PNC Bank has provided a boost to New Jersey’s efforts to foster the growth of small businesses by making a $50,000 contribution to the Entrepreneurial Training Institute (ETI).
The ETI program is an eight-week course offered twice each year by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and the New Jersey Development Authority for Small Businesses, Minorities’ and Women’s Enterprises, whose programs are managed by the EDA. The program offers practical information and guidance that is designed to help attendees develop a strategic, organized, step-by-step development plan for their own business or not-for-profit entity.
According to a press release from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, part of the funds will be used to support Hispanic outreach efforts to identify and assist Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs being carried out in conjunction with the UCEDC, a Union County-based economic development agency serving Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset and Union counties. The rest will support postgraduate mentoring services being provided to not-for-profit organizations through the Seton Hall University Institute on Work by the National Executive Service Corps.
The ETI program began in 1992, with 136 individuals successfully completing the fall 2003 and spring 2004 sessions. Spring 2005 classes will begin in February and March in Jersey City, Lakewood, Mount Laurel, Newark, Pleasantville, Somerville, Trenton, Union, West Paterson and Woodstown. For information about the program, visit the EDA’s Web site at www.njeda.com or call the ETI at (609) 292-9279.
Wegmans Food Markets, with a location in Manalapan, announced that it has donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross International Response Fund for tsunami relief. The family-owned food chain, which is based in Rochester, N.Y., also implemented a program in its stores for customers to contribute to the fund.
The Institute of Management Accountants will meet at Tommy’s Inn, Route 537, Millstone, Feb. 9 for an update on Excel skills. Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by the guest speaker. The group’s March 9 meeting will discuss hand-held computer technology. For more information, call Peggy or Joe, (732) 683-2382.
Monmouth Legal Secretaries Association will hold its next monthly meeting Feb. 3 at the Holiday Inn, Hope Road, Tinton Falls. All are welcome to attend. The guest speaker will be state Superior Court Judge Lawrence M. Lawson. For details, call Rachel, (732) 578-1880.