PROVIDENCE – Social Enterprise Greenhouse has announced the launch of a food venture accelerator, which will offer training to food and agricultural businesses in Rhode Island and New England.
Although the nonprofit network has offered an accelerator since 2011, it said this marks the first year it will offer an industry-specific program.
“We are excited to expand our programming with food businesses in the region. This initiative will allow us to collaborate with other organizations working in the food sector to more fully address the specific needs of food-focused social enterprises,” Isabella Cassell, manager of food and health venture development at SEG, said in a news release.
SEG, which supports “do well, do good” businesses in the region, said the food accelerator is being supported by the Boston-based Henry P. Kendall Foundation.
The Henry P. Kendall Foundation is dedicated to increasing the production and consumption of local, sustainably produced food in New England. It has chosen Rhode Island as one of its three geographic target impact areas, SEG said.
“The Henry P. Kendall Foundation is pleased to support SEG’s efforts to provide business technical assistance for some of the creative food ventures that are emerging in Rhode Island,” Courtney Bourns, senior program officer at the Kendall Foundation, said in a statement. “This kind of technical assistance is a necessary and missing piece of the growing food systems sector in the state. We believe SEG is the right player to offer it.”
The food accelerator is a collaboration with Brown University’s Social Innovation Initiative and is a 12-week blended learning immersion that provides food-focused social entrepreneurs with the knowledge, skills, mentors and networks they need to accelerate the growth of their ventures, according to SEG.
SEG said the food accelerator will be better able to address the “unique needs” of food and agricultural businesses, as well as collaborate with other leading organizations serving the food sector such as Hope & Main, Farm Fresh Rhode Island, and others.
Applications for the food accelerator open Aug. 31, and the cohort will launch Feb. 16. Information on the program can be found HERE.
