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Featured Story

Nonprofit Helps Minority and Women-Owned Businesses Thrive

By Sonja Whitemon                                                  The hurdles that face minority business owners are countless: operating costs, raising capital, attracting customers. Throw in a worldwide pandemic and what’s an entrepreneur to do? Where there are challenges, there are also opportunities. The National Institute of Minority Economic Development is helping minority and women-owned businesses to weather traditional business challenges and survive and recover from the economic impact of the pandemic.…
Featured Story

Cochrane Students
Begin Their Investment Journey with PEEP

Some of you still may not know that Pride Magazine has a nonprofit arm called PEEP. Founded in 2007, PEEP has relaunched as the Pride Educational Empowerment Program with three foundational pillars: career mentoring, entrepreneurship and wealth creation. The fundamental goal of PEEP is to tackle the wealth gap by eliminating future socio-economic disparities within the African American community.…
Business

NC IDEA – Elevating Black Entrepreneurship

By Sonja Whitemon Three Charlotte startup companies were selected to receive grants from NC IDEA, a private foundation committed to supporting entrepreneurial ambition and economic empowerment in North Carolina. The foundation awarded $75,000 grants to seven companies in North Carolina. The recipients of the awards were all companies founded by Black entrepreneurs.…
Business

A Full Plate: Chef Lisa Brooks Cooks Up Faith

Photo by Amanda Richardson Photography Story by: Sasha Manley Chef Lisa Brooks, a Charlotte native, is an example of what it means to step out on faith and bet on yourself. Brooks decided to leave corporate life at the age of 40 and get back to doing what she ultimately loved.…
Business

Real Men Get Manicures and Pedicures

By John Burton Jr. Imagine being in a nail salon, receiving your normal service, and two strapping construction workers venture in. They’re not there to meet their significant others but proceed to plop down in chairs at the pedicure station. Subsequently, they peel off their dirt-caked construction boots, then place their feet in the awaiting bubbling foot water bath.…
Featured Story

The Write Brothers Inspire the Next Generation of Leaders

By Anders J. Hare These four Black men — Rev. Reggie Tuggle, Dr. Augustus Parker III, Patrick Diamond and Ron Ancrum — didn’t form their writing collective just to tell their individual stories. They wanted to teach readers that no matter where they come from or what their circumstances are, they have the power to accomplish their goals.…
Education

Johnson C. Smith University
Gets New Cycling Program

The first women’s cycling programs at a historically Black college, Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU), and at tribal colleges and universities will launch with funding from a three-year grant from Cannondale, EF Pro Cycling, and USA Cycling (USAC). Two tribal schools, the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Navajo Technical University in Crown Point, New Mexico, are the other grant recipients.…
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Grier Heights Teen Creates Food Pantries

By Sherita Pryer In the beginning of the pandemic, 17-year-old Alexandria Brown was challenged by a local Girl Scout to spend 80 hours making a difference in her community. Brown noticed a consistency with people walking 20 minutes or driving 10 minutes to her nearby convenience store.…