Urban Strategies, Inc. (USI), with support from Wells Fargo, is launching a bold new effort to expand economic mobility, entrepreneurship, and community wealth building by investing in the people, ideas, and businesses already rooted in communities.
Through this initiative, USI will expand access to capital, strengthen pathways to entrepreneurship, and create opportunities for residents and local businesses to build, own, and sustain wealth.
The initiative will expand access to critical USI Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) resources, provide seed capital for emerging businesses, and strengthen implementation of USI’s Economic Wellness Assessment—a data-driven tool designed to better understand the barriers families face and connect them to strategies that increase financial stability, economic mobility, and long-term wealth.
The work will initially focus on St. Louis, Missouri; Norfolk, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; and Sacramento, California, creating a multi-city platform for demonstrating what is possible when capital, technical assistance, community knowledge, and opportunity are intentionally connected.
Moving From Economic Opportunity to Economic Ownership
At the center of this effort is USI’s new Start-Up Challenge, supported by Wells Fargo and designed around a simple belief: communities should not only participate in economic growth, they should have the opportunity to create it, own it, and benefit from it.
The Start-Up Challenge will identify and invest in resident entrepreneurs and emerging businesses with ideas capable of generating economic opportunity while strengthening the communities where they live and work.
Selected entrepreneurs will be eligible to receive up to $50,000 in patient capital, along with business incubation services, technical assistance, mentorship, and wraparound support designed to help transform promising ideas into sustainable enterprises.
The goal extends beyond launching individual businesses. The Start-Up Challenge is about building an ecosystem where entrepreneurs can create jobs, strengthen neighborhood economies, build assets, and keep more wealth circulating within their communities.
For information about the Resident Start-Up Challenge, visit: www.usi-cdfi.org
About Urban Strategies, Inc.
Urban Strategies, Inc. (USI) is a national nonprofit with nearly five decades of experience sparking transformation in communities too often left behind. Founded in 1978 in St. Louis, Missouri, USI has grown into a trusted partner advancing people-centered, place-based solutions that bridge individual resilience with systemic change.
USI leads with care and conviction, designing, managing, and implementing bold strategies that dismantle poverty and expand access to opportunity. The organization is active in 63 communities across 19 states and two territories, partnering with more than 100,000 individuals and 30,000 families, and a network of more than 1,000 partner organizations. Learn more at www.usi-inc.org
About Urban Strategies CDFI
Since 2018, USI’s Community Developed Financial Institution (CDFI) has raised and deployed nearly $12 million of financing affordable housing development and economic growth. These investments have contributed to the creation of 3,820 jobs and the preservation of nearly 2,315 units of housing nationwide. In addition, USI has supported more than 100 entrepreneurs through technical assistance and deployed nearly $1.4 million in capital to emerging businesses. Learn more at www.usi-cdfi.org
