$1,000 in Funding Available to Baltimore Changemakers

BALTIMORE ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCES $1,000 "BLACK FUTURES MICRO-GRANT" AWARD TO GREATER BALTIMORE "CHANGEMAKERS"

Baltimore, MD --  Building Black Futures Together is their motto. CLLCTIVLY.org, a community-based organization in Baltimore, Maryland is spearheading an effort to show the tremendous impact Black lives are having throughout the Baltimore community. Each month, CLLCTIVLY.org will award a local individual or organization with a BLACK FUTURES MICRO-GRANT - a no-strings-attached $1,000 grant for changemakers serving Greater Baltimore. The deadline for the first submission period is January 31st, followed by a two-week, community-wide voting period. The Award and $1,000 check will be presented on February 22, 2019. For more details, visit BlackFuturesGrant.org.

"CLLCTIVLY.org is very excited to offer the Black Futures Micro-Grant. Baltimore has amazing, dedicated individuals and organizations in our community who are making a difference without a spotlight, and often under resourced. We want to show our appreciation and motivate others to also use their time, talent and resources to strengthen our communities," states Jamye Wooten, the founder of CLLCTIVLY.org.

Wooten hopes that CLLCTIVLY will help bring unity and foster collaboration among the many community organizations doing great work, but often working in silos. "Community-based organizations often work in silos. Silos lead to fragmentation and fragmentation leads to duplication and wasted resources - such as time, talent and treasure," says Wooten.

Checkout This Funding Insight For Black-owned Firms

NEW INITIATIVE HELPING BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES GET ACCESS TO FUNDING AND TREASURY SERVICES

Los Angeles, CA --  Historically, Black-owned businesses have had difficulty gaining access to adequate levels of working capital and other banking services. While there are several reasons for this disparity, a significant contributor has been limited knowledge of the client selection and onboarding processes banks practice to ensure they comply with all laws and regulations that govern client relationships. As banking regulations and disclosure requirements evolve, banks have increased their due diligence standards to stay ahead of regulatory changes, and to more clearly define their risk appetite.

One of the most important and major due diligence evolutions is Know Your Customer (KYC), which is the due diligence process that enables banks to fulfill their regulatory and legal obligations with respect to anti-money laundering and related financial crimes. Because of the serious threat to the US financial system and the impact money laundering and related crimes has on the US economy, banks are now required to gather much more information about their clients and how their products and services will be used before extending commercial credit, treasury management, merchant, and commercial credit card services.

It is critically important that Black-owned businesses are knowledgeable of the KYC process, and what documentation and information is expected of them when seeking banking services. In addition, understanding how information regarding ownership, operations, customers, vendors, and expected account transaction activity may impact the businesses risk profile is invaluable. This is particularly true for businesses considered to be high risk or that operate within high risk industries or geographies.

Woman Raising $900K to Launch Smart Vending Machines Selling Medical Marijuana

MEET THE BLACK WOMAN WHO IS RAISING $900K TO LAUNCH MEDICAL MARIJUANA VENDING MACHINES

Facial Recognition and Biometric Blockchain Will Allow Regulatory Compliance

Columbus, OH -- PopCom, a leading Black-owned automated retail technology company specializing in smart vending and kiosk solutions, has announced its plans to develop a new blockchain-powered product ecosystem that enables cannabis, pharmaceutical and alcohol retailers to automate the sale of government-regulated products. The company is inviting forward-thinking investors to join them in bringing transformative technology to retail via their Security Token Offering (STO) - a public fundraising round that allows to anyone invest in the future of retail. The minimum investment is $252 and the team is looking to raise $945,000 in a 90 day period.

"It was important to me to be able to raise money from my friends and family, and my community of supporters, many who are not accredited investors," said PopCom Founder & CEO Dawn Dickson, a serial entrepreneur who graced the cover of the June issue of Black Enterprise and was named as INC Magazine’s top 100 Female Founders for 2018. "By raising money through Title II Reg CF I can now take money from anyone, now people can invest in tech company and get in early. Too often I watched under represented communities left out of deals, now anyone can support." The campaign launched right before Christmas and passed $10,000 in the first week.

PopCom will leverage advancements in biometrics, blockchain, and smart contracts to augment its current automated retail platform into a "2.0" version for regulated retail, powering machine-driven transactions in a secure, compliant way. While the company intends to release the technology first as a turnkey vending solution, the software will be built with the intent to integrate with 18 million vending machines and kiosks worldwide, bringing blockchain to the helm of new retail technology.

DC Area Brunch Celebrates Black Women Entrepreneurs

THE FIFTH ANNUAL B.O.S.S. BRUNCH CELEBRATES AND EDUCATES WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN WASHINGTON, DC

Women Entrepreneurs Learn from Industry Experts About Media, Marketing & Branding Strategies to Grow Their Businesses in 2019.

Washington, DC -- With the unstable conditions of the stock market and government shut down, all while dealing with holiday shopping hangovers, consumers are feeling a huge financial pinch in the pocket book. People are now realizing that creating multiple streams of income is no longer a fantasy, but a necessity to make ends meet.

With this reality, women are stepping up and building businesses. In fact, 4 out of 10 businesses are owned by women and based on the 2018 State of Women-Owned Business Report by American Express, "As of 2018, there are 12.3 million women-owned businesses in the U.S."

As more women explore the opportunities of entrepreneurship, access to information, education, mentoring and resources become more necessary. "The purpose of the B.O.S.S. (Business Owner Success Strategies) Brunch is to give new women entrepreneurs information and resources they need to be successful with their business and for a reasonable investment in an intimate and supportive environment," said BOSS Brunch Founder, international speaker, author and financial expert, Tarra Jackson, known as Madam Money.