Network Kansas to respond to a Request for Information (RFI) that will allow the City of Lawrence to be considered to become a pilot city for the new Metropolitan (E-) Entrepreneurship Community Partnership. The invitation and RFI application materials can be viewed in the following attachments.

The initial focus will be to serve the Urban/Distressed Area Entrepreneurs that is broad in scope and includes:

- Businesses located in a distressed area (20% + live below poverty level),

- 51% of business owned by a Woman, Minority, or Disadvantaged Entity,

- Businesses that currently employ or will employ low-income employees,

- Businesses whose products/service supports disadvantaged/underserved populations,

- Businesses whose mission is to serve disadvantaged/underserved populations.

The Metropolitan E-Community Partnership is an invitation-only pilot from Network Kansas and the City of Lawrence is only one of two communities to receive the invitation. BizFuel partners have agreed to move forward to complete the RFI criteria and have started to build the “Working Group” according to the RFI deliverables. The final due date to respond to the RFI is August 14, 2015. Interviews conducted by Network Kansas and or community selection will happen between September and October 9, 2015. The action requested is to direct the Small Business Facilitator to respond, on behalf of the BizFuel Partnership to the enclosed RFI.

Network Kansas resources are based on developing localized grassroots entrepreneurial efforts to provide a systematic and sustainable approach to a built entrepreneurial ecosystem. To be able to aptly respond to the RFI, the following will be developed by BizFuel Partners and or the formed “Working Group” that will be an ongoing process (details can be found in attached RFI):