Saturday, August 16, 2008

Edge Connection Gets Building Grant

Grants to Green awarded $50,000 to The Edge Connection. The grant will help fund The Edge Connection to build a new 30,000-square-foot LEED certified sustainable business Enterprise Center in Kennesaw, Ga., with a leading edge combination of a commercial kitchen complex and business incubator.

Grants to Green is a collaborative partnership between The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, Southface and Enterprise Community Partners. Launched earlier this year, Grants to Green provides knowledge and funding to nonprofits to help green their building structures and become more environmentally sustainable. By participating in Grants to Green, nonprofits can not only save more on operational expenses in the long-term, but they can also dedicate those saved dollars to better meet their mission. 

More information about Grants to Green can be found on the individual partners websites at: www.atlcf.org, www.southface.org, and www.enterprisecommunity.org.

The Edge Connection's Enterprise Center clients will have access to comprehensive business development training and services which include coaching, networking opportunities, e-learning, and access to business intelligence technology. "The facility will be energy efficient and reduce operational costs over the long-term. Our goal, in addition to entrepreneurial training, is to teach our clients that businesses can be more sustainable and green, so we needed to start with our own facility," said Patricia Harris, Executive Director and CEO of The Edge Connection.

Supporting the growth of nonprofit organizations that provide entrepreneurship education has been an important step to supporting the growth and success of micro businesses. The Edge Connection offers an award-winning and nationally recognized program that delivers best-practices, microenterprise and small business training, financial literacy, entrepreneurially focused technology training, and essential entrepreneurial support services to aid microentrepreneurs to launch, sustain, or grow a business.

The Edge Connection is a fully independent, non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization and located on the campus of Kennesaw State University within the Coles College of Business. It provides services throughout metro Atlanta and partners with agencies statewide. The Edge Connection is a founding member of Georgia Micro Enterprise Network and is a member of the national microenterprise trade association, the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO).

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