The Water Council is one of 10 nonprofit cluster organizations in the country included in a five-year, $30 million grant from JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The Milwaukee-based Water Council integrates freshwater research, innovation, education and business development with the goal of making the city a global water technology hub.
The other organizations included in the grant are: the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Free Enterprise Center; LA Cleantech in Los Angeles; the New Jersey Innovation Institute in Newark, N.J.; the New Orleans BioInnovation Center; QB3 in San Francisco; Washington Interactive Network in Seattle; and BioSTL in St. Louis.
JPMorgan will not release the amount invested in each of the organizations until later this year, a spokesman said.
The grants, part of a new JPMorgan program called Small Business Forward SM, works to connect entrepreneurs with the critical resources to help their businesses grow, create jobs and strengthen communities. It specifically targets high-growth economic “clusters” that work with small businesses in a particular sector.
The organizations will use the grants to provide small businesses with networking, educational partnerships, workforce management training, supplier networks and export promotion.
“Beyond their vital role in our economy, small businesses are often the source of innovation and inspiration,” said Scott Geller, chief executive officer of Chase Business Banking. “Helping local, small business clusters grow faster and create more jobs will take JPMorgan Chase’s involvement in the entrepreneurial community to a new level.”
