Introducing New Profit’s Second Economic Mobility Cohort

January 25, 2024

New Profit is thrilled to announce investments of $100,000 each in 16 innovative organizations driving economic mobility results in America. These investments are supported by Ballmer Group, and an anonymous donor-advised fund.

New Profit supports organizations aimed at making economic opportunity more accessible in America. We are committed to investing in true economic mobility – prioritizing solutions that hold an expansive view of what it means to deliver results that repair deeply entrenched harms of the past and present while working to ensure future economic vitality for all Americans. Our vision is to support a variety of organizational models including direct, widespread, and systemic solutions through our core portfolio investments and ecosystem-building approaches.

Organizations within this cohort represent a spectrum of economic mobility solutions including: 1) Social drivers of employment outcomes, 2) Pathways to income generation, and 3) Financial health & wealth creation.

Over the next year, cohort members will engage in a peer learning community that connects through multi-day in-person convenings and virtual sessions focused on building relationships with one another and tackling key leadership and organizational challenges. Each organization will also receive dedicated support for leadership development and one-on-one strategic advising from a New Profit team member to help them build their organization’s capacity and take aim at changing the broader systems in which they operate.

Meet our Economic Mobility Cohort:

Sade’ Cooper & Hilari Smith, Collaborative Healing in Communities (CHIC):
CHIC offers a variety of services in intervention and prevention that address economic deprivation, mental health, youth violence, and the overall stability of the family.
Roya Bagheri, COOK Alliance:
The Cook Alliance is a nonprofit working to legitimize and support informal home cooking businesses so that culinary entrepreneurship is accessible to all, and particularly empowering for homemakers, caregivers, women, people of color, and immigrants.
Cherrelle Gardner; Lela Klein, CO-OP Dayton:
Co-op Dayton organizes community movement and incubates cooperative enterprise for a just local economy.
Ngozi Okaro, Custom Collaborative:
Custom Collaborative trains, mentors, and advocates for and with low-income and immigrant women to build the skills necessary to achieve economic success in the sustainable fashion industry and broader society.
Richard Wallace, Equity and Transformation:
The mission of Equity and Transformation (EAT) is to achieve social and economic equity for Black Workers engaged in the informal economy.
Rachel Johnson-Farias, Esq. Apprentice:
Esq. Apprentice’s mission is to create a debt-free path to law licensing for low-income women of color, spearheading a more diverse, economically empowered, and justice-centered legal profession.
Sheila Maddali, GLOW: Grassroots Law & Organizing for Workers (formerly National Legal Advocacy Network):
GLOW: Grassroots Law & Organizing for Workers is a racial and economic justice organization dedicated to shifting the balance of power towards greater equity in our economy and society through worker organizing, empowering systematically marginalized people, challenging predatory and exploitative workplace policies, and advancing policies that build wealth and power in poor and working-class communities.
Adriana Abizadeh, Kensington Corridor Trust:
Kensington Corridor Trust utilizes collective ownership to direct investments on the corridor that preserve culture and affordability while building neighborhood power and wealth in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood.
Jesús Flores, Latino Business Foundation Silicon Valley:
The Latino Business Foundation of Silicon Valley helps very small businesses and organizations survive and thrive and helps San Jose retain its unique cultural flavors even as the city attracts development from multinational corporations and large retail outlets.
Tameka Greer, Memphis Artists for Change: Memphis Artists for Change is an arts-centered, community and economic development organization. Memphis Artists for Change (MAC) weaves arts into the creation of opportunities for community-sanctioned change in underserved neighborhoods.
Mark Watson, Potlikker Capital:
Potlikker Capital is a farm community governed charitable integrated capital fund created to holistically serve BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) farmers in America who operate at the intersection of racial and climate justice.
Geneva White, Scope of Work:
Scope Of Work (SOW) is a talent development agency for young BIPOC creatives that establishes equity in the creative industry.
Nikishka Iyengar, The Guild:
The Guild takes a systems approach to creating collaborative, inclusive, and sustainable communities, with the aim of addressing the root causes of economic inequality.
Jessica Johnson, The Scholarship Academy:
The Scholarship Academy’s mission is to help low-income students secure resources to pursue higher education opportunities with minimum debt and, thus, create a healthier financial aid culture.
Jason Dehaemers; David Kemper; Kavya Shankar, Trust Neighborhoods:
Trust Neighborhoods is a non-profit team that creates Mixed-Income Neighborhood Trusts (MINTs), operated by and accountable to existing community organizations. MINTs harness the money coming into communities to keep rent affordable for existing residents.
Touré Folkes, Turning Tables:
Turning Tables provides both inexperienced and rising Black and Brown hospitality professionals with culturally responsive education, training, mentorship, and resources necessary to access real opportunity.

We invite you to learn more about these social entrepreneurs and their work by visiting their websites and subscribing to New Profit’s newsletter for the latest updates about our portfolio. Entrepreneurs in this cohort will also have the opportunity to share more about their work through our ongoing Social Entrepreneur Spotlight series on New Profit’s blog, NPGo. If you would like to be notified about future funding opportunities please fill out this form.

About New Profit

New Profit is a venture philanthropy organization that backs social entrepreneurs who are advancing equity and opportunity in America. New Profit exists to build a bridge between these leaders and a community of philanthropists who are committed to catalyzing their impact. New Profit provides unrestricted grants and strategic support to a portfolio of organizations led by visionary social entrepreneurs to increase their impact, scale, and sustainability. It also partners with social entrepreneurs and other cross-sector leaders to shift how government and philanthropy pursue social change to ensure that all people can thrive. Since its founding in 1998, New Profit has invested over $350M in 250+ organizations and, through the America Forward Coalition’s collective advocacy efforts, has unlocked over $1.9B in government funding for social innovation.

About Ballmer Group 

Ballmer Group is committed to improving economic mobility for children and families in the United States, funding leaders and organizations that have demonstrated the ability to reshape opportunity and reduce systemic inequities. We focus on multiple impact areas and systems that can impact economic mobility – such as early learning, K-12 education, college and career pathways, housing, behavioral health, and criminal justice – and we support leaders and organizations that focus on undoing systemic racism and the barriers it has created. Ballmer Group is both a national and regional funder – we have a presence and invest deeply in southeast Michigan, Washington state, and Los Angeles County. Ballmer Group was co-founded by philanthropist Connie Ballmer and her husband Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft, founder of USAFacts, and chairman of the Los Angeles Clippers. Learn more at www.ballmergroup.com.