Designing VALUES-driven model with Alliance for Community Development
The Alliance for Community Development is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, founded in 1999, dedicated to promoting investment in low-income Bay Area communities. They do this by increasing access to capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs including but not limited to women, people of color, immigrants, and veterans.
And they invited me to join the team for awhile and support this mission! The Alliance has got to be one of my favorite all-time clients. The small yet nimble team is made up of four superstar women of color (CEO Nayeli Maxson, along with Melanie Nuni, Naima McQueen, and Cinthya Flores).
Working closely with Nayeli, i had the opportunity to help develop the concept for a system that will allow local businesses to show their VALUES. The VALUES System identifies and strengthens local businesses by verifying their efforts in each of six areas: Viability, Access, Local, Unity, Equity, and Sustainability. Imagine if you could spot a business walking the talk in these six areas simply by looking for a symbol on the window or package, like those Yelp stickers or a “certified organic” label. Well, now you can!
To help explain what this all means, this is from the Alliance for Community Development’s website:
Our VALUES System articulates our VALUES in a transparent and accessible way for our Bay Area Entrepreneurship Alliance members
Our VALUES System serves as a system for identifying and strengthening community-based, community-serving businesses
Our VALUES System helps us to consistently vet resources we refer local underrepresented entrepreneurs to in navigation sessions
Our VALUES System provides a VALUES adoption roadmap to our members and to our broader community, rewarding the creation of plans and progress.
Our VALUES System was built by a team representative of the communities we seek to serve: women, people of color, mothers, youth, children of immigrants, parents of people with disabilities.
