$1.6M grant will create incubator for low-income, minority entrepreneurs
October 19, 2017 | Bobby Burch
A large federal grant will help reanimate an older industrial building in Kansas City to serve as a small business incubator.
The U.S. Economic Development Administration recently awarded a $1.6 million grant to the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri. The Kansas City organization said that the grant should create about 90 new jobs.
The grant funds will aid in the construction and renovations of the 13,000-square-foot space, which is expected to feature a commercial kitchen, co-working space, conference rooms and other business services. The Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) helped lead regional planning efforts to secure the grant, bringing together public and private partners to develop a strategic economic development approach.
Pedro Zamora, the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation’s executive director, told KCUR that minority groups are at times forgotten in the area entrepreneurial community. The new space, however, might help with more equitable entrepreneurial growth.
“It’s a big piece that’s missing,” Zamora told KCUR. “We know Kansas City has been identified as the fastest growing entrepreneurial epicenter for the nation, but are we growing equitably?
“We put together a strategy that can allow us to participate in that same entrepreneurial, competitive edge, but bringing in accessibility for the underserved communities.”
Established in 1993, the HEDC aims to develop and implement economic development initiatives that would positively contribute to the quality of life for Latinos in the Greater Kansas City Area. Learn more about the organization here.
Featured Business
2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Pipeline pilots new ‘Pathway’ cohort to boost womxn, minority, rural founders into scaling position
Editor’s note: Pipeline Entrepreneurs, a network and fellowship of high-performing entrepreneurs in the Midwest, is a community partner and financial supporter of Startland News. A new fellowship program designed exclusively for underserved entrepreneurs is expected to help better prepare founders who identify as womxn, minority, or are leading a business in a rural community to…
Exclusive listen: Coffee entrepreneur, bandmates tease new music, how they find harmony between notes
Golden Groves was ready to pour its music for audiences in 2020, but when stages across the world — including Boulevardia in Kansas City — went dark, members of the local indie rock band refined their flavor. “Our collective history is with jazz and rock in roll, but we each bring in our own unique musical…
In the Black: Why Venture Noire is bringing capital resources from Arkansas to KC’s founders of color
It’s time Black-led companies went from over-mentored and under-resourced to well-connected and infused with capital, Keenan Beasley said, announcing plans for establishing more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems that begin, in part, with a presence in Kansas City. “Kansas City is a very mature market,” Beasley, founder of Venture Noire, said of what he’s observed among the…
Comeback KC Ventures launches program to fund, accelerate COVID solutions in region
A new Kansas City-based program is recruiting 20 fellows — from among the metro’s first-time entrepreneurs and established businesses — for an effort to help accelerate innovations, products or service lines that are solving needs exposed by the pandemic. “The public health crisis posed by COVID-19 ignited a need for rapid change and innovation,” said Jim…