KANKAKEE – Mayor Chasity Wells-Armstrong joined Mayors and entrepreneurship experts from around the country last week in attending the Mayor’s Conference on Entrepreneurship, hosted by the non-profit Kauffman Foundation and held in Kansas City.  

The annual three-day event – paid without cost to taxpayers – brings together Mayors and policy experts in the goal of increasing business startups and development in cities across the country.

“As our economy continues to evolve, we must ensure we are doing everything we can to foster the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that creates jobs and uplifts communities,” Mayor Wells-Armstrong said. “Hearing the latest ideas and successes of other communities as well as some common roadblocks faced by business startups offered an informative look at what it takes to ensure our communities are attractive to entrepreneurs.”

This year’s conference focused on ways to build and measure health entrepreneurship ecosystems. An entrepreneurship ecosystem is defined as the social and economic environment that plays a direct role in local levels of entrepreneurship.

“Kankakee is a community growing in diversity, and in order for every resident to have economic success and the ability to sustain themselves and their families, everyone has to have an opportunity to thrive,” Mayor Wells-Armstrong said. “Minority communities face unique challenges in starting small businesses, including a lack of access to capital and understanding of our financial sector. It is my hope, through true collaboration, Kankakee can attract and foster economic development in all neighborhoods, including our African-American and Latino neighborhoods.”

Contact Mayor Wells-Armstrong’s office at (815) 933-0500 for more information.

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