News You Can Use: Building Inclusive Self-Paced Programs for Entrepreneurs

Session Description: What resources, tools, and technologies does your library already have to support entrepreneurs and small business owners in your community? With creativity and innovation, your library can provide materials, learning opportunities, and other supports to entrepreneurs that address their specific needs and schedules and builds your library’s capacity. This session will explore two Libraries Build Business initiatives which feature self-paced learning programs for entrepreneurs: the Los Angeles Public Library's Sea un Vendedor Ambulante Exitoso/Successful Street Vending program which uses Cell-Ed, and the Independence Public Library's Cultivate Indy, which used Beanstack. Join the conversation to learn more about the strategies and frameworks that were used to connect entrepreneurs to successful pathways, developing self-paced and experiential learning using technology, and centering and supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs and small business owners with promising and responsive models and strategies. Libraries Build Business is a national initiative of the American Library Association (ALA), supported by Google.org, completed in February 2022. This initiative intended to build capacity in libraries to support entrepreneurs and the small business community, prioritizing low-income and underrepresented entrepreneurs. The ALA team and a cohort of 13 public libraries have worked together to answer questions, pilot projects, develop a Playbook, and share these learnings with the wider library community. In this session, Los Angeles Public Library Managing Librarian Madeleine Ildefonso, in conversation with Ayala Pourat from Cell-Ed Solutions, will discuss the planning, development, and design principles of this self-paced program for entrepreneurs. Cell-Ed provides mobile-first pathways for people to acquire essential skills quickly and easily. Learners simply listen to lessons across any device – even a basic phone with no internet connection or costly data plan needed. They text to demonstrate understanding of the lesson and can talk and text with Cell-Ed multilingual coaches, synchronously and asynchronously, to meet goals, earn certificates, and to access the information they need to succeed. In working directly with street vendors, “Sea un vendedor ambulante exitoso/Successful Street Vending” program was designed to empower the Los Angeles street vending community. The project features mobile, microenterprise readiness learning pathways including topics like making a budget, business vocabulary, pricing items, taxes, customer service as well as “Connected Community” courses to help build strategies and resources around personal and community safety. The learning pathways can be accessed via Smart or flip phone by way of Cell Ed, a library vendor, and in English and Spanish. Several courses are also available in ELL. This multi-faceted approach will lead to entrepreneurs feeling supported and confident to be successful entrepreneurs. Brandon West, Development Coordinator, Independence Public Library, will highlight the strategies for utilizing a resource like BeanStack to create a self-paced course for entrepreneurs that builds in accountability checks, learning opportunities, and participation incentives. The Independence Public Library (IPL) located in rural Southeast Kansas (Service Pop. < 10,000), used BeanStack to create their self paced “Cultivate Indy” entrepreneurial programs. BeanStack is a web and mobile app by Zoobean that helps create, manage, and measure reading and activity challenges. This one-of-a-kind app lets patrons log reading, complete activities, and allows you to organize content in a step-by-step, productive manner. Cultivate Indy’s first self-paced course helps entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life from the ideation phase to expanding and growing their small business initiative. Since the launch of their first course, IPL continues to create entrepreneurial courses designed for underrepresented community groups, which includes “How to grow your handmade business,” and “How to sell your crafts online.” This conversation demonstrates how both large and small and urban and rural libraries can develop and employ self-paced programming with technology solutions to support local entrepreneurs. Presenters will offer broadly applicable ideas and suggestions to inspire others to create innovative self-paced business programming with resources they may already have.