The Greater Des Moines Partnership, Iowa, has announced that they will adopt the U.S.SourceLink® model to bring together the fragmented resources that support small business and entrepreneurship in Des Moines.
U.S.SourceLink is America’s largest resource network for entrepreneurs, encompassing more than 4,000 entrepreneurial support organizations that serve established businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs. The mission of U.S.SourceLink is to match aspiring and existing entrepreneurs to the resources they need to grow by uniting existing business development programs into collaborative networks, providing a highly reliable and visible source of business startup and growth information.
To date, U.S.SourceLink has helped build about 20 of these collaborative economic development support networks across the country, and that number continues to grow.
U.S.SourceLink affiliates strengthen their entrepreneurial ecosystems by partnering with resource providers to:
- Raise community awareness to bring more entrepreneurs and increase entrepreneurial activity
- Identify gaps in services and promote entrepreneurial growth by initiating innovative programs and strategic alliances
- Create a continuously improving process for providing quality services
- Find new ways to increase funding for resource provider programs
- Measure economic impact
Making the system work required the development of products, services and organizational infrastructure needed to facilitate the linking of resource partners to one another and to the small and emerging business owner. In addition, U.S.SourceLink provides extensive consulting to help map assets, build collaborations and encourage participation. An annual conference and regular webinars augment the one-on-one consulting and allow affiliates to exchange best practices in economic development.
The Des Moines project is scheduled to launch in 2012. To learn more about U.S.SourceLink, visit our website at www.ussourcelink.com.
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About U.S.SourceLink
U.S.SourceLink is America’s largest resource network for entrepreneurs. The mission of U.S.SourceLink is to match aspiring and existing entrepreneurs to the resources they need to grow by uniting existing business development programs into collaborative networks, providing a highly reliable and visible source of business startup and growth information. There are about 20 of these networks across the country and that number continues to grow. U.S.SourceLink founders include the Kauffman Foundation, University of Missouri-Kansas City and the Small Business Administration.