HISTORY

In June 1995, Professor Thaddeus Spratlen, Ph.D. and William D. Bradford, Ph.D., Dean of the UW Business School, and Michael Verchot, MBA founded the Consulting and Business Development Center (CBDC). Their ambitious vision was to use scholarly research that would leverage the full set of resources from the UW Foster School to grow businesses and jobs in communities where they are needed the most, accelerate student careers and create new knowledge that will build future generations of success for underserved businesses.

Faculty members and MBA students at the UW School of Business Administration developed and implemented a plan which linked our expertise to selected agencies, organizations, and firms involved in Seattle area urban enterprise and economic development. Our community outreach goal was to enhance economic and business development through the effective, cooperative and coordinated efforts of all participants in the plan.

Our academic goal was to assist in broadening the MBA curriculum through the inclusion of learning experiences which contributes to the understanding of environmental, institutional, and policy aspects of urban enterprise and economic development. The plan reflected the core competencies of the UW Business School in relation to enterprises owned and operated by residents of the Seattle Central Area, Southeast Seattle/Rainier Valley and similar economically distressed communities in other areas of the city.

Between 2000 and 2007, the Center expanded to communities across Washington state and throughout the U.S. It stayed true to the original vision of engaging students, faculty, and staff with community leaders. Together, they developed customized approaches to meet the unique needs of enterprises owned and operated by residents of economically distressed communities while enhancing business knowledge for students at the Foster School of Business.

The Center’s student consulting teams and business education programs were accelerating the growth trajectory of businesses across Washington when, in 2008, the CBDC launched the week-long Minority Business Executive Program (MBEP) in partnership with the NW Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council, Boeing, Microsoft, Nordstrom, and Zones. This program continues to help all owners of underserved small businesses improve their leadership skills and business acumen, leading companies to an 8-10% average annual growth rate.

Business owners in MBEP asked for three things after they completed the weeklong program: (1) extend the program beyond a week to improve on the depth of learning, absorption, and implementing those learnings, (2) expand the program to enable business owners to include other leadership members, and (3) provide hands-on assistance in implementing changes.

The M³ model is based on the pioneering work started in the 1960s by Dr. Spratlen and continued by Dr. Bradford, along with their research colleagues. They found that minority-owned businesses underperform versus white-owned businesses due to systemic gaps in access to management education, money, and markets.

In 2013, Dr. Bradford published a compilation of research where he examined the findings from 210 scholarly publications published between 2000 and 2013. Using the money, management, and markets framework that Dr. Timothy Bates, Ph.D., articulated in 2011, Dr. Bradford wrote and established the M³ model for underserved businesses. He wrote:

Through an $8 million philanthropic investment from the global financial services firm JPMorgan Chase, the Consulting and Business Development Center launched Ascend under the direction of Michael Verchot. The program’s goal was to provide underrepresented microbusiness entrepreneurs with education and tools to grow their companies.

Ascend would lead a national network of business schools, non-profit lenders, and suppliers focused on a goal of accelerating the growth of businesses owned by people of color, women, and military veterans, especially those operating in inner cities.

The partnership model was designed to create a comprehensive support system that provides educational resources, financial support, market access, business development services, contract opportunities, and networking connections. The program connects these various partners to generate a support ecosystem that can provide comprehensive assistance to growing businesses.

The first location was established in Seattle at the Foster School of Business. A pilot program was launched in King County, Washington, to help diverse contractors and developers access affordable housing and commercial real estate development contracts.

Over a three-year period, the Ascend Cities program was established in New York City, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Each location has its own ecosystem of local partners. This network approach allowed Ascend Cities to leverage local expertise and resources while maintaining a consistent national framework for supporting underserved businesses.

Building on the success of Ascend Cities, the Ascend National Cohort was launched in 2022. The goal then, as it is today, is to scale underserved businesses into becoming Tier I suppliers to large national and global corporations. The Ascend Cities program was enhanced to scale businesses from having revenues in excess of $5 million, $10 million, $20 million, and $100 million.

$4.4 billion in new business revenue
$168 million in capital raised
2,358 businesses served

233 businesses have grown their annual revenue to more than $1 million.

36 businesses have grown their annual revenue to more than $5 million.

17 businesses have grown their annual revenue to more than $10 million.