Top of the Crop

The Princeton Review has named St. Louis as a hotpspot for entrepreneurial students, thanks to the efforts of Washington University and Saint Louis University. On its report of college entrepreneurial programs, Wash U ranked 16th and SLU was 23rd out of 24 top-ranked schools.

Hacking For Solutions

This week GlobalHack announced the theme of its very first civic hackathon, set to take place Sept. 11-13.

While the hackathons usually focus on solving technology-based problems for companies, GlobalHack V will bring teams together with the Civic Tech for Social Impact Collaborative (which includes St. Louis County, Rise Community Development and OpenDataSTL) to create technology solutions that make it easier to navigate the criminal justice system and resolve issues faster.

“Data and technology are powerful tools that, when applied to civic challenges, can make St. Louis neighborhoods work better for residents as well as inform and complement community development activities. We are excited to work with GlobalHack as they focus their expertise on the challenge of creating a more resident-focused justice system,” says Eleanor Tutt with Rise Community Development.

And GlobalHack hopes to expand the resulting solutions to the national level. Executive Director Matt Menietti says, “We intend for these projects to impact communities beyond St. Louis. It’s an opportunity to use St. Louis a model for other cities.”

State of St. Louis Workforce 2015 report, published by St. Louis Community College and Workforce Solutions Group, was released this week.

Small Business Grants

St. Louis Business Journal reported Prosper Capital, a startup accelerator for women-owned businesses, received a $50,000 grant from the US Small Business Administration Tuesday at the White House Demo Day. The SBA also awarded Prosper Capital a $50,000 grant last August.