Business News

The City's Redevelopment Commission and the Hammond Development Corp. combine training & loan programs at the Hammond INnovation Center.

The Redevelopment Commission, which owns the building at 5209 Hohman Ave., approved an agreement last week to continue the operations of the Hammond INnovation Center which will be managed by the Hammond Development Corporation, known as the HDC.

Purdue University Calumet has operated and staffed the small business incubator since it opened in 2008.

For the past two years a grant obtained by the City of Hammond and Purdue University Calumet funded the operation of the center including its staff and daily operations.

The Center provides turn-key space to technology-based small businesses and training facilities. The building also provides reception staff and part-time space to small home-based businesses, where entrepreneurs can meet with clients.

The HDC will continue these services and in the future the incubator will be used by educational institutions, such as Purdue Calumet, as a training ground for students.

HDC Training moves over to the INnovation Center in downtown Hammond

Thanks to an additional grant from Hewlett Packard to the HDC a new computer training lab will be located at the Hammond INnovation Center. The computer and business training which used to be held at the training room located in the HDC/Lakeshore Chamber building will now be moved to the INnovation Center utilizing the training room and corresponding computer lab

NWI contractors get free training on QuickBooks
and MS Office

Centier Bank provided a grant in partnership with the HDC and the Hammond Redevelopment Commission's Neighborhood Stabilization Program. A small local group of contractors rehabbing homes in Hammond received free business management training and computers!

Three days of intense training were provided for eleven contractor participants on business fundamentals enabling them to run their business more efficiently.

Sessions were held on Microsoft Office programs Word, Excel, Publisher and Outlook. Anna Sheets of Accounting Made Siimple provided the QuickBooks for Contractors training and Centier Bank's Antoinette Geddes spoke on the importance of business banking and the fundamentals of business management.

Small business owners spend most of their time on daily business operations and these sessions focused on management training. The contractors are working with the city as it administers funding received through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

Centier Bank made a $5,000 grant to the HDC to support the training. Upon graduating from the training program each contractor received a laptop or desktop computer and a certificate of completion. The training was held at the Hammond INnovation Center.