NGO Funding Request


The recipient entity's full legal name:  Research Park Corporation

The recipient entity's physical address:
           7117 Florida Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70806


The recipient entity's mailing address (if different):
           7117 Florida Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70806


Type of Entity (for instance, a nonprofit corporation):  Non-Profit Corporation

If the entity is a corporation, list the names of the incorporators:
          Charles Landry
Isaac Thomas
Michael Moles


The last four digits of the entity's taxpayer ID number:  7281

What is the dollar amount of the request?  $50,000

What type of request is this?  General Appropriation

Is this entity in good standing with the Secretary of State?  Yes

Provide the name of each member of the recipient entity's governing board and officers:
           President & CEO:
Genevieve Silverman
3119 Harrells Lane Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA 70816

Program Manager:
Wendy Overton
12334 Astolat Ave.
Baton Rouge, LA 70816

Board Chair:
Calvin Mills, Jr. (Mayor Sharon Weston Broome's designee)
CEO, CMC Technology Consulting
PO Box 83781
Baton Rouge, LA 70884

Board Members:

Dr. Stacia Haynie (Dr. King Alexander's designee)
Provost, Louisiana State University
156 Thomas Boyd Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

Dr. Michael Stubblefield (Dr. Ray Belton's designee)
Vice Chancellor for Research & Strategic Initiatives
Southern University
730 Harding Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70813

Dr. James Chappell (Sec. Don Pierson's designee)
Director, State Economic Competitiveness
Louisiana Economic Development
617 N. 3rd St., 11th floor
Baton Rouge, LA 70802

Mr. Isaac Thomas
President, Economic Freedom Association
7534 Chablis Ct.
Baton Rouge, LA 70817

Edmund Giering,IV
General Counsel
Baton Rouge Area Foundation
100 North St., Ste. 900
Baton Rouge, LA 70802

Quentin Messer, Jr.
President & CEO
New Orleans Business Alliance
935 Gravier St., Ste. 2020
New Orleans, LA 70112

Anita Tillman, CEO
AMcorp Intl. LLC
3112 Keithway Dr.
Harvey, LA 70058

Jerry Jones, Jr.
Executive Director
Baton Rouge North Economic Development District
1801 W. Airline Hwy.
Laplace, LA 70068

Mo Vij
President & CEO
General Informatics
One Smart Way
Baton Rouge, LA 70810


Provide a summary of the project or program:
           In 2016, Research Park Corporation, in partnership with Southern University and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, launched the BizTech Challenge, a tech-based business program for students enrolled at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (“HBCUs”) in Louisiana and surrounding states. The program challenges students to work in multi-disciplinary teams of Business and STEM majors to design and develop a technology-based business concept, as well as a 5-minute pitch presentation and an executive summary that demonstrate the business model and market viability of the concept. The program has two major segments. The BizTech Fellows component (new in 2019) runs in June and July, and participating Fellows receive mentorship and entrepreneurial education to help them develop their business concepts through delivery of kickoff and closing workshops, as well as weekly virtual classroom sessions. The BizTech Challenge component runs from August to November and helps students further develop their idea and create pitch presentations to demonstrate the knowledge gained during these endeavors. This phase culminates in a showcase of the top teams at the Bayou Classic in New Orleans on November 29th. After the Challenge, students can continue to work with mentors, NexusLA staff, and attorneys to assess the viability of their concepts and begin the steps of forming their business and protecting any intellectual property created.

Participants in the program must be students currently enrolled at an HBCU, or a Predominantly Black Institution (“PBI”). Over the last 3 years the program has engaged student teams from all six HBCUs in Louisiana, which include Xavier, Dillard, Grambling State, and Southern's 3 campuses in Baton Rouge, Shreveport and New Orleans. In 2019 we plan to reengage these schools as well as additional PBIs.

Students will benefit by: 1)Learning how to create a revenue-generating business model for technology concepts, a skill applicable to any future career pathway, from launching a new business to developing a new product line at a Fortune 500 company; 2)Engaging in the customer discovery process to test their ideas; 3)Solving real world problems from real world companies; 4)Meeting one-on-one with mentors- successful entrepreneurs and industry professionals; 5)Networking at events with experienced entrepreneurs and mentors and other student entrepreneurs; 6)Connecting to internship and career opportunities at partner firms; 7)Accessing entrepreneurial education, resources and partners; 8)Learning how to work in a team that may include people from different fields of study and possessing different strengths; 9)Building presentation skills, resume, and LinkedIn profile to stand out to employers, investors, and business partners.

