ACTUALIZE EQUITY, SPARK CREATIVE INQUIRY + RECLAIM THE NARRATIVE.
CORE WORK ::
entrepreneurship
adé PROJECT | Highlight Reel
2018 + Beyond – Entrepreneurship:
- In our work, we weave together the worlds of business, education, the arts + culture, social science/work, healing, civic engagement and social justice to address the deep complexity and interconnectedness of the issues we face.
- We contribute to economic mobility – creating jobs, facilitating contracts, negotiating partnerships and securing capital that will land directly in hands of those making the most impact for good.
- We work cooperate closely with those seeking to cooperate with us and incubate, nurture, and support individuals, businesses, entrepreneurs and organizations that share our vision to restore balance to the planet.
Big Ups + Wins
35+ contract jobs created.
Awarded historic contract by City of Asheville ($95K).
Launched + facilitated Mountain Business Equity Initiative for locals.
100+ hrs served in local business training/dev.
CASE STUDY
Mountain Business Equity Initiative
July 26, 2019-January 31, 2021 | Asheville-Buncombe [Virtual]
STORY OF NOW
adé PROJECT: SCOPE OF WORK
Recruit Paid Community Participants
Worked with City of Asheville Office of Business Inclusion to draft application for community leaders, select team members, conduct onboarding + orientation and complete payroll.
Design + Guide Training Curriculum
Designed an equity-informed curriculum that would provide business training to community leaders from a perspective of the lived Black experience, with tangible takeaways that could be implemented immediately post-modules.
Facilitate Listening + Action Sessions
Conducted and facilitated listening sessions with community leaders to review existing business policy at the City and propose an action plan in response. This work formed MBEI.
Build Community Network of Support
Formed relationships with community members, elected officials, government staff, business professionals and student entrepreneurs in order to continue the business pipeline.
STORY OF ORIGIN
In 2018, a comprehensive Disparity Study reviewed the entire City’s contracting and purchasing environment, the last audit of the work of Minority Business Office took place in 1998. Significant disparity was shown amongst the Black community, especially in construction contracts, service contracts and departmental purchases. In July 2019, as a direct response to the results of the 2018 Disparity Study, Asheville Business Inclusion Office catalyzed theCommunity Planning & Action Cohort and brought in facilitated by adé PROJECT to gather community members who would be invested in developing strategy based in research to respond to disparity and shape policy, practice, access and opportunity for entrepreneurs and owners of color. Ultimately, the group was tasked with identifying a response to address disparities that currently exist in the utilization of African-American owned businesses by the City of Asheville, the local community, and the larger 10-county Western NC region.
The story + impact.
As a result of the original community-led work and adé PROJECT’s commitment to entrepreneurship, Mountain Business Equity Initiative was formed in September-November 2019. The contract awarded for the pilot year of work was unanimously approved by City Council in February 2020. And thus, the next phase of the work began. In 2020, this work was launched as Mountain Business Equity Initiative (MBEI), and in spite of COVID-19 successfully supported and engaged 40+ businesses and entrepreneurs! Recommendation for the City to implement a race and gender-conscious program was met with action and a new policy that will be implemented City-wide, effective FY2021. Advocacy for the City to consider how to prepare and better encourage the participation of minority- and women-owned businesses in it contracts resulted in more trainings. The work continues to have a ripple-effect to date.
- Contract funds invested back into black businesses – 95%
- graduation rate of enrolled course members – 70%
- PARTICIPANTS that applied learning post-training – 100%
project mgmt hrs invested
city staff engaged
businesses incubated
BUSINESSES In pipeline for continued work
Why It Matters
“…people of color fare worse than their white counterparts in every area: housing, employment, education, justice, and health. Current day disparities are just as bad and sometimes worse than they were before the Civil Rights era. Since then, most governments have not made significant changes in outcomes for employees or residents of color, even with years of effort. Because local governments have a unique responsibility to all residents, these racial inequities can + must be addressed. The public sector must be for the public good; current racial inequities are destructive. We must go beyond individual, intentional discrimination or acts of bigotry, and examine the systems in which we all live. We must investigate—honestly—how our longstanding systems, policies and practices, unintentionally or not, have created and continue to maintain racial inequity, and we must change.” [Government Alliance on Race + Equity, GARE]
Entrepreneurship is the key to liberation.
Creativity is our human birthright.
Creativity is life force energy, and our partnership with ideas birth businesses. As entrepreneurs, we must tend to the spirit, soul and life force of our business, and honor the idea.
Let’s CREATE + DESIGN TOGETHER. Say Hello!
Drop us a line using the form below to inquire about adé PROJECT Entrepreneurship.