Non-profit seeks to award $100K to Illinois businesses

Founders First CDC Chicago Job Creators Quest Grant is offering $100,000 in grants to 25 minority and underrepresented business owners in Illinois, the agency announced in a news release.

The deadline to apply is Wednesday at foundersfirstcdc.org to apply for the grant.

Qualified applicants should be diverse-led companies with a staff of two to 20 employees; the ability to add one- to- two net new premium wage jobs in the next 12 months; be Black, indigenous, a person of color, LGBTQIA+, military veteran, a woman or located in a low to moderate-income area; a for-profit company with annual revenues between $100,000 to $3 million; and be located in Illinois, according to the release.

“For the third year in a row, we are excited to bring Illinois a $100,000 business grant fund to be awarded to 25 diverse-led businesses across the state,” executive director Shaylon Scott stated in the release.

“We bring this grant to those diverse (employers) working hard to grow their business and develop their leadership. As a minority business owner who is underrepresented in the ranks of business leadership, it can be difficult to gain access to capital to help grow their business,” Scott stated in the release. “With this issue in mind, we want to provide that access to funding to those founders pushing through with our annual Chicago Job Creators Quest grant.”

Since its launch in 2021, Founders First awarded about $600,000 to minority and underserved business focusing on regions in Texas, Chicago, Southern California, Philadelphia, New Jersey and the Twin Cities.

A $1 million national grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, in conjunction with Founders First Capital Partners’ recent $9 million in investments, made funding for this program possible.

Founders First list of 2022 grants is available online at foundersfirstcdc.org.