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WHAT IS INNOVATION WORKS?

Innovation Works (IW) is Ignite Capital’s parent company. The mission of IW is to reduce Baltimore's neighborhood and racial wealth divide by accompanying members of disinvested communities to build and own successful social enterprises that create sustainable neighborhood economies.

IW and Ignite Capital work together to provide support and education to these entrepreneurs and strengthen their impact in their communities. Entrepreneurs receive an initial impact assessment that will help them develop short- and long-term social impact goals for their business and periodically measure the business's performance in achieving its social impact goals throughout the term of the Ignite Capital loan. All efforts aim toward achieving IW’s mission by enabling members of disinvested communities to build and own successful social enterprises that create sustainable neighborhood economies.

Innovation Works’ Strategic Framework

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Social Enterprise Development

The Enterprise Pipeline is IW's 5-stage idea-to-scale social enterprise development model, primarily modeled after Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship's framework. This model leverages a stage-based approach to meet social enterprises and entrepreneurs where they are and provide them with the best fit set of resources to help them move their enterprises forward over time. Ultimately, IW intends for the social enterprises it supports to locate themselves in the Baltimore neighborhoods in need of increased economic activity, job creation, and more family-wage jobs. IW's focuses on Black-led social enterprises that are underserved by existing entrepreneurial resource assets.

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Neighborhood Strategy

Closing the racial wealth divide in Baltimore requires understanding the systemic and deeply rooted generational failures that have yielded present conditions. One of the root challenges is the long-term impact of racially motivated practices, such as redlining and blockbusting, that have increased the geographic wealth divide described through the White L and Black Butterfly framework by Dr. Lawrence Brown. IW's Neighborhood Strategy uses a hyper-local place-based approach to concentrate its efforts on Baltimore communities that have experienced the severity of chronic disinvestments' generational adverse effects. IW neighborhood strategy focuses on Baltimore neighborhoods with a median income household below $40,000 a year. 

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Strategic Initiatives

IW's Strategic Initiatives seeks to explore opportunities to address the critical challenges related to social determinants of health and community economic development, including topic areas such as the digital divide, food access, education and literacy, public health, and affordable housing. IW will pursue initiatives that address these topics through collaborative efforts to work across silos to accelerate innovation and growth in these areas. IW will also use its industry economic development framework to pursue specific industries' opportunities with substantial local assets to collectively support social enterprises' growth. 


Innovation Works’ Impact

  • ~300

    IW has engaged approximately 300 SEs since its launch

  • 56% | 71%

    IW supported social enterprises are 56% women-led and 71% POC-led.

  • 107

    IW Structured Programs have engaged 107 local entrepreneurs

  • 69

    IW has recruited 69 senior-level executives and founders to serve in its Mentor Network

  • 4

    IW has launched 4 Ignite Hubs, a foundational element of its Neighborhood Strategy

  • 7

    IW has executed 7 structured programs, including 3 IW GSBI Boost Programs and 4 GSBI Accelerators