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The holidays can be a financially stressful time for many entrepreneurs who are parents. Let’s face it, gifts for kids can be expensive!
The ParentPreneur Foundation, which I started during COVID to empower Black ParentPreneurs, so they can leave a legacy for their beautiful Black children, is partnering with the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center (NEC) to give $30K total in grants to thirty Black ParentPreneurs this holiday season ($1K each).
The NEC has been an invaluable partner increasing the social capital of our community members via their international Mentor Makers program and making key introductions. Mentorship is the important first step in building trust and transitioning relationships to sponsorship, which is really where the magic happens.
The NEC has also featured thirty of our community members on the Nasdaq Tower in Times Square, the greatest part of which for me was the paradigm shift that likely occurred in the children who saw themselves and their parents in Times Square. The expectations of those children of what is possible will never be the same.
That’s legacy and impact.
“We are committed to ensuring a better path forward for the flow of capital to our entrepreneurs of color.” – Nicola Corzine, Founding Executive Director, Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center
Some people don’t think a $1K grant is a lot of money; these people clearly aren’t super-hustling entrepreneurs. When you hear “No” all day long, for someone to say “Yes” and give you a free stack is the fuel you need in your tank to keep going as an entrepreneur.
This video of FlyWallet CEO, Thomas Negrit, says everything about what a $1K grant would mean. And his young daughter in the background is what we love and expect to see as ParentPreneurs. Not to mention the joy I get seeing a Black dad shattering the BS stereotypes about Black Fatherhood.
But I digress.
The ParentPreneur Foundation is Having an Impact
At the ParentPreneur Foundation, we look holistically at the human, easing both their parenting and business lifestyles. We paid for mental therapy for over fifty people, shattering mental health stereotypes in the Black community. We paid for virtual tutors for kids during the pandemic while they were in school virtually. And we paid for virtual assistants to increase our members’ capacity.
We also help our members get to the bag.
Ruby Taylor has a card game that teaches financial literacy for the Black community, and we helped her land a $250K sponsorship from a large bank. Ruby is a personal hero because she suffered a traumatic brain injury that causes her to stutter, which I think is her super-power, yet she perseveres!
How to apply for a $1K grant
Applications for the grants close November 19th and the winners will be announced inside the ParentPreneur Foundation community and on social media November 22nd. Any Black ParentPreneur can apply, but you need to be a member of the foundation community.
Apply for a $1K grant here.
If empowering Black ParentPreneurs, so they can leave a legacy for their beautiful Black children matters to you, please support the ParentPreneur Foundation with a tax-deductible donation.
Ad astra,
James Oliver, Jr.
ParentPreneur Foundation
CEO
COMMENTS.
