Deadline: 21 March 2025
PeopleFund’s BIPOC Small Business Accelerator Program provides underserved entrepreneurs in Texas with the capital, education, and resources needed to support healthy business growth.
As a Community Development Financial Institution, their work focuses on creating economic opportunity for low to moderate-income individuals and communities.
Program Benefits
- Participants will have access to:
- Qualify for a PeopleFund loan product (dependent on approval)
- A grant amount between $3,000 and a maximum of $5,000
- Connections to business and professional resources in the community
- Completion of a business plan, financial statements, and capital portfolio
- Access to tools and technology including LivePlan business planning software and the Verizon Small Business Digital Ready
- Curriculum guide within an online learning platform
- Ongoing support and aftercare through dedicated business coaching and mentorship
- Networking opportunities within the cohort
Eligibility Criteria
- The program is based on first-come, first-serve and they will admit the first 70 eligible applicants.
- To qualify for the BIPOC Small Business Accelerator, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Must be located in the state of Texas
- Participants must demonstrate at least one of the following three criteria:
- Their business is located in a low to moderate-income area OR
- That the address of the individual is in a low to moderate-income area OR
- That the household income of the participant is low to moderate-income
- Open to start-up and existing businesses
- Must be able to support a loan payment through available global cash flow
- Must meet credit and lending qualifications
- No bankruptcies within the last 5 years
- U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident
- Not currently in active litigation
- Not currently past-due on federal obligations or are on a recovery plan
- Total collections, derogatory marks, and past due items cannot exceed 10% of the total loan amount up to $5,000
- Not involved in felony-level criminal activity, crimes of moral turpitude, or financial
- Not engaged in any of the following industries: adult entertainment, gambling or gaming, real estate investments or housing projects, passive activity (rental), anything federally illegal, multi-level marketing, and nonprofit activities.
For more information, visit PeopleFund.
