Dr. Rebecca Corbin, President & CEO of the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) shares how NACCE and EcoMap are building more inclusive pathways for entrepreneurs.
At the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), we believe that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. That simple truth has guided our work for nearly two decades as we help colleges, communities, and partners create pathways to economic mobility through entrepreneurship and innovation.
Yet one challenge continues to surface in communities across the country: aspiring entrepreneurs with visible and invisible differences often struggle to find the resources, networks, and support systems they need to turn ideas into ventures. Services exist, but they are frequently fragmented, difficult to discover, or disconnected from broader entrepreneurial ecosystems.
That challenge became the catalyst for NACCE's Belonging Project, funded by the Philip E. and Carol R. Ratcliffe Foundation. The initiative is designed to make entrepreneurship ecosystems more visible, accessible, and welcoming for individuals with disabilities and other visible and invisible differences. To bring that vision to life, NACCE partnered with EcoMap Technologies to create a digital resource that helps communities identify and connect assets that support entrepreneurial success.
The result is a new Belonging platform that maps organizations, programs, resources, and opportunities designed to support individuals who have historically faced barriers to participation in entrepreneurship.
More importantly, the project represents something much larger than a technology solution. It represents a commitment to ensuring that entrepreneurship truly becomes a pathway open to everyone.
Starting with Listening
The Belonging Project did not begin with software.
It began with conversations.
Throughout NACCE's work with colleges, workforce organizations, entrepreneurs, and community leaders, one theme emerged repeatedly: people wanted to participate in entrepreneurial ecosystems but often did not know where to start or which resources were available to them.
This became especially evident during the Pathways to Prosperity Summit hosted at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) in Cleveland, Ohio, where NACCE convened educators, workforce leaders, innovators, and community partners to discuss the future of economic mobility and opportunity. Tri-C's leadership and hospitality helped create an environment where meaningful dialogue could occur about inclusion, access, and entrepreneurship.
Dr. Corbin and NACCE attendees @ the Pathways to Prosperity Summit
Rather than assuming solutions, NACCE embraced a high-touch approach. Through facilitated conversations and stakeholder engagement, participants shared stories about navigating entrepreneurial systems, identifying barriers, and discovering opportunities for greater inclusion.
The message was clear: belonging matters.
Entrepreneurship is often described as an individual journey, but success depends heavily on networks, mentors, support organizations, education providers, funders, and community champions. When those connections are difficult to find, even the most promising entrepreneurs can be left behind.
Why Mapping Matters
Entrepreneurial ecosystems are rich with resources.
Community colleges offer training and credential programs. Workforce organizations provide career pathways and support services. Nonprofits address accessibility needs. Economic development groups connect entrepreneurs to funding and mentors. Chambers of commerce, incubators, accelerators, and business assistance organizations all play important roles.
The challenge is not always a lack of resources. The challenge is visibility.
For individuals with visible and invisible differences, locating the right resource at the right moment can be overwhelming. Programs may exist within a community but remain difficult to discover.
NACCE recognized that communities needed a way to bring these assets together in a more accessible format.
That is where EcoMap came in.
Known for helping cities and regions visualize and strengthen innovation ecosystems, EcoMap brought its expertise in ecosystem mapping and resource discovery to the Belonging Project. Together, NACCE and EcoMap worked to create a platform that allows users to explore organizations and supports designed to help entrepreneurs navigate their journeys more effectively.
The unveiled Belonging resource serves as a digital front door, helping users identify connections that might otherwise remain hidden.
A Shared Commitment to Inclusion
What made the partnership particularly valuable was the alignment between both organizations' missions.
NACCE has long championed entrepreneurship as a tool for economic mobility and workforce transformation. Across its network, colleges are developing innovative approaches that help students, workers, veterans, career changers, and aspiring entrepreneurs discover new pathways toward success.
This philosophy is reflected across many NACCE initiatives. Whether supporting underestimated talent, promoting entrepreneurial mindsets, or helping colleges expand workforce opportunities, NACCE's focus remains centered on creating access and removing barriers. Documents developed for NACCE programming emphasize that "talent is universal" and that opportunity must be intentionally designed.
