This spotlight is part of the “PLACE Builders fellows” series. More information about the PLACE (Pava LaPere Award for Cultivating Ecosystems) Builders fellowship can be found here.
Sarah Spear
New England Region
New England fellow, Sarah Spear, is building relationships with local business owners who care about accessibility and publishing accessibility reviews of small businesses in New Haven on Empowered Together’s online marketplace to connect disabled people and caregivers with excellent customer experiences.
"Because I’m creating the inclusive world I want to live in with my kids, I remain committed to seeing this work succeed."
Sarah Spear
Sarah is building an online marketplace that enables people with disabilities and caregivers to discover, connect with, and review curated businesses through an accessibility lens. She aims to test the number of businesses and users necessary for the marketplace to become invaluable for both sides of this market and explore the value propositions for businesses and users to identify a sustainable, scalable revenue model.
Sarah shares that she is looking forward to “professional mentorship in this realm and working alongside fellows who are building in their own places...I’d also love to scale what I’m building in New Haven to other geographies and hope to make connections through the program that may help me identify places where an online marketplace for the disability community could be beneficial.”
Meet the other PLACE Builders fellows:
Inspired by the legacy of Pava LaPere, forever Chief Ecosystem Officer and Co-Founder of EcoMap Technologies, as a tribute to her legacy of fighting for equal access to opportunity, the PLACE (Pava LaPere Award for Cultivating Ecosystems) Builders fellowship aims to catalyze more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems by providing intensive training, peer support, and community pilots to eight selected fellows.
We invite you to support the inaugural PLACE Builders fellowship fund.