The BizTech Fellows is a new component to this program in 2019 and is being designed and delivered in collaboration with LSU’s Office of Innovation and Technology Commercialization. BizTech Fellows is a summer program designed to give guided support for students to practice the skills needed to find product / market fit, a crucial component when launching a new business. The program will utilize curriculum and resources from the National Science Foundation’s (“NSF”) iCorps program, a nationally-recognized program that supports teams through critical market and commercialization evaluations associated with a specific idea or technology.

Requested funding will help us to implement this new, more intensive summer program and provide a more high quality experience for the students. It will also help defray travel costs for these HBCU students who travel across the state to the summer workshops and the student showcase at the Bayou Classic.


What is the budget relative to the project for which funding is requested?:
          Salaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . $50,000
          Professional Services. . . $0
          Contracts . . . . . . . . . . . $500
          Acquisitions . . . . . . . . . $0
          Major Repairs . . . . . . . $0
          Operating Services. . . . $16,875
          Other Charges. . . . . . . $37,250

Does your organization have any outstanding audit issues or findings?  No

If 'Yes' is your organization working with the appropriate governmental agencies to resolve those issues or findings?
          Yes

What is the entity's public purpose, sought to be achieved through the use of state monies?
          Research Park Corporation's public purpose and functions, as outlined in the state statute 17:3396 includes the following:
1) to promote the development of high technology industries and research in Louisiana
2) to increase opportunities for employment in Louisiana
3) to promote research and development in Louisiana
4) to promote and assist institutions of higher education under the management of the Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University & A&M College and the Board of Supervisors of Southern University & A&M College in the field of research and development.

This BizTech Fellows & Challenge program achieves this purpose by encouraging research and development by students enrolled on the campus of Southern University and other Louisiana HBCUs and PBIs, and increasing those institutions' capacity for STEM based entrepreneurial education and research.


What are the goals and objectives for achieving such purpose?
          By the end of the funding period we expect that participating students will have learned how to design and develop a technology concept, develop an associated business model for that concept and engage in the customer discovery process to assess product/market fit. We also expect that they will have made meaningful connections with entrepreneurs, employers and/or professionals in their field of study and gained resources and technical assistance to help them in starting a business should they desire to do so.

To measure student learning during the BizTech Fellows phase of the program we track the following:
• Number of students registered for the Fellows program
• Number of students completing the Fellows program and submitting a project
• Each team will be asked to present a “Lessons Learned” presentation, reflecting their original business model hypothesis, how it shifted over the course of the program, and what they learned throughout the program
• Each Fellow will be asked to write an essay to personally reflect on what he or she learned over the course of the program

To measure student learning during the BizTech Challenge phase of the program we track the following:
• Number of students registered for the Challenge program
• Number of students completing the Challenge program and submitting a project


What is the proposed length of time estimated by the entity to accomplish the purpose?
           9 months

If any elected or appointed state official or an immediate family member of such an official is an officer, director, trustee, or employee of the recipient entity who receives compensation or holds any ownership interest therein:
     (a) If an elected or appointed state official, the name and address of the official and the office held by such person:
                
    
     (b) If an immediate family member of an elected or appointed state official, the name and address of such person; the name, address, and office of the official to whom the person is related; and the nature of the relationship:
                

     (c) The percentage of the official's or immediate family member's ownership interest in the recipient entity, if any:
                

     (d) The position, if any, held by the official or immediate family member in the recipient entity:
                 

If the recipient entity has a contract with any elected or appointed state official or an immediate family member of such an official or with the state or any political subdivision of the state:
(a) If the contract is with an elected or appointed state official, provide the name and address of the official and the office held by such person: 
               

(b) If the contract is with an immediate family member of an elected or appointed state official:
          Provide the name and address of such person:
              

          Provide the name, address, and office of the official to whom the person is related:
               

          What is the nature of the relationship? 

(c) If the contract is with the state or a political subdivision of the state, provide the name and address of the state entity or political subdivision of the state:
                

(d) The nature of the contract, including a description of the goods or services provided or to be provided pursuant to the contract:
               


Contact Information
name:  Genevieve Silverman 
                                       address:  7117 Florida Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70806

                                       phone:  225-218-1100
                                       fax:  225-218-0101
                                       e-mail:  gen@nexus-LA.org
                                       relationship to entity:  President & CEO