FrontStreet Facility Solutions to Extend Business Pitch Challenge To All New York Young Entrepreneurs

BOHEMIA, N.Y., Oct. 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today FrontStreet Facility Solutions Inc. (FrontStreet) in partnership with Sprint and Capital One Bank announced the expansion of the annual Long Island Young Entrepreneur Challenge to the New York Young Entrepreneur Challenge (NY YEC) for 2014. Budding entrepreneurs aged 17-22 who either live in New York or are enrolled as an undergraduate student at an accredited New York college or university will be eligible to compete in the upcoming business pitch competition to win up to $10,000 in start-up funding, mentorship and additional support essential for starting a business. Online applications will be accepted until Fri., Feb. 28^th, 2014.

"The statewide expansion speaks directly to the evolution of the Young Entrepreneur Challenge, and this growth foreshadows our long-term goal of hosting an entrepreneur challenge in each state throughout the country," Joseph Scaretta, FrontStreet's Chief Development Officer, said. "We have been incredibly impressed with and inspired by the ideas of the young entrepreneurs in Long Island, and we are excited to see what entrepreneurs throughout the state of New York will present at the 2014 live pitch event."

Online entries are judged by a panel of esteemed entrepreneurs. Top scoring applicants will then be invited to present a live business pitch to a panel, after which one prizewinner is identified in each of the two competition tracks, Student and Entrepreneur. The 2014 live pitch challenge will be hosted at the Sprint Executive Briefing Center in New York City on May 14^th. Winners are named immediately following the NY YEC live pitch competition at a reception for finalists, families and sponsors.

"We are pleased to participate in this important program as it opens up to include young entrepreneurs across the state of New York," said Keith Dardis, Regional Vice President for Sprint. "This state has always been an incubator for innovation and the expansion of this program will result in a true reflection of the best and brightest we have to offer across the unique urban atmosphere of New York City, the Adirondack and Catskill Mountains, the Erie-Ontario Lowlands and Allegheny and Appalachian Plateaus."

The NY YEC will not only provide support, mentoring and guidance to budding entrepreneurs, it will also create a forum for networking and making connections that could benefit the future success of the participating entrepreneurs and the winning start-ups that will receive funding through the competition. 

"Capital One is thrilled to expand our partnership with FrontStreet to encourage and support entrepreneurship among high school and college students throughout the state of New York," said Sue Kiesel, Business Banking and Senior Market Sales Executive at Capital One Bank. "We believe that supporting entrepreneurship and small business is an important step in yielding thriving local businesses that ultimately help to create jobs and strengthen local communities."

The U.S. Small Business Administration estimates that small businesses have created almost 65 percent of the new jobs in U.S. over the last 17 years and often employ the most vulnerable groups in the workforce. According to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, small businesses create 2 out of 3 net new jobs in the U.S. and if just 1 in 3 small businesses could hire just one more person, the U.S. would be at full employment. 

Public information sessions will be held on the following dates via conference call:

• Fri., Nov. 8^th, 2013 from Noon – 12:30 EST
• Mon., Dec. 2^nd, 2013 from 7:00 pm – 7:30 pm EST
• Tues., Jan. 7^th, 2014 from Noon – 12:30 pm EST
• Wed., Feb. 5^th, 2014 from 7:00 pm – 7:30 EST

The conference dial-in number is (605) 475-4700 and the participant access code is 622117#.

For the official guidelines, visit:
http://www.frontstreetfs.com/community-guidelines.htm 

To submit an application, visit:
http://www.frontstreetfs.com/community-application.htm 

To request additional information for your school or university contact Jennifer Bernheim at [email protected].   

Formerly known as the Long Island Young Entrepreneur Challenge, which launched in 2012, the competition was founded by FrontStreet with the desire to support young entrepreneurs as they bring innovative ideas from concept to start-up.

FRONTSTREET FACILITY SOLUTIONS
FrontStreet is an innovative maintenance and management company, servicing customers from medium-size enterprises to Fortune 500 companies in the retail, restaurant, financial, healthcare and commercial industries. Specialty services include maintenance and repair, capital projects, nationwide rollouts and retrofits, and energy control solutions. FrontStreet offers holistic single-source facility solutions that allow our clients to deliver an exceptional brand experience to their clientele. For more information, visit http://www.frontstreetfs.com.

About Capital One 
Capital One Financial Corporation, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is a Fortune 500 company with more than 900 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Its subsidiaries, Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A. offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. We apply the same principles of innovation, collaboration and empowerment in our commitment to our communities across the country that we do in our business. We recognize that helping to build strong and healthy communities - good places to work, good places to do business and good places to raise families - benefits us all and we are proud to support this and other community initiatives.

SOURCE FrontStreet Facility Solutions