The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) is a non-profit organization founded in 2002 to serve the mission of accelerating entrepreneurship at community and technical colleges in the United States. The organization serves two audiences: 1) community college administrators who are manage entrepreneurship education programs and entrepreneurship centers and 2) faculty members who teach entrepreneurship. NACCE's vision is creating economic vitality through entrepreneurship; members believe community colleges are in an ideal position to accomplish this based on their accessibility and local ties to their communities. NACCE helps community colleges nationwide link their traditional role of workforce development with entrepreneurial development. Through annual conference, symposiums, a web site, an e-newsletter, webinars, a quarterly journal, member blogs, podcasts, a listserv and other services, NACCE helps is members share information about entrepreneurship education.
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The field of entrepreneurship education first emerged in the 1970s, with the first courses at community colleges starting in the early ‘70s. According to a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2007 survey of the 1,193 community colleges in the U.S., 66% offer a least one course in Entrepreneurship, 14% offer an associate degree in Entrepreneurship, 19% offer a certificate in Entrepreneurship, 55% offer Entrepreneurship as continuing education, 26% offer a program in Entrepreneurship, and 20% host a small business development center. Entrepreneurship education programs at community colleges have two target markets: students enrolled in credit and noncredit classes, and potential or existing small business owners.
In 2001, Springfield Technical Community College and the Entrepreneurial Institute at the Springfield Enterprise Center at STCC in Massachusetts began to research and investigate entrepreneurship education practices at community colleges across the country. At that time, only about 10% of 1,200-plus community colleges had any type of entrepreneurship education as part of their curriculum.
At the same time, both the American Association for Community Colleges (AACC) and the National Commission on Entrepreneurship recognized that community colleges were ideally positioned to be catalysts for fostering economic vitality through entrepreneurship education at the community college level.
In response to these findings, NACCE was created to establish entrepreneurship education as a core offering to foster economic development through community colleges. An inaugural conference was set in motion with a $100,000 grant from S. Prestley Blake, the co-founder of Friendly Ice Cream Corporation. NACCE went on to receive a $50,000 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City and a $20,000 grant from the Coleman Foundation in Chicago.
In 2003, NACCE held its Inaugural Conference in Springfield, Massachusetts, with 150 attendees. Annual conferences have been held every year since, with attendance now averaging around 400 - 500 attendees.
NACCE now has over 300 community colleges as members and over 2000 active participants.
In the fall of 2011, NACCE launched the Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge (PFEP), which encourages all community college presidents to endorse five commitments that will ensure that community colleges are involved in the national discuss about how to increase entrepreneurship which is being led by the Obama White House through its launch of Startup America. Through the PFEP, community college presidents commit to 1) Develop transparency of community college and community assets; 2) Create internal and external teams dedicated to entrepreneurship; 3) Increase entrepreneurs' engagement in community college; 4) Engage in industry cluster development; and 5) Create buzz and broad exposure for their college's commitment to entrepreneurship.
In 2015, a quantitative research study that included responses from over 900 individuals, validated the effectiveness of the PFEP pledge with statistically significant relationships for the first four out of five commitments. Efforts are underway to increase and to expand the participation of community colleges with the PFEP beginning in 2015.
Major Milestones
• Began accepting members.
• 2007 – Held first Elevator Pitch competition at 4th Annual Conference, providing $73,500 to 15 community colleges with funding provided by the Coleman Foundation and the John E. and Jeanne T. Hughes Foundation.
• 2007 – Introduced three awards at 4th Annual Conference: Entrepreneur of the Year Award, sponsored by E-Myth Worldwide; Entrepreneurship Faculty of the Year Award, sponsored by USA Today; and Student Essay Contest, co-sponsored by The New York Times & NACCE
• 2007 – Held first annual Summer Symposium for Community College Entrepreneurship Educators (S-CCEE).
• 2007 – Launched 28-page quarterly journal called Community College Entrepreneurship.
• 2008 – Achieved nonprofit status.
• 2008 – Second round of Elevator Grant program at 5th Annual Conference provided $108,100 to 19 colleges with funding provided by the Coleman Foundation and the John E. and Jeanne T. Hughes Foundation.
• 2009 – Third round of Elevator Grant program at 6th Annual Conference provided $85,700 to 13 colleges with funding provided by the Coleman Foundation and the John E. and Jeanne T. Hughes Foundation. The fourth round of Elevator Grants, presented at the 7th Annual Conference, totaled $70,000, which was donated by the Coleman Foundation.
• Jan. 2009 – Over 300 community college professionals attended the 6th NACCE Conference in Anaheim, CA.
• Oct. 2009 – Over 400 community college professionals attended the 7th NACCE Conference in Chicago, IL. At this conference, NACCE presented the first Lifetime Achievement in Entrepreneurship Award was presented to John Pappajohn; Pappajohn is the driving force behind the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center at his alma mater, North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, IA, as well as four other entrepreneurship centers at other schools around the state. Also, at this conference, the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center received the NACCE Innovation Award, which was created with and sponsored by Accelper Consulting. The award recognizes entrepreneurial centers and their positive impact on the communities they serve.
