Heartland Together: Marshalltown
Entrepreneurship for Inclusive Prosperity
About
Overview
Welcome to Heartland Together, an initiative dedicated to strengthening communities by promoting local entrepreneurship!
This Campaign aims to mobilize community members like you to take action to create a more welcoming environment for entrepreneurs in Marshalltown. Whether you're passionate about small businesses, entrepreneurs, or simply want to see your community flourish, there's a place for everyone to participate.
The adaptive challenge at the heart of this Campaign is building a robust support system for entrepreneurs. This encompasses various related challenges, including:
- Promoting collaboration between organizations that support entrepreneurs
- Improving understanding of entrepreneurs' needs
- Helping organizations that support entrepreneurs to better understand and support underserved populations
- Increasing awareness and connectivity to available entrepreneur services
- Encouraging more community members to recognize their stake in entrepreneurship
We know that each community member brings a unique perspective and can influence these challenges in their own meaningful way. That's why we need all of you, and the people you'll engage, to be involved in this effort!
Thank you for joining us on this journey. Together, let's foster a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in Marshalltown!
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Micro-grants
All Heartland Together Action Teams have the opportunity to apply for a micro-grant, providing crucial support for initiatives aimed at driving progress in their local entrepreneurial ecosystems. Each action project is eligible to receive up to $1500 in funding. Whether it's launching a new program, organizing events, or implementing a community outreach initiative, these micro-grants offer financial assistance to turn your vision into reality.
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Micro-grants
All Heartland Together Action Teams have the opportunity to apply for a micro-grant, providing crucial support for initiatives aimed at driving progress in their local entrepreneurial ecosystems. Each action project is eligible to receive up to $1500 in funding. Whether it's launching a new program, organizing events, or implementing a community outreach initiative, these micro-grants offer financial assistance to turn your vision into reality.
Details
Sponsored by Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
- Campaign timeline
- Jan 11 – Apr 11, 2024
- Project deadline
- Apr 11, 2024
Action Projects
Create a project
Researching what programs and partnerships already exist for minority start up companies that we may be able to tap in to in our community.
Our goal is to have individuals have a “new” dining experience & form a new habit of frequenting that or similar dining establishments. We want people to feel...
Goal: Host a diagnoses event with Latino existing businesses, prospective entrepreneurs, and home based businesses to identify barriers and hinderances to start...
Dashboard
- Projects created
- 9
- Total investment
- $15
- New partnerships
- 0
- People impacted
- 375
AI summary of the biggest barriers to progress
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Thorough needs assessment and resource mapping to understand community needs and what's available.
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Establishment of a defined ecosystem and cross-stakeholder collaboration to communicate resources and coordinate with diverse actors (schools, Chamber, MCC, IAEDA, etc.).
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Relationship-building and trust barriers, including slow relationship development, fear of getting it wrong, cultural comfort and access issues, and interest in informal networks.
AI summary of learnings
- Prioritize understanding and defining the actual needs of the target audience (audience/user research).
- Capture follow-up/retention data to gauge whether participants return or engage again.
- Improve cross-team collaboration and adopt an Agile, two-week sprint approach with regular evaluation and pivot decisions.
| Name | Location | New partnerships | Investment | People impacted | Created |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Action Project | – | 0 | $0 | 5 | |
| Elevate Youth | – | 0 | $0 | 40 | |
| Expand Your Dining Experience! | – | 0 | $0 | 40 | |
| Jacque, Mike and Neil’s Action Project | – | 0 | $0 | 150 | |
| Latino Entrepreneurship Guide | – | 0 | $0 | 10 | |
| Lucy’s Action Project | – | 0 | $0 | 0 | |
| Lucy’s Action Project | – | 0 | $0 | 0 | |
| One on One Interview Project | – | 0 | $15 | 30 | |
| We all have a story to tell - Heidi, Brit, Steve | – | 0 | $0 | 100 |