The Capital Access Fund of Greater Cleveland (CAF), an $8 million loan fund started in 2016, was created to provide primarily African American and other minority small business owners with access to capital and technical assistance in order to sustain or create additional viable businesses that will create jobs and wealth in the Cleveland market.

T. McCall Electric & Plumbing is a family owned business, which provides electrical installation and plumbing services to commercial and residential clients. Tisheba McCall-Dixon and her two brothers inherited the business from their father and uncle. In 2012, they came to the Urban League of Philadelphia Entrepreneurship Center (ULEC) armed with a few modest contracts, including the City of Philadelphia and Loews, looking to expand. ULEC assisted them with their business plan and marketing and also helped them obtain a $100k line of credit to support their growth.

Victoria (Vikki) Tyson first came to the Urban League of Philadelphia Entrepreneurship Center (ULEC) in 2011 interested in incorporating social media in her marketing strategy. She had already been operating Victoria's Kitchen on Ogontz Avenue in West Oak Lane for a number of years with a team of 14 full-time and part-time employees. The restaurant serves southern style cuisines. ULEC assisted Vikki with her marketing strategy and prepared her to become a scholar of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. In 2015, she began actively pursuing catering contracts.

Morning Star Freewill Baptist Church was organized in the early 1900’s in Jacksonville’s Eastside neighborhood on Buckman Street, north of East 21st Street. The original building was destroyed by fire, and was relocated to its present site at 1528 East 20th Street. For years, this church has served the local community’s spiritual, educational, health, and social needs.

As a referral from Wells Fargo Bank, one of the Jacksonville Urban League’s business partners, Janice Murphy, Owner of Women On A Mission Inc., a non-profit organization which provides HIV and AIDS education and supportive services to the community, contacted the Jacksonville Urban League Entrepreneurship Center for assistance with re-establishing her non-profit status with the IRS.

While in the process of transitioning from the U.S. Navy to civilian life in Jacksonville, Florida, Chahn Chess began the process of pondering how he would earn a living with the skills acquired while in military service. Mr. Chess, specialized in Environmental Health and while stationed at the Hospital, located at the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, he decided that he wanted to make Jacksonville home.

Marcus Spencer, HoopaZ Only Inc.