Listen to this article

The inaugural cohort of eight PLACE Builders fellows, a fellowship honoring the legacy of the late EcoMap Technologies CEO and co-founder Pava LaPere, officially launched Tuesday.

PLACE (Pava LaPere Award for Cultivating Ecosystems) Builders was jointly developed by EcoMap, a category-defining ecosystem intelligence AI software company based in Baltimore, and Forward Cities, a national nonprofit that works with partners to build equitable entrepreneurial communities.

From a pool of more than 80 applicants, the following ecosystem builders, representing regions across the country, will have an opportunity to build their capacity through training, peer support, and community pilots over the next three months.

• Arsh Haque (Portland, Oregon) – The Far West fellow launching culturally specific accelerator programs with a focus on race and neuroatypicality. His unique program identified traded sectors that have overrepresentation by marginalized groups but have been under-resourced. The goal is to serve these marginalized founders by connecting them with community and additional resources, breaking down barriers along the way.
• Charlyn Moss (Denver) – The Southeast fellow is a former sole proprietor who intimately understands the multifaceted challenges and barriers that confront Black-led-and-serving entrepreneurs. She recognizes the urgent need for tailored support and resources to address the unique obstacles faced by Black entrepreneurs and is establishing the Black Owners Club (BOC), a transformative initiative designed to address critical gaps and foster sustainable growth within the Black entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• Marion Hicks (Albuquerque, New Mexico) – The Southwest fellow is a project manager taking a multi-faceted, ecosystems-level approach to supporting Indigenous femme entrepreneurs. She plans to blend proven programs into a codified ecosystem to provide multiple avenues to shift wealth and provide equitable access to capital and other resources for Indigenous femme entrepreneurs.
• Angela Hollowell (Durham, North Carolina) – The Southeast fellow is founder and host of Honey & Hustle, a video podcast committed to highlighting the unique and thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem that makes North Carolina a premier destination for work, travel, film production, and community development. She plans to scale up her newsletter, Please Hustle Responsibly, to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and the resources and strong community they need to thrive.
• Erica Williams (Florissant, Missouri) – The Plains fellow creates spaces and opportunities for entrepreneurs to work and support their families. She believes her community needs and deserves the opportunity to create wealth for themselves and is looking to license a shared commercial kitchen and small-scale manufacturing space to give food entrepreneurs and value-added producers a place to create and market their products.
• Justus Cornelius Pugh (Chicago) – The Great Lakes fellow is creating community by bringing together the right ingredients to push impactful initiatives forward. A natural facilitator, he plans to gather passionate entrepreneurs to share meals, create strong bonds, and explore the power of collaboration and resource sharing.
• Francisco Ramos-Meyer (Washington, DC) – The Mideast fellow saw firsthand how hard it was for Latino business owners and is passionate about preserving and enhancing the vibrancy of Columbia Heights in the District of Columbia. He is looking to forge a long-term partnership between young residents and local businesses, specifically to harness the former’s language and literacy skills to lift up business owners.
• Sarah Spear (Portland, Connecticut) – The New England fellow is creating the inclusive world she wants to live in with her kids, including her daughter who lives with a disability. She is building an online marketplace that enables people with disabilities and caregivers to discover, connect with, and review curated businesses through an accessibility lens.

This inaugural cohort, in addition to their designated geographic area, unique perspectives and areas of focus, are also representative of the growing demographic and cultural diversity of the United States. Racial groups represented include Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino, White/Caucasian, Asian and Biracial. Five identify as women, two as men, and one as non-binary. Additionally, at least one cohort member identifies as neuroatypical.

PLACE Builders will be an intensive, three-month fellowship program empowering changemakers to catalyze more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystems.

The cohort kickoff took place on April 6 and 7 at the Pava Marie LaPere Center for Entrepreneurship at Johns Hopkins University, formerly FastForward U, Hopkins’ innovation and coworking space in the Remington neighborhood of Baltimore.

Fellows will have access to professional mentorship, a digital toolkit, community, funding, and a platform to tell the stories about the places they love to a broader audience.

By the end of the fellowship, each builder will also have identified, developed, and launched a pilot project to either address an ecosystem gap or scale something that’s working well.