Program areas at Forward Cities
The e3 durham community navigator pilot program, funded by the small business administration, is designed to address systemic, structural, cultural, and demographic inequities in the durham, nc area that are preventing entrepreneurs from accessing equitable opportunities. During this pilot program Forward Cities, Inc., will act as a "hub" that focuses on helping existing local navigation partners connect with and engage economically disadvantaged and/or disconnected entrepreneurs. These navigation partners, also called spokes, in turn provide educational opportunities, networking, technical assistance, professional services, counseling, access to capital, and other critical resources for early-to-mid-stage entrepreneurs. This collaborative effort will build a community and a duplicable framework to address long-term systemic biases, barriers and other challenges faced by underserved entrepreneurs through a systems-change approach.
-e3 indy - through the indy e3 engagement, Forward Cities activated a racial equity coalition framework to help indy ecosystem leaders determine the best way to catalyze stakeholders toward the development of the ecosystem conditions necessary for short-term recovery for black and latinx owned businesses balanced with long-term resiliency.
The black wall street Forward pilot program launched in 2022 and was modeled on the pillars that made durham's original black wall street successful, with the goal of continuing the legacy of catalyzing black business owners and champions. The transformative program engaged five communities throughout the state of north carolina in a cohort-based learning journey to explore the past and present of black entrepreneurship in those communities and to take collaborative action to build a better collective future.
E3 voices: Forward Cities uses the experience gained in all the programs to develop e3 voices that created thought leadership, speaking engagements, and research publications related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.e3 nation: Forward Cities also leverages its own learnings to train and equip ecosystem builders and other organizations across the country with the skills they need to effectively develop their own equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems. Primary clients and program accomplishments included:-ewing marion kauffman learning grant - in 2023, Forward Cities provided consulting services to the emkf evaluation department by putting in place a strong learning foundation to build off of the soon to be completed four year eship communities project. E3 solutions: Forward Cities leverages its extensive experience convening cross-sector and diverse stakeholders to assess the health of a city's equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem (e3). And to provide consulting services for other organizations. Primary clients and program accomplishments included:-eship communities- eship communities was a community-driven approach for building entrepreneurial ecosystems that foster inclusion, relationships, collaboration, and social capital across networks of entrepreneurs and those who support them. The program supported the creation and evaluation of a repeatable, bottom-up approach to building and strengthening entrepreneurial ecosystems.