Sandra Curry, community partnership manager for the Community Partnership Inc. stands in front of the building at 117 S. Main Street in Butler. According to Curry, the nonprofit organization plans to turn the building into an entrepreneur training center.

The nonprofit Community Partnership Inc. of Butler is planning to put state tax credit financing toward the cost of converting part of a vacant downtown building into an entrepreneurial training center.

Northwest Bank provided $13,750 in tax credits through the state Neighborhood Assistance Program that Community Partnership will put toward the cost of renovating the first floor of the building at 115-117 S. Main St. into a multipurpose space that will include a entrepreneurial training center.

The goal is to offer the 13-week Co. Starters entrepreneurial training program in the spring, said Sandra Curry, Community Partnership manager.

Co. Starters curriculum is geared toward low to no-income people with ideas about starting businesses.

“It walks prospective entrepreneurs through the process of identifying their business model. It really helps you get to the point where your next step is writing your business plan,” Curry said.

This is an excerpt from a larger article that appears in Wednesday’s Butler Eagle.