The
Inspiration for The Center for Business Education,
Innovation and Development, NFP
The current President, Ernie
Mahaffey, has been a longtime member of a European network
of scholars and practitioners whose goal is to obtain
positive social outcomes in inner-city communities of
intensely multicultural cities.
Unlike
Chicago
, where a report may list populations of 50,000 or more
from each of nine or ten countries, the experience in most
European cities has been vastly different; not only would
there have been fewer immigrants altogether but, also,
they would have come from fewer countries. Except for residents from their respective colonial
associations, such as Jamaicans and Pakistanis in
London
, most European countries had not experienced the impact
of significant numbers of people from different countries
living in their main cities.
Ernie met Phil Wood at a conference
in
Rome
. Phil was interested to learn if the multicultural
population of his home city,
Huddersfield
,
England
, might be a positive factor in the city’s becoming more
“creative”. Phil’s
firm, Comedia,
managed a project in
Huddersfield
that used the Creative Industries theory: “attracting and employing creative people in the
city would build in and reinforce its adaptability to
economic change and thus would help to regenerate and
revitalize the local economy.”
Huddersfield, an old industrial town,
had seen numbers of down cycles; industries, including textiles that had brought a
lot of immigrant labor into the city, moved in and out
leaving many workers with slim economic prospects.
Curious about economic regeneration
and creative industries (creative enterprises that create
employment), Ernie visited Huddersfield for a day with
Phil Wood, who organized a tour of the renovated
industrial buildings and a meeting with staff and several
entrepreneurs who were involved in the programs.
For a general write-up see: “Hudderfield
Creative Town Initiative”.
The entrepreneur in Ernie recognized
similarities in the
Fox
Valley
and Huddersfield; many 19th century limestone
buildings along the
Fox River
were vacant and underutilized and the viability of retail
stores in the center of town, some near rail stations, was
threatened by suburban “big boxes”.
Huddersfield’s specific
Creative
Town
initiatives – in part, a downtown regeneration project
– were most interesting.
A group of old industrial buildings
had been renovated; at the core, in one building, was the
Media Centre, organized as a shared office space with
central resources. The
Media Centre - with a reception desk, post office,
switchboard, a café, meeting rooms, and a small audio
visual room – was surrounded by offices of various
dimensions and a few studios in which artists lived and
worked.
Central teaching facilities with
shared “desk” spaces were located in second building;
these were linked with the local university so that
business and training classes could be conducted there, as
well as on campus. This
was an incubator; as their business plans materialized
entrepreneurs could rent part of a desk and share
equipment (fax, photocopier, printer, etc.). The facility, staffed with university and volunteer
business people, coached “students” to the next level,
which might be the Media Centre.
Creative industries in the complex
visited by Ernie included studios for graphics and for
video and internet designers. Architects, printers and
patent/copyright attorneys were also participants.
Presumably – and actually – those
persons involved in various disciplines worked well
together. Examples
were the makeover for
Huddersfield
’s website, the linking of various businesses to the
Media Centre’s website and the creative flair in much of
the signage and promotional materials.
Although, the Huddersfield “
Creative
Town
” initiative has ended as a project, the Media Centre
and several businesses continue to thrive. See The
Media Centre. Also,
Huddersfield
’s initiative continues to inspire others. See: Creative
Development Agency.
Ernie thought there might be some
interest by other locals in using the Huddersfield model:
business incubator, shared office space, media and
promotional opportunities, in the Geneva area. Jamie Daniel, long-standing resident, was receptive
and, as a local Realtor specializing in historic
properties, she also was aware of commercial properties
that might be developed, employing those concepts.
Jamie and Ernie first presented the
ideas to the World Affairs group of Geneva Learners, made
up primarily of retired business, government and NGO
executives, all with substantial experience in the local
community. There
was enthusiastic support.
Jamie arranged a meeting with Kent
Shodeen, prominent local developer and owner of some
underutilized older properties.
We then met with Joe Stanton, another developer and entrepreneur; Gerard
Keating, another developer; Paul
Descoteaux and Chuck Brown, long-serving Geneva Aldermen; and Roger Breisch and
Bill McGrath, Batavia Chamber of Commerce and City Administrator, respectively.
All were encouraging. Since then we've met
with dozens of stakeholders in the area.
A committee was organized to set up a
not-for-profit organization to develop a strategy and
implement some of the initiatives. Scott Fintzen, a
partner at Guido & Fintzen, Attorneys-at-Law, was
engaged to take care of the legal details. The initial focus was to be for education and
promotion: “… to educate the public on subjects
related to: (i) innovative business development; and (ii)
starting, managing, and operating an innovative
business.”
In November, 2008, applications were filed for
incorporation with the State of Illinois and The Center
for Business Education, Innovation and Develop, NFP (CBEID)
was born. Internal
Revenue Service approvals for tax exempt status and public
charity were granted in March, 2009.
If you are interested in the project, please contact: Ernest Mahaffey (630-406-5321) |
