Project SlingShot to provide $750,000 in grants

Sacramento, Calif. – The California Capital Region entrepreneurial and small business community will benefit from $750,000 in new grant funding between now and March 2018, thanks to the newly-launched Project SlingShot. The funds will be made available through a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process, with the first RFP to be made public this week. The funds will enable the nine-county region’s innovation ecosystem to expand and strengthen the support it provides to entrepreneurs, small businesses and startups.

SlingShot is a statewide program being implemented in the Capital Region by a partnership of four local workforce development boards: the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA), Golden Sierra, the North Central Counties Consortium, and the Yolo County WDB, with SETA acting as the lead partner. Valley Vision is serving as the SlingShot project manager, working with the workforce board partnership.

“By bringing these funds to our local entrepreneurship ecosystem, SlingShot will support more business growth and job creation throughout the region,” explained Kathy Kossick, SETA’s Executive Director. “Growing companies that add jobs means expanded employment opportunities for our local workforce, which is central to the workforce boards’ missions.”

The competitive RFP process, to be led by SETA, will address SlingShot’s three areas of focus: first, mentoring networks that connect entrepreneurs to experienced executives; second, physical spaces for entrepreneurs, such as co-working facilities, maker spaces, incubators and accelerators; and finally, the creation of a Resource Navigator, a searchable, interactive online tool that will house a comprehensive inventory of all the support services available to entrepreneurs across the region. Slingshot will work across a nine-county region and prioritize efforts that will connect rural communities to urban resources.