Top 10 Grants Available to Black, Minority Business Owners

(BLack PR Wire) Every year billions of dollars are awarded in the form of free money and other types of funding. Most people know this money exists, but just don’t know where to apply, how much they qualify for, or even where to get an application. Contrary to popular belief, free money is available to entrepreneurs. Real business grants do exist. In fact, hundreds of black and minority-owned businesses each year receive such grant funding from various government agencies and nonprofit organizations, reports BlackNews.com. Such funds do not have to be repaid, but must be used to either start a new business or enhance an existing one. Others can be used for innovation research.

Whether needed for growth or startup business funding, here are the top 10 grants available to black, minority business owners

 1. The FedEx Small Business Grant Contest is a nationwide competition that will award $50,000 in total to six deserving U.S-based entrepreneurs and business owners. Go to www.businessgrants.org/opportunities/fedex_small_business_grant_contest.html

2. The National Association for the Self Employed (NASE) Growth Grants Program allows business owners to apply for financing a particular small business need. Past recipients used funds to purchase computers, hire part-time help, and create marketing materials. Visit www.businessgrants.org/opportunities/national_association_self_employed_nase_business_grants.html

3. The Dare to Dream Grant Program encourages students to move through the business creation process by offering business development seminars and up to $10,000 in funding. Learn more at www.businessgrants.org/opportunities/dare_to_dream_grant_program.html

4. The Miller Lite Tap the Future Business Plan Competition (formerly known as the MillerCoors Urban Entrepreneur Series) is an annual competition for minority business owners sponsored by Miller Lite. Designed to economically empower minority businesses, the program continues to invest in entrepreneurial dreams to empower urban communities. Learn more at MLTaptheFuture.com

RELATED: MBDA Announces Grant to Launch Business Centers

5. The Small Business Administration (SBA) administers several competitive business grant programs, ensuring that the nation’s small, high-tech, innovative businesses are a significant part of the federal government’s research and development efforts. Check out www.businessgrants.org/opportunities/sbir_small_business_research_innovation_grants.html

6. The Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) organizes various angel investors with the primary objective of supporting minority businesses with mezzanine and second round financing. Learn more at www.businessgrants.org/opportunities/minority_business_development_agency_mbda_business_grants.html

7. The Rural Business Enterprise Grants (RBEG) Program provides grants to finance the development of small and emerging businesses in rural areas. The funds can be used for land acquisition, construction, renovation, technical assistance, project planning, and more. Visit www.businessgrants.org/opportunities/rural_business_enterprise_grants_rbeg_program.html

8. The Huggies MomInspired Grant Program awards grants and business resources to moms to further the development of original product ideas and startup businesses. Learn more at www.businessgrants.org/opportunities/huggies_mom_inspired_grant_program.html

9. The DOT Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program is intended to ensure nondiscrimination in the award and administration of DOT-assisted contracts in the Department’s highway, transit, airport, and highway safety financial assistance programs. Learn more at www.businessgrants.org/opportunities/dot_disadvantaged_business_enterprise_program.html

10. The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program provides grant funding to small businesses to engage in biomedical or behavioral research/development that leads to a potential for commercialization. Go to www.businessgrants.org/opportunities/sbir_small_business_research_innovation_grants.html

Lisa Myers: First African American to become Howard County, Maryland Police Chief

A 27-year veteran of the Howard County Police Department has been named its new leader. Lisa Myers will officially become the county's new police chief on Feb. 1.

County Executive Calvin Ball announced that Myers would lead the department after Police Chief Gary Gardner retired Dec. 31, 2018. She will be the first female police chief in the department's history and its first African-American chief.

“I have dedicated my career to the Howard County Police Department and I look forward to leading the agency with transparency and accountability,” said incoming Chief Myers in a statement on Tuesday, Jan. 8.

