The Kane County Sheriff’s Office’s Entrepreneurship Center, which aims to help individuals impacted by the criminal legal system start businesses, is launching as an independent initiative of the sheriff’s office, according to a news release from the office.
Previously, the Honorable William H. Hall Entrepreneurship Center had been a Small Business Development Center satellite, the release said, and was supported by the Illinois Small Business Development Center, U.S. Small Business Administration and Waubonsee Community College.
The transition to an independent center was a result of funding changes, the release said.
Regarding Waubonsee’s involvement with the center going forward, a spokesperson from the community college said in an emailed statement to The Beacon-News that “the initiative grew larger than the budget provided,” and that the satellite “was just the beginning of the plan to scale.” Waubonsee will be continuing its own SBDC-related work, the spokesperson said.
A spokesperson from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which administers Small Business Development Center funding on behalf of the state, confirmed that the department will not be directly involved with the entrepreneurship center in Kane County going forward.
The county’s entrepreneurship center will now be funded through detainee commissary funds, like other programs the sheriff’s office runs, and through the office’s corrections budget, according to Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain.
The center’s programming is meant to help individuals who are “often excluded from traditional entrepreneurship programs,” the release said.
The Kane County Small Business Development Center opened last September, and was meant to help current and former detainees start businesses, according to the county. It evolved from a program that has given detainees the chance to participate in a business plan and pitch competition. Per the county, two former detainees have since launched a catering company and a trucking business.
The sheriff’s office also announced recently that the entrepreneurship center would be hosting a free “Start Your Business” program for justice-involved individuals in Kane County and surrounding areas, including formerly incarcerated individuals and people on probation or parole, according to the news release. Participants will receive instruction on topics like business planning, marketing, financial management and accessing capital, with classes held remotely and in person.
The goal of these efforts is to reduce recidivism, said Judy Dawson, the Sheriff’s Office’s director of diversion and reentry programs. She noted that individuals who start businesses as a result of this programming can create more jobs for other people who have been incarcerated, forming a sort of “employment ecosystem.” Those entrepreneurs can also be mentors to individuals who have been affected by the criminal legal system, because they’ve had similar experiences.
Individuals interested in the class can contact the Sheriff’s Office Small Business Development Center coordinator Rudy Gonzalez at gonzalezrudy@kanecountyil.gov or 331-335-0300.
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