Paul Szmal: There we go, music's playing, and Katie Bronson is here, and we're going to talk about the Wayne County Pitch. Good morning, and let me get my microphone on. Welcome back. It's good to be here. Good morning. Thank you for having me here.
So I always like to start out with an overview of the Wayne Economic Development Corporation because right now, Wayne County is booming, especially, of course, the western part near Monroe County. So talk about what the EDC does and some of the things you're doing to grow business in Wayne County.
Katie Bronson: Oh, well, we have a number of exciting projects in Wayne County. Some of the things that we're working on is we've been working with the state on the Butler Prison and finding a preferred developer for that. So that's been moving forward very well. We have a preferred developer in line. The state is working with us on taking those next steps to transfer the property to Westbury Lumber Company.
Paul Szmal: Wow, I hadn't heard that. That's great.
Katie Bronson: Yeah, so that's a really exciting project, and it's been a great partnership all around with all the parties. We're also working with a number of our local businesses in order to advance their business, either through pilots, which are payment in lieu of taxes, or through some of our loan programs. And then we always have our pitch competition, which is a great event for new businesses.
Paul Szmal: So let's talk about it. The 2025 Kickstart Wayne County Adult Pitch Competition is about to get underway. The deadline for your submissions is Friday, March 14th by 4 p.m. So tell us how this works.
Katie Bronson: Yes, as you said, it is due on March 14th. We are doing it earlier this year. So we normally do this in the summer and fall, but this year we're starting early in January for a due date of the application of materials on March 14th. And that is for the adult pitch competition. We also have our student pitch competition, and that is due on March 21st.
The reason why we decided to start it early this year is we wanted to fall in line with the school districts. Having a student pitch competition in the fall is a really busy time of year for both students and teachers. And so we wanted to move it up, have it in January to see if we could get more students and teachers and school districts involved in the student pitch competition.
Paul Szmal: So is there help or resources available for these people to help put together their business plans?
Katie Bronson: Yes. So I suggest both with the adult pitch and the student pitch to go to wedcny.com. That is our website, and it has information on both programs. When you go to the adult pitch competition page, we start talking about SCORE. SCORE is a group of volunteers to help people build their business, and we have two workshops that are coming up. They are in February. The first one is February 15th at the Macedon Public Library, and the second one is on February 22nd, also at the Macedon Public Library.
So both of them are in February, and adult applicants have to attend at least one class in order to fulfill your requirements for this application. If you cannot attend either one of those, please contact me. My contact information is on the website, and we can find alternative resources for you for something you could do virtually and on your own. You just have to show the paperwork that you completed at the workshop.
For the students, also go to our website because we have a lot of resources for them in order to create your business plan and for teachers to sort of help provide some tutorials for the students, as well as how to submit your video, because that's an added sort of aspect of the student pitch competition. They have a video. There are great resources on the website. There's a glossary of business terms. There are financial projections and how you make those. There's a youth business plan guide. There's a spreadsheet, an Excel workbook, so you can kind of flesh this out with some numbers.
Paul Szmal: So when will the winners be chosen, and what do they get?
Katie Bronson: That is a great question, and it depends on which program you're referring to. For the adult pitch competition, we have two awards. The first prize is $20,000 for the new business, and then we also have what we call a boost award, and that is $5,000 for another business. That is for the adult pitch competition. For the student pitch competition, we have a total awards of $5,000, and that is broken up for a few awards for the students, and then we also have an award for a school district that has the most applicants come forward as well, and that's a way to help boost your business club, your other types of resources that help students advance and sort of think about what it means to start a business.
Paul Szmal: I always like to ask you this when you come in, and that's to tell us about some of the business success stories from the past in this competition.
Katie Bronson: You know, this is actually one of my favorite parts of the job, because you, one, you see the excitement of people starting their job, taking this first step, and just all the learning that they are receiving from SCORE and from this experience. The one thing I do have to say that I really enjoy about this program is that we have received a diversity of applications, and we also, the winners have been diverse as well. You know, we had a manufacturing company, Lodolone, which was our first winner in 2019. This past year, we do have a brewery, and, but it ranges. It's not just manufacturing. It's not just, you know, food and beverage. We've also had tourism. We've also had IT and ag, and so it's diverse in who also wins, too.
So I want to encourage people of all types of businesses who are starting a new business to consider this program. And the students bring a whole different perspective. I mean, some of the ideas they've come up with over the years, you just go, wow, I never would have thought of that.
Paul Szmal: That's right. That's right. You know, when we talk about apps, that's been a few of the proposals and projects that have been presented with the student pitch competitions, as well as food and beverage, and also services that they see are lacking in their community. So again, we have a diversity of both student and adult, and we want to encourage that entrepreneurship in Wayne County.
Katie Bronson: All right. Remind us the website to get started.
Paul Szmal: Yes. Website is w-e-d-c-n-y dot com.
Katie Bronson: All right. And by the way, I talk to Mayor Taylor from Newark every month, and they're just, things are booming there, too, of new businesses coming in and redeveloping, I think it was an old, I don't remember what it was, into apartments. What was the old? Coventry Commons.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. Coventry Commons. Yes. Just beautiful development that's going to be. So, and congratulations to, for you and your office for everything happening in Wayne County, and we appreciate your time, as always.
Katie Bronson: Thank you for your time today.
Paul Szmal: All right. The Wayne County Pitch, it's here again, a little different timing this year, so get on the website and get started at 757.
