How Fearless Fund’s Strivers Grants help local economies

The Fearless Fund, whose Strivers grant for Black woman entrepreneurs sits at the center of a court battle, is in limbo after a panel of three Atlanta appellate judges temporarily blocked the grant. That happened in September, just days after another judge denied the same request, and the grants remain blocked ahead of the court case.

It’s far from the end. Another panel of judges will make another judgment on the block. And the trial itself hasn’t even started.

It’s an important case that will impact Delaware — maybe not directly, but the state has its share of equity programming that is at risk of coming under similar attack.

As we continue to talk and write about it, there’s one thing that sometimes gets lost: The actual women who have been Strivers grant recipients.

Did you know, for example, that Strivers isn’t just a check, but a yearlong cohort?

“We were paired with other grant recipients, like a peer-to-peer mentorship program,” Baltimore entrepreneur and Strivers grant recipient Hazel Geary told me during a recent phone call. “For me, I was like, that’s amazing. I have a new support network of women.”

Geary, who qualified for the grant as a woman of color, is using the funds to support her second business, Monument Women’s Creative Alliance. She notes that the hundreds of thousands of dollars Fearless Fund puts into the Strivers Grant doesn’t just go into these women’s pockets.

“Most were using [the grant] so that they could grow a team and get bigger,” she said. “They could employ more people — that’s good for the local economy.”

More importantly, they were welcomed as entrepreneurs who belong and deserve to be included in the business ecosystem.

“I found a community that supports me, hears me. I don’t have to beg.”

We will continue to have conversations about Fearless Fund and the broader attack on equity. If you’re impacted by a program like the Fearless Fund and would like to be included in a future story, drop a line at delaware@technical.ly.