JumpStart and The Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development (NEOHCED) are working together to increase resources and high-impact support to the Latino/Hispanic business community through a multi-year commitment to the CentroVilla25 initiative.
JumpStart’s Board of Directors recently approved a three-year, $750,000 commitment to the NEOHCED-led CentroVilla25 initiative to accelerate meaningful economic growth in the Clark Fulton neighborhood. To maximize this funding and catalyze greater impact, JumpStart and NEOHCED encourage other organizations to meet, match or exceed JumpStart’s commitment through a community match challenge. Local corporate and community leaders can participate to create a groundswell of support for the CentroVilla25 initiative and a shared vision to elevate Cleveland’s Latino-Hispanic community.
“JumpStart’s commitment to the CentroVilla25 initiative is a vital step in addressing the resource gap faced by Latino-owned small businesses in the Clark Fulton neighborhood,” says Jenice Contreras, President and CEO of Hispanic Business Center. “Their support will accelerate meaningful economic growth and empower entrepreneurs to transform Northeast Ohio. This will have a positive economic impact on the region, not just for the Latino-Hispanic community, but for everyone.”
JumpStart’s commitment includes a financial contribution to project construction as well as programmatic support to significantly impact the outcomes of business owners in Clark Fulton. For nearly a decade, JumpStart and NEOHCED, also known as the Hispanic Business Center, have collaborated to increase resource delivery to Latino-owned small businesses and tech startups. JumpStart’s participation in the CentroVilla25 initiative will build on the partnership, increasing access to capital and technical services for Latino entrepreneurs.
When construction is complete, JumpStart will deliver bilingual programs and services in partnership with NEOHCED through the business innovation center – located within CentroVilla25 – to bridge resource gaps and bring place-based business assistance into the Clark-Fulton community.
Over the past two years, JumpStart has worked closely with community leaders to understand and address challenges for business owners in the Latino/Hispanic Community. That work has resulted in strategic actions to advance outcomes for these entrepreneurs, including increasing Hispanic representation on JumpStart’s staff and board, developing Spanish-language programs and services and making business-friendly capital available to established Latino-owned businesses. JumpStart’s commitment to the CentroVilla25 initiative is part of its investment in the Latino Hispanic Community.
“Our mission is to unlock the power of entrepreneurship to transform Northeast Ohio, but this work can’t be achieved as long as there are pockets of our community disconnected from business capital, services and connections,” says Lamont Mackley, JumpStart’s Chief Inclusion and Outreach Officer. “Through collaboration and place-based bilingual services, we can advance economic growth for individuals in the Clark Fulton neighborhood and throughout the greater Latino Hispanic community.”
