Business Incubator Didn't
Create Expected Jobs

The state and federal governments will close the books on the 2003 $750,000 business incubator grant to Randolph, even though the project fell far short of its job creation goals.

The grant from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD) allowed Vermont Technical College to buy the former offices of DuBois & King on Route 66 and develop them as an "incubator" for new businesses.

The goal of the project was to create 38 new jobs in the two-building office center. However, only half that number, 19, were actually created, according to state officials.

Nonetheless, officials said, there will be no penalties imposed by HUD or by the Vermont Community Development Program (VCDP) which administers the grant program.

The Randolph selectboard voted two weeks ago to officially "close out" the grant, so that all the paperwork could be completed. The board had been hopeful that keeping the grant open a little longer might result in more of a success, but the state recommended closing it at this time.

Selectboard chair Jim Hutchinson said he received assurances that the town will suffer no penalty and that its relations with the grant-givers will not be affected.

That was confirmed last week for The Herald by VCDP Director Josh Hanford and by David Mace, communication director for the Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

"HUD recognizes that some projects present a greater risk of not achieving the goal," Mace said. The Vermont VCDP program is required by HUD to meet performance goals "across the whole program" but is not penalized if specific programs fail to work out as planned, he said.

"The vast majority of VCDP grants do meet the proposed goals," noted Hanford.

Business incubator grants are particularly risky, he said; but the Department feels it's important to make them, since there are few other funding sources for this important work.

"We are happy that this project has been able to create 19 jobs so far," he said. "We are also pleased that the Vermont Tech Enterprise Center will continue to operate, help businesses expand, and create even more jobs."

He said the original goal was "perhaps too high."

Closing out the grant does not affect the facility itself, Hanford stressed.

The grant money was all spent by September 2003. The grant was a key part of the complex web of public and private financing that saw DuBois and King, Inc., move its offices to a new building on Main Street, leaving the Route 66 campus to VTC, hopefully to attract new small businesses.

According to Mace the following jobs were created by businesses using the incubator facility: six at SciTest, seven at Locust Creek Graphics, one at Fire Safety Management, four at JumpStart Marketing, and one job for the manager of the Enterprise Center itself.