<\/p>\n
Diverse Erie celebrated the recipients of its 2026 Mini-Grant Initiative today during an award ceremony held at Erie County Community College, highlighting a major investment in the region\u2019s small business community. The initiative distributed grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 to BIPOC-owned businesses across Erie County, totaling $539,000.<\/p>\n
The Mini-Grant Initiative is designed to strengthen businesses that play a vital role in their communities. By supporting BIPOC entrepreneurs, the program aims to foster job creation, stabilize neighborhoods, and build a more inclusive and resilient local economy. This year\u2019s funding targeted five critical areas of need in Erie County: economic stability, education access and quality, health care access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, and social and community context.<\/p>\n
The 2026 Mini-Grant recipients were selected through a competitive review process that evaluated each business\u2019s alignment with economic development goals, long-term sustainability, and impact within the BIPOC community. The awardees represent a diverse cross-section of industries, from childcare and automotive services to retail, real estate, and creative enterprises.<\/p>\n
In total, 31 businesses received funding through the 2026 initiative, collectively strengthening Erie County\u2019s economic landscape.<\/p>\n
Recipients can be found below:<\/p>\n
Small Business Name<\/p>\n
Amount Awarded<\/p>\n
1 of 1 Services, LLC<\/p>\n
$12,500<\/p>\n
2 Brothers Auto Service and Sales<\/p>\n
$20,000<\/p>\n
Almadina Supermarket<\/p>\n
$25,000<\/p>\n
AMB Auto Motive<\/p>\n
$20,000<\/p>\n
Barb\u2019s Family Learning Group Daycare, LLC<\/p>\n
$20,000<\/p>\n
Big Boy Athletics, LLC<\/p>\n
$10,000<\/p>\n
Camaraderie BBQ, INC.<\/p>\n
$25,000<\/p>\n
CJDJ Erie Properties, LLC<\/p>\n
$10,000<\/p>\n
Dapper Don\u2019s Styling Lounge<\/p>\n
$12,000<\/p>\n
Dinner is Served, LLC<\/p>\n
$15,000<\/p>\n
Erie Shish Kabob<\/p>\n
$20,000<\/p>\n
Galloway Management Group, LLC<\/p>\n
$20,000<\/p>\n
Handled with Care Childcare<\/p>\n
$20,000<\/p>\n
Her Power DBA (ABC 24 Hour Child Care)<\/p>\n
$25,000<\/p>\n
Johnson Real Estate Properties, LLC<\/p>\n
$25,000<\/p>\n
Jordan\u2019s Family Childcare Home<\/p>\n
$10,000<\/p>\n
Major Coin, LLC<\/p>\n
$5,000<\/p>\n
Manus Enterprises<\/p>\n
$25,000<\/p>\n
Mawad Closeout, LLC<\/p>\n
$25,000<\/p>\n
MJ Auto<\/p>\n
$7,500<\/p>\n
Omni Insurance Services<\/p>\n
$8,000<\/p>\n
Pineapple Productions<\/p>\n
$25,000<\/p>\n
Property Solutions-360, LLC<\/p>\n
$20,000<\/p>\n
Sew Royalty Embroidery & Custom Designs<\/p>\n
$15,000<\/p>\n
State Auto Service<\/p>\n
$15,000<\/p>\n
Tamar Auto Service and Sales<\/p>\n
$5,000<\/p>\n
Tender Loving Care Place, LLC<\/p>\n
$12,000<\/p>\n
The Learning Ladder Early Child Care Center<\/p>\n
$20,000<\/p>\n
TLA Divine Creations Salon & Spa<\/p>\n
$22,000<\/p>\n
TYS Healthy Healers<\/p>\n
$20,000<\/p>\n
Unified Contracting, LLC<\/p>\n
$25,000<\/p>\n
TOTAL<\/p>\n
$539,000<\/p>\n
As Diverse Erie continues its work, the organization remains focused on expanding opportunities and ensuring that all entrepreneurs have access to the tools and capital needed to succeed\u2014helping to build a stronger, more inclusive Erie for the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Diverse Erie celebrated the recipients of its 2026 Mini-Grant Initiative today during an award ceremony held at Erie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[84859,84858,26269,136,142,138,137,2994],"class_list":["post-200139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-award-ceremony","tag-bipoc-businesses","tag-diverse-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-county","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-small-business-grants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}