Washington, DC:  What incentives and assistance could be made available to "gazelles" and to small business more generally? What policies are likely to work most effectively? In the near term, government policies aimed at bolstering the recovery and further strengthening the financial system will help small businesses that have been hard hit by the economic downturn.

Spurred by the interchange of ideas at a forum on small businesses, staff at the Brookings Institution have identified the following targeted ideas for fostering the health and growth of small businesses (and, in many cases, larger businesses) over the longer run:

• Improve access to public and private capital.
• Reexamine corporate tax policy with an eye toward whether provisions of our tax code are
  discouraging small business development.
• Promote education to help businesses struggling with shortages of workers with particular skills,
  and promote research to spur innovation.
• Rethink immigration policy, as current policy may be contributing to shortages of key workers
  and deterring entrepreneurs who wish to start promising businesses in our country.
• Explore ways to foster "innovation-friendly" environments, such as regional cluster initiatives.
• Strengthen government counseling programs.

Click here to download a copy of the entire report.

Kansas City (Entrepreneurship Blog of the Kauffman Foundation, June 14, 2010):  Washington has been busy on several fronts important to entrepreneurs these past few months. One we must not forget to reflect on is the recent U.S. Senate approval of a bipartisan-sponsored amendment to the financial reform bill that protects against creating new barriers for high-growth entrepreneurs seeking to raise angel capital. This "Angel Amendment" addressed two of the original provisions in the bill that had the potential of creating regulatory obstacles for entrepreneurs raising angel financing and weakening the pool of angel capital by reducing the number of accredited angel investors.

More specifically, the amendment that passed eliminated the language in the bill requiring a 120 day Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) review period for investors that prove an annual income in excess of $200 thousand and net worth totaling more than $1 million. The incentive embodied in this language could have proven harmful for the availability of seed investment, which is already difficult to attract.

Lancaster:  More than 90 residents of south central Pennsylvania graduated from apprentice programs in air conditioning and refrigeration, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, sheet metal, and structural steel during the 40th Annual Apprenticeship Graduation sponsored by Associated Builders and Contractors at the Harrisburg-Hershey Sheraton on Wednesday, May 19, 2010.

Todd Staub, Director of Workforce Development at the national organization of  ABC, was the guest speaker and Tom Quinn, an electrical instructor from Lancaster, was honored as the Craft Instructor of the Year.

Lancaster County companies such as Brubaker, Frey Lutz, Benchmark Construction, Paul Risk, Wohlsen Construction, Lancaster Electric, B.J. Baldwin, Garden Spot Electric, Haller Enterprises, and others sponsor apprentices and provide them with on-the-job work experience which complements their classroom instruction.  Participants work while they learn. 

For more information on apprenticeships, contact Alan Arment at ABC by clicking This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit their website by clicking here.

Lancaster: Twenty Lancastrians graduated from the Latino Empowerment Program during a ceremony held at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center on Saturday, June 5, 2010.

Frances Rodriguez, Chair of the Lancaster County Latino Coordinating Committee, and Scott Sheely, Executive Director of the Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board, welcomed those being honored and their guests. Christina Pantoja, Assistant Director of Admissions at Millersville University, shared her story and encouraged graduates to focus on opportunities in spite of pressure from their peers.

Class members, Deborah Gonzalez and Carlos Gonzalez, recounted their experience during the seven week course and challenged themselves and their classmates to be the leaders at home, at work, and in the community that they can become. Norman Britol-Colon, Executive Director of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, also congratulated and challenged the graduates to fulfill the expectations that they taken on as participants in this program. Ms. Rodriguez suggested that these graduates are starting an epidemic (a concept used in a class text, The Tipping Point) that needs to spread throughout our community.

Graduates included Loida Acosta-Rodriguez, Mirna Alvarado, Jessica Ayala, Ramon Caraballo, Fanny Castellanos, Rafaela Contreras, Carlos Gonzalez, Deborah Gonzalez, Maria Gonzalez, Debora Gracia, Omar Henriquez, Diana Hurlburt, Jesenia Nieves, Joarlyn Perez, Vasthi Perez, Carlos Ramos, Pedro Rodriguez, Esther Torres, Martha Yens, and Angie Zayas.

The Alcoa Foundation supports this program whose mission is to empower Latino leaders at home, at work, and in the community.

Washington, DC:  Recently, the Brooking Institution with support from the Rockefeller Foundation published a report entitled "State of Metropolitan America: On the Front Lines of Demographic Transformation" which documents new realities in demographics that  will change the nature of our social and economic fabric for years to come.  Click here to download the entire report (load your printers...it's a big one).

An Executive Summary outlines the highpoints of the study..."The 2000s were a tumultuous decade for Americans. The oscillating state of the economy, which careened from a mild recession to booming house prices and, finally, to the worst downturn since the Great Depression, complicates the task of summarizing what the decade meant for the future of American society. Nonetheless, the boom-bust economics of the 2000s did not repeal the structural forces that continue to transform our population.

This report shows that our nation now faces five "new realities" that are redefining who we are, where and with whom we live, and how we provide for our own welfare, as well as that of our families and communities. In each of these five areas, the nation reached critical milestones in the 2000s that make those underlying realities too large to ignore any longer.  Large metropolitan areas-the collections of cities, suburbs, and rural areas that house two-thirds of America's population-lay squarely on the front lines of those trends."