SOURCE River West hosts an open house and pitch contest featuring their first 7 business trainees.

(Indianapolis, IN – December 12, 2016) The Near Westside of Indianapolis will welcome, SOURCE River West, a new hub for entrepreneurs, to the neighborhood on Wednesday, December 14th.  Seven current and aspiring business owners will share their business ideas with hopes of earning a $2,000 pitch award, sponsored by the IU Kelley School of Business Indianapolis, to support their business goals.

The contest featuring pitches from new restaurant, arts, wine education, elementary education businesses and niche retail like home décor and furnishings and online clothing boutique, are the culminating activity of an 8-week course on entrepreneurship.  These entrepreneurial ventures are representative of the future business environment on the West Michigan Street corridor as part of the River West Great Place. 

Source River West is a catalyst project of the River West Great Place initiative. Its goal is to create an environment where all entrepreneurs are welcome and contribute to an equitable and thriving neighborhood business sector by fostering place-based entrepreneurship through coaching, education, training, and resources to support aspiring and existing entrepreneurs.

While, IUPUI serves as a founding partner and fiscal agent for the launch of this work, the intent is for this project to stand on its own in the River West area. SOURCE River West has partnered with the local Westside Community Development Corporation with support from LISC Indianapolis to rehab a space that will serve as a physical hub to serve aspiring and existing businesses in the area.  Through partnership with the Indy Chamber’s Business Ownership Initiative (BOI) foundational business courses and coaching will be offered on-site.  With support from JP Morgan Chase, IUPUI received funding to hire a director who will develop additional programming and resources for the businesses.  The SOURCE River West Director will be named in January 2017.

The next Entrepreneurial Small business course will begin in Spring 2017.

Wednesday’s open house is from 4 – 6 PM at the new location 2228 West Michigan Street, Indianapolis, IN 46222.

For more information on SOURCE River West, visit www.sourceindy.org or contact Starla Hart at 317-278-3475 or officers@iupui.edu.