DURHAM – Eight groups from across North Carolina have been awarded grants totalling more than $360,000 through the NC Black Entrepreneurship Council which recently was launched by NC IDEA.
More than 140 organizations and groups sought grant funding as part of the NC BEC ECOSYSTEM initiative.
Each of the grant recipients is seeking to promote Black entrepreneurship.
They are:
- ACCESS Center for Equity + Success (Winston-Salem; Serving the Triad)
- ASPIRE Community Capital (Charlotte)
- City Startup Labs (Charlotte)
- Genesis Block Labs (Wilmington; Serving Southeastern NC)
- GRIND (Asheville)
- HELIUS (Durham; Serving Durham and Rocky Mount)
- Knox St. Studios (Durham; Serving the Triangle)
- Triangle Entrepreneurial Leadership (Garner; Serving the Triangle)
“Under the leadership of the NC Black Entrepreneurship Council and just months after its formation, our call to fund organizations supporting more Black people in their ambition to start and scale growth-oriented companies drew an incredible response,” said Thom Ruhe, CEO of NC IDEA.
“Equitable entrepreneurship is vital to our economic recovery. Partnering with these eight worthy recipients, creates greater opportunity to economically empower Black people with entrepreneurship, and collectively work to combat inequalities that perpetuate racial imbalances. I hope we can convince more funding partners to support this important work, thereby funding many more of the requests we received,” Ruhe concluded.
These grants follow the awarding of $1.5 million in grants through NC IDEA’S ECOSYSTEM program.
17 groups across state to share nearly $1.5M in grants from NC IDEA Foundation
