CEO Stories: The Future Cities Accelerator

In just four months, the foundation identified 10 social business builders, giving each of them $100,000 in funding along with numerous new connections and mentoring as part of The Future Cities Accelerator program.

Rockefeller Foundation Launches Program to Save America's Cities

By 2025, seventy-five percent of U.S. citizens are expected to live in cities. In recognition of that, in 2016 the Rockefeller Foundation sought to expand its work around helping cities by identifying social entrepreneurs whose businesses are focused on urban issues. The new Future Cities Accelerator program received more than 300 applications from businesses of all kinds.

The Goal

Rockefeller Foundation Association Director Josh Murphy partnered with Jukay Hsu, the Founder of C4Q, the Coalition 4 Queens, to run the competition and administer the program. The parameters were both broad and specific: Broad in the sense that they didn’t want the winning programs to focus on just one area, such as housing, but specific in that they wanted both to help poor, vulnerable populations and also engage more with young people.

Propeling It Forward

Propel, a company that developed an app for food stamp users, was one of the 10 winners. After leaving Silicon Valley in 2014, former Facebook executive Jimmy Chen, Propel's CEO, was looking to use technology to help alleviate social problems. At first, the focus was on simplifying the enrollment process. Now, the focus is on helping recipients manage their benefits, with Fresh EBT, an app that’s been ranked in the top 20 downloaded Android apps.

Grant Impact

All three men see the grant as more than a one-off. JC sees enormous value in access to a broader network in the government, nonprofit, and for-profit sectors. JM vows that the Rockefeller Foundation is in it for the long haul, and will provide mentorship from a variety of sectors and exposure to a broader ecosystem. The hope is that doing so will build scale, and broaden the impact of these programs while helping to inspire others.