Justworks.org
Congrats to Our 2022 Justworks.org Grantees
We’ve chosen five winners to each receive a Justworks.org $50,000 grant! See below to learn more about these amazing organizations who are working non-stop to level the entrepreneurial playing field for early-stage minority- and women-owned businesses.
Meet our Inaugural Justworks.org Grantees
Bronze Valley
Mission: Bronze Valley is a non-profit, Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) venture capital fund that supports early-stage, high-growth, innovation and technology-enabled companies created by diverse, underrepresented, and underestimated founders.
Project: The Justworks’ grant supports Bronze Valley’s VentureLab programming, which includes a six month accelerator program, with one-on-one support for participants. The grant also helps to provide advisory services for MWBE founders and entrepreneurs, additional programming focused on targeting students interested in technology entrepreneurship at HBCUs, and more.
Centro Community Partners
Mission: Centro builds thriving communities by providing underserved, low-income entrepreneurs with entrepreneurship education, one-on-one business coaching, mentorship, and access to capital.
Project: The Justworks grant enables Centro to offer culturally and linguistically relevant technical assistance programs and services empowering 60-75 low-income women and minority entrepreneurs to start or grow small businesses. The grant will support Centro's initiatives to build an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in the City of Stockton, CA.
Communitas America
Mission: Communitas America is fortifying an entrepreneurial ecosystem that centers BIPOC and women founders who are innovatively addressing systemic inequities in New York City and beyond.
Project: The Justworks grant supports social impact entrepreneurs through Communitas Ventures, a cohort-based accelerator, and Heyground Harlem, a resource-full environment that is part innovation lab, part incubator space, and part gathering place. These programs foster transformative innovation through collaboration and community building.
First Peoples Fund
Mission: First Peoples Fund (FPF) honors and supports the Collective Spirit © of First Peoples artists and culture bearers.
Project: Through convenings, professional development, and peer-to-peer learning, FPF’s programs help emerging and more advanced artist entrepreneurs develop or expand arts businesses. FPF is funding five grants of $7,500 to go directly to five artist-led businesses.
Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership
Mission: Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL) eradicates the systemic barriers that prevent people of color from being able to access the knowledge, networks, and capital required for entrepreneurial success and wealth creation.
Project: The Justworks grant enables IFEL to expand its existing Women of Color Connecting program by launching a capital access accelerator to build stronger relationships between the entrepreneurs and capital providers, selecting 8-10 founders with with scalable business models in the areas of healthtech, fintech, edtech, data analytics, food manufacturing, and agritech.
Justworks.org Mission
Justworks has committed 1% of the company’s equity and profits to removing unfair barriers for underrepresented entrepreneurs.
High-impact grantmaking
Supporting incubators and other non-profit organizations that help underrepresented founders access the fundamentals of entrepreneurship.
Business incubation
Building our own incubator for minority- and women-owned startups that serve the small business community — a traditionally underserved market that Justworks specializes in.
Product accessibility
Making tools and services more accessible, inclusive, and valuable for MWBE businesses.