Through a new collaboration with Richmond-area entrepreneurs, underrepresented students at Virginia Commonwealth University will have the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills and gain real-world experience.
In this new learning model, called the VCU Entrepreneurship Academy, 150 low-income and first generation college students will collaborate in a blended learning environment with 50 community members from Richmond’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, VCU announced earlier this year.
“For the Entrepreneurship Academy, it’s a priority of VCU and definitely a priority of the da Vinci Center to experiment and create opportunities for the community and students to work together,” said Lloyd Young, communications specialist at the VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation.
The Academy kicked off at VCU this semester and offers learning modules on design thinking, digital literacy, business model canvas and the art of the pitch. Both students and community members will earn digital badges when completing the modules.
“It’s all about the pitch, getting students pre-accelerator and accelerator ready,” Young said. “That’s the ecosystem that we are definitely preparing them for, to be able to, in a quick, agile environment, present their ideas.”
The Academy will be enhanced through the VCU Student Storefront, a new space on Broad Street where students will be able to test out retail concepts. The Storefront will launch later this spring during VCU’s Demo Day, an event that showcases innovative ideas, she said.
VCU Entrepreneurship Academy is a partnership between the VCU da Vinci Center, VCU REAL, Activation Capital and the Jackson Ward Collective, a hub founded by three Black female entrepreneurs last fall to connect and support Black business owners.
“The opportunity to support VCU students and Black entrepreneurs who are members of the Jackson Ward Collective through an Entrepreneurship Academy and physical storefront on the VCU campus, is aligned with our overall vision and fosters important conversations about race, equity and opportunity in Richmond and beyond,” Melody Short, Jackson Ward Collective co-founder, said in a statement.
“Our ultimate goal is to ‘Learn, Grow and Own’ in the Black community, and we know that we do that best when we do it together,” she added.
The Academy is funded through a $50,000 grant from the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities’ Coalition of Urban Serving Universities.
“As a leading urban public research university, VCU is an important catalyst for the future of higher education,” Garret Westlake, executive director of the da Vinci Center, said in a statement. “This APLU/USU grant will allow VCU and the da Vinci Center for Innovation to serve students in new ways, like the storefront on Broad Street, and continue to build a more inclusive and innovative ecosystem through community partnership.”
Chandra Briggman, president and CEO of Activation Capital, said the organization is proud to partner with VCU and the Jackson Ward Collective on the initiative.
"This effort is not only a great skill-building program for students and local entrepreneurs, but it also creates community among a diverse pool of entrepreneurs, strengthening the connective tissue of our ecosystem," Briggman said in a statement.