While companies do pay VFA a small fee, the organization is mainly supported by philanthropy. Fellows have worked with startups like Adashi Systems, a leading provider of technology solutions for public safety agencies worldwide, and Boeing HorizonX Ventures. In so doing, VFA fellows help grow companies to create jobs and revitalize those communities. The centerpiece of its work is a two-year fellowship program that connects recent college graduates with startup opportunities in 14 cities across the country, where young entrepreneurs have the opportunity to learn from more experienced ones. In the three years since Nelson took over as CEO, Venture for America has tripled in size and expanded its footprint, she says. Today, her work brings her to communities similar to the one she grew up in. I was really interested in the culture and the sense that there were opportunities on the coast,” she explains. “At the time, I wanted to get as far away from St. She headed west to attend Claremont McKenna College in suburban Los Angeles. Louis, Nelson’s work with VFA is personal. In these conversations, I found out more about the young organization, and how it has been able to activate philanthropy to support its mission of galvanizing entrepreneurship away from the coast.Ī first-generation college student raised in a small town outside of St. I recently caught up with current VFA CEO Amy Nelson at Social Innovation Summit 2019 Los Angeles, and later with VFA board members and supporters Randy Rubin and David Liu. Uber and UBS have both signed on as sponsors of the initiative and have committed $1 million to the effort. Most recently, funders have swung behind VFA to back a new initiative called Operation 3 to 300 that will help 300 women and people of color to launch businesses by 2021. According to tax records, contributions to VFA more than doubled between 20 to $6.2 million. The young nonprofit has pulled in support from places like the Knight Foundation, the Evan and Tracy Segal Foundation, and billionaire Dan Gilbert. Instead of working in New York or Silicon Valley, VFA works in cities like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Kansas City and St. The nonprofit has been called a “Teach for America for entrepreneurs,” and provides a fellowship program for recent college graduates who want to become startup leaders and entrepreneurs. Launched in 2011 by Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur and current Democratic presidential candidate, Venture for America (VFA) aims to reverse some of these numbers. Educated people are leaving rural states much more quickly than they are being replaced, as a recent Economist article highlighted, fueling a heartland “brain drain.” The same article noted that people who move to California are 20 percentage points more likely to be among the most educated third of Americans than are people who leave it.
0 kommentar(er)
