Looking Back
SourceLink director, Rob Williams summarized exciting events from 2022 at our final SourceLink Affiliate Quarterly Conversation of the year.
We welcomed Dana Masters, Business Development Communications Specialist at SourceLink! Dana will be working with Dara to develop outreach communications with our affiliates, social media and marketing activities as well as business development.
Additions to the SourceLink website include the SourceLink Network Strength Scorecard, a 7-page assessment of your ecosystem. Please send us your feedback after taking the assessment! Success Stories on the website are case studies showing what our affiliates have done to build entrepreneurial infrastructures in their communities.
Several technology updates and enhancements have been implemented in 2022. Enhanced Help Documentation for all platforms have been added to the WordPress platform. Automated surveys, duplicate dashboard report and new merging features have been added to SourceLink℠ Pro.
Big news from the SourceLink Affiliate Network
Welcome Mark Burdette, program manager at West Virginia BusinessLink.
ChiBizHub (Chicago) rebranded their website in April with improved vision, focus and metrics.
Colmena66 (Puerto Rico) hosted their annual Boricua Emprende Fest in December hosting more than 1200 attendees.
Evergreen BizLink (Washington state) launched this year primarily for microenterprise entrepreneurs and business owners.
Congrats to IASourceLink with 33k business starts last year and we celebrate their 10-year birthday as a SourceLink affiliate.
KCSourceLink (Kansas City) held their annual Global Entrepreneurship Week activities with 130 hosts, 150+ events and 3,000 attendees.
Launch Network (North Louisiana)/ Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program (EAP) Executive Director Dave Smith co-launched a podcast this fall, On the Cusp and EAP celebrates 8 years of service.
SourceLink Nebraska celebrated their first full year, documenting 127 personal action plans sent to entrepreneurs and business owners and 1,146 referrals to Resource Partners.
Sparkyard / University of North Texas Health Science Center participated in the Fort Worth State of Entrepreneurship flagship event at GEW and produced jobs, impact and funding reports.
SBA Community Navigator Pilot Program includes five SourceLink affiliates involved in the initiative. Indirectly, all affiliates are involved since we’ve learned more about the hub and spoke model and added features to SourceLink Pro.
To keep up to date with SourceLink and our affiliate network, Rob reminded our affiliates to subscribe to the SourceLink monthly newsletter!
Reflecting on 2022 and looking forward
Small group discussions were held to reflect on 2022 and look forward to 2023. We asked each affiliate member to describe their most successful event or project in 2022, what they are excited about in 2023 and what the SourceLink team and the SourceLink network can do to support their work in 2023.
BizLink Orange (Orlando, FL) celebrated their 1-year anniversary! The mayor was present at their celebration and resource partners were able to connect and meet. The BizLink Orange team is excited to keep expanding into other counties. They would love to know what others do for marketing and social media. They would also love more ways to connect with other affiliates and share ideas.
Fairfax County (VA) just joined the SourceLink network and is in the early stage of implementation, but they have been having open dialogues with folks to find out the entrepreneurial communities needs and pain points.
IASourceLink had their Link Week, introducing themselves to other organizations. They hope to open it to the public next year.
KCSourceLink celebrated a successful GEWKC as well as the Connecting EShip event in August. They are gearing up for their 20th anniversary next year along with SourceLink and are excited for increased capacity and expanding their entrepreneurial tools.
Launch Network (North Louisiana) learned that entrepreneurs in North Louisiana enjoy online events so they added workshops that teach topics such as financial modeling, how to start a food business, how to raise capital. In addition, they created virtual worksheets that can be downloaded.
MicroEnterprise Collaborative of Inland Southern California is hoping to get to a point where they have multiple revenue streams for sustainability and to increase capacity. They want to continue to grow and expand their services as they serve the largest county (by area) in the United States.
MOSourceLink was granted the USDA Rise grant, allowing them to expand their services to more rural areas in Missouri.
Technology Venture Studio (University of Missouri-Kansas City) was happy to be back in person with their first Mix and Mingle event, despite a few setbacks. With over 80 in attendance, there was a lot of networking.
Ideas and activities for 2023
Feedback from our small group discussions included forward thinking ideas and activities such as:
Working together with partners can do something greater than what individual organizations can do on their own.
Incorporating more intentional conversations to better serve entrepreneurs in rural and diverse communities
Tracking activities after referrals are made and sharing best practices among the networks will provide additional data and information to all stakeholders.
Creating more intentional interactions between affiliates throughout the year outside of scheduled Quarterly Conversations.
Many affiliates look forward to growing awareness of their platforms, getting the word out to entrepreneurs, strengthening relationships with resource partners and building out the network as well as adding more personal connections with community and region.
Meet in San Juan, Puerto Rico for the SourceLink Summit April 24-26!
Our SourceLink Summit will take place April 24-26 in San Juan, Puerto Rico where we will join our colleagues at Colmena66 for two and a half days of interactive workshops and thought-provoking discussions to inspire and educate attendees with best practices in entrepreneurship community building. There will be peer mentoring sessions and lots of networking!
Internationally known experts in entrepreneurship will headline the summit including Nathan Ohle, President and CEO of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC); Andy Stoll, Senior Program Officer at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; and Maria Meyers, Executive Director of the University of Missouri-Kansas City Innovation Center and Founder of KCSourceLink, MOSourceLink, and SourceLink.
Plus, we will be providing basic and advanced education opportunities on SourceLink technologies, including SourceLink℠ Pro CRM, The Resource Navigator® interactive database, and SiteConnex™ website solution.
If you are not a SourceLink affiliate, but are interested in attending the SourceLink Summit, please contact Dara Macan, Director of Global Partnerships and Engagement.
SourceLink Affiliate Conversations
SourceLink Affiliate Quarterly Conversations are an exclusive benefit for SourceLink affiliates. Agendas include topics, speakers and discussions suggested by our community of network builders and is an opportunity to share best practices and collaborate with one another. For more information about becoming a SourceLink affiliate and joining our conversations contact Dara Macan, Director of Global Partnerships and Engagement.
