The following announcement was submitted by Mongomery College’s public information office:

The Hillman Family Foundation has pledged $600,000 over three years for aspiring entrepreneurs at Montgomery College. The Hillman Entrepreneurs Program, which will be located on the Germantown Campus, will create a new model for entrepreneurship education by providing students accepted into the program with partial scholarships, books, transferable entrepreneurship courses, hands-on mentoring, community-building activities, experiential learning opportunities and high-level networking with local entrepreneurs. The program will start spring semester 2013

The program strengthens the College’s relationship with the University of Maryland, College Park. After completing their associate’s degree, students will transfer to the university, take courses in entrepreneurship offered through the Hillman Entrepreneurs Program and earn a bachelor’s degree in any major.

David Hillman, chief executive officer of Southern Management Corporation, his wife Suzanne, daughter Cheryl, and son Richard are committed to Montgomery County. Both Cheryl and Richard and their families live in the county. Southern Management serves 11 communities in Montgomery County with more than 5,000 apartment homes and 15,000 residents. In addition, the company employs 400 individuals in the county and many of them live there.

The family is dedicated to providing educational opportunities for students in the county. Their foundation works to create entrepreneurial leaders in the communities in which they live and work. With this current pledge of $600,000, the family will have given more than $5 million to entrepreneurial programs at the University of Maryland, Prince George’s Community College, and Montgomery College. 

“I have deep roots in Montgomery County, back to my days as a student at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School,” said Mr. Hillman. “My family and I are pleased to support the community in this way and provide an opportunity for 30 Montgomery College students to pursue their educational and entrepreneurial dreams simultaneously. We are vested in the success of the county and its young people.”

“The College is blessed to have the Hillman Family provide an innovative program in entrepreneurship at the College,” said Dr. DeRionne P. Pollard, president of Montgomery College. “The Hillmans saw synergy and opportunity in our students’ entrepreneurial spirit and our partnership with the University of Maryland. We believe this combination will create a national model for entrepreneurship education among community colleges and support the important goal of college completion.”

While a collegewide program, the Hillman Entrepreneurs Program will be located at the Germantown Campus to provide Hillman scholars with the opportunity to benefit from internships and jobs at the Montgomery County Innovation Center, a county business incubator on the campus. The students will benefit from the close proximity of the College’s Hercules Pinkney Park, a science and business park that will have Holy Cross Germantown Hospital as its anchor tenant when the hospital opens in 2014.

For more information about the Hillman Entrepreneurs Program or the Montgomery College Foundation, contact David Sears, vice president of advancement, at david.sears@montgomerycollege.edu.