The Birth of an Ecosystem: Entrepreneurship in Albuquerque
Richard J. Berry, former Mayor of Albuquerque
Government has often lacked the structure, agility or will to take risks that foster innovation at real-world pace. Yet, for generations, our country has relied heavily on government to drive social change. The result is that many worthy efforts and the people that could benefit from them have been left behind. We now live in a wealthy nation with too much income, pay and wealth inequality.
During my time as Mayor of Albuquerque we endeavored to take a different approach; to change the dynamics of our local economy by engaging in cross-sector efforts to combat inequality and drive social change. We wanted to build a better ecosystem, one that would foster economic mobility. I believe we created meaningful results and we did it in large part by leveraging philanthropy.
As an administration focused on growing and diversifying Albuquerque’s economy through entrepreneurship, we needed community partners driven by the belief that opportunity must be accessible to everyone. Albuquerque is a minority majority city. Due to generations of entrenched poverty, many individuals and families have lacked access to programs that support entrepreneurial efforts. As a result, we weren’t incubating new small and minority owned businesses at an acceptable rate, and some were languishing for years or generations.
We knew we needed to act, so we embarked on a two-pronged approach. First, we created a leadership team of 22 local institutions with proven track records and asked them to weave their work together to disrupt the status quo and position our city as an attractive partner for philanthropies. We included representatives from the City, business leaders, local foundations, the University of New Mexico, CNM–our community college, the Hispano Chamber of Commerce and numerous nonprofit organizations. We all joined together to tackle our toughest challenges and create an unprecedented passion around the work. We were then fortunate to be selected by Living Cities for their Integration Initiative II. This initiative drove a positive change in our approach and continues to evolve, expand and adapt as team members identify opportunities, recognize gaps, reorganize, pivot, and move the effort forward.
The second thing we did was reach out to the local philanthropic community for its support in fostering entrepreneurship. The Albuquerque Community Foundation does a great job linking together business, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. They also have an innovative approach to grant making, in part because they require grantees, regardless of the initiative, to prove they provide access to economic opportunities. Knowing the Community Foundation was taking this approach, we reached out to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to see how our local work could dovetail with this great organization known for its leadership and work in entrepreneurship. From this partnership, the Mayor’s Prize for Entrepreneurship was born.
The results of the Mayor’s Prize were felt quickly. In just three years, $600,000 was granted to eight organizations that have contributed to the creation or support of over 100 businesses and 560 jobs; 1,325 entrepreneurs have been engaged; and $12.5 million has been generated in the creative economy alone. Funded programs ensure low-income entrepreneurs have access to capital and immigrant entrepreneurs can improve business skills in financial management, marketing and business compliance. A maker space and a community kitchen were also Prize winners, opening doors for nontraditional entrepreneurs.
The Community Foundation was so pleased with the Mayor’s Prize that they are now funding a number of the non-Prize winners directly through their other programs.
Success is contagious, and now other local philanthropies have shifted their models toward the collective goals; build, invest in, buy from and support local entrepreneurs. The Albuquerque program has been replicated in Burlington, Vermont, and is being considered in other cities.
Today, Albuquerque has a downtown innovation district, six accelerators, maker spaces, accessible co-working spaces, incubators and a strong non-profit system linking all entrepreneurs to resources and opportunity. We are a city using the power of cross-sector partnerships and philanthropy to lift ourselves up.
Mayor Richard Berry is an entrepreneur and elected official who recently served two terms as twenty-ninth Mayor of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is a former two term member of the New Mexico House of Representatives.
This essay is part of a series titled, Accelerate This! Government as Social Innovator, which features leaders at the intersection of philanthropy and government offering ideas about how non-public dollars can be used to drive innovation and systemic change on complex social issues. The Accelerate This!Government as Social Innovator national symposium will take on May 1, 2018 in Los Angeles and feature systems-changing innovations from cities that can be adapted for your community. The event is part of the City Accelerator, an initiative led by Living Cities and supported by the Citi Foundation. For more information, click here.
