Throughout these few months working with the Fayette County Cultural Trust, my fellow interns and I have been working on much of the preliminary research on small business and entrepreneurship centers in other areas around the country that have applicable qualities to the entrepreneurship center being created in Downtown Connellsville. This research has been very enlightening on how universities can partner with local organizations such as the Fayette County Cultural Trust and local communities to foster positive small business growth in towns. My personal research has been focused on Small Business Development Centers, a sector of the United States Small Business Administration that provide training to small businesses through classes, workshops, and consultations. The University of Pittsburgh is a part of this initiative, and I am interested to see how this can possibly be expanded to the Connellsville entrepreneurship center. 

In addition to our role in preliminary research on entrepreneurship initiatives and centers, my fellow interns and I are also exploring other aspects of the center including physical needs of the center to allow for both virtual and in-person classes, the different resources business owners may need, and classes that local business owners would be interested in. I spoke with former Downtown Connellsville Liaison Sharon Joseph about community wants and needs, specifically about classes that the University can offer and how we can explore that partnership. Sharon had a breadth of knowledge about the interests of Connellsville business owners, and shared with me the classes community members and business owners are interested in. These include how to increase sales and customers, how to start and succeed in a small business, marketing, networking, business communication, and more. This information is especially important as the process of establishing what the University class content delivery will be begins. 

What surprised me most about this internship and the work I am doing is just how much and how many people go into creating a space such as the entrepreneurship center. This project requires the partnership and collaboration between numerous different people, entities, and more, and it is so fascinating seeing the creation of a collaboration of this magnitude. The next steps I have in this role with the Fayette County Cultural Trust is to finish my research and work more towards our final report, which will outline several of the topics and research examined over the course of these past few months. In addition, I will ensure that incoming students who work on this project have all of the information they need to continue on this work. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to work with the Fayette County Cultural Trust and I am excited for the future of this project!