Steph Frances
Steph Frances is the founder of Prodigy Ventures, a social enterprise and apprenticeship for young adults in northeast Denver. Through craftsmanship, in a culture of healing, apprentices develop mindsets and skills for economic mobility and, most importantly, to go forth and enrich their city.
​
Over eight years as Executive Director, Steph led Prodigy’s enterprise to double-digit year-over-year sales growth and built an apprenticeship model for disconnected youth with an 85% completion rate. In 2022, Steph led the organization in an Expansion Campaign to open a $2.5M second location, fully funded, allowing Prodigy to double the number of participants and deepen impact in a new community while increasing internal revenue.
Under her leadership, Prodigy was awarded the 2021 Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award, for organizations leading the charge to address tough issues related to economic mobility. In 2023, Prodigy was ranked by USA Today as the tenth best independent coffee shop in the country.
Most recently, Steph served as the National Vice President of Programs and Training for Momentum Advisory Collective, the capacity-building organization for Cafe Momentum. Café Momentum is a national social enterprise model that hires justice-involved youth into yearlong paid internships in a casual fine dining restaurant designed for youth to achieve their full potential. Here she led programs and training at Café Momentum Restaurants and supported standing-up new social enterprise restaurants, and expansion efforts around the country. She supported the hiring and training of Executive Directors, program and restaurant teams in local markets, and consulted on full turn-around efforts.
Steph convened leaders from local markets to build relationship, share best practices and use the wisdom in the room to tackle the most persistent and perplexing problems across markets. And, led initiatives to build a culture and program design aligned with trauma-informed practices, emergent strategy, the science of learning, and built a custom Café Momentum Restaurant Skills Internal Certification.
In her role as a consultant over the past ten years, Steph has worked with social enterprises around the country, most closely with REDF ESEs in start-up, program development, certification, strategic planning and fundraising.
Steph is also a proud 2020 Livingston Fellow, and a Denver Business Journal Outstanding Women in Business finalist. She was trained at Eagle Rock’s School of Professional Studies, has a Master’s in Nonprofit Management from Regis University and is an altMBA graduate. Steph also serves on the Board of Directors for BuCu West, a community-based economic development organization in Denver’s Westwood neighborhood; she is also a member of the Globeville, Elyria, Swansea Community Investment Fund at National Western Authority.
