Levin's Center for Public and Nonprofit Management (CPNM) has been selected to provide training and interns to support a new initiative, the Cleveland Community Navigator and Entrepreneur Ecosystem. As part of this effort, the CPNM will be creating a twelve-session professional development training program and will help facilitate internship placements for students focusing on organizational leadership and nonprofit management. The first training cohort is expected to launch this fall 2022.

The Cleveland Community Navigator and Entrepreneur Ecosystem supports systems-level change for economically disadvantaged small and micro-businesses in Cleveland. With BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) businesses closing at twice the national average during COVID-19 coupled with disinvestment in Black and Brown neighborhoods, this pilot program aspires to foster business ecosystems that can mitigate or negate the effects of structural obstacles to business building.
  
The proposed ecosystem combines a collaborative, grassroots, bottom-up approach with a navigator framework where Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc. (BBC) will serve as the "Hub,” in partnership with seven expert community partners as "Spokes," including the CPNM, Friendly Inn Settlement House, East End Neighborhood House, Rid-All Green Partnership, Hispanic Business Center, Village Capital Corporation, and the United Church of Christ. Partners will work to advance underserved small and micro-businesses by building entrepreneurial pathways and by providing support throughout the critical five stages of entrepreneurship: ideation, start-up, sustaining, scale, and exit.