Myers has worked as a civilian staffer and as a sworn officer in the Howard County Police Department. She started in 1990 as a crime lab technician and entered the police academy in 1994, holding roles including chief of staff, watch commander, public information officer and youth services supervisor.

To head up the police department as its 13th chief, she is returning to the force after retiring in January 2018 as the commander of the human resources bureau. In that position, she oversaw employment services and education and training, according to Howard County government.

[SOURCE: YAHOO]

Kamala Harris's new book 'The Truths We Hold'

From one of America's most inspiring political leaders, a book about the core truths that unite us, and the long struggle to discern what those truths are and how best to act upon them, in her own life and across the life of our country.

Senator Kamala Harris's commitment to speaking truth is informed by her upbringing. The daughter of immigrants, she was raised in an Oakland, California community that cared deeply about social justice; her parents--an esteemed economist from Jamaica and an admired cancer researcher from India--met as activists in the civil rights movement when they were graduate students at Berkeley. Growing up, Harris herself never hid her passion for justice, and when she became a prosecutor out of law school, a deputy district attorney, she quickly established herself as one of the most innovative change agents in American law enforcement. She progressed rapidly to become the elected District Attorney for San Francisco, and then the chief law enforcement officer of the state of California as a whole. Known for bringing a voice to the voiceless, she took on the big banks during the foreclosure crisis, winning a historic settlement for California's working families. Her hallmarks were applying a holistic, data-driven approach to many of California's thorniest issues, always eschewing stale "tough on crime" rhetoric as presenting a series of false choices. Neither "tough" nor "soft" but smart on crime became her mantra. Being smart means learning the truths that can make us better as a community, and supporting those truths with all our might. That has been the pole star that guided Harris to a transformational career as the top law enforcement official in California, and it is guiding her now as a transformational United States Senator, grappling with an array of complex issues that affect her state, our country, and the world, from health care and the new economy to immigration, national security, the opioid crisis, and accelerating inequality.

By reckoning with the big challenges we face together, drawing on the hard-won wisdom and insight from her own career and the work of those who have most inspired her, Kamala Harris offers in THE TRUTHS WE HOLD a master class in problem solving, in crisis management, and leadership in challenging times. Through the arc of her own life, on into the great work of our day, she communicates a vision of shared struggle, shared purpose, and shared values. In a book rich in many home truths, not least is that a relatively small number of people work very hard to convince a great many of us that we have less in common than we actually do, but it falls to us to look past them and get on with the good work of living our common truth. When we do, our shared effort will continue to sustain us and this great nation, now and in the years to come.

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R. Kelly facing possible investigations In Georgia and Illinois

R. Kelly could be facing an investigation in Georgia after the airing of a Lifetime documentary series that chronicled allegations of abuse, predatory behavior and pedophilia against the singer.

Gerald Griggs, an attorney for the family of Joycelyn Savage, one of the women featured in "Surviving R. Kelly," said the Fulton County District Attorney reached out to Griggs a few days ago, after the show aired.

Griggs said the Fulton County DA is conducting an investigation into Kelly.

Chris Hopper, the public information officer for the Fulton County DA, said he had "no comment" after being asked if there was an open investigation of Kelly in Georgia.

Griggs said he was asked to provide a list of witnesses in regards to events that allegedly took place in Kelly's house in the northern Atlanta suburb of Johns Creek in 2017.

A Chicago prosecutor said on Tuesday that her office has been in touch with two families related to allegations against Kelly since the series aired.

Cook County State's Attorney Kimberly Foxx urged potential victims or witnesses to speak to police.

"Please come forward. There is nothing that can be done to investigate these allegations without the cooperation of victims and witnesses," Foxx said in a news conference. "We cannot seek justice without you."

[SOURCE: CNN]

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley: Trump brought dishonor to his office with shutdown

Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D)called out President Trump on the floor of the House Tuesday over the partial government shutdown. The freshman congresswoman accused the president of bringing "dishonor" to the Oval Office. Watch that video below: