In January, veterans who want to start a business or have recently started one can take a new eight-week course Central Oregon Community College is offering in entrepreneurship.

Keith Sherrill, a U.S. Army veteran who joined COCC last year to teach a small-business management course, believes the program will offer another pathway for veterans to take as they decide on their plans after the military. The course is open to those affiliated with the military, and 50% or more of the business must be owned by a veteran, active military service member or military spouse.

COCC’s program, called Startup Training and Resources to Inspire Veteran Entrepreneurs, or STRIVE, is only one of eight in the country on the community college level, said Sherrill, who is an adviser for the small-business development center at the college. It is the only such community college program on the West Coast.

“We’re answering and adapting to what’s actually happening here. It’s a national offering with a local cohort,” he said.

Eight-week program

The program is offered in partnership with Syracuse University, which handles various programs through its Institute for Veterans and Military Families.

“What you get in partnering with them, you get quite a bit of intellectual capital, and some of their hard-earned efforts, even new directions, as well as funding sources,” Sherrill said. “(Syracuse) can punch way above our weight class in terms of competing for funds because they offer this consortium of other programs.”

COCC’s Small Business Development Center received a grant this year from Business Oregon that helped initiate the partnership with Syracuse University.

The free program is spread over eight weeks and will have at most 15 participants. Those interested need to submit a letter of recommendation and a resume in their applications.

Sherrill is focusing on making sure he accepts students who are the right fit.

“The fact that it’s free may be compelling, but also it needs to be the right fit,” he said. “The right fit tends to be those who maybe haven’t started a business, they’ve just started thinking about it, so we arm them before they make that decision with some of the information they need in terms of what that might look like, in terms of cost structure, revenue streams, as well as whether or not it’s feasible for them to actually pull off.”

Sherrill also hopes the program is empowering for those who have started a business but need more help to get it fully off the ground. There will also be peer-to-peer mentoring between a student who may be a few steps ahead of someone else in the process.

Guest speakers and free dinner

Adam O’Neill, 40, is the vice president of the Student Veterans Association Central Oregon chapter, and said the program will be very helpful to veterans who need direction after leaving the military.

“It’s such a clean and clear-cut way to move forward,” said O’Neill, who started his own small contractor’s business. “(A lot of veterans need direction,) and that’s really all they need, a lot of the time, because they’re so used to the military just telling them what to do. One of the hardest things I would say is being out in the real world, is there is no guidance … If you’re looking to start a business, there is no better spot to probably start.”

Just knowing someone to have conversations with about the business you’re trying to start and being able to bounce ideas off them can be helpful, he said.

Each week’s class is three-hours long on Tuesday evenings on the Bend campus, and will have a different theme, with a free dinner provided. Sherrill is waiting to learn more about his students and their businesses before he finalizes the curriculum. He also wants to bring in local partners to give guest lectures.

Sherrill plans to bring in entrepreneurs, hopefully military-affiliated, to speak about how to translate military experience to a business environment and talk about funding opportunities. The program will have a pitch competition at the end for students to test their ideas in front of judges.

“The program’s free; you’ll likely meet some friends; you’ll definitely get some dinner, and there’s an opportunity to win a pool of $10,000 (that goes to four student winners),” he said. “I can’t think of a program that has more value to it.”

People have already shown interest, and Sherrill hopes students work to find solutions to the hard-hitting problems in Central Oregon, though he’s open to all business ideas.

“I don’t want people to count themselves out,” he said.

Classes start Jan. 14.

More information

The application and more information about Startup Training and Resources to Inspire Veteran Entrepreneurs can be found at the website for COCC’s Small Business Development Center.

Central Oregon Community College enrollment up for the second year in a row