BEACON DC awards $50,000 in grants at WeDC Fest

BEACON DC prides itself on being a community-led initiative supporting women entrepreneurs by disrupting the challenges they face. Here’s a big one: a lack of venture capital.

BEACON: The D.C. Women Founders Initiative announced its second round of grant recipients, in partnership with Mayor Muriel Bowser, Google and Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law and Policy. BEACON DC made a commitment to award grants to organizations that support women entrepreneurs through trainings, resources, support and more. BEACON DC started this initiative last year, by awarding 19 grants (also totaling $50,000) to organizations doing exactly that.

The new round of grantees were announced Thursday, during WeDC Fest at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery. Twelve organizations were recognized, including a community favorite. The community favorite received a two-hour “Hack Your Business” strategy session with Pipeline Angels DC, a three-month membership package at Hera Hub DC, a feature on the “Get Found, Get Funded Podcast” and special recognition at the award ceremony.

Here’s how the BEACON DC 2018-19 grants were dispersed:

• $10,000 to FreeTruth Financial, Inc.
• $5,000 each to: Workafrolic, The GEMZ, Inc., Cureate, Latino Economic Development Center, SEED SPOT and Street Entrepreneurs
• $2,500 each to: EnrichHer, Halcyon, Hera Hub DC and The Outrage
• Winner of Community Voting Round: Blacks in Consulting and Technology
  

We see some familiar faces and some new, but either way, we are stoked to follow up on these organizations to see what they do to push women entrepreneurship forward.