General Resources

Local Initiatives Support Corporation provides emergency grant assistance to help small businesses stay afloat, with a focus on supporting businesses owned or led by minorities and women. Learn more here.

The Growth Grants Path is offered through the National Association of the Self-Employed. Members can apply for grants to help their businesses grow. These micro-grants are worth up to $4,000 each. While the grants are not exclusively for minority small businesses, this program focuses on smaller businesses who can’t always find other methods of financing. Learn more here.

Grants.gov is a federal portal that you can use for finding grants applicable to your specific industry and eligibility. Although Grants.gov doesn’t exclusively offer minority-owned business grants, it’s a great resource for eligibility guidelines, application information, and deadlines on over 1,000 small business grants. Learn more here.

Grants for Minority-Owned Businesses

The Tribal Energy Development Capacity Grant Program is administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior with the goal of providing funding to maximize the economic impact of energy resource development on Native American land. With these minority business development grants, you can develop or enhance your business and regulatory environment for energy resource development. These minority business grants are specifically available for federally recognized tribal organizations, Alaska Native Villages, and Tribal Energy Development Programs. Learn more here.

The South Asian Arts Resiliency Fund is a direct response by the India Center Foundation to offer support to South Asian arts workers impacted by COVID-19. It distributes project grants of $1000 - 2000 to assist United States-based arts workers of South Asian descent (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) in performing arts, film, visual arts, and/or literature. Learn more here.

Grants for Women of Color-Owned Businesses

The Enterprising Women of Color Program is run by the Minority Business Development Agency. It focuses on supporting minority women entrepreneurs in building their businesses, securing contracts and capital, and increasing employment opportunities. Learn more here.

The Asian Women Giving Circle is the first and largest giving circle in the nation led by Asian American women. They focus on raising funds to support Asian American women-led projects in NYC that use arts and culture to create social transformation and enact action around critical issues that affect Asian American women, girls and families. Learn more here.

SoGal Foundation is providing several $10K and $5K cash grants to Black women or nonbinary entrepreneurs. Awardees will also get help navigating the fundraising environment at large. This application is rolling, with new grantees awarded at the end of each month. Apply here.

The Latina Entrepreneur Academy is a part of LULAC’s Women’s Empowerment Initiative and is designed to train, motivate, and inspire women, especially those of Hispanic descent, to build their own businesses or enhance their existing ones. Nine councils and/or community partners will be selected this program year and will be provided with a $5,000 grant. Learn more here.

Grants for Women-Owned Businesses

The Amber Grant Foundation awards $4,000 to a different women-owned business every month. At the end of each year, one of the 12 grant winners is awarded an additional $25,000. Learn more here.

The Red Backpack Fund was established by The Spanx by Sara Blakely Foundation and GlobalGiving in the wake of Covid-19. At least 1,000 grants of $5,000 each will be given to female entrepreneurs in the U.S. to help alleviate the impact of the crisis. Learn more here.

The National Minority Supplier Development Council Business Consortium Fund provides loans programs and consulting services for NMSDC-certified businesses. Learn more here.

Union Bank’s Business Diversity Lending Program is designed to empower women, minority and veteran-owned businesses through credit and financing. Learn more here.

Accion is a nonprofit, community organization dedicated to helping small business owners succeed and thrive. They provide fairly priced, flexible loans to a diverse group of entrepreneurs. (over 60% of their borrowers come from minority communities). Learn more here.

Opportunity Fund provides microloans to underserved small businesses, particularly those owned by low- and moderate-income immigrants, people of color, and women. Their working capital loans range from $2,600 to $250,000. Learn more here.

The Latino Economic Development Center is a certified community development financial institution providing alternative financing to help build and grow local businesses in Washington, DC and Baltimore metropolitan areas. Learn more here.

Greenwood is a new digital bank that was created to support Black and Latinx-owned customers. In addition to financial services like checking and savings accounts, mobile deposits and peer-to-peer transfers, they also offer a global ATM network, Apple and Android pay services, and they gift $10,000 every month to a Black or Latinx business. Learn more here.

Backstage Accelerator supports underrepresented founders in local programs around the world. It’s a 3-month program designed to give founders the support they need to reach their next critical milestone. Founders will work with a team of experienced, passionate facilitators and will grow through mentorship, investment capital, and access to resources. Learn more about the program here.

