MORGAN PARK — Entrepreneurs with a social conscience are invited to the Beverly Area Planning Association's Idea Incubator Workshop at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
The neighborhood group will host he meeting in its community room at 11109 S. Longwood Drive in Morgan Park. It's free to attend.
Margot Burke Holland, executive director of the group, said the idea is to bring individuals interested in forming a non-profit or a for-profit venture with a social mission together for a session on how to make their dreams into a reality.
Existing non-profits or socially-minded businesses also stand to benefit with tips on how to make their existing enterprise more efficient, Holland said.
In doing so, Holland has partnered with Goodcity and Accion Chicago. Goodcity is a non-profit venture that helps other non-profits get on their feet in order to improve their communities. Accion is a Chicago-based micro lender that offers loans in the range of $500-$100,000.
"The idea is to have a positive social impact on our community," said Holland, who met Goodcity president Jimmy Lee at a recent seminar.
Lee transformed Goodcity from a floundering non-profit to a thriving organization by way of incorporating a for-profit enterprise into the mission. It's this sort of non-traditional thinking that Holland hopes others may glean from the workshop.
And non-profits aren't the only types of projects that stand to benefit. Holland gave an example of a for-profit smoothie shop that might be some Beverly entrepreneur's dream. So long as that smoothie shop has some sort of social component — like employing local teens or donating a portion of its profits to charity — this venture would benefit from the upcoming workshop.
Holland is expecting upward of 25 entrepreneurs to attend the upcoming meeting with a wide range of experience from seasoned professionals to wide-eyed high school students.
She hopes the response is enough to continue with a series of such workshops aimed at improving the Far Southwest Side neighborhoods from the ground up.
"I've been very excited about the response. I think it's a great fulfillment of BAPA's mission," Holland said.
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