Page 10 - CCC Year in Review_2023

PARTNER PROJECTS

Minority Business Development Agency Grant with FPCRC
In partnership with Domi Station, the Big Bend Minority Chamber, the University of West
Florida’s SBDC, and FAMU’s SBDC, the Capital City Chamber of Commerce was awarded
$3 million from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Minority Business Development
Agency (MBDA) to establish the Florida Panhandle Capital Readiness Collaborative
(FPCRC). The FSBDC will serve small businesses expanding to scale and aspiring
entrepreneurs by providing one-on-one-coaching, workshops, boot camps, and a six-
month business development course. In the first year of operation alone, the FPCRC
and its partner organizations are projected to enroll a minimum of 100 Socially and
Economically Disadvantaged Individuals as participants.

Community Foundation of North Florida
The Community Foundation of North Florida aims to have a revitalizing impact in
downtown Tallahassee and its surrounding areas through the Foundation’s Donor
Advised Fund with the support of the Historically Black Credit Union Foundation, Inc.
and the FAMU Credit Union. The Capital City Chamber of Commerce was awarded
$75,000 to catalyze a more extensively developed economic ecosystem by establishing
a modern, financial-centric co-working facility for small businesses at multiple points of
entry into the world of entrepreneurship.

Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund-CityStart Grant
The Capital City Chamber of Commerce was awarded a Cities for Financial
Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund) grant of $75,000 to participate in the CityStart initiative
with a focus on racial wealth equity. The CityStart initiative helps local leaders develop
and implement actionable strategies to help local families and communities that
have been historically and systemically neglected to become more financially stable.
In partnership with Leon County Government and the City of Tallahassee, the funds
have been used to host strategic community roundtables, gather community insight,
host a financial empowerment conference, and ultimately, prioritize financial stability,
especially of Black residents.

FAMU Co.Starters
In partnership with Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU)
the Capital City Chamber of Commerce has assisted with the coordination
and operation of FAMU Co.Starters, a university incubation program that
focuses on establishing and supporting sustainable enterprises within
the collegiate community of students and faculty. Since its inception, eight
entrepreneurs have successfully completed the FAMU Co.Starters program.

Filene Racial Economic Equity Incubator
Filene Research Institute announced that FAMU Credit Union and Capital City Chamber
of Commerce among its first cohort of community advocacy institutions and credit
unions accepted into its Racial Economic Equity Incubator (REE Incubator). The REE
Incubator works to advance racial economic equity through the credit union system
by co-creating solutions that meet local community members’ needs and delivers
resources, support, and capital to communities of color. After being announced
alongside FAMU Credit Union, the Capital City Chamber of Commerce will work with
its counterpart to increase access and wealth-building capacity resources for women
and minority-owned businesses within the Tallahassee community.

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