Scale Up Milwaukee has announced the 21 companies that will be participating in its inaugural SPARC class.

Melissa Tashjian of Compost Crusader, one of the SPARC companies.

The business growth training program, created in cooperation with the African American Chamber of Commerce and the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. with funding from JPMorgan Chase, is targeted to central city businesses with less than $1 million in revenue.

The selected businesses are:

Scale Up planned to accept as many as 30 businesses in the pilot program, which complements its Scalerator business growth program for companies with $1 million or more in revenue. Expert Milwaukee entrepreneurs, including Scalerator alumni, will teach the SPARC program, demonstrating how to increase revenue, hiring, capital expenditures and wealth creation. Participants also will have access to new resources such as financing, marketing, legal services and workforce training. Read the full story here.