BizStarts Opens New Office On Milwaukee’s North Side

BizStarts, the Milwaukee organization that helps entrepreneurs launch and grow their businesses, will open a new office in July. It will be located at St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care-Bucyrus Campus, 2450 W. North Ave., in the heart of the community BizStarts aims to serve.

“We want to be represented in the community where we’re doing the work, and where many of our clients live,” said Patrick Snyder, BizStarts executive director. In recent years, the organization has shifted its focus to assisting underrepresented entrepreneurs, including people of color and those with low to moderate incomes. In September 2020, it launched the BizStarts Institute Community Bootcamp for Entrepreneurs at St. Ann Center and continues to hold the internationally acclaimed training program there.

The new office, to be open at least four days a week, offers space for administrative staff and for coaching and mentoring sessions with BizStarts clients. “St. Ann Center also has some great public spaces,” Snyder added. He envisions holding community events to raise awareness of how entrepreneurship strengthens a neighborhood. “We’ve even discussed hosting outdoor vendors markets on the Bucyrus Campus grounds, where our clients could sell their products.”

St. Ann Center, which offers all-ages day care to children, frail elders and adults with disabilities, opened its Bucyrus Campus in 2015. From the start, it has included economic development of the community in its mission.

“We are extremely excited to have BizStarts join us at our north side Bucyrus Campus,” said John Jansen, St. Ann Center’s vice president of grants and community engagement. “We really want to help this neighborhood become a place where people can live, work and prosper. BizStarts is a proven leader in job creation, and having them on-site is going to have a major positive impact on this neighborhood.”

Jansen expects BizStarts will energize St. Ann Center’s First Fridays for Business networking initiative. This business group, formed in December 2017, supports area residents trying to start or expand small businesses. It has met every first Friday of the month for three-and-a-half years, supporting entrepreneurs with advice, connections and programming.

For more information about BizStarts, contact Patrick Snyder at 414-973-2334 or psnyder@bizstarts.com. For more on St. Ann Center’s economic development initiatives, contact John Jansen at 414-977-5031 or jjansen@stanncenter.org.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.