Invest in Black entrepreneurs in St. Louis

WEPOWER is a St. Louis based, startup non-profit that works with Black and Latinx communities to build and activate power -- both politically and economically. On the community wealth building side, we run the Elevate/Elevar Accelerator, a 6-month accelerator for Black and Latinx entrepreneurs with early stage businesses that are well suited to create living wage and family sustaining jobs. We're also developing a $1.5M investment fund to ensure Black and Latinx entrepreneurs in St. Louis have access to the capital they need to grow their businesses.

After speaking with hundreds of entrepreneurs, reviewing and scoring 90+ applications, interviewing 40 semifinalists, and tallying votes from 800+ community members, we selected 10 dynamic Black and Latinx entrepreneurs to join WEPOWER’s inaugural cohort of the Elevate/Elevar Accelerator.

We kicked off the accelerator in March 2020 and have now completed the first four months of the accelerator (out of six), including the investment readiness and branding and marketing curriculums, and provided more than $50,000 in grants to the companies in the cohort.