Operationalizing Your Values

We are excited to present the 15 recipients of the 2023 Reconstruct Challenge that were announced and presented their solutions and projected impact September 18-20 at showcase events open to the public during three consecutive evenings at Startup Week Louisville.

Poverty is cyclical. If your earnings fall below a certain level, the cost of living can make rising to stable financial footing next to impossible. To break this cycle there needs to be intervention or systems change, and that starts with gaining empathy and understanding into why and how it is expensive to be poor.

Obstacles inside and outside of the workplace often leave individuals who want to work sitting on the sidelines of the economy. Read this article from the Render Team!

On this episode of More Than Profit, Bryce is talking with Briane Cornish, Founder and Executive Director of Brooklyn-based company, finEQUITY. finEQUITY advances the financial futures of those impacted by long-term incarceration. Justice-impacted individuals oftentimes do not have a credit score.

On this episode of More Than Profit, Bryce sits down with Jared Walker, Founder and CEO of a Portland-based startup called Dollar For. Dollar For crushes medical debt. Jared is passionate about how a medical crisis shouldn’t have to equal a financial crisis. He started his journey by crowdfunding in Portland to help people pay their medical bills. That was before he learned about Charity Care.

On this episode of the More Than Profit podcast, Bryce Butler of Access Ventures, talks with Betsy Biemann, CEO of Coastal Enterprises Inc., a nationally-known community development financial institution.

Moving into a new living arrangement is costly for any individual. There are normally costs associated with moving, starting a new lease, down payments, etc. For many individuals however, these costs are far more than an inconvenience.

It is clear that systems in our society, though assumed to be unintentional, favor the higher income individuals over those living paycheck to paycheck. These systems perpetuate the dichotomy between rich and poor and, due to how expensive it is to be poor, constrain income mobility.

mRelief is a tool that eases the process of applying for and receiving SNAP benefits for those who are eligible. This female-led company has unlocked over $189 million dollars in benefits and has helped over 425,000 families across all 50 states secure food stamps.

As people – no matter where you live, what you do, or who you are – we are constantly moving from one place to another. Whether you walk, bike, drive, or ride, getting from point A to point B is important for the sake of having a job, engaging with your community, accomplishing tasks, and more.

Noelle Marcus started Nesterly because she and her family have witnessed how difficult it can be to access affordable housing.

On this episode of the More Than Profit podcast, Bryce Butler of Access Ventures talks with Levi Smith. Levi is President of Franklin Building Supply, a company that employs 650 individuals.

Inspired to be an entrepreneur at an early age, DeLoss founded Hot Chicken Takeover on the idea that work could be about more than just earning a paycheck.

On this episode of More Than Profit podcast Rose Afriyie of mRelief talks about innovation around food stamps and living with passion and creativity.

We all want to have a place to call home. A place we feel safe and comfortable. Stable housing is foundational to human dignity and agency within the economy.

It was an equity issue. Understanding what was going on at these property management companies and seeing how the system of affordable housing was set up revealed a lack of care for the time and energy of low-income people.