- 71 North Pulse
- Posts
- The Opportunity Way
The Opportunity Way
A roundup of 71 North updates
71 NORTH
September 17, 2024
The Opportunity Way
Breakthrough Community Business Academy Hosted at 71 North
An important step in achieving local community revitalization goals will take place this fall at the 71 North Partnership Studio in Founders Memorial Library through a partnership between the Division of Research & Innovation Partnerships (RIPS) and Opportunity DeKalb, a nonprofit community development corporation.
The Breakthrough Community Business Academy (CBA) is a 12-week program launched by Opportunity DeKalb designed for new and aspiring entrepreneurs and existing businesses. The academy focuses on building foundational business skills through cohort-based learning. Participants also engage in small business simulations to apply their skills in real-world scenarios. The academy uses a model developed by Rising Tide Capital, a national nonprofit organization that has worked with communities across the country to train thousands of entrepreneurs over the last 20 years.
The academy launched on September 14. The program is part of the emerging Breakthrough Business initiative aimed at empowering individuals and uplifting communities through entrepreneurship, all in pursuit of the American Dream.
In the spring, RIPS signed an agreement with Opportunity DeKalb to provide university assistance to Breakthrough Business, which led to the decision to host the academy at the 71 North Partnership Studio.
For Opportunity DeKalb, the relationship with 71 North is part of a series of ongoing partnerships with NIU aimed at achieving community revitalization goals.
“We are grateful to the many partners at NIU that our organization is fortunate to work with,” said Chad Glover, Executive Director of Opportunity DeKalb. “The launch of the Breakthrough Community Business Academy marks an opportunity to create transformative change that is consistent with community revitalization goals. 71 North provides an outstanding venue and environment for the academy.”
Register for RHoK NIU: A Random Act of Kindness for Huskie Closet!
In collaboration with The Center for Nonprofit and NGO Studies, we're hosting a two-part Random Hack of Kindness (RHoK) event aimed at tackling the unique challenges faced by NIU's Huskie Closet.
 | 🗓 Event Dates: 10/03/2024 and 10/17/2024 ⏰ Time: 3:30 PM – 6:30 PM 📍 Location: 71 North Partnership Studio Sign up: https://cglink.me/2sZ/r406388 |
How It Works:
This two-part event, held over two three-hour sessions, allows participants to fully immerse themselves in the Huskie Closet environment, understand the challenges firsthand, and work collaboratively on thoughtful solutions. It is a way to give back and make a lasting difference for the NIU community.
To give is to invest.
This Week at 71 North
Tuesday:
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM: Sport Management Innovation Lab, Dr. Chung and Dr. Ishaq.
2:00 PM: Agile Espresso - A quick, focused session on Agile practices.
5:00 PM to 6:30 PM: Tech Taco Tuesday! - Featuring Huskie Hacker: Nikhil Doddaga with a Python facial recognition demo. Then, go to La Salsa for some tacos.
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM: Huskie Hackers - Prep for the 1871 Tech Challenge.
Wednesday:
11:00 AM to 1:00 PM: Sport Management Innovation Lab
12:00 PM to 2:00 PM: VR Sampler in the Opportunity Zone - Get started with a virtual reality sample experience. Truly hands-on!
Matthew (Freshman Computer Science) leads Vikings to the beat of the drums
5:00 PM to 6:00 PM: CAUSE Social Entrepreneurship - Engage in meaningful discussions and activities focused on driving social change through entrepreneurial action.
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM: Innovation Club - A space to brainstorm, collaborate, and turn innovative ideas into reality.
5:00 PM to 7:30 PM: ECON 691 - Data tools for economists course.
Thursday:
4:00 PM to 7:00 PM: Indie Game Developers Organization - Creativity and collaboration with the Indie Game Developers Organization.
Friday:
8:30 AM - 4:30 PM: NIU President Workshop on Faculty Collaboration.
4:30 PM: Appy Hour with Brandon Goff and the Appy People - Join the creative minds behind the Appy Hour podcast as they work on the next episode. It's the perfect way to end the week with a creative conversation about a locally developed app.
Saturday:
9:30 AM: Breakthrough Community Business Academy - The Breakthrough CBA covers all the essential topics about running a business, such as budgeting, marketing, bookkeeping, cash flow analyses, pricing strategies, and credit building.
Monday:
12:00 PM to 2:00 PM: Migration Mondays - The Center for Nonprofit and NGO Studies for grad students and faculty researching migration/refugees/asylum meet for a writing group and guest speakers.
3:30 PM to 6:30 PM: PHHE 335 - Public Health Communication.
Looking Ahead:
HEALTHIER@NIU
A collaborative forum dedicated to exploring innovative solutions to complex health challenges, fostering creativity and cross-pollination of ideas. In partnership with the College of Health and Human Sciences.
Looking Back:
The Opportunity Zone: Presentation mode - An interdisciplinary collaboration space.
