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Photographer, artist and former educator Arthur Miller takes photos from his collection to walls of Breaker Brewing Company

Menorah lighting at Wyoming Valley Mall

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Calling for the community &#8220;to re-calibrate our trajectory,&#8221; Wilkes University officials announced a partnership with the national SCORE program to substantially increase mentoring opportunities for area entrepreneurs.</p><p>A national, non-profit corporation that links volunteer mentors to small businesses, SCORE is partnering with the university&#8217;s Allan P. Kirby Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship. During a breakfast announcing the partnership Wednesday morning, Executive Director Rodney Ridley Sr. noted the center has gone from mentoring nine businesses last year to 30 this year.</p><p>&#8220;We need some real horsepower in getting help&#8221; to area businesses, Ridley said. Partnering with SCORE brings &#8220;a network of well over 12,000 mentors&#8221; as well as the expertise and training the organization has developed since forming in 1964.</p><p>SCORE has 330 chapters nationwide, including a regional chapter with offices in the Stegmaier Building in Wilkes-Barre, Northeast Pennsylvania SCORE Vice Chairman Bill Evans said, which means it can offer both local mentors and outside help. He recounted a request he received from a business ill-suited to his background as a retired Bell Labs engineer. &#8220;I&#8217;m a tech person,&#8221; he said, evoking chuckles, &#8220;so I found a guy in Miami Beach who owned a night club.&#8221;</p><p>Similarly, Evans said, when a person wanted help selling art, SCORE found a mentor who had run a museum who offered more than 100 tips, including one that may or may not have been tongue-in-cheek: &#8220;Put it in a really good frame.&#8221;</p><p>Evans and other representatives from SCORE urged the business men and women attending the breakfast to sign up as volunteers. An application form can be found online at score.org. Volunteers are required to take at least three online workshops, Evans said, and to do several sessions co-counseling with a veteran mentor.</p><p>And because SCORE is a partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration and thus receives federal money, &#8220;While counseling, you are a government employee and can&#8217;t be sued,&#8221; Evans added.</p><p>Former SCORE District Director Hugh MacMaster said mentors need a skill they learned, the knowledge of how to apply that skill through work and people skills, including being a good listener who is empathetic and patient.</p><p>SCORE initially stood for Service Corp. of Retired Executives,&#8221; former national SCORE Board Chairman Gerard Glenn said, but that was dropped as the mentor ranks grew. &#8220;About one-third of our mentors are still working,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The organization has helped develop 56,000 new businesses and create 47,o00 new jobs nationally, Glenn said. &#8220;About 56 percent of our clients are women, 39 percent are minorities, 13 percent are veterans.&#8221;</p><p>Noting research suggests every dollar of federal support ends up pumping $60 back into the economy through new business growth, Glenn urged those present to become mentors. &#8220;Join us and give back to the community.&#8221;</p><p>Gerald Ephault, the Alan P. Kirby Center&#8217;s executive-in-residence, offered a quote attributed to Oprah Winfrey:</p><p>&#8220;A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Gerard Glenn, former board chairman for the national SCORE business mentoring program, talks about the program coming to the area during a Wilkes University &#8220;Mentor Breakfast&#8221; Wednesday morning. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_score-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Gerard Glenn, former board chairman for the national SCORE business mentoring program, talks about the program coming to the area during a Wilkes University &#8220;Mentor Breakfast&#8221; Wednesday morning. </caption0><photoCredit0>Mark Guydish | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Score-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Former national board chairman for the SCORE business mentoring program speaks at Wilkes University breakfast Wednesday morning. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Score-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Former national board chairman for the SCORE business mentoring program speaks at Wilkes University breakfast Wednesday morning. </caption1><photoCredit1>Mark Guydish | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mark Guydish</p><p>mguydish@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes partners with national mentoring program to help area entrepreneurs