Entrepreneurial startup group Black Girl Ventures and Participate partner to provide community for women entrepreneurs, scale organizational impact.
Black Girl Ventures (BGV), a women-led startup that supports the growth and success of minority and/or veteran women entrepreneurs, is on a mission to create a society where black and brown women founders have equitable access to social and financial capital. To grow the organization’s impact and connect entrepreneurs around the country, BGV is partnering with Participate to build online Communities of Practice (CoPs) for its members and leaders.
BGV was established in 2016 by Shelly Bell to help women grow their businesses. Through crowd-funded pitch competitions, BGV provides the infrastructure for women entrepreneurs to attain the funds and support they need for organizational growth. Training multiple people on how to organize and run successful pitch competitions requires more than one day of in-person training, so BGV is partnering with Participate to launch a series of online CoPs to train and connect pitch competition organizers and participants.
An online community provides BGV with a central space for communication, idea sharing and training. Online courses will guide pitch competition facilitators through BGV culture, founder coaching, day-of event facilitation and investment readiness. The CoP will be a one-stop shop for BGV pitch competition facilitators, where all resources will be housed, networking can take place and best practices will be shared.
“The BGV community creates the space to build strong relationships and broaden impact,” said Allison Violette, education strategist and account support at Participate. “With the CoP structure, BGV can attract, train and support women all around the country.”
BGV and Participate aim to create a platform where women of color can foster community and grow professionally together. To learn more about the community and BGV, click here.
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About Participate
Participate designs and hosts online learning communities to connect adult learners within organizations or school districts around a shared practice. We guide users through sustainable learning experiences that provide personalized learning pathways based on learner needs. By making learning collaborative and transparent, communities promote the spread of best practices and develop professional skills so that all learners feel supported in their professional development journeys. To learn more about designing a Community of Practice click here.
About Black Girl Ventures
The Black Girl Ventures Foundation is dedicated to offering comprehensive education and advisory services that outline a road map for the growth and success of minority and/or veteran women entrepreneurs. Our vision is to create a society where Black and Brown women founders have equitable access to social and financial capital to grow their businesses. Black and Brown women founders are underserved, unbanked and underfunded. It's time to change that! We currently host crowdfunded pitch competitions in DC, Baltimore, Austin, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York. With the help of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Google Cloud for Startups, HubSpot for Startups and Ed2Go we are moving beyond pitch competitions to create five Chapters we call Venture Boards in Birmingham, Houston, Miami, Durham and Philadelphia. These chapters will create access to capital, connections, and resources for the Black/Brown women in their local community.
