The mission of the Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative (IEI) is to promote a values shift from the extractive to the generative. As a university-wide initiative, we believe in advancing democratic principles and mutual and equitable relations. Together we develop just entrepreneurial skills and learn to employ inclusive design approaches to bring about innovation in the world. In challenging the status quo, our focal point is strengthening relationships with one another and our communities with the aim of designing with respect, care, and concern.
Society as we know it has been disrupted and social cohesion frayed due to the pandemic and climate catastrophes as well as long-standing structural systems that promote inequality and anti-Black racism. We embrace multiple perspectives on microeconomic and macroeconomic development and invite students to create a world made up of many worlds. We take the opportunity to reimagine how we work, how we engage in commerce, and how we design new systems.
Known as one of the most international universities in the United States, The New School has students from all corners of the world. Our New York City location offers an opportunity to build connections and relationships with community partners and strengthen their local and global networks. Our aim is to nurture students who are invested in facilitating the co-creation of new inclusive economic models to advance social and racial justice, with a shared commitment to respecting the dignity and agency of all people we encounter in our learning journey. IEI welcomes students who embrace a generous and generative vision for shared prosperity and a fervent desire to counter enduring oppressive systemic structures.
Curriculum
Students enrolled in any graduate degree program at The New School have the opportunity to participate in our signature IEI courses or complete a graduate minor in Impact Entrepreneurship.
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Graduate Fellowship
The Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative Fellowship seeks students who have demonstrated a capacity and willingness to design with and not for community. We seek students who are engaged with communities that have historically been excluded from traditional start-up ecosystems. To this end, IEI seeks applicants who exhibit a desire to learn deeply about the systemic issues faced by the communities they intend to support, and create relationships and structures to address root causes.
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Ecosystem Partners
The New School’s New York City location offers a rare opportunity to experience and build connections and relationships with partner organizations, frontline community partners, and ecosystem funders that share a sense of urgency and a desire to look broadly and deeply to cultivate the development of entrepreneurial skills, growth mindsets, and inclusive design approaches to actualize innovation in the world.
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Students & Alumni
Meet some of the current students and recent alumni involved in the Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative and gain insight into their inspiring entrepreneurial-focused work.
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Resources
Visit our blog for our guide to help students and alumni take their ideas for social innovation to the next level.
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