Sep 8, 2022 Updated Jul 17, 2023
Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe has linked with the local Chamber of Commerce to establish seed money to foster local business startups.
“I am proud of this partnership that you are putting together today,’” Thorpe said at an Aug. 22 news conference and ribbon-cutting as the Antioch Chamber of Commerce launched its Small Business Investment Center (SBIC) with CoCo Farms and Travis Credit Union.
The goal of the Small Business Investment Center, a three-year pilot program, is to provide support to 100 Antioch or Contra Costa residents who are pursuing business ownership. The SBIC prioritizes businesses that are launched by marginalized communities, including women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and United States veterans.
“I did have a conversation with our economic development director,” Thorpe said. “For those of you who may not know, the council and I forged some business improvement funding setting aside $2 million for small business. We committed $500K to façade improvements, another $500K to small business grants and committed $1.5 million to small business resources. I want to assure you we are going to match whatever CoCo Farms gives you.”
CoCo Farms has committed $25,000 towards the pilot program in the hopes of helping potential entrepreneurs take their dreams of business ownership to the next level and remove barriers to those dreams, according to CoCo Farms founder Andrew Wesley. “We started as a small business so we know the struggles and challenges to get there. The city is going to benefit from it, the entrepreneurs here and the wider Contra Costa County.”
According to the Small Business Investment Center’s website, these new businesses often lack equitable access to loan capital, expert guidance, support for their businesses, and the SBIC hopes to strengthen the communities in which these entrepreneurs live and work.
According to Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Daniel Sohn, potential entrepreneurs must belong to a marginalized community, the business must reside within the city of Antioch or in Contra Costa County, and must be willing to commit to a one-year program that includes financial business literacy education courses offered by Travis Credit Union.
For more information about the Small Business Investment Center, visit: https://antiochchamber.com/sbic/
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