1871 and the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (IHCC) announced today the 14 businesses that will make up the third cohort of the 1871/IHCC Hispanic Technology Incubator, a joint program focused on fostering opportunities for Hispanic-owned technology companies. 

1871 announced today its partnership with 1871 member company PopScholar, an online student support system that allows students to set goals, post accomplishments, and earn rewards. PopScholar encourages students to set goals in five ‘Straight A’ categories: Academics, Activities, Altruism, Art, and Athletics.

Applications are now open for Campus 1871 2018, a weekend-long event held once a year between 1871 and its major university partners: Northwestern University, Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of Illinois Springfield, DePaul University, Loyola University Chicago, University of Chicago and, for the first time, Trinity Christian College. 

Here at 1871, we want to share the holiday cheer by highlighting 10 members of our community that make gifts a bit outside the box. If you haven't bought presents for your friends or family just yet -- or if you’re simply sick of sending the same old sweaters every year -- you 'll want to check out what these companies have to offer.

1871 announced today its participation in Everyone Can Code (ECC), a coding education initiative that brings together Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, One Summer Chicago, the Mayor’s Office, and a number of Chicagoland businesses and nonprofits. The initiative aims to make coding and technology careers more accessible to students from all backgrounds.

1871 joined Transamerica Retirement Solutions and Mesirow Financial to announce a new retirement plan benefit that will soon be available to all 1871 companies and alumni members. The new offering will allow smaller teams and startup companies access to retirement benefits, which is powered by Pinnacle Financial Services, Inc. 

1871 announced today that Trinity Christian College will kick off an associate membership at 1871, which includes access to shared co-working space, conference rooms, and certain events, as well as the opportunity for students to participate in Campus 1871, a weekend-long event that brings together approximately 300 students from 1871’s university partners.

Today we kick off the sixth cohort of WiSTEM, the 1871 accelerator program that has graduated five cohorts, supported 64 companies and 72 individual women, and raised more than $10 million in capital collectively since the program’s inception in Fall of 2015. 

Today marks the official launch of 1871.Live, a new streaming platform that will bring more than 17,000 hours of entrepreneurial and business-focused educational programming to multiple community center partners across the city. 1871 is one of eight community organizations awarded a grant by ChicagoNEXT and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation for the 2017 Blackstone Inclusive Entrepreneurial Challenge.

This month, 1871 launched a three-month partnership with UNIQLO, a popular global fashion retailer located on Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago, featuring in-store displays by five incredible 1871 member companies. We visited the store this week with a few of our participating entrepreneurs to get the scoop.