National Urban League & PepsiCo Joint Initiative Celebrates Milestone
Originally Published: May 9, 2022 NEW ORLEANS – A joint initiative between the National Urban League (NUL) and the PepsiCo Foundation just celebrated a huge milestone on its way to complete its mission.
On Monday, May 2nd, the Black Restaurant Accelerator (BRA), celebrated its first 100 grant recipients with the soft opening of a new restaurant, the Vaucresson Creole Café and Deli, in New Orleans. Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, (as well as former New Orleans mayor) was there to commemorate the event and to speak about the import of Black-owned businesses.
“Black-owned businesses are the beating heart of our communities. We’ve supported small businesses for decades and watched how they create jobs, inspire new enterprises, and establish legacies for generations,” he said.
The program is a part of PepsiCo’s $400 million commitment to their Racial Equality Journey – specifically, a five-year, $10 million investment to preserve and support Black-owned restaurants. Grant recipients have used their $10k grants to not only save jobs and staff, but also expand and grow their business by opening new locations and upgrading their equipment and launching new marketing efforts.
The program also provided 400 additional Black-owned restaurants with over one thousand counseling and training sessions on how to grow business and around $1.6 million of financing and contracting opportunities.
According to a study done by UC Santa Cruz, Black-owned businesses were hit the hardest by the pandemic. Said Morial, “While the pandemic has deepened disparities that hinder our communities, the impact of this program is a testament to the resilience we can foster when we provide the right support. And we need other members of the business community and policymakers to step up, join us and act urgency to ensure these entrepreneurs have equitable access to critical resources.”
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