Opportunity DeKalb, a nonprofit community development corporation working collaboratively to bolster the Annie Glidden North neighborhood in DeKalb, has been awarded $100,000 to support local entrepreneurs.
The Social Innovation and Impact Seed grant came from the Illinois Innovation Network.
A network of 15 hubs from across the state, the Illinois Innovation Network strives to boost the economy through entrepreneurship, research and workforce development, according to a news release. Most hubs are located on the campuses of the state’s public universities.
Opportunity DeKalb Executive Director Chad Glover said the grant means a lot.
“The receipt of the grant is huge for us, and I think maybe most importantly we hope for the entrepreneurs in the community that we’re supporting and that we’ve had the chance and the privilege to work with,” Glover said.
The funding, made possible through the University of Illinois System, will enable Opportunity DeKalb to build an entrepreneur support organization for post-academy services, regional site evaluation, and human-centered design for Breakthrough Community Business Academy in greater DeKalb and beyond, according to a news release.
Opportunity DeKalb makes for one of three new seed grant recipients, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 10.
Other funded projects include sustaining digital literacy in rural Illinois through intergenerational digital storytelling in public and school libraries and the Illinois Youth Media Innovation Network.
After entrepreneurs complete their experience in Opportunity DeKalb’s Breakthrough Community Business Academy, they will have access to a suite of programs, including mentorship, business coaching, workshops, and webinars relevant to their business, for up to two years.
Glover said the academy wasn’t able to extend this offering to graduates previously.
He said the grant will provide the seed to help make the initiative possible.
“We really think our … business assistant services will really focus a lot on partnerships with other organizations like Chambers of Commerce and other business support organizations in the region,” Glover said. “Across the region, particularly to the south and to the west of us, we’ve had other communities interested in what we’re doing. This provides us some funds to deepen our conversation and exploration with those communities with the potential that there would be an academy location somewhere outside of DeKalb County at some point in the future. And then, that could open the door to collaboration across counties on this, as well.”
Breakthrough Community Business Academy is preparing to start programming for its fifth cohort in the coming days.
Glover said he sees the grant as a way for the program to potentially expand its reach moving forward.
“There are a number of communities outside of DeKalb County that have expressed an interest in partnering with us,“ he said. ”This grant provides some resources to deepen that exploration together with [Western Illinois University] and NIU. That exploration could lead to additional cohorts of the business academy occurring outside of DeKalb County in the future. We believe there are some great opportunities to work together with other communities in the region to the benefit of everyone.”
