N.Y. Economic Development Law § 212 – Entrepreneurship support centers

1. The department shall establish and support, within available appropriations, entrepreneurship support centers at career education agencies and not-for-profit corporations including, but not limited to, local development corporations, chambers of commerce and community-based organizations. The purpose of such support centers shall be to train dislocated workers, individuals with a disability, minorities, women, and veterans in the principles and practice of entrepreneurship in order to prepare such persons to pursue self-employment opportunities. Such support centers shall provide for training in all aspects of business development and small business management as defined by the commissioner. For purposes of this section, "career education agency" shall mean a community college or board of cooperative educational services operating within the state.
2. In furtherance of the purposes of this section, the commissioner shall:
1. (a) require that each support center program provide at least sixty hours of classroom instruction and at least thirty hours of one-to-one counseling for each participant and that each program be supplemented by ongoing technical assistance for business development for those who have completed the program;
2. (b) select and designate career education agencies and not-for-profit corporations to offer entrepreneurship training and support on a competitive basis and in response to a request for proposals issued by the commissioner. Such proposals shall include, but shall not be limited to:
  1. (i) a description of the training program to be offered;
  2. (ii) a listing of instructors from the career education agencies and not-for-profit corporations and from the community participating in the program and their curricula vitae;
  3. (iii) designation of a program director;
  4. (iv) plans for providing ongoing technical assistance to program graduates, including linkages with providers of other entrepreneurial assistance programs and with providers of small business technical assistance and services;
  5. (v) a program budget, including matching funds, in-kind and otherwise, to be provided by the applicant; and
  6. (vi) such other requirements as deemed necessary by the commissioner; and
3. (c) permit joint application from a consortium of career education agencies and not-for-profit corporations, or any combination thereof, for establishing a cooperative program.
3. The commissioner is authorized to make grants to career education agencies and not-for-profit corporations, or any combination thereof, for the purpose of establishing entrepreneurship support centers and programs subject to the following limitations: (a) no grant shall be made to any one or any consortium of career education agencies and not-for-profit corporations in excess of fifty thousand dollars;
(b) such grant shall be disbursed for payment of the cost of services and expenses of the program director, the instructors of the participating career education agency or not-for-profit corporation, the faculty and support personnel thereof and any other person in the service of providing instruction and counseling in furtherance of the program; and
(c) training programs of entrepreneurship support centers proposed and approved for funding shall be required to meet the standards of instructional quality established in regulations by the commissioner of education. These standards shall include, but not be limited to, qualification of the administrative and instructional personnel, quality of the curricula, quality of facilities and equipment, record keeping, admission, attendance, and record of placement of completers which meets standards of acceptability as established by the commissioner of education in conjunction with the commissioner of labor.
4. Application for grants made pursuant to the provisions of subdivision three of this section shall be made in the manner and on forms prescribed by the commissioner.