The NC IDEA foundation is starting a new program to help Black entrepreneurs. | Stock Photo at Getty Images
The NC IDEA foundation is starting a new program to help Black entrepreneurs. | Stock Photo at Getty Images
The NC IDEA foundation said it is launching the North Carolina Black Entrepreneurship Council intending to elevate Black entrepreneurship in the state.
The council will offer input on prospective programs and partner organizations to receive funding in the form of grants through the Foundation's NC IDEA ECOSYSTEM program, the organization said in a news release on July 9. Council members will also assist the foundation in identifying and recommending partners and programs to support, which will boost Black businesses in North Carolina.
The foundation previously committed to providing no less than 50% of program and funding resources to underrepresented communities, notably minorities, women and rural areas.
“The well-established inequalities and challenges faced by people of color has only strengthened our resolve to help the underserved,” Thom Ruhe, CEO and president of NC IDEA said in the news release. “With the Council, we look forward to listening and learning, then leading efforts to make North Carolina the best state in the nation for Black people to realize their entrepreneurial potential and the economic empowerment that comes from it,” Ruhe concluded.
The foundation will manage budgets for the next two fiscal years of at least 10% of its net assets, which will put a minimum of $500,000 in funding to be overseen by the new council.
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