New Hub for Economic Development in the Upper Ninth Ward Entergy Innovation Center Now Open to the Community

The Idea Village

For Immediate Release
(New Orleans) July 22nd, 2009 - Today, The Idea Village hosted a Grand Opening Celebration for Upper Ninth Ward business owners, musicians and residents to celebrate the launch of The Entergy Innovation Center (EIC) at 3232 North Galvez Street.  The business incubator offers affordable office, retail and community meeting spaces and technology access which, combined with targeted outreach and programming, aims to foster self-sustaining economic development in the neighborhood. 

A performance of the national anthem by the Victory Youth Training Academy kicked off announcements by local officials and recognition of key project contributors.  The community celebration featured catering by Ninth Ward businesses, Poppa’s Seafood and Stewart’s Diner, as well as snowballs shaved by participants in the Louisiana Teen Challenge.  Tours of the newly renovated facility and activities that facilitated neighborhood input on future programs and business services followed the ribbon cutting ceremony.

 “The Entergy Innovation Center represents a neighborhood affiliate in a network of spaces that will develop a more vibrant, entrepreneurial New Orleans,” explains The Idea Village Board Chairman, Mark Romig.  “This model of clustering business activity has the potential for national and worldwide replication in other communities seeking economic recovery and growth.”

Inaugural retail entrepreneurs at the Center include Connie Jacobs of Unlimited Communications and Darryl Porter of Lollipop Boutique.  They are joined by a full time business manager, Jo Ann Minor, who will engage the community, provide business consulting services to area entrepreneurs and connect the Entergy Innovation Center with similar hubs across the City through The Idea Village’s main office located downtown in The I.P.

To date, The Idea Village has raised over $700,000 towards the research, development, construction, technology equipment, business support services and operations of the Center.  Seed support from Regions Bank was followed by a lead gift from the Entergy Corporation and generous contributions by Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation, MercyCorps, Target Markets Program Administrators Association, Citi Foundation, Ms. Foundation, as well as several New Orleans foundations.  Strategic partners, New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, Tulane City Center CCWIV Architecture LLC and Bunny Friend Neighborhood Association were also instrumental in its development.

Scott Howard, President of Regions Bank remarks, “Decades of disinvestment in low-income communities were amplified by Hurricane Katrina’s destruction.  In Katrina’s aftermath, Regions recognized that residential and business recovery are interdependent and a sustainable New Orleans is based on solutions, such as the Entergy Innovation Center, that stimulate simultaneous reinvestment by home and business owners.”

Habitat for Humanity Executive Director, Jim Pate, adds, “The New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity was thrilled to oversee the renovation of the Center which builds on our ongoing investment in this community, illustrated by our work in the Musician’s Village and other Upper Ninth Ward projects.  This holistic approach of addressing business and residential recovery in tandem can be a further catalyst to what we are already witnessing in the neighborhood with increasing numbers of businesses offering critical services to its residents.”

"Entergy and The Idea Village share the core belief that entrepreneurs create positive social and economic change, and are key to the economic strength of our city.  Our investment in the Innovation Center is an investment in the community at large,” Rod West, president and CEO of Entergy New Orleans, Inc., says.  “We believe there is a need to preserve and support the Upper Ninth Ward. It’s an important neighborhood with profound cultural historic significance for the city of New Orleans and for the United States.”

ABOUT THE IDEA VILLAGE
The Idea Village was founded in 2000 as an independent 501(c)3 non-profit with a mission to identify, support and retain entrepreneurial talent in New Orleans by providing business resources to high-impact ventures.  To date, The Idea Village has supported over 255 New Orleans entrepreneurs through a global network that is committed to accelerating the growth of the local entrepreneurial community.  Since Katrina, The Idea Village has allocated over $2.2 million in capital to local entrepreneurs, engaged over 270 MBA students from 11 universities, and allocated over 34,000 hours of business consulting by engaging over 665 professionals, students and mentors.  The U.S. Department of Commerce recently invested $800,000 in The Idea Village to promote economic development through entrepreneurship.
####