Minority Small Business Fund

Minority Small Business Grants

For Small Businesses, Start Ups, and Scaling Biz!

Round 3

Deadline: May 9, 2022

Up to: $5,000

Small minority startup/scaling businesses that are up to but less than 5 years old are encouraged to apply! YOUR BUSINESS MUST BE BASED IN AURORA, COLORADO. This grant helps to cover expenses to assist entrepreneurs with new skills, such as branding, raising capital, finances/budgeting, business plans and continued education, etc.

In person application assistance (English and Spanish) will be available at the Village Exchange Center located at 1609 Havana St, Aurora, CO 80010 on May 3, 2022 from 4–6pm (1 hour long sessions)

In partnership with the Aurora Chapter of the NAACP and the Colorado Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, VEC established this program to support minority-owned small businesses and start-ups. Given the overwhelming economic downturn and high rate of COVID cases amongst the minority community, this program is focused on providing support to BIPOC businesses as they pivot to meet the challenges in the current landscape, realize economic recovery and to provide pandemic relief across the Denver metro area.

“BIPOC” stands for “Black, Indigenous, and People of Color,” and is person-first language. It enables a shift away from terms like “marginalized” and “minority.”

The goal of the fund is to…

  1. provide relief to small businesses in the form of year-long technical assistance memberships; and
  2. to provide mini-grants to business owners for business-related investments.

VEC and NAACP are recruiting applicants, especially targeting the East Colfax and Northwest Aurora neighborhoods. Grantees are receiving $1,500 – $5,000 for expenses that assist entrepreneurs in learning new skills, such as branding, raising capital, finances/budgeting, business plans and continued education.

Eligibility

  • Small minority startup/scaling businesses in the Denver Metro Area
  • up to but less than 5 years old

Ineligible

  • Any business/individual who has previously received this grant from a previous funding cycle is not eligible to apply again for a period of two years from the previous award.

The program was initially launched in summer 2020, funded by the Wend Collective. That first round of funding awarded 50 small business owners with $92,900 in mini-grants.

We were able to extend this program in 2021 and 2022 due to a generous gift of $200,000 from the Wend Collective, plus $60,000 from Amazon.

The current round of funding:

new businesses applied

businesses awarded so far

total in mini grants

average award