This story was reported with support from the Delaware Division of Small Business. DSB assists small businesses by providing guidance and advice, helping navigate state permitting processes, increasing access to funding opportunities and connecting owners with strategic partners. Its mission is to help small businesses start, grow and scale in Delaware.
Located in the middle of the state, on the bay side of the upper Delmarva peninsula, Delaware’s Kent County is known for agriculture, legislation and Dover Air Force Base.
Its entrepreneur ecosystem, not so much. At least not yet.
The Delaware State University College of Business in Dover is working on changing that. Launched in late 2024, its Center for Urban Revitalization and Entrepreneurship (CURE), a coworking space and incubator, serves DSU students, veterans and the broader Kent County community.
“Below the canal … there was no one that we saw that was offering services both as a shared workspace and or potential incubators.”
Michael Casson, DSU CURE Director
“We looked across the state, specifically below the canal, and there was no one that we saw that was offering services both as a shared workspace and or potential incubators,” CURE Director Michael Casson, who is also dean of DSU’s College of Business, told Technical.ly.
As a top historically Black college and university (HBCU), Delaware State University has long played a role in expanding access to education and opportunity. While CURE draws on university faculty, staff and student talent, it is a public-facing resource, welcoming entrepreneurs, remote workers and small business owners from across the region, regardless of background or affiliation.
The center and its programming reflects a growing role for universities as local economic anchors, particularly in regions where private-sector startup infrastructure has been limited.
Even small-town areas can benefit from innovation ecosystems
Set at the top of the state and home to Wilmington, Delaware’s most populous city, New Castle County has a number of technology and entrepreneur resources, including coworking spaces, accelerators and incubation programs.
But there’s an access gap when it comes to downstate. Technical.ly reporting in 2023 showed that Kent County’s growing remote workforce had few places to connect with each other. Despite near-universal broadband access, downstate entrepreneurs often described working in isolation, with limited access to coworking space, mentorship or startup programming.
While southernmost Sussex County will soon have its own outpost of The Mill coworking space, marking a major expansion for the Wilmington-based company, Kent County has had few offerings in the space.
“The dead zone of Delaware falls in between Seaford and Wilmington,” said one Camden remote worker in 2023.
The CURE initiative, with two sites in Dover on Division Street and State Street, takes aim at that disconnect, pairing physical space with training, community and targeted accelerator programs.
Inside the spaces, members can choose from a range of work environments. There are private offices, conference rooms and multiple shared work areas, including one roughly 700-sq.-ft. in size that can accommodate groups of 30 to 50 for workshops or collaboration, as well as a podcast room and a dedicated brainstorming room.
“We want to serve as one of the critical hubs and resources within the community,” said Casson, the director, “to help motivate [and] drive economic development via business creation and sustainability.”
Lowering the barriers to entrepreneurship, plus an on-ramp for veterans
Recognizing the presence of Dover Air Force Base and its cultural and economic impact in Kent County, CURE in December launched a veterans entrepreneurship program. The 8-week cohort offers structured, in-person training alongside access to workspace and local partners, with the goal of helping participants turn ideas into viable next steps. The original deadline was extended, so veterans across Kent County and beyond can still apply, with prior business experience required to get started.
“We support them,” Casson said, “from ideation to final execution.”
From the outset, CURE was designed to challenge unspoken assumptions baked into many coworking and startup programs, he said, particularly about who entrepreneurs are, what they can afford and what kind of support they need to succeed.
He noted that many shared workspaces cater to founders who already have capital, confidence and networks in place, which overlooks the realities facing many entrepreneurs in Kent County.
“We understand that, in order to be a successful entrepreneur, there are a lot of variables at play, even above and beyond access to capital,” Casson said.
That understanding shaped both CURE’s programming and its pricing model. In addition to business plan development, marketing and operational training, CURE incorporates what Casson described as the social determinants of entrepreneurship, including mental health, mindset and the psychological pressures of starting a business.
Since January 2025 when CURE first launched, it has drawn about 170 members, who pay between $50 and $250 per year for access to the spaces, with costs for a private office running $5 per day and conference rooms $10 an hour. Members also get access to business training and workshops covering fundamentals like marketing and social media, business plan development.
By keeping membership costs low, CURE aims to create an environment where founders can focus on building viable businesses without the barriers that often keep early-stage ideas from getting off the ground.
