Providing the tools to help a community to thrive
From starting a side hustle to becoming the CEO of a mobile food cart business, Antinette Watson’s journey is more than a story about serving the best grilled hot dogs in Wilmington, Delaware: It’s a testament to the transformative power of entrepreneurship.
Watson’s success embodies the mission of Wilmington Alliance, an organization driving economic opportunity and social vitality in traditionally underserved communities. Founded in August 2019 through a merger of Wilmington Renaissance Corporation and Wilmington Leaders Alliance, the nonprofit helps budding entrepreneurs like Watson with access to the resources, training, and support they need to thrive.
But Wilmington Alliance’s impact extends beyond small business support. The organization’s three-pronged approach includes supporting entrepreneurs, building employment pipelines for justice impacted job seekers, and building community through “creative placemaking.” As an example of this last pillar in action, the nonprofit recently partnered with a local yoga instructor to offer help for a 12-week “Urban Yoga for Men” program he developed. The initiative provided a safe space for Black men to process trauma and find brotherhood — showcasing how creative community programs can address deeper societal needs.
At the heart of this work is a powerful tool: data. “A big part of our work — and my work as CEO — is engaging in systemic policy changes, all the way from city to state to national levels,” says CEO Renata Kowalczyk. “Data allows me to point to our policy work, our advocacy work, and why we’re focusing on X versus Y.”
Addressing inequity in Wilmington
Wilmington, a city of approximately 72,000 residents, faces challenges that hinder equitable growth and opportunity for all its residents. Key barriers include:
- Racial wealth gap: Black residents, who make up around 57% of Wilmington’s population, have a median household income of $30,034 — half that of the city’s white population.
- Limited economic opportunities: Despite recent growth in median household income (10.9% increase from 2021 to 2022), many residents still struggle to access well-paying jobs and career advancement opportunities.
Building an ecosystem of success
The Wilmington Alliance’s three-pronged model encompasses:
- Workforce development (e.g. an employment pipeline dedicated to justice-impacted job seekers in the healthcare sector)
- Entrepreneur and small business support (e.g., the Wilmington Kitchen Collective, and WilmingtonMADE)
- Creative placemaking (e.g. free programming offered in three community and green spaces: Art O Mat, 7th & West Park and the Rock Lot)
The organization partners with community, civic, and business leaders to bring these initiatives to life. Renata explains how this holistic approach has a multiplier effect: By working across sectors and disciplines, the Alliance creates a powerful ecosystem.
”Individually, each organization might not make enough impact,” says Renata. “But when you bring in someone who has expertise in managing a kitchen, and then a nonprofit that offers 12 weeks of free business-plan training, and then local university students to develop a website for that business as a senior project — suddenly, you have this magnifying, mushrooming effect.”
How tech helps amplify Wilmington Alliance’s impact
Before partnering with Apricot (now Bonterra), Wilmington Alliance struggled with comprehensive data collection. Now, they use Bonterra Impact Management database to track demographics, outcomes, and impact across the organization’s three main focus areas. Specifically, they track metrics related to job readiness training, employment outcomes, small business support and investment amounts, and community engagement, among other key data points.
“One of our core values is to be results-oriented,” says the group’s Data and Impact Management Analyst Jada Brinkley. “We want to make sure that our programs and services are actually having an impact on the community. So, the data is a way to highlight our story statistically.”
The 2023 Impact Report recaps some of last year’s impressive statistics, including:
Moving ahead with vision
Looking to the future, a key initiative on the docket for Wilmington Alliance was to develop more comprehensive data systems that display not only their own outcomes, but also the collective impact of their many collaborations and partnerships. To support this goal, the organization has launched a community impact dashboard on its website — a tool that Bonterra will power. This dashboard will serve as a foundation for going deeper with the impact measurement.
This effort exemplifies the desire to build stronger “connective tissue” between community needs, organizational efforts, and measurable impacts — in other words, showcasing how successful food stands and a safe space to practice yoga can translate into tangible economic growth and improved community well-being.
Team members at Wilmington Alliance see how these grassroots efforts move the needle every day. As for convincing others of the catalytic power of their work, “it has to be a combination of data and telling real-life stories,” says Renata. “Our main focus is still on impact. So how can I show there’s a true transformation taking place? And how can I use data to demonstrate this?”
With Bonterra’s support, Wilmington Alliance is bridging the gap between grassroots efforts and data-driven decision-making, setting a new standard for impactful community organizations.
