Aerica Shimizu Banks

Beacon
Washington, DC, WA

Beacon is a community-led campaign to make Washington, DC the most influential and supportive city for women entrepreneurs in the United States. Their goal is to make DC a model city to demonstrate how investors, companies, mentors and government can work together to ensure women entrepreneurs have an equal opportunity to succeed.  The initiative brings together business leaders, investors, government leaders, mentoring networks and other allies in a unified effort to expand funding and other resources and opportunities for women entrepreneurs.

Tomas Duran

Concerned Capital
Los Angeles, CA

Concerned Capital is a social benefit corporation that specializes in social impact investments. They strive to create and save jobs by directing capital to low- to-moderate income communities. They engage in business expansion and restructuring, and oversee minority business certification for procurement contracts. They also work with the transition of ownership for privately held companies to employees, next generation, or other purchasers identified by the company owner

Leah Whiteside

Dorchester Bay Community Development
Boston, MA

Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation acts to build a strong, thriving, and diverse community in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhoods. Working closely with neighborhoods, residents, businesses and partners, they access resources to develop and preserve homeownership and rental housing across income levels, create and sustain economic development opportunities for businesses and individuals, and build community through organizing, civic engagement, and leadership development.

Clair Minson-Watson

Associated Black Charities
Baltimore, MD

Associated Black Charities is a public foundation that advocates and facilitates the creation of healthier and more prosperous communities through responsible leadership and philanthropic investment throughout the State of Maryland. Through its More in the Middle Initiative and its health disparities work, ABC acts as an advocate and grantmaker to address issues impacting Maryland communities. They also convene people, groups, and stakeholders with the power to address issues that impact the region.

Jason Ness

Made in Charlottesville
Charlottesville, VA

Made in Charlottesville is a program designed to showcase the vibrant and unique businesses in Charlottesville, Virginia. Charlottesville’s small footprint of 10.4 square miles is filled with makers and creative businesses that design, produce, manufacture, and assemble products across a range of industries. These types of businesses contribute to the dynamic culture that makes Charlottesville unique.

Erin Patten

Ponyride
Detroit, MI

Ponyride is a Detroit nonprofit committed to facilitating the growth of social missions within artists, entrepreneurs, makers, and nonprofits. They activate space, offer it at a low cost, and encourage organizations with social missions to utilize it and outgrow their space. Ponyride currently has 60+ residents renting out the space on a month-to-month lease term.

Tom Orr

Indianapolis LISC
Indianapolis, IN

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Indianapolis is the local office of the country’s largest community development corporation. They are dedicated to transforming distressed neighborhoods into healthy and sustainable communities. By mobilizing corporate, government, and philanthropic support, LISC provides financing, technical advice, management and program consulting, training, and policy support to neighborhoods. Their efforts are based on the proven principle that sustainable revitalization works best when it is driven by community residents and stakeholders, not imposed from the outside.

Gina Lugan

HackerLab
Sacramento, CA

HackerLab aims to educate folks and seed startups with community driven resources. They provide coworking for professionals, hobbiests, and dreamers, and have a maker space with over 250K worth of advanced fabrication equipment. HackerLab also provides EDU courses and Meetup space for technology, fabrication, design, and startups. They engage in community mentorship for startups, engineers, and designers, and hold networking and industry events.