Downtown Springfield Association set to award more grants to minority-owned businesses

Ralph Green, Springfield News-Leader
·2 min read
Winners of the ASCEND diversity small business grants pose for photos with officials from the Downtown Springfield Association, Minorities in Business, and U.S. Bank on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. The grant recipients, Eway Scooters, Jamaican Patty, MD Hair Supplies, Mimi's Soul Food and Bell's Marketing Consultant, all will receive $5,000.
Winners of the ASCEND diversity small business grants pose for photos with officials from the Downtown Springfield Association, Minorities in Business, and U.S. Bank on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. The grant recipients, Eway Scooters, Jamaican Patty, MD Hair Supplies, Mimi's Soul Food and Bell's Marketing Consultant, all will receive $5,000.

The Downtown Springfield Association will be awarding its second round of ASCEND diversity small business grants on Sept. 29.

ASCEND stands for "Advancing Springfield’s Commitment to Entrepreneurship, Networking and Diversity." The first round of the $5,000 grants went out to five minority-owned businesses in the downtown area in June.

Five second-round winners will be announced Sept. 29 at 10 a.m. at the efactory in the CoxHealth Innovation Room, according to a news release from the Downtown Springfield Association, which partners with the U.S. Bank Foundation on this endeavor.

"The Downtown Springfield Association is excited to recognize and support another outstanding group of local entrepreneurs," Downtown Springfield Association Executive Director Rusty Worley said in press release. "Through the support of U.S. Bank Foundation, opportunities have grown for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) to create and expand businesses in Center City.  We look forward to building on this momentum to offer more awards in 2023 with the experiences of our first two rounds of recipients."

More:Downtown Springfield Association announces $5,000 grants for 5 Black-owned businesses

The Downtown Springfield Association said the motivation for the ASCEND grant program was that downtown Springfield and the adjoining neighborhoods is one of the most diverse places in southwest Missouri with a population that is 21 percent BIPOC, but less than 5 percent of businesses in downtown Springfield are BIPOC-owned.

Minorities in Business Executive Director Darline Mabins told the News-Leader this past summer that she believes if this is something that is consistently done or other grants and opportunities like this start becoming available in Springfield it will absolutely help Black business owners.

During the first round in June, grants went out to Eway Scooters, Jamaican Patty, MD Hair Supplies, Mimi's Soul Food and Bell's Marketing Consultant.The grants are being awarded based on the identified needs of the new businesses and in conjunction with existing resources from the Springfield Finance and Development Corporation, city of Springfield and other community organizations. This grant program is limited to new and expanding businesses with storefront locations in Center City.

Ralph Green is a business reporter with the Springfield News-Leader. Contact him at RAGreen@gannett.com, by phone: (417-536-4061) or on Twitter at RalphGreenNL

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Group set to award grants to minority-owned downtown businesses