February is Black History Month, a time when we celebrate and honor black communities throughout the United States and highlight the people and stories that remain central to our nation’s history and enduring values. For ICIC, and our Inner City Capital Connections program in particular, this means recognizing  black-owned businesses’ unique challenges and successes,  and learning more about their founders’ stories. Read More

With the 20^th anniversary of the Inner City 100 program taking place this year, it’s a perfect time to look back at past IC100 winners and see how their participation impacted their lives, careers and communities. The broad range of individuals represented in the IC100 list is ever-changing, but they all seem to share a few things in common. Read More

To address the critical gap in support for minority and women entrepreneurs, and catalyze a national conversation around inclusive economic growth, JPMorgan Chase has expanded their Small Business Forward initiative with a multi-year commitment of $150 million to support women-, minority- and veteran-owned small businesses with greater access to capital, technical support and guidance. Read More

The use of liquor licenses as an economic development tool is a comparatively recent consideration among practitioners and policymakers, driven by an increased focus on equitable economic growth and growing recognition of antiquated public policies that underlie licenses’ distribution in many cities. In roughly half of US states, liquor license distribution is controlled or capped at the state-level. Read More

Youth UpRising, of Oakland, California, was created in 2003 in response to heightened racial tensions driven by decades of poverty and strife. They opened in 2005 with programming focused on direct service, community relations, and a unique public/private partnership between themselves, government, foundations, and other local service agencies. We sat down with their CFO, John Payne, to hear more about Youth UpRising and how ICCC helped them to scale the impact of their program. Read More