Wahington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today joined with the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, the Rural Opportunities Enterprise Center, Inc., a program of Rural Opportunities, Inc, the Army Career & Alumni Program (ACAP) and the Army Morale, Welfare, and Recreation & Army Community Service (MWR) to announce the expansion of the Northern Adirondack Trading Cooperative (NATC) to Fort Drum and called on local entrepreneurs and small business people to join this highly successful program opening global markets to local products. NATC Fort Drum is designed to help the Fort Drum Community’s artisan entrepreneurs, crafts persons, and retailers sell more merchandise by utilizing the internet to gain access to new markets.

An initiative of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in partnership with eBay, Hewlett Packard, HSBC Bank, SBDC, Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), the USDA Rural Economic Development, Clarkson University, and Paul Smiths College, the Northern Adirondack Trading Cooperative (NATC) is an “Incubator without Walls”; a business development program designed to help create a global marketplace for local products. The program offers participating businesses a full curriculum covering how to market products online and how to find niche markets and covers all the technical aspects of e-commerce, and selling on eBay. NATC allows participants a greater range of knowledge to expand and grow their business by providing “hands-on” instruction, technical assistance, and in-depth discussions aimed at helping the business owners to determine their target market. The program also provides participants with state-of-the art laptop computers and digital cameras.

“This is great news for small business owners and entrepreneurs in the Fort Drum area. As Fort Drum continues to grow with the addition of a third Brigade, it is critical that we support the base and the surrounding community with initiatives like this – giving opportunity to military and civilian personnel alike. Many small businesses are based at Fort Drum, so this program is a win-win for military families and the North Country economy. The Northern Adirondack Trading Cooperative has already opened doors to global markets for businesses across the North Country and the Finger Lakes and now Fort Drum small businesses and entrepreneurs can take advantage of it as well,” Senator Clinton said.

Classes Begin: Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Where: Clark Hall, Fort Drum

Call Ruby at 315.386.4000 or Sharon at 315.772-9611 for more information

You can also complete an application online at www.natconline.org

Enrollment is open to all military and civilian ID card holders

The St. Lawrence County Chamber, a not-for-profit corporation established in 1967 to develop, coordinate and implement plans and programs to further the growth of economic development and tourism is St. Lawrence County and the North Country Region.

Rural Opportunities Enterprise Center, Inc. (ROECI) is a federally certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). ROECI provides access to credit and technical assistance for small businesses and micro enterprises in rural communities as well as low and moderate-income individuals.

Army Career & Alumni Program (ACAP) The Army Career & Alumni Program was created to provide transition and job assistance services to the Soldiers and Department of the Army civilian employees and their family members who have served our nation. These services include pre-separation counseling, benefits counseling, job search training, and access to numerous employer and job information databases.

MWR/ACS Employment Readiness Program is an Army Community Services Program that was created to provide job search assistance to spouses and family members of active duty personnel. The program offers a variety of services to include; career counseling and job coaching, monthly workshops, resume consultations, job listings, resource library, faxing/copying, information on education and volunteer opportunities, and resource materials. The program also holds an annual career fair.

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