HAVELOCK, NC (WITN) – The Coalition to Back Black Businesses granted 20 small black-owned businesses $25,000 in grant funding in June of 2022, including one from eastern Carolina.
Research from Lending Tree shows just 2.4% of businesses across the United States are Black owned businesses.
Census and federal reserve data collected during the pandemic shows black owned small businesses closed at twice the rate of other businesses with 41% shutting down.
Dr. Che Ward described some of the challenges, Hurt and Healing, her behavioral health and wellness business had to endure throughout the pandemic.
“Each month it’s about you know swimming and struggling and then trying to you know keep your head above water. A few months with making the bottom line was great, but then there has to be growth because we need assistants. We need cleaning services. We needed to fulfill assessments and assessments are expensive. I mean, just to do an accurate autism test, the full supplies for that are around 3 to $5000,” Ward explained.
Ward’s business received a $25,000 grant from the Coalition to Back Black Businesses.
“There’s 3 million black owned small businesses if you include both employers and non-employees and that’s a lot of businesses to close up. For a lot of them the number one need is capital,” explained Coalition to Back Black Businesses director, Lawrence Bowdish.
Small black businesses can apply for the grant and once approved the business owners enter a year-long coaching platform to learn tools needed to properly allocate funds and market their business.
The Coalition to Back Black Businesses says it gave out 600 $5,000 grants in 2021 but this year reduced the number of businesses to 20 for the 2021-2022 cycle.
The coalition says the grant application cycle will begin again in the second part of August for 2022-2023 applicants.
Information to enter for the chance to apply for the grant funding in August can be found on the Coalition to Back Black Businesses website.
Copyright 2022 WITN. All rights reserved.
.