Mayor Sarno states, “Chief Development Officer (CDO) Tim Sheehan, Deputy Director Brian Connors, and the Office of Planning and Economic Development and I are pleased and excited to bring this successful program back into our small business toolbox in Springfield. Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy, our largest job creators, and we know how valuable this can be to take a small business to the next level. I want to thank Valley Venture Mentors and Interise for partnering with the City as we relaunch this very successful and promising program.”
In February 2022, Mayor Sarno, CDO Sheehan and Deputy Director of Economic Development Connors announced the relaunch of the RiseUp Springfield small business curriculum program in collaboration with Valley Venture Mentors (VVM) and Interise.
RiseUp Springfield is a six-month intensive program offered to help small business owners add resiliency and capacity to their business. This program teaches business owners how to scale and expand their business, and utilizes the award-winning StreetWise MBA™ curriculum designed specifically for established small business owners that provides the know-how, training and networks needed to achieve growth-orientated goals. The program had successfully operated in the City of Springfield, with cohorts in 2017 and 2019, but had been paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
