Insights & Analyses
- insight 1
- insight 2
Drivers of Inequity
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Strategies
Grow an equitable economy: Policies to expand business ownership for entrepeneurs of color
- Increase access to resources to help underrepresented entrepreneurs build and repair credit and attract investment and loan capital to start and grow their businesses.
- Increase access to capital for Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Business Centers, which are charged with creating sustainable jobs within businesses owned and operated by entrepreneurs of color through services focused on access to capital, contracts, and markets
- Improve MBDA data-tracking mechanisms to better track utilization of MBDA services and inform policies that support businesses owned by people of color
- Connect aspiring entrepreneurs to business mentoring programs through grassroots organizations and government agencies, including the SCORE association, Entrepreneurship.org, and Prosperity Now.
- Close the racial wealth gap by increasing access to capital and government contracts for people of color.
- Include entrepreneurship as a part of career and technical education for high school students and include age-appropriate entrepreneurial skill-building in K-12 education
- Offer low-income communities financial advantages similar to those in wealthy communities by expanding services at CDFIs to include small-dollar loans and savings accounts
Strategy in Action
Prosper Portland’s Startup PDX Challenge: Nurturing an Inclusive Startup Culture
As part of its action plan to cultivate entrepreneurs of color and create a more inclusive startup ecosystem, Prosper Portland (the economic and urban development agency of the City of Portland, Oregon) founded the Startup PDX Challenge, an annual competition from 2013-2015 designed to connect entrepreneurs from underrepresented demographics in the tech and manufacturing industries with early-stage growth support and funding. Winners receive a $25,000 convertible note or low-interest loan, free rent, legal services, and marketing and hiring/HR services. Among the founders in the 2014 and 2015 classes, 61 percent were black and/or Latino. Learn more.
