Villasuso in one of the rooms
NEW WINDSOR – The Orange County Business Accelerator announced the details of their new Cut and Sew Design Center at their New Windsor offices adjacent to Stewart Airport on Wednesday.
The business incubator was founded by the Orange County Industrial Development Agency in October 2009 and will now undergo new management from Vincent Cozzolino of Galileo Technology Group starting July 1.
The new Cut and Sew Design Center is aimed at up and coming entrepreneurs in the Hudson Valley. This program will offer the IDA counseling, manufacturing space and planning at an affordable rate to those locals who have a product or idea that is promising within the design industry.
However, in order to be accepted into the program, applicants will have to undergo a vetting process. That, according to IDA Executive Director James Petro, is a way to ensure that those who enter the program have the ability to provide a beneficial contribution to the greater local economy.
“We can certainly have 11 spots here; we can just fill them up at low rent, we could probably fill them up in a week. That’s not the reason for the accelerator,” said Petro. “We want something that has the promise to expand and create good jobs here. So, it would go through a vetting process. You have to have a plan, an idea and it has to make sense.”
This is the first of the incubator programs to be offered through the accelerator. Associate Executive Director Laurie Villasuso said they hope to have equipment in place for use by the end of the summer.
“For this first pod we’re going to have sewing machines, hemming machines, pressing machines, design software, design stations,” said Villasuso. “So, we’re going to gather all of those machines and put them in the accelerator, hopefully, by the end of July. That might be a tall order but, that would be a goal to get them in as soon as possible so we could open our doors to manufacturers as early as the late summer.”
Villasuso said they will be working with a number of certificate programs, one being through the Newburgh Armory that will provide applicants with the necessary skills for entrance.
