Recipient Organization
FLORIDA A&M UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
TALLAHASSEE,FL 32307
Performing Department
Cooperative Extension Program
Non Technical Summary
The Apalachicola Fire Station Incubator/Accelerator Project is designed to strengthen the core capacities of Extension Community Resource Development programs and to develop a model delivery mechanism to address the declining community viability experienced by rural communities. The Project will assist in developing capacity for local residents to tap into the local tourism market through an incubator/accelerator engine, with a majority of the products and services having connection to food and fiber, agricultural, renewable natural resources, and forestry. The mechanism proposed for the Project is involves a community of practice and an incubator/accelerator engine. The capacity and resulting outcomes include: 1) Build capacity for Extension relative to staffing, consultant expertise and experiential teaching and learning experiences for University students; 2) Developing new skills needed to build community viability in the face of a new economy, and; 3) Equip indigenous residents with the capacity to capture a portion of the local tourism market through their new and enhanced business ventures. The Project will: 1) Establish a Community of Practice to assist local leaders in developing new community and economic development leadership skills; 2) Establish an Incubator/Accelerator as an economic engine that provides capacity through subject-based expertise, training, peer-to-peer mentoring, mentoring/coaching, and; 3) Develop a model delivery system designed to help rural communities address declining community and economic viability. This project will assist the University to increase enrollment, increase capacity for community service participation by faculty and staff, as well as provided experiential training for students from many allied disciplines in the University.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The overall mission is to build community and economic development capacity through a methodological delivery system consisting of a community of practice and incubator/accelerator engine to enhance the local leadership skills needed to build community viability in the face of a new economy and lost and declining industries. The Project will be accomplished through the following two objectives: 1. Establish a Community of Practice to assist local leaders in developing new community and economic development leadership skills; 2. Establish an Incubator/Accelerator to assist local leaders in establishing an economic engine that provides capacity through subject-based expertise, training, peer-to-peer mentoring, mentoring/coaching, and; 3. Develop a model community and economic development delivery system/methodology designed to help rural, natural resource-based seaside communities address declining community and economic viability.
Project Methods
The mechanism proposed for the Project involves a community/economic development community of practice and an incubator/accelerator engine. The Community of Practice is a reiterative way of learning, acting and doing to achieve the best results for a given problem/issue. In this context for the proposed project, it will be one part of the delivery mechanism used by CEP staff to facilitate and coordinate a community-determined leadership team to solve their own community viability problem through existing resources.Communities of Practice are virtual networks of subject matter content providers who share knowledge or competence in a specific content area, work and learn together over a period of time, and continually update knowledge and best practices through the development of educational products and programs. The second part of the mechanism is an incubator/accelerator engine as both a physical and virtual "store front" targeted to the existing robust tourism market. The Incubator is designed to accelerate the development of new and emerging start-ups. The services that will be offered include business start-up technical assistance and business expansion technical assistance, goal setting, planning, business writing, acquiring funding, nonprofit development, financial and credit worthiness literacy, record keeping, and public speaking, and computer literacy, and will occur through in-person group workshops, one-on-one training, peer-to-peer mentoring, coaching/mentoring, and business exposition, and when appropriate use of online training portals. The accelerator aspect of the Project will offer concentrated support to early stage businesses and entrepreneurs. Accelerator elements include a competitive application process, access to investors and venture capitalists, access to loans through USDA/Rural Development programs, time-limited support, programmed events and intensive coaching and monitoring, cohorts or 'classes' of start-ups. Ongoing evaluation and review of evaluation will direct the continued development of the Project. Analysis of the evaluation results and data coding will make use of pre and post test results, trainer evaluations, journaling results, artifact review, individual session evaluations, and focus group results. Products, results and measurable outcomes include: 1. A community of practice implemented by local community based leaders; 2. New skills learned document through evaluation protocol; 3. Publicly funded incubator/accelerator engine; 4. Matrix of educational programs and training services; 5. Public private stakeholder investors associated with tangible and intangible inventory of services; 6. Inputs showing an executed continuation plan and journaling results detailing the processes undertaken, ultimately resulting in a template for Extension and development of new leadership skills for the community-based leadership team.