Cultivate Lancaster provides opportunities for entrepreneurs, small business owners, and business resource providers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to connect, collaborate, and grow.
What began as a biannual workshop series in December 2015 has since evolved into a collaborative initiative led by a Coalition of over 20 non-profit, for-profit, government, and educational institutions that is dedicated to providing emerging entrepreneurs and micro businesses with:
- opportunities to meet, network, and share their experiences with one another;
- direct channels to engage with local small business support organizations and learn about their services;
- and easy access to tools, resources, and programming that’s tailored for startups.
The Cultivate Lancaster Entrepreneurship Coalition meets regularly to discuss entrepreneur- and startup-focused programming needs, to identify opportunities for collaboration across its member organizations, and to create shared goals aimed at broadening and strengthening the network of Lancaster’s resource providers.
“By collaborating, we can better serve our entrepreneurs and make it easier for them to access the resources available to them. The current environment is good, but we want to make the entrepreneurial climate in Lancaster great.”
Marshall Snively
Lancaster City Alliance
“Lancaster has an abundance of resources that make our economy tick: fertile soil, breathtaking architecture, a diversified base of manufacturing, and a culture of openness to new people from new places are just a few clear examples. Additionally, we boast a wide array of organizations to support entrepreneurial growth.”
Jonathan Coleman
ASSETS
Cultivate Lancaster Entrepreneurship Coalition initiatives have yielded:
Signature events like the Cultivate Lancaster Entrepreneurs Forum and Cultivar Lancaster: Hispanic Business Owners Breakfast provide a casual opportunity to meet fellow entrepreneurs and local resource providers in one fell swoop.
An online resource directory where startups & established business owners alike can explore Lancaster’s ecosystem of resource providers and support organizations that are dedicated to serving the local entrepreneur community.
Easy-to-access lists of local and regional coworking & makerspaces, incubators & accelerators, and higher-ed institutions offering entrepreneurial programs, workshops and events.
A single, simplified Financing Request Form that aims to streamline the hunt for funding by connecting startups with multiple local financial services and community lenders at once.
The Startup Community Calendar which features workshops, webinars, grant/incubator application deadlines and networking opportunities for both startups as well as established small business owners.
In the news
Entrepreneurship on the Rise: Supporting Lancaster’s Startups
Lancaster Thriving! magazine, January 2020
The growing economic influence of Hispanics in Pennsylvania
Central Penn Business Journal, October 14, 2019
Collaborating in support of our entrepreneurs
LNP, February 11, 2019
Lancaster workshop assembles business resources
Central Penn Business Journal, January 25, 2019
Cultivate Lancaster Spawns New Coalition
SCORE Lancaster-Lebanon, July 24, 2017