Senator Newman Secures $8.5 Million for Social Entrepreneurship in North Orange County
Fullerton, Calif - RevHubOC, a California Social Purpose Corporation, along with partners OneOC, the Center for Entrepreneurship at Cal State Fullerton, the North Orange County Community College District, the Orange County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, CIELO, Advance OC, the Orange County MultiEthnic Collaborative of Community Agencies (OC MECCA), and the Social Science Research Center at Cal State Fullerton, announced today an $8.5 million grant through the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) and Senator Josh Newman (CA-29th District). The grant is for building the social enterprise ecosystem and creating illuminated pathways to entrepreneurship for under-represented and under-resourced communities.
Social enterprises are mission-driven, for-profit businesses addressing environmental and social challenges, such as climate change, affordable housing, educational inequities, and equitable food and agriculture systems. The NorthSTAR OC Collaborative (STAR is an acronym for Systems To Access Resources) pulls together funding, mentoring, and comprehensive resources for social innovators to explore and create new business ideas, develop ideas into viable ventures, and scale ventures into impact-ready, investable social enterprises.
NorthSTAR OC will also address inequities in startup support and capital through outreach and engagement, business exploration, ideation, and incubation in under-resourced communities. These efforts will expand beyond social enterprises to all forms of new business creation, from small side-businesses to scalable technology ventures.
Programming will include workshops, webinars, Neighborhood Hub centers, trainings, individual mentoring, counseling and navigation, incubation, acceleration, early-stage non-dilutive capital, proof-of-concept funding, and access to investment capital.
“We’re incredibly grateful to Senator Newman and GO-Biz for supporting this first-of-its-kind collaborative in Orange County,” said Tim Shaw, founding partner of RevHubOC. “This will enable us to assist hundreds of entrepreneurs who may have thought starting a business was out of reach for them, while also addressing some of the most pressing problems in our communities.”
“The funding secured in this year’s budget offers real promise for boosting economic development in our region and helping individuals gain financial security through business ownership,” said Senator Josh Newman. “I’m very confident that the work of the NorthSTAR OC Collaborative is going to firmly establish Orange County as the epicenter of social entrepreneurship in California and beyond.”
RevHubOC is a California Social Purpose Corporation coalescing Orange County’s social enterprise ecosystem for greater innovation and impact. Founded in 2019, RevHubOC is a community of investors, entrepreneurs, mentors, and partners which has incubated 23 social enterprises and established RevFund, Orange County’s first social impact investment fund.
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