Underlying our work is the power that entrepreneurship has to transform lives, build individual and community wealth, and catalyze positive change. Yet too many people still face significant, systemic barriers to entrepreneurial opportunity which limit economic and wealth-building opportunities for a large portion of our fellow residents, hampering the ability of cities to fully thrive and compete.
These entrepreneurs and the neighborhoods in which they are embedded are largely under-connected, under-resourced, under-valued, and under-invested, which limits their potential for success. To this end, Forward Cities is committed to ensuring that all individuals, regardless of background, can reach their full entrepreneurial potential and that the communities in which they live thrive.
To realize this commitment we work with partner communities to better understand their current entrepreneurial landscape through the lens of equity and inclusion and help them develop and ultimately implement strategies to strengthen systems of support for currently under-connected, under-invested entrepreneurs and small business owners. The result: better connected entrepreneurs to trusted, culturally competent resources that help stabilize local small business economies and lead to an increase in entrepreneurial starts and small business growth more reflective of the city’s demographic.