[November 16, 2021]  This December, the City of Boston will launch the GrowBoston! Program, powered by Interise's StreetWise ‘MBA’ curriculum. The program will provide 15-20 Boston-based M/WBE small business owners, who are at the same stage of growth, with interactive class sessions, peer mentoring groups, and the opportunity to learn from local experts in the fields of leadership development, finance, marketing, contracting and procurement. In each class session, participants will identify ways to immediately improve their business. At the end of the program, participants will walk away with a personalized three-year Strategic Growth Action Plan — along with the confidence, ability, and network of peers and experts they will need to implement it.

The 'contracting factor' of the StreetWise ‘MBA’ curriculum, which prepares participants for contracting success through procurement opportunities with Boston’s top anchor institutions, corporations, government, and other large purchasers, is what attracted the City to invest in this program specifically. This program is part of the City's response to address the disparity study commissioned by the city that analyzed over 47,000 contracts awarded by the City over a five-year period (2014 - 2019) worth over $2.1 billion and found that of those contracts, 11% were awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses. Only 0.4% -- or $9.4 million -- reached Black businesses.

With 15 years of experience, partners across 75+ cities and close to 9,000 Streetwise ‘MBA’ alumni companies, Interise is driving groundbreaking impact across the country. While our impact is national, Boston, Massachusetts will always be where we started. On average Boston based Interise alumni secured new contracting of $648,450. We know businesses that grow through contracting not only create jobs faster, but they create local jobs with higher wages and benefits and also reinvest those resources within their communities by supporting other local businesses and helping the area's economy, 

The seven-month program will run December 1, 2021 to June 15, 2022 and includes 13 sessions that meet virtually every other Wednesday from 5:00-8:00pm EST. The program is free of charge for all participants! In order to participate, businesses must be located in the City of Boston, have been in business for at least three years, and have at least one employee besides the owner. 

Applications are due November 25th. Click here to apply!