AEO recently hosted Collaborating for Greater Impact, a two-day convening that unveiled several new innovations and partnerships aimed at moving Main Street forward. At the center of these new initiatives was our announcement of AEO’s marketplace repositioning through our new Innovation Hub model. Attendees heard from experts on how the model would introduce new ways to engage in exciting sector innovation opportunities.

The convening kicked off with enlightening and interactive conversations ranging from barriers to Black-owned business launch and development, building credit scores for bankable business development, to navigating collaboration and discovery in partnerships. Additionally, attendees enjoyed dynamic breakout sessions that include the launch of our two newest cohorts: the Returning Citizens Entrepreneurship Readiness cohort and the Tapestry Action Lab cohort.

The Returning Citizens Entrepreneurship Readiness cohort continued the innovation of the returning citizens working group featured at AEO’s national conference last spring, with robust conversation about the barriers that returning citizens face, and how practitioners can help them utilize entrepreneurship as a viable path to economic stability. The Tapestry Action Lab cohort was the first engagement of selected applicants to AEO’s Tapestry Project. Attendees share strategies, best practices, and ideas to address the wealth, credit, and trust gaps that often impede Black-owned businesses from launching and growing.

We were joined by several illustrious speakers, including Shawn Pfunder and Stacy Cline of GoDaddy, who unveiled the launch of Digital Presence for All—AEO’s newest and exciting opportunity for members to build their marketing expertise and provide world-class marketing and branding curriculum and coaching to their entrepreneurs.