VIDEO: West Seattle’s Work and Play Lounge hosts high-powered gathering to spotlight grant program for small businesses

Margie Haywood known as it the form of gathering her Jefferson Sq. enterprise Work and Play Lounge “was created for … to carry individuals collectively.” This morning, the individuals introduced collectively at Work and Play Lounge included the mayor of Seattle, a Tacoma metropolis councilmember, the leaders of two regional Chambers of Commerce, town of Seattle’s Workplace of Financial Growth director, and executives from Comcast – whose small-business-grant program Comcast RISE is what the occasion was all about.

The grants are for small companies owned by girls and/or individuals of colour. Haywood’s enterprise – whose opening we lined final 12 months – was one among 100 regionally receiving $10,000 every within the final spherical, and now it’s nearly time for a brand new spherical of purposes. That was defined in a collection of speeches, together with Haywood’s account of how the no-strings-attached grant might have saved her enterprise, which is now about to increase and add a Queen Anne location.

Haywood additionally spoke of overcoming “outrageous limitations” and described the enjoyment she felt at information of the grant, “the primary cash I ever obtained from any establishment.” OED director Markham McIntyre (at proper in group photograph) famous that “entry to capital” is a high concern for entrepreneurs. Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce CEO Rachel Smith (left in photograph) mentioned women- and POC-owned companies had been hit notably onerous throughout the pandemic, so grants like this could be a lifeline. Tacoma Councilmember Keith Blocker (third from left in photograph) agreed, “Our shared objective is to assist these companies.”

Comcast vice chairman for exterior affairs Marianne Bichsel (third from proper) concluded with particulars on the appliance course of for the following spherical of grants: They’ll settle for purposes October third (subsequent Monday) via October sixteenth. You could find eligibility and utility information right here. That is one among 5 metro areas across the nation the place Comcast is providing the RISE program, which additionally provides a by-application advertising/tech-resources program. For his or her functions, “Seattle” contains King and Pierce counties, which is why Councilmember Blocker and Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber CEO Andrea Reay (second from left) had been there too.