Our Business Incubator

Working Order Incubator supports entrepreneurship for individuals with low incomes, disabilities or disadvantages who are seeking to create meaningful work for themselves through sole-proprietorship.

Since 1996, Working Order Incubator has been coaching individuals who are choosing self-employment as their best fit alternative to traditional work options. It became a program of Volunteers of America of Pennsylvania in 2006, continuing its policy of serving those who are committed to work.

Shared office space and equipment; business coaching and planning; feasibility testing; and accounting, sales, marketing and technical skills assistance are available for anyone who is choosing self-employment as either a long-term option or a bridge to more traditional employment.

The vision is that each individual will have an opportunity to work at his or her optimal capacity. Individuals will learn from a varied network of colleagues, developing the necessary skills to participate fully in the community through their work.

Our goals are to provide support for entrepreneurs in a cooperative setting, to create a diverse work environment welcoming people with or without disabilities and to make micro-enterprise accessible to the widest range of individuals through business coaching, shared resources, and community connections.

Coaching is available at 1650 Main Street, Sharpsburg, PA 15215 or via web-based contact throughout Pennsylvania. Support is customized to meet the unique requirements of the entrepreneur and includes some or all of the available resources following an assessment of the individual need for skill training, business plans, feasibility studies, networking, coaching, marketing ideas and/or shared equipment.

Over half of the Working Order Incubator participants start or grow their businesses, about one third return to traditional employment and nearly all learn a new skill. Individuals come to the program through referrals by the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, recommendations by community partners and by self selection.