Comcast has announced more than $1 million in fresh funding to support small businesses owned by people of color in Miami-Dade and Broward County.
The funds will come in the form of $10,000 grants and will be awarded to 100 minority-owned small businesses in Miami-Dade and Broward County, one of six markets selected by Comcast to receive the funding, which is also slated to go to small businesses in Houston, Minneapolis, Oakland, Seattle, and Washington, D.C., and totals more than $6 million in support.
Beginning October 1 through October 14, eligible businesses can apply for the grants, as well as marketing and technology services. In addition to funding, grant recipients will receive a full year of business coaching services. Eligible businesses include those that have been open for three or more years and have less than 25 employees.
Winners will be officially announced in November, the company said.
The injection of funding is part of an expansion of Comcast’s multi-year initiative RISE — an acronym for “Representation, Investment, Strength, and Empowerment — which launched on the heels of social unrest and the pandemic.
Comcast Senior Vice President of Digital and Customer Experience, Teresa Ward-Maupin, was involved in the development of RISE and its continuing expansion. As COVID forced many businesses to shift their business models and provide services online, businesses owned by people of color disproportionately slipped behind.
During the spring of 2020, the National Bureau of Economic Research reported the number of active business owners had fallen by more than 22 percent. The rates were much higher for Black- and LatinX-owned businesses, where nearly 41 and 32 percent of owners closed their doors.
“We all walk down the same streets and see so many businesses that opened yesterday and closed today,” Ward-Maupin said. “Many businesses owned by people of color were not able to shift as quickly to a technology mode to sustain their businesses. They weren’t able to get the capital or technology, causing many more challenges for people of color than not.”
Comcast wanted to change that. During the crisis, Ward-Maupin says a lot of corporations allotted dollars to provide support, but their efforts were often temporary. She says the RISE program evolved out of the company’s desire to provide sustainable, long-term impact.
“For us, it wasn’t just about throwing money at the problem, but [understanding] how we can actually help,” Ward-Maupin adds. “The goal was, ‘How do we give them resources that allow them to recover, drive traffic back in, and help them survive?’ Technology is part of the solution, but it’s really about investing and growing their businesses faster, and giving them a vehicle to do that.”
That’s one of the reasons, Comcast has combined its grants and complimentary technology and marketing services with meaningful business resources, such as mentorship and coaching. The resources cover an array of small business tips, from driving store traffic, to marketing online, to the best way to handle business finances.
While it’s not an immediate fix, the aim is to equip small business entrepreneurs with the same tools and valuable skill sets as more mature businesses, says Ward-Maupin.
“A lot of minority business owners are phenomenal at their craft, but they don’t always have the tools to optimize and grow their business,” she adds. “It’s about broadening the skillset, knowledge, and providing them a foundation to grow.”
As the Cuban-born small business owner of Beacon CBS, Rebecca Pistiner, 61, says that the rapid shift to doing business online during the pandemic presented a challenge. She was comfortable using the internet, but historically, her business had relied on “face-to-face” interactions. She was unsure how to continue reaching customers.
“I didn’t know anything about marketing online,” she says. “For me, at my age, there was a challenge in moving to virtual. All of the same principles apply, but now it’s different tools, different measures, and a different storefront.”
Pistiner came across an ad announcing Comcast’s grant program. She was skeptical at first, but decided to apply. She was shocked when she received a she was a grant winner and won $10,000 from the company, which included business coaching.
Though revenues haven’t yet returned to pre-pandemic levels, Pistiner says her business is expanding to new areas and she remains optimistic there will be a full turnaround.
"The support Comcast has given me in this time has made my business better,” she adds. “I’m still here. I’m employing people. I don’t have a [superhero] cape, but we’ve made great progress. It’s important for bigger companies to ... help us out and lift us up because we’re trying to hold it up for them.”
So far, Comcast RISE has supported more than 4,800 small business entrepreneurs throughout the U.S. As a Black woman, Ward-Maupin says she is proud to be a part of a program and hear the stories shared by the program’s recipients about its meaningful impact.
“Miami is unique, from its international influence and range of cultures, so it’s like no other city in America. Business is so essential to the landscape of Miami-Dade and Broward County, it made perfect sense to arrive in an area where we could deliver the most impact. It’s not just about businesses surviving and sustaining, it’s how we can grow their wealth.
“Small businesses are the backbones of our community, and enabling them to get back on their feet is so critical.”
Pistiner will join Ward-Maupin on October 5 for a special virtual event with Miami Inno. The event will focus on local business leaders committed to driving resilience and representation of small businesses owned by people of color as they recover from the impacts of the pandemic.