Kapor Center Launches PRIME Alliance to Transform How Cities Work With Startups

El Paso, Little Rock and Oakland make up the inaugural cohort for the multiyear initiative connecting local government with mission-driven, gap-closing startups

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at the Clinton Global Initiative, the Kapor Center announced El Paso, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Oakland, California, as the first cohort selected to overhaul how their governments partner with the startups working to solve urgent public problems in order to improve millions of American lives. As part of the Kapor Center's PRIME Alliance, the initial cohort will take on a multiyear initiative connecting government with gap-closing startups building solutions to urgent challenges in areas such as housing, child care, health care, education, workforce development, and financial stability. Together they form the inaugural cohort that will help build a practical model for how governments and mission-driven entrepreneurs can work together.

"Oakland is where this work was born, and we intend to be the city that proves it can work," said Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee. "Too many good solutions stall before they ever reach the people who need them. By joining this alliance, we're committing to open our doors to the founders solving real problems in areas that make a difference, and make it easier for them to partner with the city that's been their home."

The selections mark the moment the PRIME Alliance moves from research to implementation. Over the coming months, the Kapor Center will work with leaders in each jurisdiction to identify priority challenges, connect governments with gap-closing founders, and test new approaches to partnership and adoption that other jurisdictions can learn from. The PRIME Alliance follows a Kapor Center report, Breaking Down Barriers, based on more than 60 entrepreneurs and investors who together hold over 3,000 public-sector contracts.

"Little Rock is proving that a capital city in the heart of the country can lead on innovation," said Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott, Jr. "We've already moved to put smart, responsible technology to work for our residents, and this alliance lets us go further — opening our doors to founders whose solutions can make government faster, fairer, and more effective. This is an investment in Little Rock's future as a place where entrepreneurs know their work can matter."

The report found that the main barriers founders face are drawn-out contracting timelines, hard-to-find government buyers, inconsistent applications, and compliance requirements that are difficult for small companies to meet. It estimates that gaps in sectors such as housing, education, health care, and child care cost the U.S. economy more than $5 trillion a year, and that a 2 percent improvement would add about $100.7 billion annually. The report also points to early results at the state level: a partnership with Binti drove a 33 percent increase in the share of foster youth placed with families in Maryland.

"El Paso has always been a city that builds. Our problem has never been a shortage of good ideas; it's the systems that slow them down," said El Paso Mayor Renard U. Johnson. "We're changing that. We want the folks who are solving real problems for our families to work with the City effectively and often, and this initiative is a step in the right direction."

"Founders kept telling us the same thing: the hardest part of solving a public problem isn't building the solution, it's getting through the government's front door," said Chike Aguh, Head of Innovation and Strategy for Gap-Closing Startups at the Kapor Center. "El Paso, Little Rock, and Oakland are choosing to change that, pairing the speed of a startup with the scale of government, so good ideas reach families in months, not years."

For more information, visit: https://www.kaporcenter.org/primealliance/ 

About the PRIME Alliance
The PRIME Alliance is a multiyear Kapor Center initiative that brings local and state governments together with gap-closing startups — companies whose products are designed to close opportunity gaps in areas such as child care, housing, health care, education, workforce development, and financial stability. Led by Chike Aguh, the Alliance grew out of the Kapor Center's 2026 report, Breaking Down Barriers: Overcoming Government Hurdles for Gap-Closing Founders, which drew on more than 60 entrepreneurs and investors with experience across over 3,000 public-sector contracts and estimated as much as $100.7 billion in potential annual economic gains from faster, more effective public-private partnerships. Learn more at kaporcenter.org/primealliance.

About the Kapor Center
The Kapor Center works to make the technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Its work spans expanding access to technology and computer science education, conducting research on access and opportunity in computing, investing in community organizations and gap-closing ventures, and broadening access to capital for entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds.

SOURCE Kapor Center