JUL 27 2020
By Emily Crane Linn, Canopy’s Outgoing Executive Director
We have a very exciting announcement to share with you! After a year and a half of research and planning, we are thrilled to share that we are rolling out a new program: Canopy’s New American Dreams!
Our New American Dreams program will provide wraparound support to refugee and immigrant entrepreneurs as they seek to flesh out new business ideas, create business plans, secure financing for their ideas and launch new enterprises here in Northwest Arkansas.
“This is something we have dreamed about offering since the very beginning of Canopy. From the time our first refugee families arrived in Northwest Arkansas, they have been pitching us incredible business ideas! ”
When we did a needs assessment for our Long Welcome Plan, one need that came up again and again was the need for support for refugee entrepreneurs. Almost all of our adult refugee clients managed businesses at some point on their journey to the US. Some were successful business owners before they had to flee. Some started small enterprises out of necessity in the refugee camps. All of them expressed how much it meant to them to be able to start something of their own and build it up over time.
When we asked our families to describe what it would look like for them to feel truly at home in Northwest Arkansas, nearly all of them said that would like to run their own businesses one day. The idea of controlling their own futures and leaving their mark on their community was essential to feeling at home in NWA. They all had ideas too; after a lifetime of scarcity, refugees become gifted at spotting opportunities in places we might not think to look.
So, we committed to making entrepreneurship support a core part of our Long Welcome Plan. We researched local partners and looked for other organizations doing similar work across the country. We discovered the Neighborhood Development Center in Minneapolis that has nearly 30 years of experience supporting low-income, minority entrepreneurs—including many refugees and immigrants—to start successful businesses and transform their communities.
Thanks to a partnership agreement between our two organizations, we have been able to take advantage of their decades of experience and expertise in designing our own entrepreneurship program. They have provided our staff with training and technical assistance so that we can confidently adapt their model to serve our community here in Northwest Arkansas. They’ve also helped us develop our program operating materials and have reviewed our program budget and staffing plan to make sure we have enough resources to do this work well.
It’s going to take about 4-5 years to build up a fully operational entrepreneurship program that looks anything like the Neighborhood Development Center (NDC), but when we get there, our New American Dreams program will offer:
1. Training. Canopy is licensing NDC’s Plan It! curriculum, which teaches new aspiring entrepreneurs everything they need to know about starting a business in the US. Over 12 weeks, this course teaches how to research your idea and determine its viability, how to develop a budget and determine your cash flow, how to market your business and set your prices, and how to ensure your business is properly registered and licensed. The curriculum has been translated into several languages and we’ve adapted it specifically to the needs and interests of our refugee and immigrant community locally.
This month, Canopy launched our first Plant It! course with options for both limited in-person instruction and virtual instruction. We have 8 participants in this first cohort and by the time this course is finished, all 8 should have a solid draft of a viable business plan! Going forward, we hope to offer this course twice a year.
2. Lending and Financing. Once our future entrepreneurs have solid, fully-formed business plans, we will work with them to secure funding for their idea. We are working with local CDFIs and other funders to develop partnerships to help our graduates secure financing. We are also working with Startup Junkie and their Kiva lending platform to help clients who would benefit from micro-loans to secure funding that way.
3. Technical Assistance. Once an entrepreneur is ready to actually get started with their business, we will make sure they have access to all the help and information they need to get off on the right foot. We are currently working to build up a network of Technical Assistance providers to provide expertise in the areas of marketing, web design, graphic design, legal assistance, bookkeeping, and taxes and licenses.
If you are a professional working in any of these areas and would like to offer your time at a discounted rate, we would love to talk with you! Email: khalid.ahmadzai@canopynwa.org and let’s connect.
4. Real Estate. If an entrepreneur needs a physical location for their business, we will help them navigate that process. We will pair them with legal experts to help them negotiate and review a commercial lease and set them up for success. And who knows? Maybe one day, we’ll own our own building and can offer incubator leases to new entrepreneurs ourselves!
It will take some time to build up all of the components of this program, but we are so excited to be getting started. Our first cohort has 8 participants from 5 nationalities, with dreams of starting:
-A food truck
-An ethnic grocery store
-A tailoring business
-A car repair shop and used car dealership
… just to name a few!
We know it will be a long road, but with our local partners, national experts, and the support of our community, we are so excited to get started with seeding these New American Dreams.
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