ARTICLE
Washington, D.C. – The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), the nation’s largest Hispanic business organization, was awarded today a $5 million Community Navigator Pilot Program grant by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The organization was selected from a pool of more than 5,000 organization applicants, as one of 8 Tier One recipient of funding for the highly-competitive program, which seeks to outreach to serve small businesses in historically underserved communities, collaborate with local economic development groups, activate community resource partners, and work with states and local municipalities to amplify and create new accessible resources.
“Our 62 million Hispanics are national treasures and entrepreneurial. Through our five Community Navigator partners and extensive chamber network, we will deliver and provide assistance for more capital, capacity-building, and contracts,” said Ramiro A. Cavazos, President & CEO of the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “We are humbled by this recognition of our work and advocacy that has provided the foundation to give us this historic opportunity to be the engine of our nation’s future economy. Our model also has an additional focus to increase translation and accessibility for resources in English and Spanish,” he added.
As a “Hub” in the SBA’s Community Navigator Pilot Program “Hub and Spoke Model,” the USHCC will partner with five national organization “Spokes,” which are local organizations that represent tens of thousands of Latino-owned businesses and are strategically located in areas with the highest concentration of minority businesses to best support historically under-resourced communities.
The local organizations include:
These trusted organizations will use data-driven approaches to provide high-quality, bilingual technical assistance, business counseling, training and marketing for pandemic relief and recovery efforts that are critical to the revitalization of local Latino-owned businesses.
“Over the past 43 years, the USHCC and our local partner organizations have cultivated an extensive network that enables us to reach and engage communities across the nation that continue to be undervalued and overlooked, resulting in a severe lack of access to capital,” said Alice Rodriguez, Board Chair of the USHCC Board of Directors. “Through the Community Navigator Pilot Program, we have a pivotal opportunity to expand the resources, educational programming and relief efforts we provide these communities as well as the Latino-owned small businesses that support them through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.”
Click here to read more or become a member!
About the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC)
The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) actively promotes the economic growth, development and interests of more than five million Hispanic-owned businesses and advocates on behalf of its network of more than 260 local chambers and business associations nationwide.