In every corner of the country, there are businesses making genuine, tangible impact in their communities. They are able to accomplish this impact through ambitious visions, resourceful action, and profound determination. These businesses hire people that share their determination to invest their time and talent back into the places where they’ve chosen to build their lives; to connect with friends and neighbors, raise families, and improve the world they walk into every day.
This is what inspired the launch of the Gusto Impact Awards. For each of the last three years, the Gusto Impact Awards have put a spotlight on small businesses and the people who are a part of them. These are employers who create jobs, anchor neighborhoods, and quietly change lives every day.
This year, the Gusto Impact Awards have recognized more than 150 small businesses nationwide. We received nearly 10,000 applications from across the country and selected five regional winners who represent the very best of what local entrepreneurs are doing.
Meet our 2026 Gusto Impact Award winners and hear their stories that elevated them to the top of a pool of incredibly talented and inspirational small businesses.
Helping kids develop interpersonal skills with chess
West: Chess4Life (Bellevue & Seattle, WA)
At Chess4Life, founder and CEO Elliott Neff uses the game of chess as a vehicle to help kids build the skills they need to thrive in life.
What began as Elliott coaching a handful of students has now reached more than 100,000 children, from Head Start classrooms to juvenile detention centers and public schools. Through engaging instruction and a welcoming community, Chess4Life helps kids develop confidence, focus, problem-solving, emotional regulation, collaboration, and perseverance.
Speaking of perseverance, the COVID-19 pandemic nearly ended the business. Elliott closed centers and laid off 22 staff in a single day. Today, Chess4Life is rebuilding stronger, with new district partnerships and tools that empower educators to bring chess-based life skills into their own classrooms.
Elliott told us, “Our dream is to bring these benefits to a million kids, and we want to do that for all kids, regardless of whether they can afford it or not.”
Chess4Life plans to invest the cash prize portion of its award into training that will help scale its model across more districts nationwide—so even more kids can discover their potential, one move at a time.
Building community and support for mothers
Southeast: The Motherhood Village® (Coral Springs, FL)
The Motherhood Village®, founded by Nicole Gonzalez-Cumberbatch, is part play space, part wellness center, and part lifeline for families navigating modern parenthood.
The Motherhood Village was born from both personal pain and powerful purpose. Nicole was a new mother navigating postpartum, career pressure, and overwhelming expectations when she was met a job loss just four months after giving birth.
That moment changed everything.
Feeling isolated, unsupported, and invisible, Nicole felt called to create something meaningful for other mothers who felt the same.
“I became a mom and just quickly realized the lack of resources out there, yet living in a world where there is so much information. There weren’t a lot of resources and community for moms, but there were so many things telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing.
What started as a podcast about the realities of motherhood grew into a thriving community focused on maternal mental health. That community is now a 5,000-square-foot space where families can find support from prenatal through school age.
Workshops on money management, maternal wellness days, pediatrician meet-and-greets, enrichment classes, coworking-friendly space—The Motherhood Village is built to reduce isolation and help families feel seen, supported, and empowered.
With this award, Nicole plans to invest in and grow the business, refine how their story is told, and eventually bring The Motherhood Village model to more cities across the U.S.
Reducing food waste and supporting families in need
Northeast: 4MyCiTy Inc. (Baltimore, MD)
In Baltimore, 4MyCiTy Inc. is proving that environmental sustainability and human dignity can go hand in hand. Founder and Executive Director Christopher Dipnarine started the organization after witnessing a tragedy, and what began as one man with a car rescuing surplus food has become Maryland’s only full-service “Zero Waste to Zero Hunger” Sustainability Hub.
Chris told us that technology is the core driver of 4MyCiTy’s impact. Its mobile app and data systems allow users to track their environmental contributions, access services, stay connected to mentors, and earn income, all in an effort to reinforce pride, accountability, and long-term engagement.
We see anywhere between 300 families cycle through our facility daily. We are one of the only nonprofits in the world to have a real time tracking program for its participants where they can actually see the impact they are receiving from participating programs like ours.
Since 2018, 4MyCiTy has:
Rescued over 300 million pounds of food that would have gone to waste
Diverted millions of pounds of organic material from landfills through on-site composting
Served more than 15,000 low-income households—nearly 100,000 individuals
The Gusto Impact Award will help 4MyCiTy strengthen its operations, expand its youth job training program, and move closer to a future where sustainability hubs like theirs exist across the state, and ultimately, across the country.
Serving the community through landscaping
Midwest: Greene Thumb Landscape (Indianapolis, IN)
Greene Thumb Landscape is a second-generation, Black-owned, woman-led commercial landscaping company in Indianapolis. For Kirsten Davenport-Norwood, Executive Chair, the work is about far more than mowing lawns; it’s about legacy, dignity, and community.
Kirsten’s parents started Greene Thumb 30 years ago in a one-car garage on a block marked by crime and disinvestment. After their passing, Kirsten and her husband stepped in to lead the company, all while raising their daughter and caring for Kirsten’s sister, who is also an owner.
Greene Thumb’s trade is landscaping, but people are their purpose. It hires people who are often overlooked—veterans experiencing homelessness, young adults seeking a path, workers with barriers to employment—and offers them jobs, but also training, leadership development, stability, and second chances.
“When people look at landscapers or people that mow their grass, they really look at it as like bottom of the barrel blue collar. I really want to restore pride into, you know, what we do and also how we service people.”
In the next five years, Kirsten hopes to expand Greene Thumb’s footprint across Indiana and beyond, while elevating the status of blue-collar work and creating more stable, long-term careers for her team.
Creating third spaces for culture, cold brews and connection
Southwest: Hello Brew Co. (Fort Collins, CO)
In Fort Collins, Colorado, Hello Brew Co. is a small but mighty brewery turning a 1,070-square-foot taproom in a 130-year-old house into a creative engine for the community.
Co-owners Christine Luckasen and Ryan Maliski opened Hello Brew Co. with a simple idea: beer should be a tool for connection and good.
Hello Brew Co. operates more like a cultural center than a brewery, hosting rotating art shows where local artists keep 100% of their sales, partnering with nonprofits on fundraisers, and collaborating with neighborhood businesses to support shared causes. Former employees have gone on to open their own businesses—with Christine and Ryan cheering them on from the bar.
“It’s our dream for all of our employees, whether it’s opening a business or going on to a dream career. We have this amazing ecosystem here and that we cannot wait to celebrate with our team, and the former employees that are business owners now. When we opened, I don’t think we realized how much of a third space it would be for so many people and for us. It’s our home. ”
With the Gusto Impact Award, Christine and Ryan plan to first pay bonuses to their team and pass along the savings from the free payroll services to their team as well.
Looking ahead, they hope to buy their building, open a second location, hire more employees, and keep using their space, creativity, and beer labels to power good in their community.
Celebrating what small business makes possible
Every small business is an engine of opportunity, and choosing to start one can be a leap of faith taken on behalf of families and communities. They start out as jobs that grow into cornerstones of neighborhoods, and the potential to change numerous lives because what happens to small businesses doesn’t stay small.
When they grow, communities grow, and those local successes ripple into a stronger economy for everyone. Our Impact Award winners are proving that a single idea—rescued food, a chessboard, a play space, a lawn crew, a taproom—can make a big difference in the community.
The 2026 Gusto Impact Awards are our way of saying: we see you, we believe in you, and we’re honored to play even a small part in your story.
