Center for Economic Inclusion issues more than $480,000 in grants, loans to business owners of color

As part of its mission to erase racial inequities, the Center for Economic Inclusion and partners issued more than $480,000 in loan and grants in the first round of awards under its new, multi-million dollar Vanguard Accelerator program for Black and Latina business owners.

Four Twin Cities businesses will receive $25,000 to $250,000 forgivable loans: Jasmine Russell of marketing research firm Monicat Data in St. Paul; LaShawna Rhodes of Earth Beauty Supply in St. Paul; Junita Flowers, founder of Junita's Jar, in Minneapolis; and Georgia Fort, founder of BLCK Press in Minneapolis.

Three other business owners will receive $5,000 and a scholarship to the Zebra Leadership Development Program run by CEI's partner Founders First Community Development Corp.

One of those was Edna McKenzie, an Army veteran and founder of Midwest Select Contracting, an environmental construction consulting firm in Minneapolis. She called the program "an excellent opportunity for small companies like mine."

McKenzie will use her grant to train staff and ensure they get the certifications required to conduct strength and compaction testing on roads, highways and bridges. Midwest will soon launch an apprenticeship program and double staff to eight employees making 30 an hour.

Wendy Sullivan, another recipient, has owned Wenrich PD Construction commercial fencing and demolition firm for nine years. The award will also let Sullivan take two leadership and operations business classes and continue to support her 17 workers, all of whom are people of color.

"I getting not only a cash grant but I am getting free tuition that would otherwise be enormous for me," Sullivan said. "This [lets] me become a better leader, scale up and provide more jobs."

She said many of her workers were trained on the job, faced barriers to employment and now make $35 an hour, enough to feed and shelter their families.

Tomme Beevas, the former Cargill executive and Food Network star who founded Pimento Jamaican Kitchen, LLC, on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis, is the third grant recipient.

Pimento Jamaican Kitchen, which also operates a food truck at Keg & Case in St. Paul and helped hundreds of families and businesses with much needed food during the pandemic, will additionally receive real estate consulting help from NEOO Partners as part of the Vanguard Accelerator Site Redevelopment program.

The initial awards are part of a much larger $5 million economic racial equity effort funded by J.P. Morgan Chase. Additional aid has been provided by Founders First, NEOO Partners, GHR Foundation, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and others.

Their goal is to help mostly Black and Latin businesses boost sales and profits, livable-wage jobs and generational wealth, which when measured often shows gapping disparities.