The Miller team members renamed themselves SPICE (Southern Perry Incubation Center for Entrepreneurs) and have taken the opportunity MIRA gave them to blossom into a very active community development organization.
The SPICE team started with 30 members and disagreement instead of consensus. Several people who wanted to use the MIRA money to start a business of their own left when they learned that was not a possibility. What remained was a team of mainly adults with a few high school students.
The remaining team members grew stronger as they attended the MIRA workshops. They acquired more structure, learned how to create a plan of action, and put their asset mapping skills into action with a SPICE community survey to identify community needs and assets.
Partnerships
With the survey information, SPICE will work on their MIRA mission to provide Southern Perry County citizens the opportunity to obtain help in starting their own business with an incubation center. Using Sunday Creek Associates, Rural Action and ACEnet organizations as consultants, SPICE purchased three Gateway computers, phones, Internet service and general office supplies for its incubation center. The North Valley Bank became a partner of the MIRA team when during its transition from Corning to Zanesville, it donated its building and office equipment to SPICE.
Concerned with the lack of business and employment opportunities in Southern Perry County, SPICE has worked on six projects in 2002. They successfully leveraged $12,000 from the Governor's Office of Appalachia State Planning Department to conduct a county assessment survey to determine the area's assets and needs. In addition, with the assistance of the Small Business Development Center and ACEnet, SPICE is designing an entrepreneurship curriculum to assist entrepreneurs in starting their own business.
Leadership
SPICE has received several other grants and continues to collaborate with local agencies to complete their long-range goals of putting an incubator in each of the three small villages in Southern Perry County. Their collaborative and opportunistic leadership style opened up a world of outside resources that has turned this MIRA project into a wonderful success story.
