Projects
Build in Tulsa Collective Impact Assessment
Partners: Forward Cities, George Kaiser Family Foundation | Tulsa, Oklahoma
Build in Tulsa established a network of support organizations providing entrepreneurs with coordinated access to accelerators, mentoring, education, and capital. CHI conducted an impact evaluation to understand how these programs functioned individually and collectively to strengthen the ecosystem and advance economic outcomes for participants.
CHI developed a collective impact framework and integrated participant survey responses with administrative data to assess cumulative impact for more than 600 entrepreneurs between 2021 and 2024. To establish benchmarks for monitoring population-level outcomes, CHI also produced an Economic Inclusion Indicators Dashboard for Tulsa, OK. The findings provided stakeholders with an evidence-based assessment of how a network of complementary entrepreneurship supports contributed to business growth and economic opportunity.
Durham 360° Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Needs Assessment
Partners: Forward Cities, Durham County | Durham, North Carolina
The Durham 360° Assessment created a comprehensive profile of the local entrepreneurship support system to establish an evidence base for strategic action. By synthesizing perspectives from entrepreneurs, support organizations, and ecosystem leaders, the study identified priorities to align E3 Alliance members around a collaborative strategic vision.
CHI utilized a four-part approach: an organization survey, a small business needs assessment, an ecosystem landscape report card, and an economic indicators dashboard. These tools provided an inventory of services, identified service gaps, and established community-level indicators for business ownership access. Triangulating public data with data from nearly 50 support organizations and more than 200 entrepreneurs, CHI identified opportunities to increase efficiency with less redundancy, and greater alignment across the ecosystem actors.
E3 Durham Program Evaluation
Partners: Forward Cities, Durham County | Durham, North Carolina
E3 Durham connects entrepreneurs with a coordinated network of support organizations. CHI evaluated the program's impact on business formation, revenue growth, and job creation, while examining how the E3 Alliance strengthened collaboration among local service providers.
CHI implemented a longitudinal evaluation strategy, developing a program logic model and conducting follow-up surveys. The 2025 assessment documented strong participant satisfaction and significant progress in new business formations and government certifications, alongside increased trust across the Alliance.
Collective Impact: Economic Mobility Metrics & Dashboard Prototype
Partners: Eqall, Forward Cities, Durham County | Durham, North Carolina
Durham's support organizations lacked a shared framework for measuring their collective contribution to economic mobility. CHI was engaged to develop common impact metrics and a dashboard to move the ecosystem beyond activity tracking toward measuring meaningful economic outcomes.
CHI established a theory of change and a reporting prototype focused on revenue growth, living wages, and financial stability. This infrastructure enables funders and leaders to identify high-impact strategies and build long-term accountability across the entrepreneurial support system.