Vance-Granville Community College President Pledges to Promote Entrepreneurship
From Left to Right; VGCC President Dr. Rachel Desmarais, VGCC Dean of South Campus Tanya Weary, and Dr. Jerry Edmonds Vice President of Workforce Development and Community Engagement
The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), the nation’s leading organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges, has announced that President Dr. Rachel Desmarais, of Vance-Granville Community College, has taken its Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge. Through the pledge, presidents of community colleges throughout the country pledge to take five action steps that will increase their focus on entrepreneurship and the impact these colleges have on the economic well-being of the communities they serve.
With the economy still lagging in many regions of the United States, more than 200 community colleges throughout the country have signed the entrepreneurship pledge, and by doing so, have committed to playing a greater role in stimulating economic development in the communities they serve.
“An entrepreneurial mindset is critical to solving today’s challenges for tomorrow. As a lead workforce developer in our region, it is imperative that VGCC support economic development through both skills and entrepreneurial training. We offer this support through our Small Business Center initiatives and the insertion of entrepreneurial thinking in our trades programs,” Desmarais said.
About the Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge
The Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge was in response to the White House’s Startup America call to action to stimulate economic growth state by state by encouraging entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. NACCE is a founding affiliate of the Startup America Partnership, an alliance of the country’s most innovative entrepreneurs, corporations, universities, foundations, and other leaders.
According to NACCE President and CEO Rebecca Corbin, the Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge is a way for community colleges to advance entrepreneurship and create jobs across the country. Community college presidents who take the pledge commit to these five action steps:
- Develop transparency of community college and community assets
- Create internal and external teams dedicated to entrepreneurship
- Increase entrepreneurs’ engagement in community colleges
- Engage in industry cluster development
- Create broad exposure to their college’s commitment to entrepreneurship.
“The five action steps were developed based on NACCE’s observations of what was working best on member campuses,” said Corbin. “After observing the entrepreneurship-related activities of our members over a period of years, we started to see commonalities among the more successful institutions,” she said. “One of the major things that clearly makes a difference is the commitment by leadership to entrepreneurship.”
About NACCE
The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) is the nation’s leading organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges. The association represents 300+ community and technical colleges and 2,000 faculty, staff, administrators and presidents who serve more than three million students. For more information, visit www.nacce.com . Follow NACCE on Twitter at @NACCE and like NACCE on Facebook at National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship.
