MONTICELLO, Iowa-- Dupaco Community Credit Union and Dubuque-based Creative Adventure Lab have combined programming content and expertise to empower financial education, community innovation, and entrepreneurship programming at The Innovation Lab in Monticello, Iowa.
The Innovation Lab recently celebrated its grand opening.
The Innovation Lab at 101 E. 1st Street, Monticello, Iowa, offers coworking space, innovation services, meeting space, and team building activities designed to help entrepreneurs and small businesses launch and grow their businesses.
The space will host scheduled Dupaco financial education sessions and one-on-one consultations by appointment for both members and non-members. The Innovation Lab also features a Dupaco live video teller, which doubles as a publicly-accessible 24-hour automated teller machine (ATM).
“As a not-for-profit cooperative, Dupaco’s mission is to empower people and improve their economic and social well-being,” said Dupaco Chief Marketing Officer Dave Klavitter. “Small business entrepreneurship is one way to help people better their financial positions. Having the Innovation Lab in Dyersville is another resource where businesses can go for services to support their needs.”
While the location is not a full-service Dupaco branch and a Dupaco staff person won’t always be onsite, Dupaco’s Community Outreach and Education team will offer regular financial education opportunities, small business programming and presentations through scheduled appointments at the new Innovation Lab, the credit union said.
Dupaco added it is partnering with the nonprofit Creative Adventure Lab because of its mission to foster creativity and innovation to benefit the community. According to Klavitter, Creative Adventure Lab specializes in using creativity and innovation to help entrepreneurs and small businesses be successful.
The Innovation Lab is a great solution to provide high quality entrepreneurship programs to smaller communities, Dupaco said.
“More than 40% of Americans live in rural communities and these communities struggle to grow their economy and retain a talented workforce,” said Jordan DeGree, Executive Director for Creative Adventure Lab and the Innovation Lab. “Unfortunately, for these smaller communities, useful innovation and entrepreneurship support services are primarily concentrated in urban centers, leaving many entrepreneurs and businesses with a difficult choice to either forego the competitive advantage these supports provide or leave their community for a larger city.
“Dupaco was our first choice in this partnership,” DeGree continued. “The Innovation Lab goes hand-in-hand with Dupaco’s mission to empower people to improve their economic and social well-being. The financial education and outreach services Dupaco provides to communities they already serve will greatly enhance the Innovation Lab and allow entrepreneurs another great option to launch, grow and remain competitive in their own business space,” said DeGree.