MINNESOTA OFFICE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

(Get the latest communication from July 27, 2006)

In the recent legislative session, several legislators authored a bill that would have created the Minnesota Office of Entrepreneurship, to coordinate and support entrepreneurship development activities across the state. The bill (H.F. 3677) failed to pass but many of us would like to help get it passed next session, as a non-partisan effort that makes good sense for Minnesota's economic development strategy, for rural and urban Minnesota alike.

Minnesota Rural Partners and regional co-hosts will sponsor four meetings over the next four months, via videoconferencing to multi-sites, to gather your ideas for a proposed Office of Entrepreneurship (or some sort of public/private consortium to help coordinate entrepreneurial development efforts across Minnesota). What might be its possible functions, scope, and governance? We would like to invite you to participate as citizens from across the state to help build a stronger Minnesota. These working sessions will help us raise awareness for already existing activities and initiatives underway at local, county and regional levels and thereby fine-tune how an Office of Entrepreneurship could help Minnesotans support on-going efforts and be a catalyst for future endeavors as well. Ultimately, win, lose, or draw, the video conferences and in-between discussion on email listservs can help each of us --as engaged citizens of Minnesota -- nurture, develop, implement and coordinate strategies that will enhance and encourage entrepreneurial activity and economic vitality.

Your Role? Come to any one of the five video conference meeting locations we have available to voice your recommendations on strategies, programs and help us develop specific goals for statewide entrepreneurial outcomes. Whether you can come or not, please send us, via reply to this email, a brief summary of entrepreneurship efforts you know of already. We will compile a statewide inventory and get that back to you via email or thru our MRP website.

Who's Involved? People like you; citizens who are committed to improve the viability of small businesses and economic development across Minnesota.

Statewide Meeting Schedule

Meetings were held Fall, 2006

Five Statewide Video Conference Locations Available for your Convenience! (Some rooms have changed - as noted below.)

You can rsvp to info@minnesotaruralpartners.org for the sites above, including Mankato, Duluth, St. Cloud, Crookston, Fergus Falls, Winona, Inver Grove Heights, Grand Rapids. For St. Paul UM, please rsvp directly to Jane Leonard at jleonard@minnesotaruralpartners.org

If you are interested in participating, please reply to this email. We will need to know the meeting(s) you can attend and which location is the most convenient for you. Also, as noted above, provide us with a brief summary of any current entrepreneurial support initiatives.

We appreciate your support and look forward to working with each of you.

Questions….Contact Denise Pfeifer; Minnesota Rural Partners, info@minnesotaruralpartners.org; 651-645-9403