HW-SC Syracuse and Syracuse University's Whitman
School of Management Collaborate to Create Youth
Entrepreneurship Training Program
--Program Exposes Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection Students to New Business Opportunities-SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The entrepreneurship program at Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of
Management is partnering with Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection (HW-SC) to host the first-ever
Hillside Hatchery training program, a week-long session designed to train Syracuse City School District
youth enrolled in HW-SC in the foundations of entrepreneurship, business creation, and ownership. The
training program will be followed by year-round support through the Falcone Center for
Entrepreneurship, with access to mentors and experts in entrepreneurship.
Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection is a nationally recognized youth-development program that for
nearly three decades has helped at-risk students stay in school and successfully graduate while
providing invaluable part-time work experience and job skills to help prepare them for life after
graduation. Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection connects students to a full-time school-based Hillside
youth advocate, employment training, college preparation support and tutoring services, while helping
youth stay engaged in the classroom earning their high school diplomas.
Hillside Hatchery students will participate in over 25 hours of classes as well as one-on-one business
counseling meetings aimed at the development of a business from idea to startup. Participants will visit
various local entrepreneurial incubators and workspaces as part of the program and learn about the
process of entrepreneurship discovery and implementation from Whitman student entrepreneurs. The
week is concluded with student presentations and business idea pitches. This program aims to educate
HW-SC school students about entrepreneurship and to explore new business ideas.
“We are excited to partner with Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection to deliver an entrepreneurship
training program for Syracuse City high school students,” says Terry Brown, executive director of the
Falcone Center. “The Hillside Hatchery will engage students in entrepreneurship learning by teaching
them business basics, giving them the confidence to follow their passions, and the inspiration that they
can one day own and run a business.”
“Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection focuses on exposing our youth to new opportunities that will
encourage them to be successful in life and we are thrilled that the entrepreneurship program at the
Martin J. Whitman School of Management is collaborating with us,” said Wayne O’Connor, regional
executive director of Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection. “This new program is a wonderful
opportunity to teach our young adults about entrepreneurship, arming them with business skills while
helping to boost their confidence. We always look for ways to teach youth to be successful at school, at
home and in the workplace and this partnership truly aligns with our core beliefs.”
As part of the program, students will visit the South Side Innovation Center (a business incubator that
provides resources and support for entrepreneurs in underserved areas); Whitman School of
Management at Syracuse University; and The Tech Garden (the premier entrepreneurial ecosystem
providing comprehensive support for turning great ideas into high-growth businesses). These outreach
centers help to enable entrepreneurs to successfully advance their businesses to the next stage of
profitability and success.
About Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection
Founded in 1987, Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection is an affiliate of Hillside Family of Agencies, one
of the oldest and largest family and youth non-profit human services organization in New York State.
This nationally recognized program addresses the chronically low graduation rates and job readiness of
high school youth, and annually serves nearly 1,000 youth at risk of failing to graduate from high school
in Syracuse. The program connects students to a full-time school-based youth advocate, employment
training, college preparation support and tutoring services, while helping youth stay engaged in the
classroom earning their high school diplomas. In the 2013-14 school year, 96 percent of Hillside WorkScholarship Connection’s youth that had gone through its Youth Employment Training Academy and
were employed by one HW-SC’s Employment Partners graduated on time. For more information, visit
www.hillside.com.
About the Entrepreneurship Program at Martin J. Whitman School of Management
The Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship is the outreach arm of the Department of Entrepreneurship
and Emerging Enterprises in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. Its
mission is to facilitate entrepreneurial activity on campus, in the local and regional community, and
beyond. The South Side Innovation Center is a 13,000-square-foot business incubator that fosters the
creation of new ventures and helps to make existing ones sustainable. The Falcone Center offers a
portfolio of innovative programs and initiatives organized into two areas: student and campus-focused
initiatives, and community entrepreneurship programs.