While small businesses across Michigan navigate the challenges of operating during the pandemic, minority-owned businesses have been hit especially hard. The Community Foundation of St. Clair County is working to help business owners of color and women business owners gain access to capital and build a community support network.

“It became very clear after the first rounds of stimulus money were brought into our community that minority-owned businesses were not being included,” Randy Maiers, the community foundation’s president and CEO said. “This wasn’t because of any malicious intent; we found that minority small business owners just weren’t in the loop and didn’t have the connections to learn how to access relief funds.”

A report from the Federal Reserve notes that nationally, Black-owned businesses have been disproportionately impacted during the pandemic due to lack of funding and rescue loans provided by the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Only 20% of PPP loans were granted in areas with high concentrations of Black-owned businesses.

To combat this lack of funding, the community foundation turned to a local entrepreneur and business consultant, Kanchan Wankhede of Blue Water Startups & Entrepreneurs. Wankhede was hired by the community foundation to provide consulting services and support to minority-owned businesses in the area, particularly in accessing small business aid funds through state and federal programs.

“We brought her in to help our local small businesses to be prepared for the next round of stimulus money,” Maiers said. “Back in March and April we didn’t have the luxury of time to sit and think about a plan with metrics and deliverables; it was a horrible crisis and we had to act.”

The hiring of Wankhede was in part the result of efforts by the community foundation’s Equity and Inclusion Committee, which was established earlier this year. As CMF reported, the committee’s first priority was supporting minority- and women-owned businesses in St. Clair County.

“Having Kanchan—a woman and minority business owner in our community—was important for us to build trust with those we were hoping to serve,” Maiers said.

With additional support from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, the community foundation and Wankhede began working with businesses owners to connect them to resources and information that would prepare them to receive state and federal stimulus dollars in the future, all while strengthening the network of minority-owned businesses in St. Clair County. Using its own connections, CFSCC has rallied local businesses, nonprofits and other entities to champion these businesses through the economic downturn.

Maiers estimates that Wankhede is currently working with over 60 clients through her contract with the community foundation. Because of the high demand for her services and her credibility in the local business community, the community foundation has extended her contract beyond its initial agreement.

“She’s really building trust with the local minority-owned business community,” Maiers said. “It’s not like having someone from some other part of the state or the country come in to help — we have someone right here in our hometown that they can call for help.”

Maiers said this investment has been vital not just for businesses to survive the pandemic but to thrive in the community now and beyond.

“We’re not a community foundation that just focuses on basic needs,” Maiers said. “We really have a lens on prosperity and growth for everyone in our community.”

Want more?

Learn more about Kanchan Wankhede and her work in St. Clair County.

Read more about the Community Foundation of St. Clair County’s Equity and Inclusion Committee.