By Mary Elder
SCORE is made up of working and retired individuals with a range of skills and strong entrepreneurial backgrounds. Since 1964, nationally, SCORE has helped more than 11 million entrepreneurs start, grow, or successfully exit a business.
SCORE’s mission is to foster vibrant small business communities through mentorships and education and the local Central PA chapter, which serves Centre, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Crawford, Erie, Forest, Huntingdon, Jefferson, Lycoming, Mercer, Mifflin, Warren, and Venango Counties, attracts bright and engaging mentors from a variety of fields. While the local SCORE chapter goes by SCORE Central PA, the territory expanded to include surrounding counties to the north and west.
Locally, 28 individuals with expertise in finance, engineering, operations and more, volunteer, using comprised of men and women who have worked in a variety of for profit and non-profit businesses and academia who aim to use their unique experiences to benefit others. SCORE Central PA has a diverse portfolio of members with expertise in engineering, operations, law, finance and more. Non-profits are also eligible for mentoring support.
During the last fiscal year, SCORE Central PA’s mentors conducted over 450 mentoring
sessions with clients, an increase of 62% over the previous year. SCORE Central PA has also welcomed local guest speakers, including Elizabeth Hay, Happy Valley LaunchBox; Amy Frank, The Makery; Kathy Fisher, Kathryn’s; Emily Aten Newberry, Above & Beyond Speech Therapy; Tatiana Polay, The Cake Shop by Tati; and Saleemah Williams, Avail.
Mentoring provides a way for retired professionals and business owners to stay engaged with a variety of different business activities. For others, it is a way to share their passion for business and give back to their community.
SCORE currently helps 15 – 20 clients per month, taking a personalized approach to their goals. Engagements can be as brief as a session or two, but in other cases engagements span many sessions over several months and, occasionally, more than a year.
SCORE Central PA is part of the Western PA District and was named the “District’s Chapter of the Year in 2023”. To learn more about how you can get involved with SCORE Central PA, go to https://www.score.org/centralpa.