EcoMap shares a similar belief that stronger ecosystems emerge when more people can participate.
By combining NACCE's community-centered approach with EcoMap's technology and mapping expertise, the partnership created a practical way to strengthen connections between people and the organizations dedicated to serving them.
The collaboration demonstrates how technology can support inclusion when it is developed with purpose and informed by community voices.
Bringing the Ecosystem to Life
The launch of the Belonging platform represents an important milestone, but its true value lies in how it can be used.
For aspiring entrepreneurs, the platform can simplify the search process and illuminate opportunities that previously may have gone unnoticed.
For community colleges, it provides a resource for connecting students and community members to specialized support services.
For workforce and economic development organizations, it offers greater visibility into the broader ecosystem and highlights potential partnership opportunities.
For community leaders, it creates a clearer picture of where resources exist and where gaps remain.
Most importantly, it helps shift the conversation from access to participation. Finding a resource is only the first step. Building confidence, developing relationships, and creating pathways to long-term success require ongoing engagement. The platform helps support that process by making ecosystem connections easier to discover and understand.
Building Communities of Belonging
The word "belonging" was chosen intentionally.
Belonging is more than representation. It is more than accessibility.
Belonging means knowing that you are welcome, valued, and able to fully participate.
Entrepreneurial ecosystems are strongest when they reflect the full diversity of the communities they serve. That includes individuals with visible disabilities, individuals navigating invisible challenges, and countless others whose talents have too often been overlooked.
NACCE's work consistently reinforces the idea that innovation thrives when diverse perspectives are included. Entrepreneurship benefits from different experiences, different approaches to problem-solving, and different ways of seeing opportunity.
Creating environments where everyone can contribute is not simply the right thing to do. It is also essential to building vibrant economies and stronger communities.
Looking Ahead
The Belonging Project demonstrates what can happen when organizations come together around a shared purpose.
By combining thoughtful community engagement with innovative technology, NACCE and EcoMap have created a resource that helps make entrepreneurial ecosystems more visible, connected, and inclusive.
The unveiling of the Belonging platform is not the end of the journey. It is the beginning of a larger effort to continue identifying opportunities, strengthening partnerships, and ensuring that more individuals can access the resources they need to succeed.
As NACCE continues its mission of advancing entrepreneurship and innovation through higher education, the organization remains committed to expanding opportunity for all learners, workers, and aspiring entrepreneurs.
We are grateful to the EcoMap team for their collaboration, expertise, and commitment throughout this project. Their partnership helped transform an idea into a practical resource that can help communities better support entrepreneurs with visible and invisible differences.
Together, we are opening doors, strengthening connections, and building ecosystems where every individual has the opportunity not just to participate, but to belong.
This article answers the following questions:
1. What is NACCE's Belonging Project? The Belonging Project is an initiative from the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) designed to make entrepreneurship ecosystems more visible, accessible, and welcoming for individuals with disabilities and other visible and invisible differences. NACCE partnered with EcoMap Technologies to bring the initiative to life through a digital resource that identifies and connects the assets that support entrepreneurial success.
2. What is the Belonging platform? The Belonging platform is a digital resource that maps organizations, programs, and opportunities designed to support individuals who have historically faced barriers to participation in entrepreneurship. It functions as a digital front door, helping users identify connections and support systems that might otherwise remain hidden or hard to find.
3. Why did NACCE partner with EcoMap Technologies on this project? NACCE recognized that the challenge for many aspiring entrepreneurs with disabilities and other differences was not a lack of resources, but a lack of visibility into the resources that already existed. EcoMap brought its expertise in ecosystem mapping and resource discovery to help NACCE bring scattered assets together into one accessible platform.
4. Who is the Belonging platform for? The platform serves aspiring entrepreneurs looking for support, community colleges connecting students to specialized services, workforce and economic development organizations seeking greater visibility into their local ecosystem, and community leaders trying to identify where resources exist and where gaps remain.