Nevada City, CA – Last week, Jesse Prim made his first order of 80 skateboard decks. It’s a big deal for Prim who is starting a new brand called Time Travel Skateboards.
As a current student enrolled in Sierra Commons’ Business Ignitor Course, Prim is learning the tools he needs to make his new business venture a success.
“Sierra Commons teachers and guest speakers are affording me the luxury of an education that will help me from making mistakes while getting this brand off the ground,” said Prim.
Helping more entrepreneurs like Prim get the resources they need to thrive is at the core of the Sierra Commons mission and a bigger-than-ever focus for the year ahead.
Supporters got a glimpse of that roadmap during the well-attended 15th Anniversary Celebration at the organization’s Nevada City headquarters last month. The event raised $10,000 to help grow organizational capacity to deliver critical educational programming for entrepreneurs by the nonprofit founded in 2009.
“We are laser-focused on building economic resilience in the Sierra. Our programs help transform the lives of our students by guiding them through the challenging path of entrepreneurship. The businesses they start and grow are reflections of their passions and manifestations of their purpose,” said Trent.
“We’re not about training good capitalists. Instead, we’re on a mission to empower rural innovators by offering heart-forward business education, resources and community,” he added.
In a nutshell, Sierra Commons helps guide people along the path of their business journey.
Since the group’s inception, it has offered the Business Ignitor Course. In 2024, Sierra Commons increased its impact by 175% by launching two new opportunities for learning, the Food Entrepreneur Accelerator and the Forest Entrepreneur Training courses. With the addition of new programming, the number of graduating students grew from 28 in 2023 to 77 so far this year, with two more courses scheduled later this fall.
Chef René Medina and Farmer Rose Robertson are recent grads of the Food Accelerator Program. With the skills they honed in the class, they are taking their food business, Comedor, from a Friday pop-up to a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Farm-fresh California-crafted Colombian cuisine will soon be served in the heart of Grass Valley.
“We started the class with an idea and ended with a solid concept of how to present our business to the community. The Sierra Commons Business Ignitor class helped us conceptualize our plan and find our story. It gave us the confidence to go forward and build our restaurant,” said Rose Robertson.
The Power of Collaboration
A significant new development for Sierra Commons is expanding its partnership with Sierra Business Council to include an Advanced Forest Entrepreneur Training course in its program series, focusing on climate change resilience and wildfire preparedness in rural Sierra Nevada communities.
“Sierra Commons has been a catalytic partner for helping expand training programs in the Sierra. The Forest Entrepreneurship program is just one example of the power of collaboration between Sierra Business Council and Sierra Commons. It is essential to build trust and partner in our rural communities to ensure we can deliver these impactful opportunities,” said Kristin York, Vice President of Sierra Business Council.
Support for the program is gaining momentum statewide as more entrepreneurs launch businesses that range from carbon sequestration to home hardening and drought-tolerant landscaping.
Stephanie Williams took the Forest Entrepreneur Training course earlier this year. Recently the developer of a project she has been involved with for a decade, the Forest Biomass Business Center, was awarded $15.3 million from the Yuba Watershed Agency to construct a community-scale five-megawatt biomass-to-energy power plant.
“Now that the plant will be built, I get to focus my time on the tools and resources afforded me through the Forest Entrepreneur Training to build out our business campus,” said Williams.
Up to eight of the twelve courses on the roster in 2025 will be outside the Nevada City and Grass Valley region, a big move for the nonprofit that has historically focused on audiences in Western Nevada County.
Flipping the Classroom
In 2025, Sierra Commons will introduce the concept of a Flipped Classroom model as a way to enhance Sierra Commons’ signature heart-forward approach to small business education.
A flipped classroom is a teaching method that reverses the traditional order of instruction, where students learn core content before class so they can apply it during in-person sessions. The goal is to use class time for more active learning and collaboration, with the instructor acting as a facilitator rather than a lecturer.
“We will be pre-recording some content and having the in-person class time dedicated to hands-on workshop activities to accelerate student progress while maximizing our efficiency as we scale the business,” said Trent.
Students will be able to apply what they learn before class, and with the help of instructors, start the process of building out planning documents, file licenses, set up accounting, etc. Students learn at their own pace and take responsibility for their learning. It creates an environment for a higher level of learning where students are encouraged to think more deeply and apply concepts. Online resources are more accessible for some learners, especially those who speak English as a second language and can be accessed anytime, providing more flexibility.
Phasing out Coworking
In an effort to focus on growing economic impact and building a resilient local economy throughout the Sierra Nevada, Sierra Commons will discontinue the coworking branch of its business.
“This decision will allow more efficient use of our resources so we can better focus on our mission and growth,” said Trent.
To learn more about this strategic leap forward, watch a video by Mike Mooers, a founding Sierra Commons coworker: at www.sierracommons.org