With help from a $2.1 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), Southwest Key is constructing a 14,000-square-foot Social Enterprise Complex at its East Austin campus. The complex will house Southwest Key’s seven social enterprises, a technology lab, job coach and training classrooms. Services provided on-site will include job creation, vocational counseling, and skills training. Southwest Key plans to generate 100 jobs over the next three years in surrounding East Austin neighborhoods, which have higher unemployment rates than the rest of Austin.
About Southwest Key Enterprises
Social enterprises have become a hot topic around the nonprofit water cooler these days. The recession illuminated the need for nonprofits to look to private sector approaches to support their programs and help take them to scale. Southwest Key Enterprises has businesses at all different stages of development, including a café, maintenance company, and green energy and construction. These enterprises meet a double bottom-line: sustaining the companies to support the nonprofit, while lifting families out of poverty. Creating jobs strengthens families, which enables Southwest Key Programs to fulfill its mission: Opening doors to opportunity so young people can achieve their dreams!
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