South Central Opportunities: Promoting Entrepreneurs (SCOPE)

South Central Opportunities: Promoting Entrepreneurs (SCOPE) launched in 2019, and communities within the South Central Development District’s 13-county area have been utilizing the program ever since.

SCOPE was designed to develop a regional network of entrepreneurs and small business owners and build capacity among those individuals and organizations who, in turn, would do the same in their own communities. The program provided training and support and connected participants to resources at the national, state, and local levels. Throughout the program, communities utilized resources from the Tennessee SmartStart™ Community Initiative, Driving Innovation services, and the US Small Business Administration (SBA), among many others.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic required SCOPE to pivot and focus on sharing information across the network about federal and state programs targeted to assist with small business recovery and resiliency (i.e., PPP, EDIL, etc.).

Funding Sources