Comcast last week opened applications for its $10,000 RISE Investment Fund grants that will be awarded to 100 minority-owned small businesses across Miami-Dade and Broward Counties.
Comcast is also offering marketing and technology services to small businesses in the above cities. The Comcast RISE Marketing & Technology Services’ application period runs through Oct. 17.
More than 300,000 people of Haitian descent are spread across Broward, Miami-Dade and neighboring Palm Beach, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many of them are small business owners. Haitian-Americans own various types of businesses in Broward and Miami-Dade like barbershops, restaurants, convenience stores and more.
The Comcast RISE investment fund is part of a $100 million Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative the telecommunications company launched last year to fight injustice and inequality and provide resources to businesses that were most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. RISE stands for “Representation, Investment, Strength and Empowerment.”
To be eligible for the RISE Investment Fund grant, businesses must be owned by someone who identifies as Hispanic, Black, Indigenous, Asian or mixed background and have no more than 25 employees.
The deadline for the Comcast RISE Investment Fund application is Oct. 14. Grant recipients will be announced at the end of November.
Grants are also available to small businesses in Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Oakland, Seattle and Washington, D.C.