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Developing A Place-Based Approach to Entrepreneurship: Lessons from the Build From Within Alliance

In 2020, Reinvestment Fund partnered with the Build from Within Alliance (BfWA) and University of Pennsylvania’s Social Impact of the Arts Project (SIAP) to participate in an Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Knowledge Challenge to explore the place-based work of BfWA members.

Using qualitative and quantitative research methods, this multi-year effort was designed to study the characteristics of communities in ten cities where Alliance members were working and unpack the ways that place-based support for entrepreneurship can enhance community wellbeing.

Our findings point to the various ways that an entrepreneurship strategy deeply rooted in the characteristics of place can impact individual and community wellbeing.

The project’s interactive findings and conclusions website may not support all browsers.

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