KANSAS CITY—In August, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced that it will provide another three-year challenge grant of up to $1.435 million to Pipeline to help extend and improve its programming. Now the regional program is expanding its services to St. Louis.
Now entrepreneurs residing in the city will have the opportunity to apply to become Pipeline fellows and join the group’s network of more than 80 entrepreneurs across the state of Kansas, the state of Nebraska, the Kansas City Metropolitan area (Kansas and Missouri sides of KC Metro).
For the past three years, Washington University’s Skandalaris Center has supported Pipeline in St. Louis through an affiliate participation program, where a limited number of entrepreneurs affiliated with the University could apply to be a part of Pipeline. Now that ability will be expanded to all St. Louis entrepreneurs.
The Kauffman Foundation previously awarded Pipeline a challenge grant, which comes to an end this summer. Like the previous one, the new grant will be matched dollar for dollar by members of the community and the private sector, including a number of the program’s alumni. One of the initiatives made possible by the first Kauffman grant was Pipeline’s regional expansion throughout Kansas, Nebraska and parts of Missouri.
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Washington University in St. Louis, David Karandish of Answers, Stephanie Leffler and Ryan Noble of CrowdSource and integrated communication firm Elasticity have signed on in the initial list of founders that are bringing this opportunity to St. Louis. They all support Pipeline—a nonprofit—through financial resources and intellectual partnership.
“We’re excited about how excited our new partners were about [Pipeline’s] expansion and how passionate our long-term members were about expansion,” Pipeline president and CEO Joni Cobb said of the organization’s initial growth told SPN in August.
In addition, Pipeline also will hold one of its quarterly modules in St. Louis each year.
Applications for Pipeline’s 2015 class are open until Oct. 21 to anyone in the group’s newly expanded region.
Learn more about Pipeline’s St. Louis expansion announcement:
Read more about Pipeline through our previous coverage: “Kauffman Foundation announces second Pipeline challenge grant.”
