Kheprw Institute to open Social Enterprise Center at 38th & Illinois Streets

INDIANAPOLIS — The Concord Building at the corner of 38th and Illinois Streets on Indy's northwest side will soon be revitalized and serve as a space for the community.

"A lot of different things have been here. It's been a grocery store, it's been a Foot Locker, it's been a clothing store," Diop Adisa said.

Adisa is the Entrepreneurship Center Director for Kheprw Institute, a local non-profit organization that now owns the building.

"A lot of the community residents had a vision for this building where it would be a resource to the community," Adisa said.

The building is the future home of Kheprw's Alkhemy Social Enterprise Center.

For the last 20 years, Kheprw has been focused on educating the community about entrepreneurship, but within the last five years, they developed a curriculum and the Alkhemy Program.

"For Kheprw, one thing we focus on is social capital; we believe that relationships are the greatest resource that entrepreneurs, that a community has," Adisa said. "We want to provide a space to allow the community to come together to build relationships, genuine relationships around depth and connection."

Kazmyn Ramos went through the program last fall.

"With the Alkhemy program, I was able to build a lot of connections with other people who saw similar issues in the community and I was given the encouragement to start some thing to make change," she said.

Ramos started her business Seeking 1610 with the goal of connecting Hoosiers to affordable housing. She says the Alkhemy program gave her the tools to get started.

"It gives you the opportunity to connect with other people who are trying to solve similar problems in the community. So although Seeking 1610 is about housing specifically, there are a lot of people who had a lot of interest that come back to changing and helping community and it was really nice to see that in an entrepreneurial space," Ramos said.

The Alkhemy Social Enterprise Center will provide workshops, mentoring and a co-working space. Adisa hopes to have the building renovated and open next year.