UMKC, Kauffman launch $100K resiliency grant fund for minority-owned businesses hit by COVID
August 5, 2020 | Startland News Staff
Editor’s note: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a financial sponsor of Startland News. This report was produced independently by Startland News’ nonprofit newsroom.
A new $100,000 fund is expected to help minority-owned Kansas City businesses — left out of initial rounds of COVID-19 relief — to build resiliency and come back stronger as the pandemic persists.
“COVID-19 has negatively impacted our entire small business community. However, entrepreneurs of color haven’t been able to access disaster financing and relief funding at the same rate as other business owners,” read an announcement of the Kansas City Minority Business Resiliency Grant.
The fund is expected to award up to $5,000 to at least 20 racial/ethnic minority-owned businesses. The grants are funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and administered by the UMKC Innovation Center in partnership with local financial institutions.
Applications for the fund open noon Monday, Aug. 17. Click here for application details.
A report produced in June by mySidewalk on behalf of the Kauffman Foundation emphasized the COVID-19 relief gap, specifically examining Paycheck Protection Program recipients. Of the 32,705 loans given to Kansas City businesses, only 119 were awarded to Black-owned businesses and 170 to Hispanic-owned businesses, according to the mySidewalk data.
Click here to review mySidewalk’s PPP findings.
Only businesses that are majority owned by racial/ethnic minority entrepreneurs, as defined by federal regulations, are eligible for the Kansas City Minority Business Resiliency Grant. Click here for guidelines on groups designated as socially disadvantaged.
Eligibility also is based on a business’ location with the Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area; documented sales in 2019 that don’t exceed $250,000; negative impact from COVID-19; and no ongoing or previous relationship with the UMKC Innovation Center, UMB Bank, Bank of Blue Valley, Alt-Cap, Bank of Labor, Central Bank of the Midwest or the Kauffman Foundation.
Click here for more information on eligibility and application guidelines.
Recipients can use the funds to help them reopen their businesses, buy supplies to keep their customers and employees safe, open an online shop or channel for their businesses, organize their back office, and otherwise build future resiliency, according to UMKC’s Innovation Center.
Grant awardees will have zero financial repayment — the funds are not a loan — but they will be expected to report on how the funds impacted their businesses. Those results will help incent future financial support for similar grant projects, administrators of the fund said.
Featured Business
2020 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
CBD modern family: Today’s mom-and-pop shop is selling hemp from a downtown OP storefront
With it’s storefront nestled in a mature, but re-emergent Overland Park neighborhood, walking through the door of 8124 Floyd St. shatters the misconceptions of curious customers, said Heather Steppe. “Its not [shady] … it doesn’t feel like a head shop,” Steppe, co-owner of KC Hemp Co., said of the almost bohemian vibe that radiates from…
Will CBD get me high? Plus three more burning FAQs about the cannabis cousins
Selling CBD is about more than the bottom line, said Heather Steppe, co-owner of KC Hemp Co. “Ninety-percent of what we do is educate. We have people come in here and ask questions and they go home and think about it,” she said from her business’ Downtown Overland Park storefront, noting that the general public…
Niall luxury watches founder, longtime friend: Time to harvest hemp potential in the heartland
With a traditional business mindset and solid entrepreneurial track record, James DeWitt and Michael Wilson could have done just about anything they wanted in life. Uniquely bold, each in their own regard, the longtime friends didn’t want to stick to the status quo as they looked for new ventures after their former acts burned down,…
Evolving attitudes, laws dissolving risks on mainstream CBD, hemp ventures, experts say
The smoke is lifting on cannabis as a commodity, Heather Steppe said, grateful for the entrepreneurial opportunity a waning stigma has created for her family. “Our farmers are finally getting an opportunity to grow this plant and, by God, we’re going to be some of the people who support them,” Steppe said, looking out…