News

Seven technology companies will receive a total of $385,000 in grants recently awarded by the Lorain County Community College Foundation's Innovation Fund. Three companies received $95,000 each, and four received $25,000 each. All of them have committed to providing internships to students at the community college or providing some other educational experience.

Blackstone LaunchPad is a partnership between the Blackstone Charitable Foundation in New York and the Burton D. Morgan Foundation in Hudson. Each provided $1.6 million to fund programs at Kent, Baldwin Wallace University, Lorain County Community College and Case Western Reserve University.

Later this year Tom Lix, the founder of Cleveland Whiskey, will introduce a whiskey made in a device akin to an oversize pressure cooker. Inside it he places unaged whiskey and oak staves, then alternates high and low pressure over several days.

Starting a business is a little like preparing for battle. Planning a strategy, financing and then selling it to the people. That is where a business boot camp comes in.

The Lorain County Community College Foundation aims to replicate its Innovation Fund in other regions. The foundation has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Mo., and plans to use the money to help other community colleges start programs that resemble its Innovation Fund.