威尼斯人娱乐城的社区中心从尤因·马里昂·考夫曼基金会（Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation）获得了一笔为期三年、价值30万美元的赠款，用于研究黑人和西班牙裔企业家在堪萨斯城城市社区开展新业务所面临的机遇和挑战。
“Entrepreneurs and local businesses face a challenging environment for starting new or sustaining businesses in Black and Hispanic communities,” Dina Newman, director of the Center for Neighborhoods, says. “They encounter barriers such as lack of access to capital, inconsistent financing and pre-existing economic challenges related to redlining. We were honored to be invited by the Kauffman Foundation to apply for this funding.”
考夫曼基金会的赠款将支持一个以社区为重点的研究过程，该过程将审查企业家因种族偏见的发展限制而面临的基于地方的挑战。 此外，该中心还将为黑人和西班牙裔企业主开发有关创业机会的新知识。
“While we know that these entrepreneurs face race-based challenges, what is not as clear is how these challenges are compounded by the perception of their business locations by outside interests, especially financial institutions,” Jacob Wagner, associate professor and director of Urban Planning + Design says. “This study will allow us to research that impact.”
该中心将与邻里和社区网络合作，与西班牙裔和黑人企业家建立关系，并对他们所面临的基于地点的挑战进行基线分析。
赠款的第二年将在第一年的基础上开展一系列资产漫步活动，这是一个互动和协作的过程，研究团队和当地领导人将通过非正式会议从当地企业家那里收集信息。
资产漫步的信息结果与基线分析相结合，将为中心提供数据，以了解成功创业的障碍是个性化的、地域性的还是系统性的，哪些是这些因素的组合。
这项研究的结果不是纯粹的学术研究，而是一个成功重建城市社区的路线图。
“We expect that this research will result in the development of new programs, workshops and training that will strengthen the ability of neighborhood organizations to be catalysts for escalating business development in the urban core,” Newman says.
“While we know that these entrepreneurs face race-based challenges, what is not as clear is how these challenges are compounded by the perception of their business locations by outside interests, especially financial institutions. This study will allow us to research that impact.” — Jacob Wagner
考夫曼基金会（Kauffman Foundation）是一家位于密苏里州堪萨斯城的私人无党派基金会，旨在通过有准备的劳动力和以企业家为重点的经济发展来建立包容性繁荣。 The Foundation uses its $3 billion in assets to change conditions, address root causes and break down systemic barriers so that all people – regardless of race, gender or geography – have the opportunity to achieve economic stability, mobility and prosperity.
社区中心是这项社区参与研究提案的六个资金接受者之一。
“We’re excited to support community engagement in the research process through this grant portfolio,” says Chhaya Kolavalli, senior program officer, Knowledge Creation & 研究, Entrepreneurship. “These six projects aim to build equitable, collaborative, solution-driven initiatives between communities and researchers with the potential to advance inclusive prosperity through entrepreneurship.”
考夫曼基金会预计，该项目的研究结果将为社区、企业家支持组织、生态系统利益相关者、政策制定者、研究人员和慈善机构提供实用的见解和知识，帮助他们发展公平的创业生态系统。