ORLANDO, Fla. — In a year that’s been a challenge for most small businesses, economic relief is on the way, including specifically for those businesses owned by minorities.

What You Need To Know

  • Fiserv: Mid-year prediction was over 40% of minority-owned businesses would cease to exist

  • Back2Business Iniative provides grants to small businesses, and new technology

  • Minority-owned business relief also in the latest COVID-19 bill

  • RELATED: How to Apply for a Back2Business Initiative grant

Within the recently-passed COVID relief bill is $12 billion for minority-owned small businesses.

“What we saw in 2020 impacted all small businesses, but in particular, Black and minority-owned small businesses," said Leslie Pearce, who serves as senior vice president of sales for financial services technology company Fiserv. “There was a dire prediction mid-year that over 40 percent of minority-owned businesses would cease to exist by the end of 2020.”

That's why Fiserv launched their Back2Business Initiative, not just doling out $10,000 grants to Black and minority-owned small businesses, but connecting them to new technology to bolster their recovery.

“A way to take contactless payments, curbside payments and to take their business forward," she explained.

The latest stimulus bill was welcome news to Latria Graham, who pivoted her Winter Park-based branding business to selling masks. A deal early on in the pandemic, acquiring 500,000 masks for the U.S. Tennis Association, helped keep her business afloat.

The change came after years of helping professional sports players and universities create authentic brand experiences with her business, Graham Leak Branding.

“Still operating in our mission and what we do, it was just in a very unique and different way," she said. “I’ve been working a lot of hours to pull everything off.”

But, suddenly Graham was doing it alone.

“Once it got to April, it was just me," she said.

Months later, around $15,000 in PPP funds helped Graham to hire back one employee full time. As events picked back up, she's hired back more. As a Black, small business owner, Graham knows she’s competing for talent and opportunities.

“We are the economic drivers. And when we talk about these conversations we’ve been having over racial equity and the wealth gap for minority families, this is part of developing that effort to shorten that gap," she said.

Now, she's looking ahead to 2021, hopeful for positive changes.

“Anyone making a conscious and intentional decision to support African American women-owned businesses is vital," she said.

Graham says she’ll be figuring out in coming weeks if she’ll qualify for another round of PPP or the small business funding, which Congress set aside.