New plans will launch tonight

A new business could take off tonight.

“Launch Jay!,” a “Shark Tank”-style pitch competition led by Jay County Development Corporation and Jay County Chamber of Commerce will be held at 6 p.m. tonight in the Jay County Junior-Senior High School auditorium.

Entrepreneurs who are seeking to launch or expand their business were invited to compete in a local pitch competition. They have had the opportunity to attend business seminars over the last month and will make their pitches to a judging panel tonight.

The winners as selected by the panel will receive monetary prizes to go toward business costs. There will also be a $1,000 prize for the fan favorite.



Make nominations

Jay County Chamber of Commerce is accepting nominations for the 2021 Jay County Community Awards.

Nominations are open for nine awards — Lifetime Achievement, Citizen of the Year, Business of the Year, Industry of the year, Not for Profit of the Year, Young Professional of the Year, Dunkirk Community Commitment, Small Community Commitment and Innovator of the Year.

Nomination forms are available at the chamber office, 118 S. Meridian St., Portland. They are also available online at bit.ly/2021JCCommAwards. The deadline is Nov. 30.



Training scheduled

John Jay Center for Learning will again offer ServSafe training classes beginning late this month.

Classes will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 25, Nov. 29 and Dec. 27 at John Jay. For more information, call (260) 729-5525.



Ribbon cutting set

Jay County Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Cuervos Tacos II at noon Thursday.

The restaurant that opened this summer is located at 605 N. Meridian St., Portland.



Programs accredited

A pair of Ivy Tech programs received accreditation recently.

Ivy Tech Fort Wayne’s mechanical engineering technology program received ABET accreditation, the highest accreditation body for engineering and other select programs. Ivy Tech received a full accreditation for the maximum grantable period, until Sept. 30, 2026.

Its surgical technology program is now accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. Ivy Tech’s program was started in fall 2020, and the first cohort will graduate in 2022 with fully accredited degrees.



BSU hosting

After taking a year off in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Entrepreneurship Center and Ball State University will once again host its Startup Weekend Muncie Oct. 8 through 10 at Accutech Systems, 115 W. Walnut St., Muncie.

The event features the opportunity to meet with professional mentors and to learn about taking a business venture from idea to start-up.

The event is open to all ages, but tickets are limited. They can be purchased at bit.ly/StartupWEMuncie.



Agreement signed

Leeward Renewable Energy on Thursday announced that it has entered into an agreement with Peninsula Clean Energy involving its 102-megawatt Chaparral Solar Facility in Kern County, California.

Leeward, which is pursuing construction of a solar facility north of Dunkirk, entered into a 15-year solar-plus-storage power purchase agreement with Peninsula. As part of the deal, Peninsula will also buy the energy and capacity from Chaparral’s 52-megawatt battery storage system.

“Leeward is very excited to build on its partnership with Peninsula Clean Energy in providing affordable and reliable renewable energy to its customers as well as helping the agency achieve its ambitious energy goals,” said Leeward senior vice president of development Kathryn Arbeit in a press release.