IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
The Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship has received a $200,000 grant from Bank of America, money it will use to help local minority-owned businesses that have been hurt disproportionally by COVID-19.
The year-long grant will help the center at Cal State San Bernardino assist approximately 250 business owners create, or maintain, about 650 jobs, according to a statement on the center’s website.
Besides having an economic impact of nearly $4 million, the donation will help the businesses strengthen themselves so they’re able to survive a similar economic calamity in the future.
A majority of those businesses are owned by people of color, mostly African-American or Native Americans, said Michael Stull, the center’s program director.
“The support of the Bank of America Foundation is incredibly well-timed, as the resources will be used to help these businesses rebuild and respond to new market opportunities,” Stull said in the statement.
The businesses that will receive assistance are defined as small, meaning they employ fewer than 100 people. Small businesses make up about 97 percent of the 74,000-plus businesses in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, according to the statement.
