CHAPPELL -- The Chappell Chamber of Commerce meeting Wednesday included a presentation by Sidney and Cheyenne County E3.

E3 -- Energizing, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems -- is about helping entrepreneurs see their business concepts become reality, and business owners improve their business. The program has two paid positions: Alisha Juelfs as Entrepreneurial Navigator and Melissa Norgard as Technical and Grant Writer. 

"In essence, what we do is get you connected to resources. Before, it was just a team of one and now it is a team of two because we saw the need for having the technical and grant writing assistant. We support and work with all the local partnerships," Juelfs said in the Wednesday presentation.

She said E3 is designed to help existing programs in the area.

"We are trying to just help with, as you can tell especially with how many roles that Shaunna (Mashek) plays for you guys, this is a way for us to help maybe with she needs help with funding and she can't find it. She can reach out to Melissa and figure out what some better avenues would be. If you have businesses that are really interested in a certain kind of training and she can't necessarily take it on maybe we can help with that. So there's a lot of different ways that E3 can assist you as a business, as an organization, as a community. Everyone that comes to us is a unique situation and a different community," she said.

Juelfs and Norgard met with business owners and community members after the Chamber meeting, answering questions about E3. 

The E3 offices are at Western Nebraska Community College in Sidney.