What a great day it was!
After weeks of late-summer rain, the sun shone brightly as community and business leaders gathered with entrepreneurs to celebrate the grand opening of the permanent home of the Greater West Dayton Incubator at 1169 W. Third St.
When I first came to the University of Dayton 10 years ago, the leaders of Greater West Dayton graciously hosted a conversation with the purpose of building trust and understanding.
Ultimately, our talks became seeds to grow an endeavor that serves a community too often failed by the institutions of our city. The Greater West Dayton Incubator, situated among Dayton’s historically Black neighborhoods, supports underrepresented and under-resourced entrepreneurs through microlending, consulting, and educational programs. It also provides UD students with hands-on learning opportunities in developing new business and social ventures with founders who, importantly, have walked different paths than themselves.
Branford Brown was among the leaders who offered his time, knowledge, and connections to our conversations. A former executive director of the Miami Valley Urban League, he had attended my presidential installation and heard my commitment to focus on community and create a more diverse, welcoming, and interculturally inclusive campus.
At the packed grand opening event, Branford stood in the noonday sun and applauded the successes accomplished and the opportunities to come. He said the University’s partnership in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of West Dayton has been crucial and critical in building relationships among the many partners who made this day a success.
“It’s the fulfillment of a promise,” he said.
Since the incubator kicked off in 2020, it has supported more than 400 unique entrepreneurs; provided $100,000 in small business loans to West Dayton start-ups; helped to garner $250,000 in grants; and provided more than 4,000 supervised student consulting hours to underserved entrepreneurs.
“Today marks a major leap forward for these efforts and the support of West Dayton entrepreneurs for generations to come,” said Vince Lewis, associate vice president of entrepreneurial initiatives and executive director of UD’s L. William Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. The incubator is a venture of UD’s Crotty Center and The Entrepreneurs’ Center with a grant from the PNC Foundation.
Bishop Robert Lyons ’00, pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Dayton, offered a blessing at the grand opening, calling this corner of the revitalized business district “a beacon of hope and transformation.”
Attendees then filed inside to marvel at the airy, open, and inviting spaces for co-working, classes and conferences. Potted plants and brightly colored furniture beckon visitors to converse, collaborate, and create.
“Now we have more space for programs and more ways to show up for our entrepreneurs,” said the incubator’s director, Juanita-Michelle Darden ’12. “We designed this location with our community in mind. The business owners we work with have not always had a seat at the table, and now they have a home.”
We didn’t just celebrate this beautiful physical space; we opened a door to shared prosperity, new ventures, and unlimited potential. And we also celebrated the bond among the folks who worked so hard to make this happen. The true impact of this incubator will be measured by the businesses and social ventures launched, the generational wealth created, and the lives transformed within these walls, throughout this community, and in the places our graduates will call home.
Twelve months ago, the space was just an idea. As Juanita-Michelle remarked, “Today, it is alive with possibility.”
photos by Sylvia Stahl ’18
