GREENFIELD — As the Franklin County Community Development Corporation takes the lead on two existing entrepreneurial programs, it is bolstering those programs with a new UPstart initiative.

UPstart is the expansion of the already-existing Take the Floor and Entrepreneurship Accelerator programs, which help up-and-coming business owners earn funding or training, coaching and consulting for their small businesses.

Previously, Take the Floor, a business pitch competition where winners earned investment funding, was run by Greenfield Community College and its Director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Max Fripp, while the Entrepreneurship Accelerator has been run by Orange’s LaunchSpace and Greenfield’s Greenspace CoWork in a partnership with GCC. Fripp, who is now the director of the BEACON program for the Collaborative for Educational Services, will continue to lead the programs.

“We want to make it solid so people can count on it … by us hosting it; it’s not as grant-dependent,” said Franklin County CDC Executive Director John Waite. “This is open to everybody and anybody.”

On top of some of the agency’s own funding, UPstart is also being funded with an $80,000 Urban Agenda Grant Program award under the state’s Community One Stop for Growth grant umbrella, which allows for free participation in both Take the Floor and the Entrepreneurship Accelerator.

In a statement, Fripp said shifting the pair of programs under the Franklin County CDC’s leadership will ensure the region’s newest businesses can get the support they need to thrive.

“From the beginning of my entrepreneurship work in this region, the FCCDC has been a key partner,” Fripp said. “By integrating programs like Take the Floor and the Entrepreneurship Accelerator into the FCCDC, we will be better positioned to support start-up businesses through all phases of the business development cycle, from start-up, launch, and ultimately growth and financial sustainability.”

In the last two years, Take the Floor, with the help of lead sponsor Franklin First Federal Credit Union, has invested $20,000 in seven entrepreneurs’ businesses, including in The Rainbow Rack and Filthy Kicks, the shoe store that recently signed a two-year lease at a Main Street storefront in Greenfield.

While Take the Floor is a series of pitch events, the Entrepreneurship Accelerator is a six-month intensive program that provides training, coaching and consulting for early-stage entrepreneurs and small business owners in Franklin County. The program assisted 10 business owners around the region last year and Waite is hopeful to expand that reach in 2024.

“Launching UPstart is an important step in helping to increase the number of entrepreneurs, and ultimately new businesses, that the FCCDC is able to support in Franklin County,” Waite said. “We are confident that this work will serve as a catalyst for new business development in our region that leads to thriving businesses and good-paying jobs.”

Both Take the Floor and the Entrepreneurship Accelerator will kick off this month. Take the Floor’s first pitch contest will take place on Jan. 25 and registration is open for that session, as well as subsequent ones in March and May. The Entrepreneurship Accelerator’s first session will be held on Jan. 31. To sign up for either program, visit fccdc.org/get-started.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.