Business

100 Oakland Small Businesses Owned by People of Color to Each Receive a $10,000 Grant from Comcast RISE Totaling $1 Million

Small Businesses Can Receive a Technology Makeover or Marketing Services

Published

3 years ago

October 9, 2021

Isabelle Price

Portrait of smiling elderly waiter looking at camera

The Comcast RISE Investment Fund will award $1 million in grants to 100 Oakland small businesses (1 to 25 employees) owned by people of color, including Black, Indigenous, Hispanic and Asian American, among others. Comcast RISE – which stands for Representation, Investment, Strength and Empowerment – has awarded marketing and technology services to 228 businesses in California so far.

To help drive outreach and awareness about Comcast RISE opportunity and provide additional support and training, Comcast has also awarded a $50,000 grant to the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

The announcement was made October 1 during a virtual press conference with Mayor of Oakland Libby Schaff; California Assemblymember Mia Bonta; Alameda County Assessor Phong La; President & CEO of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce Cathy Adams and owner of Mannequin Madness in Oakland and previous Comcast RISE recipient Judi Townsend.

“The economic effects of the global pandemic have been felt worldwide including significant impacts here in Oakland,” said Barbara Leslie, president & CEO of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. “We know that our small, local, woman-owned and people of color businesses – that are responsible for creating the beautiful tapestry we call home – have been disproportionately impacted by COVID. We applaud Comcast’s vision, through the Comcast RISE Investment Fund, to ensure that small businesses that exist today will be a part of Oakland’s economic and social fabric tomorrow and many years to come.”

“Like many others, my small business was impacted by the pandemic. Thanks to the Comcast RISE program, I can reach new audiences,” said Judi Townsend, owner of Mannequin Madness and Oakland resident. Townsend benefited from the program twice, once with the production and placement of a TV commercial and then with a technology makeover. “The application process was much more straightforward than other grants. I encourage my fellow eligible business owners to apply for the grant and technology or marketing makeovers.”

The Comcast RISE Investment Fund monetary grants are intended to help small businesses owned by people of color grow as they navigate the challenges of the pandemic. The Investment Fund is the latest extension of Comcast RISE, the multi-year, multi-faceted initiative launched in 2020 to provide small businesses owned by people of color the opportunity to apply for marketing and technology services from Comcast Business and Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable.

Through Comcast RISE, the company also announced it will support 13,000 small businesses, owned by people of color, with monetary grants; a TV campaign, production of a TV commercial or consulting services from Effectv; or computer equipment, internet, voice or cybersecurity from Comcast Business by the end of 2022.

Oakland is one of six cities nationwide that was selected to award a $10,000 grant to 100 local businesses from the Comcast RISE Investment Fund, for a total of $6 million across 600 businesses.

“When we launched Comcast RISE, we knew a profound need existed in many of the communities we serve,” said Kristeen Cominiello, vice president of Comcast Business, Comcast California. “We now have seen firsthand how the program’s marketing and technology resources benefit the business owners who are working hard to rise above what happened in 2020.

“Today, with Oakland being chosen as a Comcast RISE Investment Fund grant city, we are so excited to see how this infusion of funding will further propel businesses. We know the impacts will be meaningful and far reaching,” said Cominiello.

Comcast RISE is part of an expanded Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitment that Comcast announced last summer, as well as a coordinated cross-company effort to address digital inequities through sustainable programming and investments such as Internet Essentials and Lift Zones.

In addition, grant recipients will receive a complimentary 12-month membership to the coaching program from Ureeka, an online platform for entrepreneurs, to help them build skills, gain more customers and become financially stable.

For more information or to apply (starting Oct. 1, 2021) for either the grant program or marketing and technology services visit www.ComcastRISE.com.

Isabelle Price

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Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

15 hours ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Business

V.P. Kamala Harris: Americans With Criminal Records Will Soon Be Eligible for SBA Loans

Speaking in Las Vegas on Jan. 27, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a forthcoming federal rule that will extend access to Small Business Administration (SBA) loans to Americans who have been convicted of felonies but have served their time. Small business owners typically apply for the SBA loans to start or sustain their businesses.

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

On her daylong trip, Harris was joined by Horford, SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman, Interim Under Secretary of Commerce for Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) Eric Morrissette, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev).

By California Black Media

Small business owners typically apply for the SBA loans to start or sustain their businesses.

Harris thanked U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV-04), the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, for the work he has done in Washington to support small businesses and to invest in people.

“He and I spent some time this afternoon with business leaders and small business leaders here in Nevada. The work you have been doing to invest in community and to invest in the ambition and natural capacity of communities has been exceptional,” Harris said, speaking to a crowd of a few hundred people at the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Hall in East Las Vegas.

“Formerly incarcerated individuals face significant barriers to economic opportunity once they leave prison and return to the community, with an unemployment rate among the population of more than 27%,” the White House press release continued. “Today’s announcement builds on the Vice President’s work to increase access to capital. Research finds that entrepreneurship can reduce recidivism for unemployed formerly incarcerated individuals by as much as 30%.”

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Business

G.O.P. Lawmakers: Repeal AB 5 and Resist Nationalization of “Disastrous” Contractor Law

Published

3 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

File Photo: Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City)

By California Black Media

Republican lawmakers gathered outside of the Employee Development Department in Sacramento on Jan. 23 to call for the repeal of AB5, the five-year old California law that reclassified gig workers and other independent contractors as W-2 employees under the state’s labor code.
Organizers said they also held the rally to push back against current efforts in Washington to pass a similar federal law.

“We are here to talk about this very important issue – a battle we have fought for many years – to stop this disastrous AB 5 policy,” said Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City).
Now, that threat has gone national as we have seen this new rule being pushed out of the Biden administration,” Gallagher continued.

On Jan. 10, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a new rule providing guidance on “on how to analyze who is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).”
“This final rule rescinds the Independent Contractor Status Under the Fair Labor Standards Act rule (2021 IC Rule), that was published on January 7, 2021, and replaces it with an analysis for determining employee or independent contractor status that is more consistent with the FLSA as interpreted by longstanding judicial precedent,” a Department of Labor statement reads.
U.S. Congressmember Kevin Kiley (R-CA-3), who is a former California Assemblymember, spoke at the rally.

“We are here today to warn against the nationalization of one of the worst laws that has ever been passed in California, which has devastated the livelihoods of folks in over 600 professions,” said Kiley, adding that the law has led to a 10.5% decline in self-employment in California.

Kiley blamed U.S Acting Secretary of Labor, July Su, who was the former secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, for leading the effort to redefine “contract workers” at the federal level.
Kiley said two separate lawsuits have been filed against Su’s Rule – its constitutionality and the way it was enacted, respectively. He said he is also working on legislation in Congress that puts restrictions on the creation and implementation of executive branch decisions like Su’s.
Assemblymember Kate Sanchez (R-Rancho Santa Margarita) announced that she plans to introduce legislation to repeal AB 5 during the current legislative session.

“So many working moms like myself, who are also raising kids, managing households, were devastated by the effects of AB 5 because they lost access to hundreds of flexible professions,” Sanchez continued. “I’ve been told by many of these women that they have lost their livelihoods as bookkeepers, artists, family caregivers, designers, and hairstylists because of this destructive law.”