The Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics is honored to have been awarded the Accelerate California: Inclusive Innovation Hub grant. The California Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) awards fund to one hub per county with the goals to:
- Expand innovation by leveraging the resources, creativity, and ingenuity that exists in our county.
- Grow the economy by nurturing entrepreneurship, while addressing societal challenges in the area.
- Provide training, coaching, and mentoring to underserved communities like women, people of color, and veterans in entrepreneurship.
- Foster collaboration and partnership across industry, academia, government, nonprofits, civil society and communities of practice.
The Challenges in our Region
Orange County, California is a racially, linguistically, and economically diverse county. While the impression from the outside may be that it is a wealthy area, there is a divide among the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots.’ According to DataUSA, Orange County’s demographic composition is 39.8% White (Non-Hispanic), 33.8% Hispanic, 20.9% Asian, 6.7% Multi-racial, and 1.56% African American, and 29.6% of our population is foreign-born, with the largest group coming from Mexico.
10.1% of the people in Orange County, of a total population of 3.13 million, live below the poverty line. The most common racial or ethnic group living below the poverty line in Orange County is White, followed by Hispanic and Asian. Women are disproportionately poorer than their male counterparts. In 2022, 26.6% of the Orange County population was living with severe housing instability.
More than 64,000 veterans reside in Orange County. Veterans often have challenges finding employment, so they are prime candidates for entrepreneurship.
According to Harvard Business Review, fewer than 3% of venture capital funding goes to female founders of startups, and 1.8% goes to people of color. Many first-generation immigrants also face hiring challenges by established businesses whether due to language issues, systemic racism, or other reasons. Forbes noted that first generation immigrants start businesses at a 27% higher rate than Americans who are not immigrants. Also, many second-generation children inherit and run their family businesses.
The Solution
Inclusive entrepreneurship and innovation can ameliorate some of these economic issues by:
- Supporting underserved communities to lessen the income gap.
- Helping women to start their own businesses and equalize the pay gap.
- Providing language support and business initiation for first-generation immigrants.
- Opening up resources to underserved communities.
- Creating programs for veterans.
- Supporting innovation and preparing startups for accelerator programs and venture capital investment.
The Leatherby Center offers mentors, Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs), Incubator and Accelerator Programs, Events and more. Get involved today!
Where Do I Apply?
If you reside in Orange County and are interested in joining any of our programs, please contact:
or if you an aspiring entrepreneur with a startup idea, apply to join our incubator program:
Incubator and Accelerator Programs | Chapman University
Or swing by and chat with one of our mentors. The schedule is:
Mentor Program | Leatherby Center | Chapman University
How Can I Help?
If you are an influencer with followers in any underserved community, you can help by getting the word out about the free and low-cost programs we offer.
If you are in media, you can publicize our programs to drive potential entrepreneurs to our programs.
If you are in academia, you can encourage your students to join our startup cohorts.
If you are in corporate industries, you can sponsor our programs and offer scholarships for individuals.
If you are in nonprofits, we may partner with you to support our joint communities.
If you have expertise in an area, you can mentor our entrepreneurs.
Why Chapman and Leatherby?
Chapman University’s foundation is steeped in the belief that all people, regardless of color, gender, religion, or background, deserve equal rights. In its first form, Chapman, known then as Hesperian College, was founded on March 4, 1861. This date was chosen intentionally because it was the same date and very hour of President Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration as the 16th President of the United States. This symbolism was a statement about the founders’ beliefs in equality, even when the country was on the brink of Civil War. It was significant because the college’s founders believed that women, people of different ethnicities, and people of different faiths all deserved to be educated.
At Chapman today, of the 10,001 students enrolled, 20% are first generation college students, 40% identify as persons of color, and 60% identify as female.
The Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship was created in 1995 to inspire, educate and empower the next generation of talent to have an entrepreneurial mindset, to innovate and take risks, and to prepare youth to be global citizens.
Our Partners for the Grant
The Leatherby Center’s partners for this award include: Orange County Business Council, Octane OC, Tech Coast Angels, K5 Ventures, LifeSci Advisors, Sunstone Management, Brea Chamber of Commerce, City of Tustin, Goodwill of Orange County, Vital Link, United Nations Association Orange County, Impact Grove, Alteryx, Dell, LARTA, and Advanced Quantum Testbed Berkeley National Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory.
Funded in part through a Grant with the California Office of the Small Business Advocate.