Halcyon is Only DC Organization to Receive U.S. Commerce Department Grant
Halcyon is Only DC Organization to Receive U.S. Commerce Department Grant
HALCYON IS ONLY DC ORGANIZATION TO RECEIVE U.S. COMMERCE DEPARTMENT GRANT
Will Build Unprecedented Network of Impact Investors for Social Enterprises
WASHINGTON, DC (July 23, 2019) – Halcyon is one of 44 nonprofits, institutions of higher learning and entrepreneurship-focused organizations around the country – and the only organization in Washington, D.C. – to receive a competitive grant from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Regional Innovations Strategies Program to create and expand high-growth entrepreneurship and increase access to capital in the region. The three-year $300,000 grant will allow Halcyon to build an unprecedented network of impact investors to increase flows of capital towards the most promising social enterprises in the region. The announcement was made by Dr. John Fleming, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development at a press conference at Halcyon.
“Given everything we know from running the Halcyon Incubator, we’re confident we’re going to build an outstanding network of social impact investors,” said Halcyon Chief Innovation Officer Ryan Ross. “Between supporters we already know, and new supporters we will cultivate, this will be a group whose financial support for social enterprise is catalytic in the region.”
The Halcyon Incubator is committed to solving 21st-century challenges by helping social entrepreneurs transform audacious ideas into scalable and sustainable ventures. The Incubator acts as a catalyst for measurable social outcomes. In just five years, Halcyon’s 77 ventures have created 764 jobs, raised more than $91 million in capital and impacted nearly a million lives worldwide.
Following the press conference, impact investors, social entrepreneurs, local government officials and other startup ecosystem stakeholders convened to discuss the value of Halcyon’s new program and ways to maximize the impact of this network.
Halcyon was selected from a pool of 183 applicants. Grantees from 28 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico will receive grants totaling $23 million. The 2019 awardees will leverage an additional $26 million in matching funds from a variety of private and public sector sources.
The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, housed within the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration, leads the Regional Innovation Strategies Program to spur innovation capacity-building activities in regions across the nation.
About Halcyon
Halcyon is a new kind of nonprofit organization. We lift up innovators and creators who seek to make the world a better place, giving them the tools and opportunities they need to bring their ideas to life. Halcyon’s signature programs are residential fellowships: the Halcyon Incubator and Halcyon Arts Lab. Other programs such as By The People, a free, international, city-wide arts and dialogue festival; and the Halcyon Awards, celebrate and recognize extraordinary accomplishment in such areas as art, social enterprise and policy. Since its founding, Halcyon has built programming around the core tenets of space, community and access, continuously evolving to identify and provide a haven for big dreamers and risk-takers the world over. www.halcyonhouse.org
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