WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Entrepreneurs have about two weeks to apply for a grant program that looks to support sustainable, woodland-related businesses.
Lever Inc. in North Adams is hosting the Mohawk Trail Entrepreneur Challenge, which offers a prize of $25,000 to the winner and guidance in developing a business plan to all who apply.
It is the latest in a series of challenges organized by Lever, which has helped launch 46 new companies in the Berkshire regions since its inception in 2014.
This time around, Lever is partnering with the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership, a collaboration of 16 municipalities in Franklin and Berkshire County's Mohawk Trail (Route 2) corridor whose core mission includes "natural resource-based economic development."
Lever's workforce programs manager Jade Schnauber told the Williamstown Select Board recently that unlike past challenges, this one will be completely virtual, with training sessions and judging held remotely.
She also said the organizers have five applicants but are hoping for at least twice that many.
"We're looking for entrepreneurs who meet three criteria," Schnauber said. "First, they're able to create jobs in one of the Mohawk Trail Woodlands Partnership communities. Second, that they have a business or idea that relates to woodland natural resources in some way. … Third, we're looking for start-ups only -- companies that are less than two years old or have less than $500,000 in revenue."
Some examples of the kinds of businesses Lever has in mind for the challenge are Charlemont's Zoar Outdoor, which offers whitewater rafting, zipline canopy tours and kayaking, or Tennessee's Mullican Flooring, which makes flooring from fallen trees, Schnauber said.
At a meeting of the MTWP Board of Directors earlier this month, Lever Executive Director Jeffrey Thomas, a member of the partnership board, told his colleagues that the first five applications in the door were in the ecotourism field, but the challenge is open to all sorts of initiatives that utilize forest resources in a sustainable manner.
"We will work with the entrepreneurs and get them ready for the pitch competition," Thomas said.
Priority will be given to business ideas that have a high potential to create jobs and that can attract funding from other sources.
An application for the Mohawk Trail Entrepreneur Challenge can be found here.
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Williams Grad Rows for Gold on Sunday Morning in Paris
U.S. Rowing
PARIS -- Williams College graduate Ben Washburne and the U.S. Paralympic PR3 Mixed Four with Coxswain will row for a gold medal on Sunday at 4:50 a.m. at Vaires-sur-Marne Stadium.
The Americans won their heat on Friday to advance to the gold medal race.
Racing in the second of two heats, the crew of coxswain Emelie Eldracher (Andover, Mass./Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Ben Washburne (Madison, Conn.), Alex Flynn (Wilmington, Mass./Tufts University), Gemma Wollenschlaeger (St. Augustine Beach, Fla./Temple University), and Skylar Dahl (Minneapolis, Minn./University of Virginia) took control during the second 500 meters, walking away from the field to win the race by nearly five seconds at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.
“It feels pretty exciting,” Dahl said of the heat victory. “It feels like what we wanted to do. We accomplished our goal in the first step of this regatta. Overall, we’re feeling pretty good about it. We have a lot of fun together. We get along really well because we’re all so young. We’re actually friends, too, not just teammates, and I think that makes a big difference. I think that translates onto the water a lot of the time.”
With the top two boats advancing to the final, Australia took an early lead and held a half-second advantage at the 500-meter mark. That’s when the American crew made its move, turning a half-canvas deficit into a length lead at the midway point of the race. The U.S. continued to power away from the rest of the crews, taking more than a boat-length of open water with 500 meters to go. At the line, the American boat clocked a 6:57.18, with France overtaking Australia to claim the other spot in the final. France finished with a time of 7:02.13.
"We didn’t really know what anybody was going to do. We just focused on our race,” Washburne said about Australia’s start. “We had a plan, and I think we stuck to it. They went for it in the beginning. I’m just happy we could execute our plan.”
“I think the call is just, as a boat, we’re unified and ready to go,” said Eldracher about their move in the second 500 meters. “This is a boat that has a unified purpose, and so whether it’s me saying it or not, this boat will go together, and they’ll make that happen every stroke down the course.”
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