The Employment Training Panel (ETP), has awarded $2M through the SEED 2.0 Grant to an Inland Empire-based coalition led by Caravanserai Project and which includes Uplift San Bernardino at the Making Hope Happen Foundation and Get in Motion Entrepreneurs.
The grant supports individuals who face significant employment barriers by providing entrepreneurial training, technical assistance, and micro-grants to start or advance small businesses in California addressing a social challenge or meeting a community need.
The program focuses on entrepreneurs with limited English proficiency, regardless of immigration or citizenship status.
Caravanserai Project, Uplift San Bernardino’s Small Business Resource Group and Get in Motion Entrepreneurs have advanced hundreds of entrepreneurs and organizations from historically underrepresented and marginalized populations in California, and in particular the Inland Empire.
This partnership is a timely response to the imperative need to turbo charge local entrepreneurs and for profit and not for profit organizations, with a particular focus on Latinx individuals in the Inland Empire region of California with historically limited access to specialized technical assistance and funding. A total of $1.5M in micro-grants (up to $7,500 each) is available to entrepreneurs who successfully graduate from the Spanish language entrepreneurship training provided by Caravanserai Project. The program is expected to conclude by May 2024.
“We appreciate innovative programs like ETP SEED 2.0 that will strengthen our business community, and recognize the value and importance of our diverse and culturally rich immigrant communities across the Inland Empire. We look forward to working with our colleagues in supporting small business growth in the IE,” Uplift San Bernardino Director Karen Suarez said.
To learn more about the program, interested persons may click HERE or contact via email at [email protected]