Fall Starts with the Letter P
What is a five-letter word, starting with P, that all successful entrepreneurs have to do? Did you guess Pivot? Social enterprise accelerators have to pivot too, and I’m excited to tell you about Flywheel’s new Fall Programming.
SustainableCincy as an 8-week Accelerator for environmentally focused founders is on hiatus for 2023 to create capacity for an exciting new program. Flywheel will be organizing and hosting a hack-a-thon to engage the startup community in preventing eviction and homelessness. Our draft problem statement goes like this: For low income families currently in housing, how can we collect and use data and data tools, (new or existing) to identify families in the very early stages of a housing crisis so as to connect them to resources before eviction and housing loss is inevitable.
The goal is to keep families and neighborhoods stable using insights to provide the right interventions at the right time. Our partners include, Strategies to End Homelessness, 84.51, St. Vincent DePaul, Legal Aid Society, Lighthouse Youth and Family Services, YWCA, Bethany House, and Found House Interfaith Housing Network. The hack-a-thon is part of a housing stabilization Impact Award from the City of Cincinnati to Strategies to End Homelessness as the lead partner. Here’s a link to a WVXU interview about the project. Flywheel is mentioned about 25 minutes into the interview.
This project, focused on using data and innovation, fits squarely into Flywheel’s commitment to address equity through entrepreneurship. The numbers explain why. From January to June of 2023 eviction proceedings upended the lives of families in over 5300 households in Hamilton County, Ohio. We know that Black households are more than twice as likely to face an eviction filing than white, and Black women are twice as likely as their male counterparts to be threatened with eviction. Eviction destabilizes families. It disrupts employment, school attendance, healthcare, food stability, family support, and safety.
Flywheel’s equity programming is founded on the belief that entrepreneurs are wired to see around corners and connect challenges to opportunities in ways that those bound by the conventions of the traditional social service sector may miss. We anticipate some entrepreneurs in the hack-a-thon will go on to develop enterprises in our Spring Elevate Equity Accelerator. Other outcomes could include residencies with social service agencies partnering in this work, or even contracts to provide service.
Still very much in the planning phase, the dates, times, and parameters for the hack-a-thon are TBD. For now, if you think you might want to compete in our hack-a-thon, please connect with us using this form and we will keep you up to date. Those with lived experience are just as welcome as data scientists.
ABOUT SUSTAINABLECINCY We are exploring options to continue SustainableCincy by using a slightly different, less structured model. Another option is to bring our 8-week accelerator back for 2024. Either way, our secret sauce will still be our fantastic coaches and our Philanthopreneurs who make it possible to support our entrepreneurs with an investment. When we have more details, I will reach out for coaches and volunteers. If you would like to learn more about becoming a Philanthropreneur®, Please reach out to me and I’ll take you to coffee.