Four Chicago startup and tech organizations will be awarded grants totaling $1.7 million over the next two years as part of the Blackstone Inclusive Entrepreneurship Challenge, an initiative run by the New York-based Blackstone Charitable Foundation and ChicagoNEXT, the tech-focused division of World Business Chicago.
The Challenge, which began last June, aims to help fund organizations that supply resources to underserved entrepreneurs. When the initiative first launched, eight organizations were awarded one-year grants, totaling $1 million.
However, the new grants announced Tuesday are being awarded to the four that Blackstone and WBC felt best demonstrated their ability to help diverse entrepreneurs scale and grow businesses. They include Bethel New Life, Blue1647, Bunker Labs and Future Founders.
“We’re excited to build on the momentum from the first year of the Blackstone Challenge with this new round of grants,” said Jon Gray, president and chief operating officer at Blackstone, in a statement. “This approach—identifying great organizations and committing to them at scale—mirrors in many ways our approach to investing, and we look forward to seeing the continued positive impacts of bringing the benefits of entrepreneurship to underserved communities.”
In the first year of the Challenge, more than 13,000 aspiring entrepreneurs participated in over 800 courses, workshops and programs hosted by the organizations. Over the next two years, Blackstone and WBC say they will focus on regional programming for underserved entrepreneurs to get equal access to resources throughout Chicago’s tech ecosystem.
Bethel New Life, an organization that provides resources to the city’s West Side communities, is being awarded $400,000 and aims to use the new funding to expand its business innovation technology programming. Additionally, it wants to create a new design thinking institute that will bring tech training to other community development organizations throughout the city.
Blue1647, an innovation hub and business accelerator primarily for minorities, is getting $450,000 to launch Bluecontinuity, an initiative to expand and tailor their course offerings to larger groups of people.
Bunker Labs, an entrepreneurship program for military veterans, is receiving $450,000 and says it will use the money to launch a fifty-state expansion of Launch Lab Online, its virtual entrepreneurship course.
And lastly, Future Founders, the local program for young entrepreneurs, is being awarded $400,000 and wants to use it to expand their Future Founders Residency, a program that provides one-on-one mentoring, growth coaches and venture pitching to millennials.
“Blackstone and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation have been very intentional and impactful about investing in Chicago as both a corporate and civic partner,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a statement. “Chicago is leading the nation when it comes to inclusive entrepreneurship, and the next phase of the Blackstone Challenge will direct substantial resources to organizations that work tirelessly to make sure anyone can be an entrepreneur.”
