Henry Rock on City Startup Labs
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/12/15
Henry Rock founded City Startup Labs (CSL) to empower young Black men through entrepreneurship, inspired by his experiences in Black-owned media. Over time, CSL expanded to include women and introduced the ReEntry Entrepreneurship Program, addressing the needs of justice-impacted individuals. Training emphasizes business, cognitive, and professional skills, aligned with leading workforce recommendations. Success is measured not just by low recidivism, but by employment, stable housing, career advancement, and improved financial health. Collaborations, such as with Atrium Health, enable fair-chance employment and mentorship. Rock encourages adopting community-centered restorative justice and nurturing creativity to support entrepreneurship for those often overlooked.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: What inspired the founding of City Startup Labs (CSL)?
Henry Rock: The idea for City Startup Labs stemmed from a desire to get young Black men into the game of entrepreneurship. I had the luck of working in the golden era of Black media during the 80’s and 90’s and I worked for and with some amazing African American entrepreneurs. I was able to see up close the power of Black business ownership. Also, going back to the early to mid-2000’s, I had seen any number of efforts to “empower” women as entrepreneurs, and rightly so. But I felt that this demographic of young Black men was being overlooked. I still think that’s the case today. (my 2013 TEDxTalk outlines that original thinking)
Jacobsen: How has this organization evolved over the years?
Rock: We launched in collaboration with the Urban League in 2014; then went co-ed in 2017, as we attempted to accommodate the desire of Black millennials (both men and women) to be in a cohort of like-minded, ambitious, aspiring entrepreneurs. Then in 2018-19 we launched the ReEntry Entrepreneurship Program (REEP) as a direct response to the Raj Chetty socio-economic mobility study and the subsequent Leading on Opportunity Report, both of which highlighted factors that thwarted people within mostly Black and Brown Charlotte communities from being able to improve their socio-economic status. CSL took the position that there is potentially a role that formerly incarcerated people, as entrepreneurially-minded catalysts, might play in improving these communities. We designed specific training based on what prior millennial cohorts experienced, but also married it with business and professional core competencies and digital tech services credentialing as well.
Most recently, we’ve decided to move into developing social ventures that can be co-owned and operated with CSL by justice-impacted individuals to meet market demands. Our first venture is what we call ReConnex (Reentry Connections), which will be a digital device repair business piloted in one of the aforementioned communities in Charlotte (deemed Corridors of Opportunity). This will allow us to leverage an award received from the State of North Carolina’s Digital Champions Grant to start this for-profit social venture.
Jacobsen: What are the cognitive skills taught through the CSL programs?
Rock: We teach business and professional core competencies, which cover social/emotional intelligence, problem solving, critical thinking, human centered design to name a few. We have also aligned our work with McKinsey’s 2021 study regarding the foundational skills needed by employees to be effective in dynamic workplaces. Interestingly, entrepreneurship is considered one of those skill sets, as it encompasses a number of those cognitive tools.
Jacobsen: For justice-impacted individuals, how does the ReEntry Entrepreneurship Program (REEP) approach their unique challenges?
Rock: We start by acknowledging that in the final analysis not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, however, everyone can become a valued asset to the companies they work for. This is actually no different than the point of view that we have taken from the beginning. Nevertheless, we have an appreciation for the unique challenges that come with being justice-impacted. However, many of the conditions that have contributed the circumstances that have led to justice involvement, are the very ones historically faced by Black Americans and have led to their over-indexing in the criminal justice system. While entrepreneurship can be an anecdote, to get there, we have consistently focused on the development of three asset classes — human, social and economic capital. We posit that if we’re successful in this development, our constituents will have a better chance of improving their socio-economic mobility outcomes.
Jacobsen: What factors contribute to the low recidivism rate (3%) among CSL participants? Are there any potential confounding factors there?
Rock: Fundamentally, we’re in the people potential business. Practically, we call this 21st Century workforce development, which is a triangulation of those asset classes. The development of the human capital starts with what we call Cultivation – an exploration into who we are and why we are where we are. Then we open the window to see what’s possible when the tools that we provide are applied. Tangible possibilities can be a powerful motivator and a counterpoint to desperation. We seed social capital through Accountability Partners and/or business coaches and mentors. With these, our participants have someone who can support them on their journey. We also know that reaching the goal of financial stability (economic capital) starts with a clear plan on how to achieve it, including personal financial management and in many cases starting at square one or on the first rung of the ladder. Oftentimes, it boils down to a reimaging of how they see themselves and the choices they get to make.
Jacobsen: How has Advocate/Atrium Healthcare developed over the years?
Rock: The relationship with Atrium grew out of a series of meetings in 2020 with the then SVP of HR. In 2021, he requested that we develop a specific effort to help Atrium lean into becoming a fair-chance employer, at the behest of Charlotte’s Mayor. That request resulted in Restorative Pathways — our Reentry Workplace Readiness initiative, which includes both employer and employee workplace readiness efforts. Our emphasis has been on offering a starting point for a career in the healthcare industry, rather than merely a job. We recently completed our 9th overall cohort, which included two that were facilitated in Winston Salem, NC, with over 100 justice-impacted individuals completing our training and onboarded into roles as teammates at Atrium Health.
Jacobsen: What have been the outcomes for participants in healthcare roles?
Rock: A majority of the roles have been “entry level,” ranging from drivers and customer service to patient transport and environmental technician. Other roles have included IT, materials handling (which includes working in operating rooms) and CNA (certified nursing assistant). Any number of promotions have occurred. Participants have also secured housing and vehicles, along with healthcare benefits, which have been elusive for most.
After six months on the job, teammates have the opportunity to compete for new roles. As a part of their onboarding process, following their training with us, they are assigned a mentor, as well as a career coach, who is helpful in navigating their journey in this field.
Jacobsen: How does the Restorative Pathways program prepare people for workforce reentry?
Rock: Some of what was stated above answers this.
Jacobsen: How does CSL measure success in its programs outside of recidivism rates?
Rock: Our impact can be seen in jobs secured, new business creation, or business traction gained, and professional development. But also, the other things that accumulate over the years of this work, like buying that first home or leasing their own apartment, buying a new car, building a savings account or being the provider for the family for the first time. Taken together, this is what success looks like for CSL. (also see our 10 Years of Impact report)
Jacobsen: What advice seems reasonable for others to establish similar programs to support entrepreneurship and workforce readiness for justice-impacted individuals?
Rock: I would start with this idea of community-centered restorative justice; meaning that there are communities that have experienced harm, all throughout the country, in any number of ways, including neglect, economic dislocation and disruption, crime, etc., and they are in need of reconciliation. While on the other hand, we have folks – returning citizens, who need to have trust restored and often return to these same communities. We see that our returning citizens have a bias for service, a desire to give back, make amends or right the ship through being of service to others. This shows up over and over again in the tendency to want to start non-profit businesses (which we try to dissuade them from doing – we prefer that they consider social enterprises instead). What if we were to cultivate, foster, develop and unleash this untapped talent (i.e., value) in ways that can provide the reconciliation these communities desperately need? What if we uncovered and nurtured the creativity and innovation that I believe exists within all of us, and guided and supported it? Finding imaginative ways to do these things is the best advice that I can offer.
Jacobsen: Thank you for the opportunity and your time.
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