KANSAS CITY, Mo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--While startup activity in the United States is slowly rising, women and minorities consistently have lower rates of entrepreneurship. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation today announces grants to a dozen nonprofit entrepreneur support organizations to help remedy that. The Inclusion Challenge grant program will award funds to the selected organizations to help female entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color achieve higher rates of success.
“Entrepreneurship in America should be available to everyone, yet women and minorities continue to face more obstacles to starting businesses when it comes to accessing funding, education, mentors and markets,” said Victor Hwang, vice president of Entrepreneurship at the Kauffman Foundation. “The Inclusion Challenge grants will enable these outstanding support organizations to expand their services to empower more entrepreneurs and help them succeed. The nation and our economy as a whole will benefit from more entrepreneurs generating income and wealth in traditionally underserved markets.”
Inclusion Challenge grant recipients are attending the Kauffman Foundation’s Mayors Conference on Entrepreneurship today in St. Petersburg, Fla., where Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet of the Small Business Administration will honor the grantees’ commitment to leveling the field for women and minority entrepreneurs. The Mayors Conference theme is “Diversifying Entrepreneurial Opportunity.”
Selected from more than 376 applicants, the Inclusion Challenge grantees serve a range of sectors in 13 states from coast to coast. Grant awards range from $87,000 to $420,000 over the next two years per grantee.
The Inclusion Challenge grantees are listed below:
Association for Women in Science, Washington, D.C.
BioSTL, St. Louis
Chicago Urban League Entrepreneurship Center
Commons on Champa, Denver
The Company Lab, Chattanooga, TN
Entrepreneurship + Innovation at Arizona State University
EforAll, Massachusetts
Kapor Center for Social Impact, Oakland, Calif.
LAUNCH, Chattanooga, TN
Meda, Minneapolis, Minn.
The New School, New York
Propeller, New Orleans
About the Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation that aims to foster economic independence by advancing educational achievement and entrepreneurial success. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo., and has approximately $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org, and follow the Foundation on www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn.
