Urban League of Southwestern Ohio Aims to Double Minority Businesses

CINCINNATI – The Urban League of Southwestern Ohio (Cincinnati, OH) recently joined an initiative with other groups to help grow minority business in Cincinnati.

The goal of the newly formed Lincoln & Gilbert initiative is to double the number of Cincinnati’s minority businesses within five years. The group is named after the Lincoln and Gilbert intersection that was the Cincinnati Black business district in the 1840s.

Joining the Urban League in this endeavor is the Greater Cincinnati/NKY African American Chamber of Commerce, and the Minority Business Accelerator, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. The collaborative effort has already received $2.5 million in funding from the city of Cincinnati.

The group looks to give out $1 million in funds to minority businesses. To be applicable for funding, the minority business must be a year old, in Cincinnati, and negatively impacted by the pandemic. The other $1.5 million will be spent on offering business support services.

Interim President of the Urban League, Christie Kuhns, is ready to hit the ground running with this initiative.

“We’ve all been doing the work and we’ve all worked together in various ways,” she said. “But this is the first time that we’ve been formally aligned and really, really focused on making sure that there is strategy amongst all the organizations to move all of our Black-and minority-owned businesses forward.”

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