Kauffman Foundation Awards $4.3 Million in Grants to Organizations that Support Women and Minority Entrepreneurs
Small Business Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet to honor the
organizations’ commitment to leveling the field for women and minorities
at Kauffman’s Mayors Conference on Entrepreneurship
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.
Contacts
Media:
Goldin Solutions
John
Eddy, 646-660-8648
john@goldinsolutions.com
or
Kauffman
Foundation
Barbara Pruitt, 816-932-1288
bpruitt@kauffman.org
