Small Businesses Owned By People of Color Get Free Cash for a Limited Time

• Author: Michael Bordonada
• Posted: 2024-08-02

Since the COVID-19 public emergency was announced and declared a pandemic, life for small business owners across the country has been far different than could have ever been imagined. Fortunately, there's been a good amount of public aid for these businesses through programs such as Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

Unfortunately, these programs only are put out to the public when stimulus bills get passed. Typically, government aid is first-come, first-serve, meaning it gets quickly eaten up by whichever small businesses follow the process most closely. As time has gone on, economic analysts have noted the hardships uniquely faced by people of color who own small businesses.

If you or someone you know is a person of color with their own business, American Express is temporarily offering free cash grants. Here's what you need to know about this program.

How Much Is Available in Grant Money?

On May 6, 2021, American Express announced it would contribute $40,000,000 into what it has called the "Accion Opportunity Fund." This fund is part of a larger COVID-related aid project announced by the company last Fall. Though these are technically low or no-interest loans, they're forgivable in various circumstances. Especially for very small business owners who now have virtually no access to capital, the idea is to give everyone a fair shot.

What Are the Eligibility Criteria?

Unlike some earlier relief efforts, most sole proprietors won't qualify for this offer. After the initial announcement of this program, American Express widened the target demographic not just to business owners of color, but also to first-generation immigrants and women who own qualifying businesses.

There are very specific earnings criteria to qualify. Due to rampant fraud in previous loan and grant programs, the company is strictly requiring the company to have been in business for a period of at least twelve calendar months. There must be solid proof that the business had at least $50,000 in revenue per calendar year, with an exception for the time since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic and restrictions were put into place. Note that the person applying for this loan must own at least 20% of the business.

Forgivability criteria that effectively convert the "loan" to a "grant" are subjective and vary on many individual factors. However, even if the loan isn't forgivable, the interest rate would vary between 5.99% and 25.99%. There's no specific credit score cutoff, but the initial interest rate set will be higher for higher-risk businesses. However, don't let that discourage you from putting in your application.

How Much Money Could a Business Get?

Through the Accion Opportunity Fund, businesses that qualify can receive loans that could potentially be converted into grants. The lowest amount that a loan could be is $5,000, while the cap on loans is $100,000. Businesses can specify a desired loan amount, but the actual approved amount is at the discretion of American Express ultimately.

Disbursement of these funds for businesses who applied and were approved is already taking place. Though there's still money left at the time of writing, now is the time to apply. This is a unique time with many businesses scrambling to remain economically viable, and this could just be the chance you've needed to get ahead.

What If I Miss Out on the Accion Opportunity Fund?

All hope isn't lost if you happen to miss out on this fund. While American Express offered up a whopping $1,000,000,000 in grants and loans for minority-owned and woman-owned businesses, even more businesses and wealthy people are pouring more money into these funds.

With this further money coming into their programs, American Express is restarting some programs that were popular in 2020 and inventing new programs. All of them aim to bring small, distressed businesses back to fully functioning status. Remember, even if you miss out on this specific program, you may actually get a chance to apply later if the program is reintroduced.

Remember that private aid isn't a substitution for public aid. Accepting one also doesn't mean you can't accept the other. Though many small business owners have a fierce sense of independence, that shouldn't prevent anyone from seeking out economic impact help due to a situation that is clearly out of any person's control.