Promise Venture Studio aims to address one of the greatest social justice issues facing our country — the equity gap that starts long before children enter Kindergarten. Due to structural racism and systemic inequality, over five million children under five years old in the US are growing up in poverty, millions of children and families lack access to the healthcare services they need, and more than half of children from low-income families are unprepared for kindergarten. Further, the Early Childhood Development (ECD) field, like the broader society it serves, is riddled with inequity, particularly along racial and socioeconomic lines. This reality fundamentally shapes lifelong outcomes. Our work is rooted in a conviction to do our part to build a world where all children, no matter their background, can fulfill their innate promise.
Promise believes that social entrepreneurs, as they have in other fields, can pioneer programs, products, services, and interventions that lead to more just outcomes at scale. However, social entrepreneurs in ECD face significant obstacles to building organizations that can achieve impact at scale, including less venture support, less financial capital, less human capital, and less intellectual capital. Moreover, these obstacles are disproportionately higher for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) innovators than their white peers. These inequities are especially problematic because research shows that proximate leaders of color who see the intersectional root causes of issues and respond in ways that integrate cultural competency and respect are best poised to eliminate inequities.
Backed by leading investors and philanthropists, Promise Venture Studio is a national nonprofit with a mission to support innovators and accelerate innovations for equity in Early Childhood Development. We help social entrepreneurs in ECD achieve scaled impact in the face of these obstacles - and help the field dismantle these obstacles over time. We support any venture (for profit company, non-profit organization, academic institution, etc) that is exploring, developing or scaling products, services and programs that improve outcomes in ECD.
Promise employs three mutually reinforcing strategies:
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We unite BIPOC and proximate innovators to drive personal sustainability and collective power
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We accelerate the impact of equity-driven social ventures
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We connect innovators and ventures to sources of capital and customers
Ultimately we believe these strategies will lead to more social ventures that improve outcomes for children and families at scale, along with more and more equitable capital for the ECD field.
