A land-grant commitment, delivered locally.
CED Tarrant County is the local Community and Economic Development office of Prairie View A&M University Extension. Prairie View A&M is an 1890 land-grant university, part of the system created by the Morrill Act of 1890 to reach communities the earlier land-grant institutions did not serve. Extension is how that promise gets kept: research-based help, delivered free, in the county where you live.
Chelsé Lilly
Chelsé Lilly is the CED Extension Agent (EA-PV-CED) for Tarrant County with the Prairie View A&M University Extension Program (PV Extension), based in Fort Worth. She is also the Program Director of the Tarrant County B.I.D. Academy. She helps North Texas entrepreneurs start and grow businesses that can stand on their own, with hands-on guidance in business planning, branding, marketing strategy, and financial literacy. Much of her work is about authenticity and access: connecting small business owners, many of them from historically underutilized communities, to funding, technical assistance, and the partners who can help them take the next step.
Her flagship initiative through PV Extension is The Business In Development (B.I.D.) Academy, a free cohort program that helps entrepreneurs build and scale their businesses, complete a vendor readiness file and prepare to compete for government contracts. She also runs pitch events, visual storytelling sessions, and workshops that meet business owners where they are, and she partners with local organizations, nonprofits, and agencies across Tarrant, Dallas, and Kaufman counties as part of PV Extension's North Texas Community and Economic Development team.
Chelsé came to Extension work through learning design. For more than twelve years she has built educational content and told visual stories that make hard concepts usable, from micro-learning and short-form video to AI and VR integrations to full curricula. She teaches Personal Branding and Identity as a faculty adjunct professor in the College of Innovation and Design at East Texas A&M University, and she holds a master's degree in Educational Technology-Leadership from Texas A&M University-Commerce, now East Texas A&M University, along with a background in business communications and digital media. Her certifications include CreditSmart facilitator training from Freddie Mac, homebuyer education training from NeighborWorks America, and credentials in User Experience (UX) Design and Digital Marketing.
What we do, at no cost.
Every one-on-one is free. Come with questions, you do not have to have a finished plan. You do not have to have it figured out to get real help. Programming spans the full life of a business, from the first idea to the pass-down. Every offering is open to any resident of Tarrant County and North Texas, at no cost.
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Entrepreneurship & Small Business
The foundation. From idea to launch to sustainable operations for solo founders and small teams.
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Government & Institutional Contracting
Federal, state, county, city, and prime contracting. Registrations, capability, pricing, delivery.
- 03
Business Operations & Back Office
Bookkeeping, pricing, cash flow, entity structure, the plumbing that keeps a business alive.
- 04
Access to Capital & Banking
Grants, microloans, SBA, banking relationships. Getting funded without getting stuck.
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Technology, Tools & Automation
AI for small business, automation, and the tools that let a small team punch above their weight.
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Workforce & Apprenticeship
Hiring, apprenticeship pathways, and building a team that can deliver on your promise.
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Housing & Homeownership
Homeownership readiness, downpayment resources, and homebuyer education.
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Wealth Building & Ownership
Generational wealth, land, business valuation, and planning the exit or the pass-down.
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Youth Entrepreneurship
Building the next generation of owners, starting before college, not after.
"The 1890 land-grant system was built because knowledge was reaching some communities and not others. Extension is the correction, and it is still doing the job proudly."
The structure, top to bottom.
- 01
Prairie View A&M University
An 1890 land-grant university, part of the system created by the Morrill Act of 1890 to reach communities the earlier land-grant institutions did not serve.
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CAFNR
The College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. The home of PV Extension.
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PV Extension
Four program areas: Agriculture and Natural Resources, Community and Economic Development, 4-H Youth Development, and Family and Community Health. Each is its own unit with its own focus.
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Community and Economic Development
Ours. Education and resources for small business, entrepreneurship, technical assistance, workforce development, homeownership, financial literacy, and more.
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CED Tarrant County
The local office, serving all 41 cities, towns, and municipalities in the County, from Fort Worth, Arlington, Grand Prairie and Mansfield to Euless, Grapevine, Hurst, and every community in between.
Non-discrimination & accommodations.
In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, and reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, and American Sign Language) should contact the State or local Agency that administers the program or contact USDA through the Telecommunications Relay Service at 711 (voice and TTY). Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.
Persons who require language services or a reasonable accommodation, please contact LAS@pvamu.edu by email or call 936-261-5166 a minimum of 21 days before the event.