Prospera Community Development

- We offered two online Explora courses in 2023. 83 participants graduated in total. - We launched a new course called Lanza tu Cooperativa in March 2023. Lanza provides the tools and structure for Explora graduates to materialize their co-op idea and/or convert their regular business into a worker cooperative. A total of 14 entrepreneurs have graduated from this first course. - We launched a new course called Planea tu Negocio in May 2023, it was based on Prospera's own curriculum for business development with cooperative values. We offer individualized support to participants who are ready to complete and implement their business plan. We hosted two cohorts, one in the spring and one in the fall. A total of 62 entrepreneurs graduated.- We provided 91 workshops in Crece meetings and workshops, with the participation of 223 entrepreneurs. - During this year, we welcomed a new cohort of 3 business owners to the Acompaa program. We have supported 12 business owners through the Acompaa program during 2023 we welcomed two new fellows to our Vuela Program (previously called Fellowship), Stephanie Segovia, founder of Steph Brews Coffeea business that provides training in the coffee industryand Pilar Rengifo, founder of The Choclo, a company that offers gluten- and dairy-free Colombian baked goods. During the two years of the fellowship, the first year Fellows receive a stipend of $1,500 per month, and throughout the two years they also receive tailored technical support, assistance accessing capital, one-on-one and group coaching and leadership opportunities.- We provided 420 hours of 1:1 TA to more than 75 women.- We contracted with 20 bilingual and bicultural consultants to support our Crece, Acompaa and Vuela participants with workshops and individual TA.- Three of our participants received loans for their businesses, and eleven received grants, for a total of $120,000 in access to capital. - Kataly Foundation provided funding for Prospera to translate the financial education course Movement Finance Freedom School into Spanish. This course, originally developed by experts at Runway, Ujima, Kataly, and the Center for Economic Democracy, builds on participant experience to critically examine the financial system and learn its tools in order to gain access, advocate for their needs, and advance their projects. We facilitated the full, 15-hour course for our community and Katalys Spanish speaking grantees in the fall of 2023. - In March 2023, we celebrated Women's Day by organizing the "Story of Being a Woman" event, our first in-person gathering in Oakland since 2020. With 60 Latina entrepreneur attendees, the event provided a space to foster meaningful connections and inspire participants. - In October 2023, we held our Summit for Latina Entrepreneurs in person after three long years, with 96 attendees. The theme was Unlearn. Co-create. Raise Your Voice. As a special twist to our previous format, the panelists were the attendees themselves and brought powerful stories about their personal and entrepreneurship journeys to the conversation.- We launched 3 new episodes of our "Para Todas" podcast. This Spanish-first platform shares powerful stories of entrepreneurship, resilience, and migration, amplifying the voices of Latina immigrant communities through the practice of storytelling. The podcast fosters community, cooperation, and empowerment, addressing important themes such as power dynamics and the importance of storytelling. The podcast reached more than 750 listens.- We implemented 2 biannual surveys, in February and November, to gather data on business development and community wellbeing. We developed a metrics and grant management model for our first government grant COSBA.- In the pursuit to create organizational capacity, we Implemented Slack to improve internal communications. Piloting Dashlane to manage the organizations group and individual passwords, and Asana to manage projects. We continued to develop our Salesforce Programs Built to be deployed in 2024.