Notley's Center for Social Innovation in East Austin is living up to its name.
After attracting change-makers including Women@Austin, Latinitas, Student INC and Black Fret, the organization led by Dan and Lisa Graham on Thursday announced a new philanthropic investment and partnership with DivInc, an accelerator dedicating to helping startups led by diverse founders.
That means DivInc will move its accelerator from its current home at Capital Factory to Relay Coworking at Notley's Center for Social Innovation. Notley Ventures' team will provide finance, operations and marketing for DivInc -- as well as fundraising support.
DivInc, led by co-founder and CEO Preston L. James II, will remain an independent accelerator and stick with its mission of helping diverse founders and transforming Austin's tech ecosystem to be more inclusive.
As part of the new partnership, Dan Graham, former CEO of BuildASign.com, will become director of the DivInc board, and Notley VP of Finance Julie Oliver will become a board observer. The board is chaired by Josh Jones-Dilworth, founder and CEO of the consulting firm Jones-Dilworth, Inc.
"Notley’s transformative gift gives us the runway we need to become sustainable by the end of 2020," James said in the announcement. "We’re big believers in Notley’s model, and are proud to join their portfolio."
Along with the new partnership, DivInc outlined a few new priorities.
That includes a major new awards program called Champions of Change that recognizes leaders advancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace and throughout the community. That takes place at City Hall on March 1.
It also announced plans to launch a membership program with different levels of engagement in the DivInc community.
The new partnership with Notley also appears to give DivInc additional runway -- the organization even said it's in early discussions about expanding to another city, although it might not happen until next year.
In its announcement, Notley noted that while startups create jobs and provide economic growth, women and people of color have to overcome additional barriers to entry and challenges in building tech startups.
"For example, of the more than 6 million companies owned by African Americans and Hispanics, more than 90 percent are sole proprietors," the announcement read. "Meanwhile, only 78 percent of non-minority owned companies are sole proprietors. If African American and Hispanic entrepreneurs were to achieve parity by building scalable, high growth businesses, it is estimated they would generate 5.9 million new jobs and $871 billion in revenue for the U.S. economy. By accelerating companies founded by women and people of color, DivInc and Notley aim to make an impact in Austin and across the country."
