The Bank of America Global Ambassadors event in held in September in Chicago supported the advancement of women’s leadership and economic empowerment. It featured a diverse group of leading women executives and other powerful voices in entrepreneurship and business, including Stephanie Hickman, President and CEO of Chicago-based Trice Construction Company and an alumna of the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) program. Read More

In the early 2000s, Corpus Christi, Texas – a city of over 300,000 with a poverty rate hovering around 18 percent – was searching for ways to support its entrepreneurial community. Read More

Impact investing is a double bottom line investment approach that looks to generate a competitive rate of return while investing funds into projects that will have a positive social, economic or environmental impact. There are now at least $114 billion worth of impact investing assets under management, according to a recent survey conducted by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), a group of charities, banks, foundations, insurance companies and asset managers dedicated to increasing impact investing. Read More

A key aspect of the Inner City Capital Connections program is executive education focused on capacity-building, which allows entrepreneurs an opportunity to receive high-quality training while running their businesses. The success of the program depends on the quality of the professors who have been recruited from leading business schools throughout the country. Of these educators, Steven Rogers is surely one of the most beloved. Now the most senior teacher in the ICCC program, Rogers considers himself a tenured faculty member. Read More

From urban agriculture to kitchen incubators, many forms of food-related enterprises can act as catalysts for inner city job growth and business development. While the direct impact of grocery stores is more commonly considered part of the broader discussion around food deserts, they too can have significant economic effect on their local communities. Read More