Partners

We Put Our Experience to Work for Our Partners

To learn more about how you can support ICIC, please email Liz Pugh, Director of Development.

Our corporate, foundation, and individual partners have one thing in common: an unwavering commitment to helping under-resourced communities and small businesses thrive. ICIC collaborates with Fortune 500 companies, anchor institutions, and local stakeholders to facilitate private sector investment, create opportunities for small businesses, and advance knowledge of underserved economies and the strategies that inform local economic policy.

NATIONAL SUSTAINING PARTNERS

Goldman Sachs & Co. | 10,000 Small Businesses

ICIC serves as the outreach and recruitment partner and leads the application and selection process for Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, a $500 million investment to help small businesses create jobs and economic opportunity by providing them greater access to business education, financial capital, and business support services.

Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente has partnered with ICIC on our Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program and our ICIC Alumni Network (ICAN) to realize Kaiser’s vision for improved wellness outcomes through economic empowerment.

Santander

Santander and ICIC have partnered together to launch Cultivate Small Business, an innovative program linking small business resources to a regional cluster. The program is designed to help early-stage entrepreneurs in low-income neighborhoods build and sustain their businesses, with a focus on women-, minority-, and immigrant-owned businesses in food-related industries. Santander also partners with ICIC on other programs, including the Inner City 100 and the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program.

Bank of America Foundation

Bank of America and ICIC co-created the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program in 2005, which is now offered in dozens of cities throughout the United States and Canada. ICCC is the only program of its kind, focused on teaching small businesses in economically distressed areas how to raise capital and facilitate connections with interested investors. As a result of their long-term partnership, Bank of America and ICIC have thousands of under-resourced companies that are engines of economic growth in their communities.

Goldman Sachs & Co. | Black in Business

ICIC leads the application and selection process for Black in Business, a free business education program created by Goldman Sachs dedicated to equipping sole proprietors with the tools necessary to turn their business potential into business growth. The program helps sole proprietors learn how to price their product or service, hire their first employee, understand their finances, and so much more.

FedEx

FedEx has partnered with ICIC to create a robust Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) site in Memphis and bring the program back to Dallas and Miami, helping FedEx realize its vision for empowering entrepreneurs and creating employment pathways for the underserved. FedEx also partners with ICIC on the Inner City 100 program that recognizes and celebrates fast-growing companies whose success illuminates the competitive advantages of locating in an under-resourced community, including presenting the annual FedEx Champion of Global Entrepreneurship Award.

Yum! Brands

As part of Yum! Brands’ global Unlocking Opportunity Initiative, which is its commitment to tackle inequality and make a positive and sustainable social impact in communities and on frontline restaurant workers, Yum! has partnered with ICIC to bring the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program to Canada for the first time. The program focuses on equity and inclusion, education and entrepreneurship – all key tenets of Yum!’s initiative. Delivered in partnership with Pizza Hut, the program is offered in English and Canadian French, targeting minority-, immigrant-, indigenous-, and disabled-owned businesses throughout Canada.

Regions Bank

With Regions’ support, ICIC has brought the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program to Birmingham, Memphis, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Houston, Indianapolis, Nashville, Miami, and Dallas over the last several years. By providing local entrepreneurs with access to capital, education, and resources for growth, Regions is helping create shared value by strengthening economically-distressed small business ecosystems throughout its footprint.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has provided ICIC with research grants, including one in support of a partnership with SRI focused on regional economic connectivity as a pathway to tackling concentrated poverty and advancing inclusive innovation, as well as a partnership with Small Business Majority to create a data visualization of structural racism and place.

City of Boston

ICIC is a technical assistance provider for small business owners in the construction industry as part of the City of Boston’s Supplying Capital and Leveraging Education (SCALE) program. The purpose of the SCALE program is to build businesses’ capacity to more effectively pursue government contracts, focusing on industry categories that represent a large share of the City of Boston’s purchases through competitive procurement.

Intuit

ICIC and Intuit have partnered in support of the Building for Growth (BFG) construction cluster small business program. Through this partnership, ICIC and Intuit are providing businesses in the construction industry with networks, tools, and education needed to build their backlog, access capital, and increase their bonding capacity. In addition, Intuit and ICIC have partnered to help small business owners gain more understanding of how artificial intelligence (AI) can benefit them through an extensive research study and the Intuit More with AI Tour.

MassMutual Foundation

Since 2018, ICIC and the MassMutual Foundation have partnered to offer ICIC’s signature ICCC program to Springfield’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Together, we have supported hundreds of local small businesses that are the engines of job creation and inclusive economic growth in Western Massachusetts. In 2025, our partnership expanded to launch the inaugural cohort of ICIC’s Manufacturing Accelerator Program (MAP), ensuring this national initiative includes a strong focus on Massachusetts-based manufacturing firms.

Arctaris

Arctaris has been a leading supporter of the Inner City Capital Connections program since 2015, supporting cohorts in Massachusetts and Detroit. Arctaris has partnered with the Kresge Foundation, ICIC, and multiple other foundation, federal and state government agencies to invest in Opportunity Zones, inner cities and targeted rural communities throughout the U.S., with the aim of delivering above-market investment returns alongside positive social impact.

New Jersey Economic Development Authority

The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) and Kean University partnered with ICIC to offer the Building for Growth (BFG) program to a statewide cohort in New Jersey. The transformative, tuition-free initiative is designed to equip minority-, woman-, veteran-owned, and/or overburdened construction companies with the skills, tools, and mentorship needed to scale their businesses, secure larger contracts, and achieve sustainable growth.

Greater St. Louis Inc.

ICIC and Greater St. Louis Inc. have partnered to support the St. Louis small business ecosystem, including through the creation of a dedicated chapter of ICIC’s Alumni Network (ICAN), providing training on introductory and advanced procurement topics, and recruiting local firms to participate in other ICIC programs such as MAP and ICCC.

M&T Bank

M&T Bank has partnered with ICIC as part of its broad commitmentto empowering entrepreneurs from all backgrounds to thrive in today’s dynamic business landscape. Together, we provide resources, networking, and support for small business owners through our ICCC and ICAN programming, helping them achieve sustainable growth and success throughout the Bank’s footprint, including in critical geographies such as Maryland, Washington D.C., and Massachusetts.

2026 PARTNERS

ICIC is also deeply grateful to its partners for their generous support of our mission. The following contributed $20,000 or more during the past two years:

American Family Insurance

Lynda Applegate & Paul McDonald

Appleton Partners, Inc.

Bain Capital

Beacon Bank

Boston Consulting Group

The Boston Foundation

Cardinal Health, Inc.

Cencora

The Coleman Foundation

Deloitte

Eastern Bank Foundation