Today, Heartland Forward and its partners, Builders + Backers, the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and the Inasmuch Foundation, announced its bringing Heartland Forward’s groundbreaking Community Growth Program and Toolkit (CGPT), a first-of-its-kind idea accelerator, Pebble Fund and Buildership™ program, powered by Builders + Backers, to stimulate entrepreneurial thinking and action to Oklahoma City. This new cohort of 10 builders in Oklahoma City is part of Heartland Forward’s commitment to funding and supporting 1,000 builders across the heartland by 2023. The program was successfully piloted in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Oxford, Mississippi this summer. 

“Problem solving with an entrepreneurial mindset will be key to rebuilding our post-COVID local economies, and our Community Growth Program and Toolkit has already proven to be a successful, meaningful way to accelerate the entrepreneurial thinking needed to help our communities thrive,” said Ross DeVol, president and CEO of Heartland Forward. “We’re thrilled to be bringing this program to Oklahoma City as part of our commitment to support 1,000 builders across the heartland by 2023. We’re confident this next cohort of Builders will have the innovative thinking and ideas to create real change in their communities, and we look forward to seeing what they can accomplish in the months and years to come.” 

Anyone who has a creative and unexpected idea for solving a problem facing the Oklahoma City community can complete an application here. Oklahoma City residents must apply by December 12, 2021. Residents with the most promising and innovative ideas will be selected to participate in a two-month long virtual program starting on January 20th, 2022. 

"Every community has potential game-changing ideas that are laying dormant," said Donna Harris, CEO of Builders + Backers. "The key - and the economic urgency - is getting more people, in more places, to actually put these ideas into action. That's the power of small experiments and the premise behind our Idea Accelerator program. For less than a single venture investment, we can unleash and fuel thousands of experiments across the country and see new ventures, initiatives and companies emerge.”

“We are thrilled to be a part of bringing Heartland Forward, Builders + Backers and the Idea Accelerator program to Oklahoma City’s entrepreneurial community,” said Jeff Seymour, EVP of Economic Development at the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. “Growing our innovation economy is critical to ensuring our region’s dynamic growth for decades to come. Getting these grants into the hands of Oklahoma City’s entrepreneurs at the earliest stages will pay dividends for our community down the road.”

“The Idea Accelerator is an amazing opportunity for Oklahoma City to connect individuals who may not see themselves as entrepreneurs yet with the resources to test their ideas, and begin to make their dreams a reality” said Tyler Tokarczyk, Inasmuch Foundation Program Officer.  “We cannot wait to see what ideas come to light and blossom into businesses through this new partnership.”

At the heart of the CGPT are the Builders + Backers four program pillars, designed to mobilize and equip Builders through: 

• Idea Accelerator: This cohort-based program combines a 45-day Builder Bootcamp to teach participants how to put ideas into action, followed by 45 days of actively executing their ideas through a single experiment.
• Pebble Fund: All of the Builders are supported by a $5,000 Pebble Grant to test their ideas. Participants are mentored by Master Builders throughout the program. 
• Storytelling: A comprehensive media program that curates, captures and distributes stories of Buildership™, both from within the programs and in communities everywhere. Through video, written stories, social media and media partnerships, the program inspires people to become Builders. 
• Buildership™ Workshops: Workshops and other events introduce people to the ideas of Buildership™ and demonstrate that anyone can generate creative solutions through entrepreneurial experimentation that contribute to the sustainability of communities. 

The pilot program in Tulsa, OK and Oxford, MS included 15 Builders solving problems in their communities related to workforce development, volunteerism, increasing food awareness and more. CGPT secured 100% retention from Builders and the majority were women and people of color. To learn more about the Builders, see here. 

About Heartland Forward:

Heartland Forward is a nonpartisan, 501c3 organization whose mission is to improve economic performance in the center of the United States by advocating for fact-based solutions to foster job creation, knowledge-based and inclusive growth and improved health outcomes. Heartland Forward conducts independent, data-driven research and programs to facilitate action-oriented discussion and impactful policy recommendations. To learn more, visit https://heartlandforward.org/.

About Builders + Backers:

Builders + Backers invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building global-scale ventures to power an entirely different future - one where technology creates value for many instead of capturing it for a few. Through proprietary programming, Builders + Backers also inspires and equips people to best seize the opportunities of our digital era - from experimentation and solving problems in their local communities to starting new ventures that could scale. By backing the most creative builders across the country, we can shape the digital future to be one in which more people participate and thrive.