Posted on June 4, 2020 by Prosper Waco
Act Locally Waco carried a blog post on the impact of COVID-19 on equity in Waco written by Rachel E. Pate, vice president of economic development at Cen-Tex African American Chamber of Commerce in Waco. (Read the full blog post here.)
“While weeks of the shelter-in-place orders and social distancing continued, CTAACC assembled an informal advisory group to work alongside our staff and help create solutions for business equity,” Pate wrote. “Community business members and leaders included Wannika Muhammad, Rev. Marlon Jones and Cuevas Peacock, who each added diversity, passion and perspective to the dialogue. Our group later became known as the CommUnity Voices team. United in tackling the tasks before us, we put our heads together and strategically planned our moves ahead.”
The CTAACC’s Center for Business Excellence “has long been an engine for small business development, offering free business tools, technology resources and meeting space,” Pate said. “Utilizing this existing program, CTAACC established the Cen-Tex Minority Business (CTMB) Equity Fund in May 2020 to provide business relief to businesses of color through grant funding and micro-loans. (Donate Here.)
“The CTMB Equity Fund is the first local fund in our community that will assist small minority-owned businesses facing income loss or rising expenses due to circumstances caused by natural disasters, illness, global pandemics, or any situation that disrupts their economic and social well-being.”