The Business Incubator Center presented a check for $1,210 to the D51 Foundation at the District 51 School Board meeting on Oct. 21. The funds were raised through ticket sales from a community event featuring public speaker Mark C. Perna, held in partnership with the D51 Foundation, School District 51 and Colorado Mesa University.

According to a news release from the Business Incubator, supporting education and workforce development is fundamental to the mission of growing businesses and creating economic opportunity. By partnering with organizations like the D51 Foundation, the incubator helps cultivate the next generation of entrepreneurs, innovators and skilled workers who will drive the regional economy forward.

“We are growing as a community. We have amazing generational expertise, and we have youth here that we are hoping to help give them purpose to stay and root here and find opportunity,” said Dalida Sassoon Bollig, CEO of the Business Incubator Center.

Angela Christensen, executive director of the D51 Foundation, said the funds will go straight back into the foundation’s programs, which work to support academic growth, achievement and outreach.

“It’s inspiring the next generation workforce, and that’s what we’re all about,” she said.