In our commitment to entrepreneurship-led economic development, we’ve made it our practice to regularly share insights and lessons learned while celebrating success stories along the way. It is our hope that by delivering this content, we will start conversations, spark collaboration and ultimately make a positive impact in advancing equitable...
Aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners in Nebraska now have access to a premier network of interconnected support resources that spans the 76,878 square mile state. It is with great pride and excitement that we welcome our newest SourceLink℠ affiliate, SourceLink Nebraska! Start where you are From inception to implementation, ecosystem building can...
Creating strong inclusive ecosystems of support for entrepreneurs is key to a community’s economic success, however sharing collective impact can be challenging. In celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week, SourceLink’s Dara Macan and Rob Williams recruited a panel of local ecosystem builders in Fort Worth, Texas, northern Louisiana, Iowa, and Puerto Rico...
Entrepreneurs are a hardy breed. They’re used to overcoming challenges and quickly pivoting, and at no time in recent history has the world needed those qualities more. While the circumstances of the last 20 months have been challenging, those with an entrepreneurial mindset have adapted to overcome each successive obstacle. Even...
Business closures and job losses caused by the pandemic forced thousands of people to reevaluate their lives and career paths. Individuals who had never considered launching a startup began creating businesses out of a combination of necessity and opportunity. According to data from the Census Bureau, Americans filed paperwork to start...
The last two years have witnessed a boom in entrepreneurial activity like never before. According to 2021 data from the Census Bureau, Americans filed paperwork to start 4.3 million businesses last year in spite of the economic recession — a 24 percent uptick from the previous year, and the most in a decade and a half,...
SourceLink®, the National League of Cities (NLC) and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation are pleased to announce the results of recent efforts to advance entrepreneurial development in Kankakee and Belvidere, Illinois. Both communities recently participated in NLC’s City Innovation Ecosystems (CIE) program, offered in partnership with and support from the...
Last week, EDA announced six programs to equitably invest $3 billion allocated under President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. (Click here to read the press release) The EDA will be holding “EDA 101 and American Rescue Plan Overview” webinars this week at 3 p.m. ET on July 27 and 3 p.m. ET...
The ins and outs of starting a business are challenging to any aspiring entrepreneur but are even harder to overcome for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs. While there’s much to celebrate about milestones achieved for the LGBTQ+ community, there’s still much more work to do in the business world for LGBTQ+ equality. Although a 2020 Supreme Court ruling nationally outlawed employee firings based on gender or sexual orientation, it...
The SourceLink team has kept a close eye out for updates since the U.S. Small Business Administration first released the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the Community Navigator Pilot Program. The program aims to place significant financial resources into organizations that wish to be hubs or spokes of entrepreneurship support and ecosystem-building efforts in...
