Chicago, IL · Launched 2025
Equity
in Care
Integrating Mental Health Equity into Chicago's Entrepreneur Ecosystem
A citywide research initiative examining how stress, burnout, economic instability, and systemic inequities impact Chicago's small business owners and entrepreneurial communities.
About
What is Equity in Care?
An equity-centered Entrepreneurial Mental Health Needs Assessment designed to understand the relationship between entrepreneurship, mental health, and economic development across Chicago.
How we work
Research Methods
Citywide survey collection, compensated focus groups, community-informed research design, and combined quantitative and qualitative analysis — with entrepreneurs as collaborators, not just research subjects.
Equity-Centered Design
The initiative prioritizes communities disproportionately impacted by structural inequities, with culturally responsive methods that account for how care, stress, and support systems are experienced differently across communities.
Intended outcomes
What this work informs
- —Culturally responsive mental health support models
- —Ecosystem policy recommendations
- —Group-based care approaches for entrepreneurs
- —Partnerships between business orgs & mental health providers
- —Long-term entrepreneur support infrastructure
The Problem
Entrepreneurship has a human cost
Entrepreneurship is often framed through growth, resilience, and innovation. Far less attention is paid to the emotional and psychological weight many business owners carry while operating inside unstable and inequitable systems.
Financial Instability
Erratic tariffs, rising costs, and unpredictable market conditions destabilize operations overnight.
Burnout & Chronic Stress
Business owners simultaneously carry responsibility for employees, families, and entire commercial corridors.
Immigration Disruption
Enforcement actions reduce foot traffic, silence workers, and create widespread fear in neighborhoods entrepreneurs depend on.
No Mental Health Access
Traditional business support systems prioritize capital and compliance while routinely excluding mental health infrastructure.
Isolation
Emotional exhaustion compounds in the absence of peer support, community care, and culturally responsive providers.
Structural Inequities
For Black, Latine, and immigrant entrepreneurs, these pressures are compounded by systems rarely designed with their wellbeing in mind.
"Equity in Care is about recognizing mental health as economic infrastructure and building systems that respond with equity, dignity, and care."
Chris Cole · Founder, Break Bread Chicago
Project Timeline
Where we are
Completed
Phase 1 — Research Design & Assessment Development
Equity-centered research design, survey instrument development, and community partnership building.
Currently Active
Phase 2 — Citywide Data Collection
The needs assessment is actively gathering insights from small business owners across Chicago's neighborhoods.
Launching Summer 2026
Phase 3 — Paid Community Focus Groups
Compensated, in-person focus groups centering the lived experiences of BIPOC entrepreneurs across Chicago.
In Development
Phase 4 — Analysis & Public Findings
Qualitative and quantitative analysis translated into accessible public reports and community insights decks.
Future Phase
Phase 5 — Ecosystem Recommendations & Implementation
Strategic partnerships, care navigation pilots, and integration of mental health support into existing entrepreneur infrastructure.
Press Release
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL · May 2025
Chicago Organizations Launch "Equity In Care," a Citywide Effort to Address Small Business Owner Mental Health
Chicago, IL — As May marks both National Small Business Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, a new collaboration between Break Bread Chicago and DishRoulette Kitchen is launching a citywide effort to better understand and support the mental health of Chicago's small business owners during a period of growing economic and social instability.
"Entrepreneurs are carrying far more than the responsibility of keeping their businesses afloat. Many Black and Latine business owners are operating under constant uncertainty as policy decisions, economic volatility, and immigration enforcement reshape the environments they depend on to survive. We are only beginning to understand the long-term emotional, psychological, and economic impacts this sustained pressure is having on entrepreneurs, workers, and communities. Equity in Care is about recognizing mental health as economic infrastructure and building systems that respond with equity, dignity, and care."
— Chris Cole, Founder of Break Bread Chicago
Who's Behind This
Organizational roles
Break Bread Chicago
Research Lead & Initiative Development
Led by Chris Cole, Break Bread Chicago drives the research strategy, community-informed engagement, and long-term implementation planning for Equity in Care.
- —Research strategy & design
- —Needs assessment development
- —Community engagement
- —Focus group facilitation
- —Ecosystem analysis
DishRoulette Kitchen
Fiscal Sponsor & Implementation Partner
DishRoulette Kitchen provides operational infrastructure, grant administration, and access to a network of 3,000+ entrepreneurs across Chicago.
- —Fiscal sponsorship & grant administration
- —Communications & media
- —Community outreach & distribution
- —Operational compliance
- —Entrepreneur network access
Get In Touch