The Corner's Opportunity Accelerator helps small-business owners in Alle-Kiski Valley

When Nicole Porterfield-Miller opens her breakfast restaurant, Cafe Nikki P, in New Kensington, it will be the realization of a dream.

It started with a hobby making fruit and vegetable trays that she turned into a side business.

“I never thought I could open a restaurant. I didn’t think that was obtainable,” she said. “I didn’t think my dream was obtainable. I didn’t have the slightest idea of how to get into the business.”

The Corner, Penn State’s entrepreneur training center in New Kensington, has been among the things that has helped Porterfield-Miller learn how to do it. She plans to open her cafe in September at 1006 Victoria Ave., where there previously had been a convenience store.

“It’s connections. The Corner is big on connections,” said Porterfield-Miller, who moved to Arnold from Pittsburgh’s Stanton Heights neighborhood. “Being in New Kensington three years, I don’t know much about Westmoreland County. All I know is Allegheny County.”

The Corner is “a space where we can all go to that has someone there that we can speak to about our business. They can help us with the basics. They have connections. If you don’t understand something, they can connect you to somebody else,” she said. “I feel every neighborhood, every small city, needs that. It takes away from the intimidation.”

Porterfield-Miller was among several small-business owners who recently completed an eight-week Opportunity Accelerator program, a signature offering at The Corner. It was the first class they have done in person in more than two years because of the pandemic, said Alyssa Pistininzi, community operations manager.

The free program, which will be held again in January, is open to anyone in the community with a longstanding business, a new business or even just an idea for one.

“It’s a deep dive into the best practices for your business and getting your business on a really firm foundation,” Pistininzi said.

Joanna Sutton, the program’s coordinator, said the two main topics they covered were marketing and understanding costs so entrepreneurs can have a profitable business.

“For the community members, it’s a great opportunity for them to get to know each other and have a network and a peer group that they can rely on to give them encouragement,” Sutton said. “They give each other a lot of encouragement. When they’re having a bad day, they pick each other up. Being a solo business owner is a pretty lonely place.”

Ahmed “Rax” Jefferson of New Kensington started his auto detailing business, “100 Details,” in Arnold about a year ago.

A friend referred him to The Corner.

“I didn’t go to business school, but I’m starting a business,” he said. “The program is awesome. The information in those books, they’ll last forever.”

Jefferson said participants in the Opportunity Accelerator course came together like a family and pushed each other.

“I’ve been feeding my family off the business I started for almost a year now,” he said. “I willed this into existence. I came up with the name, paid for a logo and got T-shirts printed six months before I made it to the garage.”

Erin Pruitt and Amy Mitchell, both of Lower Burrell, are working on buying a house for their new business, “The Craft Escape,” which they hope to open in a few months. It will be a place that crafters, quilters, scrapbookers and knitters can rent to work on their hobby.

Pruitt said she had never heard of such places until going to one with Mitchell, who Pruitt said has wanted to have her own for a while. They decided to combine their skill sets and go into business together.

Pruitt said her husband told her about the Opportunity Accelerator at The Corner. The course was her first experience there.

“I did go to college for business, but that was a long time ago,” she said. “I wanted to get a refresher course.”

Pruitt said she learned a lot and gained a network of people she can call on if she has questions.

“It was really nice to meet different business owners,” she said.

Derrick Carter of Arnold left what he called an unfulfilling job at a manufacturing plant to start his own mobile auto detailing business, Steel City Detailing, about two years ago.

“I like a clean car and found out a lot of other people do,” he said. “Is life better in a clean ride or what?”

Before the Opportunity Accelerator, Carter said he went to The Corner for a program on bookkeeping.

“They were handing out very valuable tips if you were listening,” he said.

The accelerator course took participants from start to finish with their businesses, Carter said.

“There was so much information in there,” he said. “Every week, I went in there and took notes. Without a doubt, most of that stuff you’re going to pay a lot of money for. And this was free.”

Carter said being able to talk with other business owners was a huge part of the program.

“You’re in a group with other people that are pretty much in the same situation as you trying to start a business,” he said. “There was a lot of interaction that was available. You may have an issue, and you can discuss it with other people who are, like, ‘I had the same thing.’ We were able to help each other a lot.”