Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice in Entrepreneurial Mindset Education
September 6, 2023
A Call to Listen I originally wrote this post as a response to a very important question. “How do white and non-black educators promote self-empowerment through entrepreneurship without invalidating the experiences of Black and Brown people?” How do we acknowledge the reality of systemic racism while teaching about the benefits of entrepreneurial thinking as a path to empowerment? The events of recent years have put a global spotlight on the systematic racism that bars Black…
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How the Ice House Model Helps Independence Community College Fulfill Its Economic Development Mission
August 3, 2022
The small southeastern Kansas community of Independence has a healthy downtown. This is true despite setbacks in industries like coal mining and oil production. Business coach and longtime resident Jim Correll believes the Ice House model deserves a share of the credit because many successful downtown business owners have participated in the Entrepreneurial Mindset course through Independence Community College’s Fab Lab ICC—including the current president of the Chamber of Commerce. For the past decade,…
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Why A Little Mental Turbulence Can Be a Good Thing for Early-Stage Startups
July 26, 2022
After welcoming each new cohort of idea-driven participants to Entrepreneurial Mindset Training, facilitator Joel Barrett issues a warning: Turbulence Ahead. Barrett is a business development consultant with the Missouri Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He and his colleagues use the Ice House model to redefine entrepreneurship as the self-directed pursuit of opportunities to create value for others by discovering and solving problems—and he has firsthand experience with the…
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Libraries and Entrepreneurship: A Natural Fit
July 12, 2022
Workforce and economic development are hot topics at libraries across the country—and many are tapping into ELI’s Entrepreneurial Mindset Training as a key resource. All public libraries in Georgia, Virginia, and Delaware offer free ELI training to staff and patrons. Many regional and local institutions do, too. For example, from the Mid-Continent Public Library in the metro Kansas City area to Spokane Public Library in Washington. Nashville Public Library joined these ranks in the…
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Fueling Student Innovation and Growth with an Entrepreneurial Mindset
July 11, 2022
The St. Vrain Valley School District has been serious about STEM for years. But long before it built the state-of-the-art, 50,000-square-foot Innovation Center in 2018, Assistant Superintendent of Innovation Patty Quinones recognized that equipping students with a mindset that helped them pursue business opportunities was just as important as providing them with all the latest technology. That’s where Instructional Technologist Jeffrey Lund comes in. He has a background in both education and small business.…
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A Cascade of Job Satisfaction in Oklahoma
June 23, 2022
In an era when workplace dissatisfaction seems to be at an all-time high, Stacey Bolin is a welcome breath of fresh air. She’s an associate professor who teaches entrepreneurship and computer courses at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, and she directs the school’s Wilburn L. Smith Center for Entrepreneurship. “This is the best job in the world,” Bolin said. “I love it.” Her enthusiasm is contagious. Students in Bolin’s courses routinely earn awards…
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How the Ice House Model Underlies a Mission to Engage, Educate, and Empower Entrepreneurs
May 16, 2022
Long before Dr. Cassandra Little ever heard of Uncle Cleve Mormon and the Ice House approach to entrepreneurship, she already knew its power. That’s because her grandfather was an entrepreneur who had only a third-grade education but built a career working on cars and houses. Watching him, she absorbed the same lessons the Ice House model now instills in course participants via the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce. Little herself is a lifelong…
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How the City of Albuquerque Grows Entrepreneurial Thinking From the Inside Out
January 25, 2022
Many cities have worked to attract entrepreneurs over the past decade. Albuquerque, New Mexico, is among them—but in an innovative twist, the fast-growing Southwestern city also worked to foster an entrepreneurial mindset from the inside out. City leaders aren’t looking for municipal employees to start their own businesses. Instead, they’re following the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative’s definition of entrepreneurship as the self-director pursuit of opportunities to create value for others. Here’s the story of how…
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Tackling Social Injustice Through an Entrepreneurial Mindset
October 27, 2021
The opportunities and resources for Black entrepreneurs and minority-led startups often presuppose a skill set that people who grew up in poverty don’t have. “A lot of the circles of support are for middle-class Black people,” explained Pastor Myron Pierce. Pierce serves as the pastor of the Mission Church in North Omaha, Nebraska. “There’s a language you have to speak, systems and structures and culture you need to know about—and that makes it hard…
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