Google for Startups Accelerator for Black Founders is a three-month digital accelerator program for Seed to Series A technology startups based in the U.S. In addition to mentorship and technical project support, the accelerator also includes workshops focused on product design, customer acquisition and leadership development for founders. Learn more here.

Black Founders Exchange, in collaboration with Google for Startups, is a curated program designed to move companies with a high-growth, scalable model from initial product to successfully raising seed capital with their business. Learn more here.

Founder Gym is a 6-week online program where founders complete structured exercises and receive expert training from seasoned investors and funded-founders. The goal is to equip graduates with the knowledge, network, and know-how to successfully raise capital to scale their tech startups. Learn more here.

The BGV Connect Incubator is dedicated to the Black Girl Ventures' mission to accelerate 100,000 women to economic advancement via community, education, and leadership. This is for Black and Brown women-identifying entrepreneurs and business leaders who are innovating and dedicated to leveling up their vision, idea, or business. Learn more here.

NewME is an entrepreneurship education program, serving early-stage business founders and their teams through mentorship, specialized curriculums, and for those companies chosen-- capital investment. This program is the first underrepresented founder focused program in the US, and has led founders to more than $47 MM in funding. Learn more here.

Camelback Ventures provides a rigorous accelerator, known as the Camelback Fellowship, for untapped entrepreneurs. They are focused on tackling education, conscious tech, and local economies. This is a six-month program that supports the development of both founder and venture. Learn more here.

Coming soon! Justworks is launching a minority and women-owned business customer directory. This is intended to expand the reach and visibility of our amazing customers and help our community diversify their supply chain and vendor network. If you are a Justworks customer who meets this criteria, you can apply to have your business included in the directory here.

Shop Black Owned is an open-source tool created by the team at Coast and Janet Gardner to provide wider visibility to Black-owned businesses and connect consumer buying power to positive economic and social change. Submit your business here.

Black Nation is an app for finding Black-owned businesses. Learn more here.

Diversity Information Services has created a go-to guide for finding certified MBE and WBE suppliers. It includes over 9500 nationally certified minority and women-owned businesses. Learn more about the guide here.

These organizations provide some helpful resources for business development, no matter what stage your business:

• The U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. is a great resource for developing and growing Black-owned businesses. Learn more here.

• The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce actively promotes the economic growth, development and interests of more than 4.7 million Hispanic-owned businesses. It also serves as the umbrella organization for more than 250 local chambers and business associations nationwide. Learn more here.

• The U.S. Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program helps minority owned businesses to grow and develop their business through set-aside and sole-sourced contracts, management and technical assistance, and mentorship programs. They also help in administering small business grants for minorities. Learn more here.

Early stage companies have unique needs. Here are some helpful resources:

• This Founder’s Playbook from Visa and IFundWomen is a guide specifically for early-stage Black and Latin entrepreneurs.

• For Black and Latinx women early-stage entrepreneurs, digitalundivided offers a number of programs.

MWBE stands for Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprises. In some states, the two may be treated separately, and you may see MBE or WBE instead. In either case, it’s a certification issued by the state that provides developmental benefits to these businesses. At least 47 states, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, have state-level MWBE development programs. There are also a number of existing certification programs that are run by federal and local government agencies, and private organizations.

The benefits vary by state, but overall, MWBE certification gives businesses the ability to reach a broader network of customers, contracts, and resources. Learn more here.

The certification process differs from state to state. That said, many states align with federal statutes related to business that define “minority” as people who are African-American, Alaskan Native, American Indian, Asian-American, or Hispanic. MWBEs are companies with minorities or women controlling 51% of the firm's operations. Publicly owned businesses may also qualify, but minorities or women must control more than 50 percent of the stock offerings. Here is a comprehensive list of state programs available.

Black and Brown Founders provides community, education, and access to Black and Latinx entrepreneurs. They help founders launch and build tech businesses with modest resources by providing culturally-relevant information about bootstrapping through online education and events. Learn more here.

The Female Founders Alliance is a curated network of women and non-binary founders and CEOs. This is a curated, founders-only virtual network. Learn more about how to join here.

The Latin Business Association provides resources for the Latinx business community, including advocacy and business education. Learn more about membership here.

