ANNOUNCEMENT

RACINE – Lakeside Curative Services usually helps people with disabilities and other highly unemployable clients. But the organization also believes it can also help the entrepreneurs and inventors who could form the area's next companies. With a $1,000 grant from Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network, Lakeside will launch the new Tri-County Inventors and Entrepreneurs. The new chapter is for people in Racine, Kenosha and Walworth counties. It may sound like an odd fit, but Lakeside's Jo Ann Rodriguez thinks that entrepreneurs and Lakeside can really help each other.

The Entrepreneurs Network's mission is to create seamless access to entrepreneurial resources and expertise to spawn new ventures and help existing businesses grow. One aspect of the new group will be access to advisers and resources. Lakeside is working with Carthage College, University of Wisconsin- Parkside, Racine County Economic Development Corp., Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce, Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation and Small Business Development Center.

Club members will also be able to share advice and information. "It's been proven successful for these types of people to meet," said Rodriguez, Lakeside's marketing and sales manager. People who have an idea to bring to market can tap in to what Lakeside has to offer. Business start-ups can often subcontract for the actual production – and avoid having to construct a building, invest in equipment or hire a staff.

"I kept thinking, how can we meet these people when they have the idea and they're incubating it?" Rodriguez said. Lakeside employs people with disabilities that can be physical or cognitive, mental illness or drug/alcohol dependence - as well as people who simply lack employability. By taking in contract work, clients learn job skills, and employers get work done.

"We believe we have a lot to offer," Rodriguez said. Lakeside can provide assembly, packaging and warehousing, and fill orders. It has lots of building space, people and supervisors, for example. That would leave the company founder free to go out and get sales Rodriguez noted that Lakeside must bring in work to create a training environment that fulfills its mission. "We want to change our model from a social service model to an entrepreneurial model, so the community sees us as an asset," she said. "We want companies who see us as a subcontractor. We can provide services and do it well," while providing "a rich social service function."

Rodriguez continued, "We want to bring in more business and really thrive, rather than just having enough to do our programming." There will be no obligation by any club member to use Lakeside, she said, although she believes they may choose to. "That model makes so much sense," she said. "It would be a great partnership."

Lakeside Curative Services, Racine, plans to host the inaugural meeting of Tri-County Inventors and Entrepreneurs. The speaker will be Ivan Davis, business developer from Jefferson County, to discuss the successess of the I and E chapter there as it provided support for entrepreneurs and businesses in all industries and stages of development. Davis founded Output Generation, a consulting group that concentrates on building stronger communities by investing in people and their ideas. He offers business start-up assistance.

For more information or to reserve a seat contact Jo Ann Rodriguez at (262) 598-0098 or e-mail rodriguezj@lakesidecurative.com Find more information about the Lakeside Curative, visit their website: http://www.lakesidecurative.com/

| Back to Top | Back to Newsroom |