Empowering Minority Entrepreneurs to Spur Business Growth and Tackle the Racial Wealth Gap in New Jersey

June 28, 2023July 15, 2023 R.L. Witter

More than $1.5 million in commitments to support state’s ecosystem for Black and Latino business owners

JP Morgan Chase announced to day it is providing more than $1.5 million to nonprofit organizations in New Jersey to help support diverse entrepreneurs and increase their access to capital, mentorship, technical assistance, and other critical resources needed for business growth and scale.

Recognizing that small businesses and entrepreneurs generate jobs, create diverse communities, and are vital to prosperous cities, JPMorgan Chase is providing the following commitments to organizations with programs that support underserved entrepreneurs:

Rising Tide Capital – $800,000 to support individualized technical assistance, coaching, and business support services for low-income women and minority entrepreneurs around issues of small business growth and resilience, including guidance on accessing financial capital and strategies for using such capital to navigate the changing landscape of business in a post-COVID economy.
Rutgers University, Greater Newark Enterprises Corporation and Local Initiative Support Corporation Newark – $399,000 to continue Ascend Newark, an initiative to help local businesses owned by people of color increase their access to capital, management education, and contract relationships with anchor institutions like RWJBarnabas Health. The program is a collaboration between Rutgers’ Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, Greater Newark Enterprises Corporation, Local Initiative Support Corporation Newark, and RWJ Barnabas Health.
The Enterprise Center of New Jersey – $301,000 to provide a comprehensive overview of Camden’s small business ecosystem and identify long-term strategic priorities to enhance opportunity and access to resources for women and Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC)-owned start-ups and small businesses in the city and surrounding region. The program will assess current resources available to the startup and small business ownership community related to innovation, talent, place-building, access to capital, entrepreneurship education and training, and small business assistance.
Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey – $32,500 to support the Hispanic Entrepreneurship Training Program, which provides access, opportunity, and meaningful mentorship and coaching to empower Hispanic small business owners with the skill set necessary to succeed. The program focuses on access to knowledge, capital and credit, networks, and new markets. The Chamber works with more than 120,000 Hispanicowned, New Jersey-based businesses that contribute an aggregated $20 billion to the economy each year.

“We are grateful that JPMorgan Chase and the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey have partnered on this important and timely initiative to provide entrepreneurs classes led by bilingual subject matter experts on various topics vital to building and fortifying a business. We commend the organization for its continued commitment and generosity to the communities it serves,” indicated Carlos Medina, SHCCNJ president & CEO.

“As a firm, we recognize that supporting underserved, minority entrepreneurs is key to unlocking the kind of opportunity that lifts communities” said Marco Villegas, vice president, Global Philanthropy, New Jersey, JPMorgan Chase. “These commitments will help strengthen New Jersey’s small business ecosystem, fueling job creation and economic growth across the state. Together with our community partners, we can help provide small businesses with the technical assistance needed to better access capital and grow their business.”

These investments are part of JPMorgan Chase’s $30 billion, five-year commitment to increase economic opportunities for underserved communities, especially Black, Hispanic, and Latino communities, and to drive an inclusive economic recovery. In 2022, the firm provided more than $3.3 million in philanthropic capital to nonprofits across the state to support affordable housing, jobs and skills development, small business and entrepreneurship, and financial health. In New Jersey, the firm has nearly 11,000 employees, 200 branches, and serves more than two million consumers and nearly 230,000 small businesses in the state.