Social Impact Initiatives

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Social Impact Initiatives

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Through our mission, the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center gives students and alumni the resources needed to build long-lasting businesses that deliver positive social impact. Our center puts these values into practice by partnering with organizations in the community.

We also leverage our faculty expertise to learn about businesses that create social change — and applying that research to our programs. To learn more, explore our social impact initiatives below.

Programs

• Social Impact Incubator: The Coleman Entrepreneurship Center's Social Impact Incubator Program challenges entrepreneurs to scale and grow business ventures that have a strong social impact mission. Participants work with DePaul faculty and experts over the course of eight weeks. All DePaul students, alumni and community members with or without a legally formed entity are welcome to apply.  

Community Partnerships

• Sunshine Enterprises: We partner with Sunshine Enterprises to help under-resourced entrepreneurs grow their business and build their community. Together, we've placed interns at Sunshine Enterprises through our year-round Internship Program.
• Junior Achievement: We partner with Chicago-based Junior Achievement (JA) to host their end of the term company pitch event. This competition invites over 100 high school students to DePaul campus to showcases their startups through an expo-style event and a 3 minute pitch competition. Students pitch their business ideas to a panel of judges comprised of DePaul faculty, business leaders and entrepreneurs. 

Research

• Chicago's entrepreneurship programs: With a goal to help Chicago entrepreneurs thrive, the CEC and The Coleman Foundation observed entrepreneurship training programs across Chicago to see what’s working and what needs more attention. Click here to read the full report.
• Benefits of Chicago's entrepreneurship support organizations: In order to understand the benefits that entrepreneurs experience when attending training programs offered by Chicago's entrepreneur support organizations, the CEC and The Coleman Foundation conducted focus group research. The results of the research show the many benefits that such training programs provide. Click here to read the full report.