According to the Small Business Administration, there are an estimated 4.65 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S., making this the fastest-growing segment of small businesses in the country. We are excited to spotlight one of our grantees working hard to support these business leaders of the future: Foundation of Little Village (FLV). Formerly known …
As part of our strategic plan learning agenda in entrepreneurship, Coleman co-hosted a virtual workshop for Business SupportOrganizations (BSOs) in February with the Fund for Equitable Business Growth (the Fund). The Fund, a collaboration between the Chicago Community Trust and several Chicago foundations including Coleman, is committed to building a more just, equitable and resilient …
Clark McCain, Senior Program Officer reflects on The Coleman Foundation’s pivot to support entrepreneurship education in Chicago’s low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, and its strategy to grow a support network for them. Decades of support for entrepreneurship education and lessons learned from the UrbanMain pilot program shape the program.
Coleman Foundation funds community-based business support organizations to provide financial literacy training, but many entrepreneurs still don’t know they need it. A significant number of business owners in low and moderate-income neighborhoods were not able to access capital or apply for PPP loans. Learn more about what grantees are doing to address this financial literacy knowledge gap.
A recent report from DePaul University’s Coleman Entrepreneurship Center connects the Coleman Foundation’s past and future efforts and sets the course for new directions. After making a critical contribution to establishing the field of entrepreneurship in higher education across the nation for forty years, the Foundation began to shift our focus closer to our Chicago …
Funding in partnership with the Chicago Community Trust and others, we share news of the Fund for Equitable Business Growth’s 14 recent awards to create a marketplace of services for entrepreneurs of color in the Chicago region. The Fund’s vision is to close the racial and ethnic wealth gap and build a more just, equitable …
More than 3,000 Chicago-area workers who serve individuals with disabilities will receive a special gift of appreciation this week—and those gifts provided a financial boost for six local small businesses; five of which are female- or minority-owned. Chicago-based Coleman Foundation donated $50,000 to a network of nonprofit agencies, Intersect for Ability. In turn,the agencies bought …
A new Coleman Foundation-funded entrepreneur training center wants to help Far North Side Chicago’s Spanish-speaking residents get their business ideas off the ground. The Rogers Park Business Alliance has expanded its GROW entrepreneur training program to include classes for predominantly Spanish-language speakers. Called GROW/Progresando, the new program will be run out of a storefront at …
New Rogers Park Program Aims To Train Spanish-Speaking Entrepreneurs Read More »
The Coleman Foundation has supported the launch of the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship, empowering creatives at all levels with the knowledge, skills, and relationships necessary for business success. See this recent story in Reel Chicago for details and an exciting 2020 program and event schedule.
On October 1, 2019, The Coleman Foundation joined Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and a group of six Chicago banks and three fellow grantmaking organizations to announce its recent support for the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund. The new investments bring the total funding committed to the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund to over $9 million to support minority entrepreneurs on Chicago’s South and West sides.
