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OPUS COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
COMMUNITY ENTREPRENEURS GET A BOOST
Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith were instrumental in St. Thomas receiving nearly $1 million in new funding for a university cohort program aimed at supporting local ventures led by entrepreneurs who are either women or of Black, Indigenous, Asian or Hispanic descent. The $630,000 St. Thomas received from the recent federal appropriations bill, combined with a new $500,000 grant from the GHR Foundation, will allow the Community Entrepreneurship Program to more than double its reach. “This program helped me figure out that this is a marathon not a sprint,” said Brianna Edwards, creator of LOV3 IT S3ASONING, a line of low-sodium spice mixes. She is one of more than 30 entrepreneurs who were in the inaugural cohort. Entrepreneurs participate in a business training boot camp, receive one-on-one mentoring, work with
Sen. Tina Smith and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Stephen Maturen/ Getty Images News via Getty Images.
St. Thomas students who offer business consulting services and have the chance to apply for a microgrant to establish critical start-up capital. Launched in 2022, the 10-month program is offered in conjunction with the Small Business Development Center housed within the Opus College of Business and the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship at St. Thomas.
DISABILITY RESOURCES
SPEARHEADING INCLUSION Meghan Green, who is pursuing a master’s degree in leadership in student affairs at St. Thomas, works as an exam coordinator in Disability Resources. It’s a division of the
experienced a stroke in 2015 while lifting weights in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex. “I had to relearn how to walk, dress myself, talk, read, count money, do laundry … literally everything,” she said. Green obtained a bachelor’s degree in social work in 2022 and now oversees the student requests related to exams that come into the Disability Resources center. “I want to meet students where they are at regarding their needs with compassion,” she said, adding the university community showed her extreme compassion during her recovery. “They stood by me during my weakest time.” Once she receives her master’s degree, Green hopes to work in the field of disability services at a university student affairs department, preferably at St. Thomas.
university she knows all too well. “Disability Resources and their accommodations helped me during undergrad and continue to help me in grad
school,” said Green, who was a 23-year-old undergraduate neuroscience major when she
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