The document summarizes the services of the Chicago Urban League Entrepreneurship Center. It provides training programs at various stages of business growth from start-ups to established companies. The programs include nextSTEP for new entrepreneurs, nextLEVEL for small businesses, and nextONE for high-growth companies. It partners with universities and organizations to deliver programming. The Center helps businesses increase revenue, hire staff, and access capital and contracts. It also connects entrepreneurs through its nextCONNECTION network. Metrics show businesses in its programs significantly outperformed averages in job and revenue growth during the recession.

1. Entrepreneurship
Center
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.
The
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

2. Vision
The Chicago Urban League will be the leader in building strong,
sustainable communities by creating opportunities with the
power to transform people’s lives.
Empowering Communities.
2 Changing Lives.

3. Mission
The vision of the Center is to enable entrepreneurs to train their
people, develop business plans, hire and retain talent, and grow
their businesses. The objective of each program is to empower
its intended audience with the knowledge and skills necessary to
grow their respective ventures.
Empowering Communities.
3 Changing Lives.

4. Entrepreneurship Center including the following:
1. Enable the small businesses that they’ve trained to position their
businesses for revenue growth.
2. Help these companies improve their operation effectiveness;
essentially increasing their margins and profits. Greater
effectiveness should result in the ability for these companies to
invest in their people and resources.
3. Develop and strengthen the leaders within these entrepreneurial
companies, effectively improving their own skills and enabling
other success factors to be achieved.
4. Successful outcomes of these first three priorities will enable these
businesses to hire and retain more talent.
5. Developing enterprises that attract revenues to underserved
communities. 4
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

5. projectNEXT
Known as projectNEXT, the programs included in the
Entrepreneurship Center focus on wealth accumulation
through the development of a strong African-American
owned business community.
Empowering Communities.
5 Changing Lives.

6. Strategy
The Chicago Urban League is committed to implementing its mission through
the well-informed pursuit of the following strategies:
• Ensuring access to quality education that prepares individuals to become
lifelong learners and to be competitive and successful in the global
economy.
• Preparing individuals for work at all levels in an ever-changing
economy, developing engaged citizens, and building strong families.
• Supporting community based investment and growth through facilitating
entrepreneurship, business development, and home and real estate
ownership
• Advocating for policies and programs that ensure equal participation by
African Americans in the economic and social mainstream.
• Enabling individuals to live productive, longer lives by ensuring access to
Empowering Communities.
health and wellness education and services.
6 Changing Lives.

7. CUL Departments
Fiscal Year 2012
Employment and Human Capital
Education
Housing
Entrepreneurship
Policy/Multimedia
Empowering Communities.
7 Changing Lives.

8. Entrepreneurship Founded in 2007, the vision of the EC is to
create pathways to bigger businesses, better
jobs, and stronger communities by helping
entrepreneurs build sustainable business
Center
models to grow employment and wealth
accumulation.
The
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

9. The EC Mission
• Teaching and modeling best business practices;
• Helping entrepreneurs to enlarge their revenues and profits
by providing access to potential clients;
• Empowering entrepreneurs through access to capital and
financial institutions;
• Coaching entrepreneurs to execute business strategies with
resiliency and excellence; and
• Encouraging entrepreneurs to connect with a community of
business leaders and mentors with direct access to business
resources.
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

10. Planned Events
• 4 Business Access and Exchange Forums (nextCONNECTION)
• 3 Alumni Networking Events
– Book signing with Chris Rabb, author of “Invisible Capital:
How Unseen Forces Shape Entrepreneurial Opportunity ”
Empowering Communities.
10 Changing Lives.

11. Key Service Offerings
• Cradle to maturity strategy
– Create “pipeline” of businesses and entrepreneurs
nextSTEP nextLEVEL Strategic Financial next Business nextPHASE
nextONE
(Start Up- YIEP ($100K to Consulting Assistance Construction Accelerator (Alumni
($100K+) ($500K+) Fund ongoing)
$100K) $1M) ($100K+) ($100K+)
Empowering Communities.
11 Changing Lives.

