Applications Now Open for Kansas City Residents to Receive $5,000 to Turn Business Ideas into Reality

Kansas City, Mo. (April 9, 2024)  – Today, Heartland Forward, Builders + Backers and Ford Motor Company Fund announced applications are now open for Kansas City, Missouri residents to apply for up to $5,000 to help them turn ideas into potential businesses or ventures. Anyone with a unique idea for solving a problem is encouraged to apply. 

The Builders + Backers Idea Accelerator Program powered by Heartland Forward is designed to make it easy for anyone to experiment with entrepreneurship.  Applicants are not required to submit a business plan or have a pitch deck for their idea. This cohort of 20 Builders in Kansas City is part of Heartland Forward’s commitment to supporting more than 1,000 Builders across the heartland by the end of 2024. Those interested can apply here.

The application deadline is May 12, 2024. Residents with the most promising and innovative ideas will be selected to participate in a 90-day virtual program starting on June 3, 2024.

“Kansas City represents the best of the heartland with its economic and demographic diversity. It is the perfect spot for another Idea Accelerator program,” said Ross DeVol, president and CEO of Heartland Forward. “This program here in Missouri will help us achieve our goal of supporting 1000 builders across the heartland.”

“Supporting new business growth in Kansas City lies at the heart of our mission,” said Donna Harris, CEO of Builders + Backers. “We look forward to helping the community bring their entrepreneurial ideas to life with this funding and through the support of the Idea Accelerator program and studio team.” 

“Ford has long shown its support to the thriving economic community in and around Kansas City,” said Mike Schmidt, Economic Mobility director at Ford Fund. “Through these new partnerships, we hope to build pathways to prosperity for aspiring entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams.”

Support for the Builders + Backers Idea Accelerator is a premier part of Heartland Forward’s Talent Development Strategy. At the heart of the program are the four pillars, designed to mobilize and equip Builders through:

• Idea Accelerator: This cohort-based program combines a 45-day Builder Bootcamp to teach participants how to put ideas into action, followed by 45 days of actively executing their ideas through a single experiment.
• Pebble Fund: All of the Builders are supported by a $5,000 Pebble Grant to test their ideas. Participants are mentored by Builders in Residence throughout the program.
• Storytelling: A comprehensive media program that curates, captures and distributes stories of Buildership™, both from within the programs and in communities everywhere. Through video, written stories, social media and media partnerships, the program inspires people to become Builders.
• Buildership™ Workshops: Workshops and other events introduce people to the ideas of Buildership™ and demonstrate that anyone can generate creative solutions through entrepreneurial experimentation that contribute to the sustainability of communities.

The program was first piloted in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Oxford, Mississippi, in the summer of 2021. Since, there have been more than 864 Builders across 13 heartland communities. To learn more about the Builders, see here.

Contact: Ross Owyoung, rowyoung@hearltandforward.org , 870-501-2700

About Heartland Forward

Heartland Forward is a policy think and do tank dedicated to being a resource for states and local communities in the middle of the country. We do this by studying broad economic trends and building data-driven and community-tested partnerships, programs and policies to address the needs of the heartland – all while helping to change the narrative about the middle of the country and kick-starting economic growth.

About Builders + Backers

Builders + Backers invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building global-scale ventures to power an entirely different future – one where technology creates value for many instead of capturing it for a few. Through proprietary programming, Builders + Backers also inspires and equips people to best seize the opportunities of our digital era – from experimentation and solving problems in their local communities to starting new ventures that could scale. By backing the most creative builders across the country, we can shape the digital future to be one in which more people participate and thrive.

About Ford Motor Company Fund

At Ford Motor Company Fund, we believe everyone deserves to progress in life. That is what drives us every day as we partner with community leaders and nonprofits to help meet the unique needs of under-resourced and underrepresented communities. As the philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Company, we co-create and invest in solutions to support communities across the U.S. and in more than 40 countries around the globe. Our work focuses on three impact areas: expanding access to essential services, education for the future of work and entrepreneurship.