Initiative For A Competitive Inner City Inc

Programs: Urban business initiativesthe program consists of four initiatives: inner city 100, inner city capital connections, 10,000 small businesses, and cultivate small business. Inner city 100 the inner city 100 identifies and recognizes 100 of the fastest growing private inner city companies, which are creating jobs, income and wealth for local residents. It is the most ambitious project in america to uncover and celebrate inner city entrepreneurship and business success. Companies who make the list are invited to the inner city 100 conference and awards, an event providing the leaders of these incredible companies with the latest in world-class management education. Winning companies are ranked and profiled in fortune magazine. The inner city 100 program has brought much needed attention and support to the little known companies that are fueling the rebirth of urban areas. Since 1999 we recognized 928 inner city 100 firms. They employed on average 136 people. These companies had an approximate average five-year growth rate of 414%, and generated an average of $27 million in annual sales. In 2017, approximately 45% of these businesses were minority-owned and 32% were woman-owned. Inner city capital connections inner city capital connections (iccc) is a yearlong national program that connects several hundred urban-based, investment-ready companies with corporate leaders, capital providers, educators, advisors and peers. Iccc serves entrepreneurs with revenues of over $500,000 who are seeking growth capital, and provides targeted capacity building, training and coaching. In addition to assessing the strength of their businesses and preparing for capital infusion, firms benefit from networking with investors and peers and formal pitch sessions with investors. Since 2005, iccc has impacted over 1500 unique firms that have in turn raised $1. 47 billion in capital and created nearly 16,000 jobs. In 2017, iccc held executive education seminars in boston, chicago, dallas, los angeles, memphis, milwaukee, oakland, philadelphia, and washington, dc, training 770 urban business owners. Participants attended a national conference november 16th-17th at time, inc. In new york city, where attendees connected with capital providers and practitioners to obtain feedback on their pitches in an effort to secure a follow-up meeting, and network with peers. 10,000 small businesses icic is the proud national outreach and selection partner of goldman sachs on their innovative and influential 10,000 small businesses initiative. It is based on the broadly held view of leading experts that greater access to a combination of education, capital and support services best addresses barriers to business growth. The program operates in 14 markets: new york, los angeles, long beach, new orleans, cleveland, houston, chicago, salt lake city, philadelphia, miami, detroit, dallas, rhode island, and baltimore. There is also a blended cohort, both online and in-person, hosted twice a year by babson college, offered nationally to small businesses outside of the 14 local markets. Since inception the program has educated over 7,700 small business owners. Upon graduation from the program, 61% of alumni reported job growth and 82% reported increased revenues 30 months after completion as compared to 23% and 45% respectively for small businesses outside of the program over the same time period. Cultivate small businessicic helped santander launch its cultivate small business program to help early-stage entrepreneurs in low-income neighborhoods build and sustain their businesses, with a focus on women-, minority- and immigrant-owned businesses in food-related industries. The program provides industry specific education, networks and mentoring as well as small capital grants for business owners. Icic is one of santander bank's three strategic partners in this initiative, alongside babson college and commonwealth kitchen, providing outreach, recruitment and selection, impact evaluation and general project management services. The pilot program runs from october 2017 through june 2018 and included 22 entrepreneurs from greater boston.

research and advisoryicic strengthens inner city economies by providing businesses, governments and investors with the most comprehensive and actionable information about urban market opportunities in the field. Our unique knowledge of inner city competitive advantages and inner city companies is developed from specialized urban networks and groundbreaking research and practice. Icic's ongoing state of the inner city economies (sice) research maps the economic performance, business vitality and resident prosperity of all american cities with a population greater than 75,000, which includes 328 inner cities. The only data set of its kind, sice is an indispensable resource to assess local competitive advantages and set strategies for investment and equitable growth. Icic's sophisticated analytics discover which industry clusters will have the most energizing effect on overall urban prosperity. Icic also helps cities identify their competitive advantages and build out strategies to take advantage of them to create jobs and revitalize distressed areas. Icic's unique knowledge of inner city success factors and growing companies is developed from specialized urban networks and path-breaking research, carefully chosen advisory engagement, and implementation of evidence based business support programs. Icic's research and advisory priorities fall into four main categories:- economic development, cluster growth, & evaluation- anchor initiatives- resilience- inner city business growthin 2017, icic's work included, completing the third year of our evaluation of jpmorgan chase's small business forward grantees, continuing the comprehensive alumni survey of previous inner city 100 alumni, beginning evaluation of the first cohort of businesses from the santander cultivate small business program, commencing national research on the role of arts and culture organizations as community anchors, and engaging in five other research and advisory projects.