OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — The East Oakland businesses community got an economic shot-in-the-arm on Friday.
State funds are now helping minority businesses owners open their doors.
“You may not know that despite having over 64,000 residents, we do not have a retail bank in this district,” Oakland City Councilmember Loren Taylor said. “We do not have a major chain grocery store. Almost 80% of the dollars earned by District 6 residents gets spent outside of our district. We are here to do something about it.”
East Oakland business entrepreneurs will receive an $8 million infusion of state funding as a result of the California Capital in the Community Act.
“The Capital in the Community initiative seeks to address the lack of access to capital that our predominantly minority low-income small businesses face,” Taylor said.
Eso Ventures is the entrepreneurial support system helping East Oakland businesses owners for funding eligibility entrepreneurial support organization focused on providing the confidence, competence, and capital for any black and brown person to become an entrepreneur.
“Over the next 10 years, we plan on opening over 3,000 businesses, creating over $3 billion in revenue, and over 60,000 jobs for Black and brown folks,” Ben Wanzo said. “That will be a 13% dent in the unemployment rate.”
California State Senator Nancy Skinner led the charge for passing the Capital in the Community Act.
“We got a huge percent of those grants and the largest portion of them went to Oakland small businesses,” Skinner said.
Ayaba Wines is one of the four small businesses that received one of the first Capital in the Community Act checks.
“This money means so much. The wine and liquor business, as you know, not a lot of folks that look like me or the rest of you in this crowd,” Jerry Bailey said. “It takes money to get those grapes into wine and into a bottle. this really helps me to do that.”