12. EC Programs and Services
• nextSTEP
• nextLEVEL
• nextONE
• Chicago Contractor
Development
• nextCONNECTION
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

13. nextSTEP
Educates aspiring small
business owners in the
preparation of business
plans and provides
fundamental business
and financial literacy
through a series of
classes and workshops.
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

14. nextSTEP
Over 2500 individuals have taken classes
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

15. nextLEVEL
An “Entrepreneurial MBA,” this 6-week program is offered in
conjunction with Loyola University for small and mid-sized
businesses. It combines classroom training at Loyola, strategic
business consulting, and business subject matter expert
evaluation. Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

16. nextLEVEL
Started in FY
11, nextLevel has
graduated two
classes, a total of 12
companies
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

17. nextONE
Offered in conjunction
with Northwestern
University, this is an
intensive 9 month program
targeting, high
growth, scalable
businesses.
This type of entrepreneur
has set aggressive growth
goals for their business and
has demonstrated a level
of business acumen that
makes the growth goals
Empowering Communities.
viable and achievable. Changing Lives.

18. nextONE Accomplishments
• 59 companies graduated
• Employee growth 79%
• Revenue growth 122%
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

19. Chicago Contractor Development (CCD)
This program is designed to increase the technical, managerial
and entrepreneurial capacity of developers, general contractors
and other construction professionals through weekly classes
facilitated by industry experts focusing on topics critical to
success in the construction industry. Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

20. CCD Successes
• 70+ businesses
graduated
• $20 million dollars
in new contracts
awarded to
participants
• $2 million in new bonding capacity
• Total cycles completed to date 4
• Companies Graduated 70
African-American Owned 100%
Woman-Owned 23%
Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

21. Statistics
Chicago Contractor Development Program
Outcome Summary
• Business Plans Developed 70
• Growth Strategies/Action Plans Developed 70
• Marketing Plans & Elevator Pitches Developed 70
• Total Bonding Capacity created $49.75 Million
• Averaged percent increase in revenues 8.64%
• Averaged percent increase in contract value 44%
• Full-time jobs created 12
• Part-time jobs created 7
Empowering Communities.
21 Changing Lives.

22. nextCONNECTION
Over four years of
operations, The Chicago Urban
League Entrepreneurship Center
has touched hundreds of
businesses creating a strong
group for business development
and networking.
In FY 12, we are formalizing a
structure to provide a central
resource and opportunities for
collaboration among
entrepreneurs and business
owners, both existing and
aspiring, and the Chicago
corporate and institutional
communities. Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

23. nextCONNECTION
The Chicago Urban League Entrepreneurship Center’s newest
initiative nextCONNECTION is a central resource center comprised
of an entrepreneurial network of business
owners, corporations, government entities, business assistance
providers and strategically aligned community partners to facilitate
revenue growth, profitability, procurement opportunities, and
operational best practices of African-American owned businesses.
Through nextCONNECTION we're connecting entrepreneurs to
valuable resources, to opportunities in the public and private
sectors, for strategic partnerships and mentoring with large
corporations. Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

24. Strategic Partnerships
• Goldman Sachs 10,000 businesses
• Loyola University – Innovation Urban Entrepreneurship
• SCORE
Empowering Communities.
24 Changing Lives.

25. Looking Forward
• Assessment
– Accenture
• Collaborations
– CEC
– WBDC
– Accion
– SCORE
• Advisory Board
– Local Entrepreneurs
• EC Annual Report Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.

26. Empowering Communities.
Changing Lives.
Empowering Communities.
26 Changing Lives.

27. CUL-EC Metrics
In the National Small Business Association’s
2011 Mid-Year Economic Report, small
businesses surveyed reported a 15% net
decrease in employees in 2010 compared to
156% net employee increase by the Chicago
urban League’s nextONE participants for the
same time period. The NSBA survey also
indicated overall small businesses achieved a
2% net increase in revenue in 2010 compared
to a 132% increase in revenue by nextONE
businesses who answered the survey.* Even
more startling is the net change in profits of
overall small businesses surveyed by NSBA vs.
the net change experienced by nextONE
businesses in 2010.
Empowering Communities.
27 Changing Lives.

28. CUL-EC Metrics
While overall small businesses saw a 14% decline in
profits, nextONE businesses enjoyed a 383% increase in profits.
This last metric which indicates an increase in profits more than
twice the increase in revenues shows that the Chicago Urban
League’s Entrepreneurship Center by focusing on teaching
entrepreneurs best practices and increasing their business acumen
is resulting in better run businesses and tighter operations and
financial management of these companies even in an
environment of slow revenue growth.
Empowering Communities.
28 Changing Lives.

29. CUL-EC Metrics
Overall according to Dun and Bradstreet mall business failure rates
increased by 40% from 2007 to 2010 during the years of the CUL-EC.
While CUL-EC business failure rate during this recessionary period
was just 5%, in conjunction with a 79% increase in revenue and a
125% increase in the number of employees.
Empowering Communities.
29 Changing Lives.