Overview

Northwest Indiana’s NWI BizHub serves Lake, Porter, and La Porte Counties as a connection for current and aspiring small business owners to help them find the right resources at the right time, no matter where they are in their small business journey. NWIBizHub.com allows users to simply define the assistance needed and toggle through the local resources available that fit their needs. If the user prefers a more individualized experience, they can submit a request to be paired with a NWI BizHub resource partner who will work one-on-one with the individual to meet their business needs. This program is a partnership with Legacy Foundation, Unity Foundation, Northwest Indiana Small Business Development Center, Crown Point Community Foundation, and the Center for Workforce Innovations. The program’s READI grant activities are to expand no cost programming to small business owners in Starke, Pulaski, Newton, and Jasper Counties, while establishing program partners and resource navigators within each county. The expansion into the additional counties will begin November 2022 with recruitment of Community Foundations within the four counties, serving as Program Partners. Once Program Partners are established, recruitment of Resource Navigators will begin, followed by the launch of small business outreach programming, concluding the program April 2026. The final outcome is to increase the number of successful small businesses, the overall per capita wealth for region residents, and increase the region’s identity as a destination for entrepreneurs in Indiana.