• Oct. 2010 - NACCE's 8th Annual Conference drew over 400 community college professionals to Orlando, FL. The conference theme was "Entrepreneurship: The Community College Role in Economic Vitality." Over 50 sessions on topics related to how community colleges can make an impact on their community's economy were presented. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to B.W. (Bernie) Simpkins, of Cocoa, FL, who founded B.W. Simpkins Oil Co. and built it from a four-person start-up into a $150 million business that transformed from an oil delivery firm into a convenience store empire. In addition nine community college professionals were honored with Recognition Awards for their work in entrepreneurship education.
• Oct. 2011 - Over 400 professionals attended NACCE's 9th Annual Conference in Portland, OR. The conference theme was "The Impact of Entrepreneurship." Keynote speakers such as entrepreneur Gary Schoeniger and Pulitzer Prize nominee Clifton Talbert talked about the power of entrepreneurship to change people's lives. In the Coleman Foundation Elevator Grant Competition, 11 community colleges from all parts of the country received $67,500 in grants with an opportunity to earn $25,000 more upon completion of their grant-funded programs, which will focus on encouraging ties between the colleges' entrepreneurship programs and entrepreneurs in their community.
• Jan. 2015 - NACCE welcomed its second President & CEO Rebecca A. Corbin, Ed.D. who formerly served for six years as the Vice President of Institutional Advancement/Executive Director of the Burlington County College (BCC). The NACCE Board, chaired by Dr. Edwin Massey, President of Indian River College in Florida embarked on a strategy to increase membership and to provide needed resources to 1,200 community colleges throughout the United States that are faced with funding, graduation completion, and other opportunities and challenges.
• Aug. 2015 - NACCE was invited to the White House to be a part of the first Demo Day in celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship. Several invitations from the White House were accepted in 2015 and 2016 as part of Women's History Month and the Tech Hire Initiative, of which NACCE is a proud partner.
• April 2016 - NACCE held an Presidential Entrepreneurial Summit in Chicago, IL in which over 90 senior leaders from colleges throughout the United States and Canada participated in a World Cafe dialog that include TED-style talks designed to increase the awareness of entrepreneurship as a strategy for community college presidents. NACCE also recruited its 14th Board member and first international Board member (and 12th community college president) Cheryl Jensen, President of Algonquin Community College in Canada. The AACC and ACCT continue to hold a seat on the NACCE Board that is filled with a senior executive from those respective organizations.
• May 2016 - NACCE expanded the course offerings to provide training and resources to members by holding its first successful Incubator Boot Camp on the campus of Maricopa Corporate College in Phoenix, AZ.
Information Exchange/Networking
Networking with like-minded individuals continues in 2016 to rank at the top of the list of services sought by NACCE members. Much of this networking occurs at conferences, summits, and symposiums. The recent expansion of the NACCE Institute offers members more in-depth exposure to entrepreneurship best practices and the opportunity to engage in a community of practice. In addition, NACCE serves as a dissemination tool for innovative practices developed by members, creating an atmosphere of sharing and enhancement of programs that aims to ultimately result in entrepreneurship education and student business incubation at all community colleges. NACCE publishes the Community College Entrepreneurship journal quarterly. The journal includes case studies, research, and grant opportunities for member colleges. Through partnerships with member colleges and vetted organizations, NACCE also provides curriculum and other tools that can be used in the classroom and in communities to facilitate entrepreneurial projects and progress.
Annual Conference
The 2017 NACCE Conference that will be held on October 8 - 11 in Tampa, Florida. The annual conference provides the opportunity for community college professionals to gather together to identify opportunities and create positive organizational and community change through entrepreneurship.
Partnerships
By 2016, NACCE expanded its partnerships to include a formal MOU with the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative (ELI) as well as partnerships with the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to promote the efforts of community colleges in a three-state region serving eleven community colleges. NACCE has also partnered with IU CIBER to promote their goal of increasing the country's capacity for international understanding and trade competitiveness. Likewise, its partnership with NISOD to amplify their mission of promoting and celebrating excellence in teaching, learning, and leadership at community and technical colleges was formalized with an MOU. Similarly, NACCE expanded its collaboration with the United States Association for Small Business Entrepreneurship (USASBE) to promote entrepreneurship education and research between community colleges and universities.
NACCE has continued to partner in 2016 with the Direct Selling Education Foundation (DSEF) with the addition of formal participation with a Fellows program that provides information and research about the direct selling industry as a viable entrepreneurial path.
NACCE is proud to have a growing circle of corporate partners including the HP Life Foundation, Intuit, and many others that offer resources and support to NACCE members. Likewise, NACCE is proud to have a growing circle of Foundation partners including the Burton D. Morgan Foundation and others that support scholarships and on-going work in the area of professional development for NACCE members.
NACCE has worked internationally to advance entrepreneurship education through partnerships with HP Life, the Belfast Institute for Further and Higher Education|Belfast Institute, Northern Ireland and the Niels Brock's Business College, Denmark as well as the International Denmark Entrepreneurship Alliance in Denmark.