Eligible businesses in Houston can apply March 1 – 14 for a $10,000 grant to be one of 100 recipients that will be selected.
This past Tuesday, Comcast announced the Comcast RISE Investment Fund will provide 1 million dollars of grants to eligible Black-owned small businesses in the Greater Houston area.
Beginning on March 1 through March 14, eligible BIPOC-owned, small businesses in the Greater Houston area will be able to apply for a $10,000 grant at www.ComcastRISE.com.
This is a major effort, which will provide hundreds of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-owned, small businesses in five cities nationwide, $5 million dollars of grants. A total of 100 grants will be given out to BIPOC-owned, small businesses in the Greater Houston area, out of the 500 grants overall to other BIPOC-owned, small businesses in the cities of Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia.
The grants will be awarded in May 2021.
The Comcast RISE Investment Fund is the latest extension of Comcast RISE, the multi-year, multi-faceted initiative launched in October 2020 that initially focused on Black-owned, small businesses and then extended to BIPOC-owned to help those hardest hit by COVID-19.
The Comcast RISE Investment Fund is focused on small businesses who have been in business for three or more years with 1-25 employees. Businesses must be in the following geographic locations to be eligible: Houston, Texas (Harris and Fort Bend Counties).
Bottom Row (l to r) Carol Guess, President of the Greater Houston Black Chamber; Tammi Wallce, Moises Solis, Chairman of the Camara de Empresarios Latinos de Houston; Co-Founder and President & CEO of the Greater Houston LGBT Chamber; Frances Castañeda Dyess, President of the Houston East End Chamber; Paul Gor, Director of Community Development for the Asian Chamber of Commerce
To help drive outreach about the program and provide additional support, training and mentorship, Comcast has also awarded more than $2 million to nearly 20 community-based organizations in the five cities, including the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Greater Houston Black Chamber, Asian Chamber of Commerce, Greater Houston LGBT, Houston East End Chamber and Cámara de Empresarios in Houston, as well as the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), Operation Hope, Ureeka, U.S. Black Chambers, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, National Asian American Chamber of Commerce.
“Small businesses have always played an integral role in Houston’s growth and future,” said Ralph Martinez, senior vice president for Comcast’s Houston region. “In the midst of the pandemic, these entrepreneurs provided many of the services and resources that have kept our communities up and running.”
Studies show that BIPOC-owned, small businesses have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, and recent research by JPMorgan Chase Institute found that Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Houston and Philadelphia were in the top markets for sharp declines in local commerce spending. Additionally, the majority of applications for the Comcast RISE marketing and technology services component are from these five cities.
“Unfortunately, many small businesses in Houston were not able to withstand the many months of suppressed revenues,” said Vice Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum who chairs the City of Houston’s Economic Development Committee. “While we remain optimistic about our economic recovery, public-private partnerships will play a vital role in minimizing the disruptions that so many small businesses, specifically minority-owned business, are facing.”
In addition to the investment fund, Comcast RISE, which stands for “Representation, Investment, Strength and Empowerment,” provides the opportunity for BIPOC-owned, small businesses nationwide to apply for one or more of the following support focus areas for the opportunity to receive one. Over 700 recipients were announced in November, with the next wave of recipients to be announced in March 2021.
- Marketing Services: The following services from Effectv, the advertising sales division of Comcast Cable, and its creative agency, Mnemonic, are designed to help recipients with their marketing and media campaigns, including:
– Media: A linear TV media campaign to run over a 90-day period.
– Creative Production: Turnkey :30 second TV commercial production, plus a media strategy consultation and 90-day media placement schedule.
– Consulting: Advertising and marketing consultations with local Effectv marketing, research and creative teams to gain insights on how to drive business.
- Technology Makeovers: The state-of-the-art equipment and technology upgrade from Comcast Business includes computer equipment as well as Internet, Voice and Cybersecurity services for up to a 12-month period. (Taxes and other fees may still apply for technology makeover services.)
In addition, all eligible applicants will receive a monthly Comcast RISE newsletter with educational content, and all small business owners can visit the Comcast RISE destination on the X1 platform, which features aggregated small business news, tips, insights and more. The destination is designed to help businesses grow by empowering them through inspiration and entertainment. Just say “Comcast RISE” into the X1 voice remote.
Comcast RISE is part of a larger $100 million Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative that Comcast launched this summer. In June, 2020, Comcast NBCUniversal announced the development of a comprehensive, multi-year plan to allocate $75 million in cash and $25 million in media over the next three years to fight injustice and inequality against any race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation or ability.
More information and the applications to apply for either the grant program or the marketing and technology services are available at www.ComcastRISE.com.