6 entrepreneurial Lane County nonprofits receive $142K from Oregon Community Foundation

Louis Krauss, Register-Guard
·3 min read
Centro Latino Americano received a $25,000 grant to expand its Cambios business program.
Centro Latino Americano received a $25,000 grant to expand its Cambios business program.

Oregon Community Foundation's inaugural Thriving Entrepreneurs program awarded six Lane County nonprofits a total $142,000 to help support entrepreneurs, especially minority and women-owned businesses, who aim to grow companies and contribute to the state's economic vitality.

A total of 28 Oregon-based nonprofits are receiving $580,000 in funding, OCF announced.

Eugene nonprofit Centro Latino Americano plans to use its $25,000 grant to expand its Cambios business program for Latino business owners that focuses on financial literacy, covers all aspects of developing and managing a business and assists clients with final business plans. The money will help fund a new teaching position for the class so it can be offered more often, co-executive director Marissa Zarate said.

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"These funds will help us be able to provide a larger number of these classes per year, which we are very excited about," Zarate said Wednesday.

Centro Latino Americano, which serves more than 100 businesses a year, is the only agency in Lane County specifically offering services tailored to Latino businesses and Spanish speakers, she said.

The business class runs for 12 weeks, and it typically has around 15 businesses at a time, Zarate said. The class is taught exclusively in Spanish, but English speakers can be referred to the Springfield nonprofit DevNW, she said.

Students participate in a roundtable discussion during a Cambios Business Program class at Centro Latino Americano.
Students participate in a roundtable discussion during a Cambios Business Program class at Centro Latino Americano.

Currently, the nonprofit offers two of these 12-week courses per year, and it has a waitlist of around 70 businesses, hence the desire to add another teacher and expand.

One of the highlights of the class, Zarate said, are the guest presenters such as bookkeepers, accountants and lawyers who can talk about incorporating a business legally, and bank representatives.

"That's a really special component of our class is just how all these different community business professionals come in to share about their areas of expertise, and then students or clients are graduating with this roster of business professionals that they know and trust," she said.

More: $250K gift to expand Dolly Parton's Imagination Library free books to more Lane County kids

The $25,000 would fund the new teaching position part time and Zarate said the organization is working to get additional funding for it to be full time. The expanded class offerings will likely be offered in 2022.

The other Lane County nonprofits receiving Thriving Entrepreneurs grant funding:

Bohemia Food Hub (Lane Workforce Partnership) in Cottage Grove: $25,000 to offer training and entrepreneurship opportunities for 35 Latino immigrants, 12 high school seniors and 20 aspiring female entrepreneurs; funds will be used to hire staff to support this work.

Community LendingWorks in Springfield: $25,000 to support marketing, outreach and technical assistance to ensure that new, low-barrier small business loans reach the BIPOC, rural and underserved businesses that need capital to rebuild.

Onward Eugene in Eugene: $25,000 to support the partnership with Relief Nursery to provide on-site care with the goal to support local startups.

Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network in Eugene: $25,000 to match the Blue Economy Innovation Catalyst, which will support 25 to 30 maritime entrepreneurs and connect 10 to 15 of them to the Oregon State University Hatfield Marine Science Center Innovation Lab.

Rural Development Initiatives, Inc. in Coburg: $17,000 to provide support needed to start food businesses, to create on-ramps for Latinx entrepreneurs, build inclusive rural economies and to bring this program to Independence.

Louis Krauss covers breaking news for The Register-Guard. Contact him at lkrauss@registerguard.com or 541-521-2498, and follow him on Twitter @LouisKraussNews.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: 6 entrepreneurial Lane County nonprofits receive grants

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