The Latino Coalition is a membership organization that provides helpful resources for Latino business owners. They do a lot of advocacy on policies that will help Latino-owned businesses thrive. They also arrange networking events. Learn more here.

The Asian Business Association represents Asian American business owners, and creates business opportunities for its members and their diverse communities. Learn more here.

Afrotech is a groundbreaking conference for Black techies, startups, and entrepreneurs. The event features a 360-degree look at how culture and tech run the world, including talks, teaching, learning, and pitching. The event is taking place on November 12-15, 2020. Learn more here.

BMX is a leadership excellence conference for Black men with a focus on navigating and succeeding in corporate America. The event is taking place on October 22-23, 2020. Learn more here.

The Academy of Women Achievers Luncheon honors some of Boston’s brightest, boldest, bravest and most influential women. All proceeds from the event support YW Boston’s programs to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all. The event is taking place in Boston on October 29, 2020. Learn more here.

37 Angels is on a mission to close the gender gap in startup investing. In addition to angel investing bootcamps, workshops, and professional development opportunities, they also host pitch forums every two months in which eight companies pitch to their investors. Learn more about the process for applying here.

Startup Runway introduces under-represented founders to professional investors. Finalists are chosen from hundreds of applicants based on three distinct criteria:

1. Led by under-represented founders

2. A technical product or solution

3. The business has actual sales

Note: This is not for founders who have been through a national accelerator or have raised more than $100,000.

Learn more about how to apply here.

Lightship Capital invests in early stage companies led by BIPOC, LBGTQ+, women, and people with disabilities who operate in the CPG, E-Commerce, Sustainability, Artificial Intelligence, and Healthcare spaces. Learn more here.

The business angel Minority association - baMa aims to bridge the investment gap in minority-led startups or startups targeting minority driven markets. They are looking for pre-seed, seed or Series A investments that are seeking equity, debt, or debt with an equity component and have a strong management team and solid business model/prototype. Learn more here.

Supporting your team (and yourself) when it comes to mental health has never been more important. Unfortunately, there is still a stigma around mental health issues in the U.S. Many people suffering from these symptoms don’t want to talk about them the same way they may talk about a physical illness. Here are some tips for starting the conversation with employees.

Keep in mind that you do not have to be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder to seek professional support. There’s no prerequisite for seeking help, and you don’t necessarily need to feel like “something’s wrong” in order to see a therapist. Here is a guide to help you get started in exploring your mental health support options. The Field Guide to Navigating Mental Health Support.

Nicole Cardoza dedicated one of her Anti-Racism Daily newsletters to the topic of mental health in the Black community. She’s included a number of great resources, references and insights into navigating Black mental health. You can read the entire newsletter here.

On the Mend is another great mental health resource and support system for POC and LGBTQ+ communities. Their courses help people learn about coping and holistic healing skills from licensed psychotherapists. Courses are priced on a sliding scale. Learn more about On the Mend here.

Here are resources for finding mental health providers specifically for people of color:

TherapyForBlackMen.org is a directory to help men of color in their search for a multiculturally-competent therapist. You can search by therapist location and specialization. Learn more here.

Black Virtual Therapist Network helps you find a Black therapist who can provide mental health support through email, video conferencing, phone or online chatting options. Visit the directory here.

Therapy for Black Girls has a listing of mental health professionals across the country who provide high quality, culturally competent services to Black women and girls. Learn more here.

The Safe Place is a mental health app geared towards the Black community. Learn more here.

The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network has a dynamic list of queer, gender non-conforming and trans therapists of color across the country. Visit the directory here.

Open Path Psychotherapy Collective provides access to affordable psychotherapy and mental health education services for middle and lower-income level individuals, couples, families, and children. You can search for therapists by race or ethnicity, as well as location and specialty. Learn more here.

Therapy for Latinx is a directory of mental health therapists and resources for those in the Latinx community. Learn more here.

The Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Therapist Directory is a growing list of therapists and mental health resources specifically for the Asian community. Learn more here.

SouthAsianTherapists.org is a directory of highly-quality, culturally sensitive South Asian therapists from around the world, including therapists of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Afghani and Nepali heritage. Learn more here.

The South Asian Mental Health Initiative and Network has a directory of mental health providers specifically for the South Asian community. Learn more here.