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SALISBURY, MD---The sixth round of a five-year, $1 million program to create new jobs is Thursday, April 21, at Salisbury University as entrepreneurs vie $90,000 in business funding, the remaining portion of the $200,000 allocated for this competition year.

In 2013, the Philip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Foundation announced the $1 million gift to SU’s Franklin P. Perdue School of Business to establish the Ratcliffe Shore Hatchery. Its goal: to fund entrepreneurs and have new businesses opening within six months, with the potential of employing three or more within a year.

Each year for the next two years, up to $200,000 will be available for those applying for grants through the Shore Hatchery program. Shore Hatchery board of directors members select recipients based on multi-round presentations.

Applicants representing multiple geographic territories and business sectors will compete in the sixth round of grants in a Shark Tank/Gull Cage contest that afternoon, delivering elevator pitches to the judges.

Those moving on to the business case round, tentatively scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. in Perdue Hall’s Bennett Family Auditorium, give more thorough presentations. Winners are expected to be announced at approximately 6 p.m., followed by a reception.

Ratcliffe Shore Hatchery board members include Jim Perdue of Perdue Farms, Dave Rommel and Mike Cottingham of Rommel Holdings, Frank Gunion of South Moon Under, Jennifer Layton of Layton’s Chance Vineyards and Winery, Bruce Rogers of Sherwood of Salisbury, Katherine Kiernan of APPI Energy and Sandy Fitzgerald-Angelo of Pohanka Automotive, among others.

Admission to the 5 p.m. presentations is free and the public is invited. For more information call 410-543-6316 or visit the Perdue School website at www.salisbury.edu/perdue.