Black Girl Ventures Pitch Program

A new $3.6 million loan and grant program will assist small business with filling vacant storefronts Downtown. These loans will provide capital to underserved markets for those who experience barriers to accessing traditional banking services. Loan amounts will between $25,000-$100,000 with a 4% interest rate for qualifying businesses. In addition, those who qualify for the loan will also receive a grant of $25,000 from the City to support their launch.

Experiential learning opportunities, including internships, are a key method for students to explore career possibilities, gain hands-on experience and meet people in industry in their field of study. For the company, it is a critical workforce development tool. The Innovate Rhode Island Small Business Fund (IRISBF) Internship Grant Program provides grants of up to $6,500 to assist companies in the life sciences and engineering sectors defray the costs of providing student internships and mentoring to eligible Rhode Island residents attending a college or university in Rhode Island.

The Commercial Corridor Storefront Activation (CCSA) program is helping to revitalize 12 South and West Side business corridors through targeted improvements to underutilized and vacant commercial spaces. Led by the Department of Planning and Development (DPD), the $30.5 million program is offering grants that fund up to 75% of eligible project costs for qualifying small businesses and property owners. In addition to funding for storefront improvements, each corridor has a partner agency and technical service providers to assist with business-related tasks such as marketing, accounting and business planning, as well as project-specific tasks that include design and permitting.

The California Paid Family Leave Small Business Grant provides California small businesses with grants of up to $2,000 per employee to help offset the operational costs that arise when an employee takes leave through California's Paid Family Leave (PFL) program. Grant amounts are tiered by business size: businesses with 1 to 50 employees may receive up to $2,000 per employee utilizing PFL, and businesses with 51 to 100 employees may receive up to $1,000 per employee utilizing PFL. Funded by the State of California through the Employment Training Panel (ETP) and Labor and Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), the program is delivered through multiple community-based partner organizations that conduct outreach to California small businesses (including the CAMEO Network, which operates the current californiapfl.com application portal). Grant funds are paid directly to the employer and are intended to cover training or cross-training of existing staff to fill in for the employee on leave, hiring and training temporary or additional staff, and reasonably foreseeable recruitment, marketing, and related training costs. California's Paid Family Leave program itself allows workers to take paid leave to bond with a new child (through birth, adoption, or foster care) or to care for a seriously ill family member. To qualify, a business must have 1 to 100 employees and at least one employee who used California's Paid Family Leave program on or after the current program's qualifying start date (this date is updated with each funding round). The business must be registered to do business in California and be in active status with the California Secretary of State, and must have an active California Employer Account Number (CEAN) under which its employees are listed for payroll. Businesses that use a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) for payroll and file under the PEO's CEAN rather than their own are not eligible. As part of the application, the employer must provide the employee's EDD Customer Account Number (a 10-digit number provided directly to the employee by the EDD, distinct from a Social Security Number). Applicants may need to request this number from the employee who took leave.

Purpose: The Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ) program combines recycling with economic development to fuel new businesses, expand existing ones, create jobs, and divert waste from landfills. Description: The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) administers a Recycling Market Development Zone Loan Program to encourage California-based recycling businesses located within California financing businesses that prevent, reduce, or recycle recovered waste materials through value-added processing or manufacturing.