Cherokee County Economic Development Monthly Update

Youth Entrepreneur Fair Results and Details on the E-Community Loan Fund and Cherokee County Jobs Board

Monthly Update - March 2022

Cherokee County Youth Entrepreneur Fair Results

Cherokee County Economic Development and the Cherokee County E-Community hosted the

eighth annual Cherokee County Youth Entrepreneur Fair on Thursday, March 3rd at Galena

High School, Galena, KS. Seventeen (17) individuals and teams representing Columbus, Galena,

Riverton, and Southeast High Schools presented their business concepts with a written executive summary, a 4 minute presentation to judges, and a tabletop display.

The winning concepts were:

1st Prize ($1,500) - Larison Lawn Care - Derek Larison - Riverton High School

Derek is shown below with Mike Evans from Liberty Utilities and Donna Westervelt from Labette Bank. Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative, Labette Bank, and Liberty Utilities co-sponsored this year's first prize.

2nd Prize ($1,000) - Criminal Productions - Hayden Endicott - Riverton High School

3rd Prize ($750) - The Browniee - Teagan Warner & Bella Tavernaro - Southeast High School

4th Prize ($125) - Moyer-N-Sons Bucking Bulls - John Moyer - Columbus Unified High School

Excellence in Presentation & Tabletop Display ($75) - Stunning Treasure - Andrea Corbit - Galena High School

Excellence in Executive Summary ($50) - Forever Flowers - Preston Henderson & Kaci Kirby - Galena High School

Winning students received $3,500 in prize money courtesy of the following sponsors: 4-State

Printing; American Bank; ATEC Steel; CBW Bank, City of Columbus; Columbus Telephone

Company/Optic Communications; Commerce Bank; Craw-Kan Telephone Cooperative; D1

Resources, Inc.; Farmers Cooperative Association; GNBank; Heartland Rural Electric

Cooperative, Inc.; Kansas Crossing Casino; Labette Bank; Liberty Utilities; Mike Carpino Ford;

MOKAN Partnership and TAMKO Building Products.

The Cherokee County event is part of the 2021-2022 Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge (YEC)

Series thanks to support from NetWork Kansas & the E-Community Partnership, the Kansas

State University Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship, and the Kansas Masons. This means that participants have the opportunity to continue on to the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge on April 28th at Kansas State University. This event will include students from high schools and universities across the state.

“We had a terrific group of students participating in the Youth Entrepreneur Fair again this

year,” says Economic Development Director Janet Miller. “As always, our judges were

impressed with the quality of the ideas presented and the students’ professionalism.”

The event also included a presentation by Seth Hogue, Owner of Hogue’s Tropical Sno. Hogue

spoke with students about his entrepreneurial journey.

For additional photos of this year's event, please see our Facebook page.

E-Community Loan Fund Available to Local Businesses

Since 2015, Cherokee County's E-Community Loan Fund has offered gap financing in the form of low-interest loans to those wishing to start, purchase, or expand a for-profit business in the county. To date, six local businesses have received E-Community Loans totaling $216,900. And, two additional businesses have recently been approved for loans totaling $79,835 (watch for details on these businesses in future issues).

E-Community loan funds may be used for: purchasing a building, equipment, or land for a business; working capital; construction or renovation for a business; or other projects. The minimum loan request is $5,000 and the maximum loan is $45,000. Loans must be matched by funds from a bank and/or other lending program. E-Community funding may not exceed 60% of the total funding package.

The E-Community Loan Application is available here.

Jobs Board Available to Assist Employers & Job Seekers

The Cherokee County Jobs Board is an effort to help local employers fill job openings and job seekers find local job opportunities. We invite you to refer job seekers to the site and to utilize it to promote openings in your organization.

Businesses and organizations may post Cherokee County job openings to the jobs board at any time for no cost. To do so, select "Post a Job" from the Jobs dropdown along the top of the page (Please note that you'll only be able to save a draft which we must approve.) or email your listing to jm@cherokeecountykansas.com and we will add it for you.

Economic Development Corporation members receive a number of featured job listings at no cost based on their membership level. Featured listings are displayed in yellow at the top of the jobs board and will receive additional promotion on our social media.

Contact Janet at 620-762-0717 with questions or for more information.