Sign-ups will be providing on Saturday for you to schedule a 30 minute session with one of the coaches.
The coaches are:
Kirby Edmonds:
Kirby Edmonds is a long time resident of Ithaca and a principle in the local human relations training and consulting firm Training For Change Associates, specializing in diversity, cultural competency, conflict management and team building. He is one of the designers of the Multicultural Resource Center’s “Talking Circles on Race and Racism”, and Senior Fellow and Program Coordinator of the Dorothy Cotton Institute which has a vision of all people fully exercising their human rights. He is chair of the City of Ithaca’s Comprehensive plan Committee which is developing a plan for the City of Ithaca for the next 10 to 20 years.Through all of these activities and as a founder of the Building Bridges Initiative with the vision of a socially just and ecologically sound local economy, Kirby has been working to put equity at the center of local economic development and public and institutional policy throughout the community. He believes that we can eliminate structural poverty and structural racism in the Tompkins County region in a generation if we collectively make the decision to do so.
Eldred Harris: Eldred provides intensive, high-touch business coaching to entrepreneurs whose ideas build more robust, diverse, and resilient local economies. With a focus on engaging as many underrepresented, non-traditional, and young entrepreneurs as possible, he assists clients with idea visioining; identifying productive partners and resources; and-as critically-adjusting to the risks/rewards associated with entrepreneurship. Eldred is the Founder and Director of the Entrepreneurship, Leadership and Business Development Lab
Jan Rhodes Norman: Jan describes herself as a "serial entrepreneur", after starting and/or co-owning 14 businesses in Ithaca, in the last 37 years . Having co-founded Local First Ithaca, she is a tireless supporter of local, independently owned businesses. In 2014, she was awarded the Alternatives Federal Credit Union Jeff Furman Award for Social Responsibility in Business and The Best of Ithaca Award for Advocate for Local Business.
Gary Shaheen: Gary works to develop programs and improve policies that impact veterans in the areas of employment, housing and supportive services. He is a nationally recognized expert in mental health rehabilitation, individual and social entrepreneurship, homelessness, and veterans’ employment issues.
Big Red MicroEnterprise: BRM is a student-run organization through Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management that spurs microenterprise development by assisting self-employed individuals reach their business goals. BRM provides business coaching support to entrepreneurs to think through their business strategies and tackle difficult business challenges. By offering targeted business assistance loans to entrepreneurs, our goal is to contribute to the local community, supporting inclusive wealth creation and economic development.
