Strengthening Libraries as Entrepreneurial Hubs
In collaboration with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, ULC is working to strengthen the role libraries play in nurturing and promoting entrepreneurship in the communities they serve. The initiative is designed to:
- Leverage and develop the library’s unique assets and capacities to create hubs for entrepreneurship
- Advance equity and community economic health by increasing support for all entrepreneurs and particularly women, people of color, immigrants and veterans.
Read national media coverage:
- Access All Areas: North America — Libraries, Monocle, July 2018
- Independent Workers Are the Economy of the Future, The Realtime Report, April 2018
- Libraries Helping Entrepreneurs, American Libraries, June 2018
Starting one’s own business may soon become the most viable path to achieving the American dream. It is projected that by 2020 half of all workers will be independent freelancers, responsible for their own fortunes and well-being. Knowing this, ULC is bringing together 12 public library systems from across the U.S. and Canada to explore ways libraries can reach and engage entrepreneurs in their communities — particularly people of color, women, immigrants and veterans.
Participant Library Projects
Austin Public Library (Texas) is working to extend the reach of Austin’s Small Business Program by bringing programming, networking and resources to historically underserved and hard-to-reach residents using the library’s 19 neighborhood branches.
Baltimore County Public Library and Enoch Pratt Free Library (Md.) are building a unified support infrastructure as a foundation for working together to meet the needs of underserved small business entrepreneurs, particularly solo entrepreneurs, in the region
DC Public Library is developing a package of resources and programs to support returning justice-involved residents in becoming entrepreneurs and will provide training for library staff to guide them in supporting this special audience.
Durham County Library (N.C.) is developing policies, procedures and contracts that will set the tone for the library’s new co-working space that is currently under construction as part of the renovation and transformation of the system’s Main Library.
East Baton Rouge Parish Library (La.) is working to expand public awareness of the library as a starting point for potential small business startups and entrepreneurs, particularly underrepresented groups that face extra challenges including offering open business clinics at library branches and community centers in neighborhoods where the most economically challenged residents live.
Read local media coverage:
- "Baton Rouge library system joins national cohort to strengthen entrepreneurial outreach," Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, May 2018
- "East Baton Rouge Parish Library to launch small-business services," The Advocate, May 2018
- "EBR library to help aspiring entrepreneurs launch small businesses," brproud.com, May 2018
Kansas City Public Library (Mo.) is assessing the special workforce needs of the city’s refugee and immigrant populations in order to align library resources, create partnerships and determine where and how the library should focus its efforts to have the greatest impact.
Read local media coverage:
King County Library System (Wash.) will develop and pilot a replicable, evidence-based strategy for effectively engaging the county’s small business community focusing particularly on refugees and immigrants.
Mid-Continent Public Library (Mo.) will address the opportunities that food service businesses offer to immigrant populations in order to sharpen the resources and support that the library provides to this population.
St. Louis County Library is launching a long-term objective to strengthen the local economy by identifying key components of a successful model for working with discrete populations in the county entrepreneurial ecosystem. The process will begin with immigrant and student populations.
Read local press coverage:
Toledo Lucas County Public Library (Ohio) is creating a business outreach team to expand the library’s capacity to provide resources and referrals for the region’s growing entrepreneur communities from startups to mom-and-pop shops — with an initial focus on women and immigrant entrepreneurs.
Toronto Public Library has created a Newcomer Entrepreneur in Residence program to provide information, personalized support, opportunities for skills development and connections to successful entrepreneurs to introduce newcomers to the Canadian economic and labor market and successful business practices in a welcoming environment.
ULC's Leadership Brief on Strengthening Libraries as Entrepreneurial Hubs
This Leadership Brief focuses on the public library’s role as an essential resource for entrepreneurs and core component of local entrepreneurial ecosystems. It highlights the exciting work already underway in libraries to advance the entrepreneurial spirit and identifies seven strategies for library leaders to become more intentional about implementing programs that support local economic development goals and reach potential entrepreneurs most in need of guidance and encouragement.
Summary of ULC's National Scan on How Libraries Are Currently Supporting Entrepreneurs
With the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, conducted a national scan of how libraries are currently supporting entrepreneurs in their communities. The purpose of this scan was to develop a baseline of information about the state of library entrepreneurial practice in order to identify specific models and promising approaches for further study.
Initiative Snapshot
A quick look at what our initiative is doing, who is participating and why this work matters.
Stay tuned for additional updates on this developing initiative.