The Don Wood Foundation awarded the City of Fort Wayne a $260,000 grant to support a program for small-scale developers.
The Summit City Entrepreneur and Enterprise District, or SEED’s, Small Scale Developer Program equips aspiring local developers with the skills and knowledge to be involved in Fort Wayne’s housing development.
The grant was announced Friday. It should ensure the eight-week program will run twice in 2025 and three times in 2026, with up to 20 participants in each session. The program will offer a series of readiness workshops, pre- and post-program assessments to measure growth, hands-on training and insights to inform capacity-building initiatives.
The course is $275 per participant, but the city plans to reserve two to three seats per session for graduates of trade programs with scholarship opportunities available.
In a press release, Mayor Sharon Tucker called the grant a “major win” for the community. Don Wood president Laura Macknick said the foundation believes anyone can succeed as an entrepreneur and that the program will “cultivate local entrepreneurs.”
The Don Wood Foundation partners with nonprofits and educational institutions to support the development of a diverse workforce through exposure, education and training.