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The holiday season is upon us and, amid the juggle of gatherings with family and friends, it’s always good to reach out to clients as well. Showing gratitude to your clients during the holidays is a great way to keep connections strong.

Many real estate leaders across the country express their appreciation through cards, gifts and events for their agents, clients, neighbors and communities. They spread joy through their gestures large and small and provide community support where they can.

Here are what some brokers and brokerages are doing to reach out this holiday season. READ MORE AT NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS

National Hispanic Heritage Month is annually celebrated from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 for recognizing the contributions and influence of Hispanic Americans to the history, culture and the achievements of the United States. As the Hispanic population continues to grow in Florida, we take a look at how state, county and local communities are working to integrate and celebrate this growing population. VIEW VIDEO DISCUSSION AT SPECTRUM NEWS 13

As the U.S. population has become more diverse, so has ownership of the nation’s businesses. There were more Hispanic-owned businesses overall and more minority-owned businesses in various sectors in 2020 than a decade earlier, according to the Census Bureau’s 2021 Annual Business Survey (ABS).

The diversity of business owners mirrors the changing profile of the nation’s population. The 2020 Census found that the population of nearly all race and ethnicity groups in the United States had grown since 2010 with the exception of the White alone population, which declined during the decade. READ MORE AT CENSUS.GOV

Over the last decade and a half, Latinos have created companies faster than all other demographic groups in the U.S. These companies are younger and consequently smaller than the average business. However, when compared to white-owned businesses, they grow revenues and create jobs at faster rates for all Americans, not just Latinos. If U.S. Latinos were a country, it would be the fifth largest GDP in the world, growing faster than the U.S. economy. READ MORE AT STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

“They’re very resilient. They wish for growth: they’re very ambitious, even in difficult times.” That’s Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga, associate director of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) and lead author of SLEI’s latest State of Latino Entrepreneurship report.

According to SLEI, Latino business owners have for many years been outpacing their peers in terms of revenue and payroll growth. Annual growth rates in revenue and payroll were higher every year for Latino-owned businesses than for White-owned businesses through 2019. READ MORE AT FORBES

Startups with a Latino founder received just 2.1% of the nation’s venture capital in 2021, according to LatinxVC, a nonprofit focused on increasing venture capital investment. Accelerators for Hispanic entrepreneurs can provide opportunities to connect with other business leaders, investors and industry experts. READ MORE AT TAMPA BAY TIMES

Even before Claire Risoli decided to open up her own restaurant, she knew she would call it Pocha. “Pocha was something that I was called growing up that I hated,” she said. “It means Americanized Mexican girl, and for me, it always made me feel like I wasn’t enough.”

Latinos like Risoli account for 52% of all new employer businesses, according to the 2022 Latino Donor Collaborative U.S. Latino GDP report. The study also measured U.S. Latinos’ contributions to the economy known as the gross domestic product and found that it was worth $2.8 trillion in 2020. READ MORE AT SPECTRUM NEWS 1

Comcast RISE to Award $1 Million in Grants to Small Businesses Owned by Women and People of Color in Cook County

Eligible businesses can apply October 3-16 for a $10,000 grant; 100 recipients will be selected

CHICAGO (September 14, 2022) – Comcast today announced it will award $10,000 grants to 100 small businesses owned by women and people of color in Cook County through its Comcast RISE Investment Fund. Cook County is one of five locations selected for this new round of the grants program. Other locations include Miami, Oakland, Seattle and Washington D.C. Comcast will award a total of $1 million in grants in Cook County alone – $5 million across the five locations – in this round. This brings the total amount of Comcast RISE Investment Fund grants awarded to $21 million nationwide to date. This is the second time Comcast has opened the fund to Cook County businesses.

“The pandemic has affected businesses owned by women and people of color in Cook County and elsewhere exceptionally hard,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. “I encourage eligible businesses to apply for a grant. This money can help strengthen their position, especially as we emerge from the pandemic. “

“Women-owned businesses face a variety of challenges, including accessing funding,” said Women’s Business Development Center President and Chief Executive Officer, Emilia DiMenco. “These dollars will allow them to invest in their businesses and strengthen their financial position moving forward.”

“Hispanic-owned businesses face enormous barriers to success,” said Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Officer, Jaime di Paulo. “These dollars will allow them to invest in their people, their equipment and their technology, and help prepare them for the future.”

To help drive awareness of the program and provide additional support, training and mentorship, Comcast is awarding a total of $50,000 in grants to four Cook County community-based organizations, including the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, South East Chicago Commission, South Shore Chamber of Commerce and Women’s Business Development Center.

Comcast RISE also provides marketing and technology services

In addition to the Investment Fund, Comcast RISE, which stands for “Representation, Investment, Strength and Empowerment,” provides the opportunity for small businesses owned by women and people of color in Comcast’s nationwide footprint to apply to receive one or more of the following services:

Marketing services: Comcast’s advertising sales division, Effectv, and its creative agency, Mnemonic, help recipients with marketing and media campaigns, including:
Media: Linear TV media campaigns that run over a 90-day period.
Creative production: Turnkey 30-second TV commercial production, plus a media strategy consultation and a 90-day linear TV media campaign.
Consultations: Digital audits by Ureeka, a go-to platform for small businesses looking to use their website and online marketing to acquire customers, in the form of Website Repair Reports and Search Engine Optimization Keyword reports to target website mechanics and effective organic marketing; and
Technology Makeovers: Technology upgrades from Comcast Business include computer equipment, as well as internet, voice and cybersecurity services for up to 12 months (taxes and other fees may apply).
Comcast RISE was formed in late 2020 to give small businesses owned by people of color the support and resources they need to not just survive but thrive. In November 2021, Comcast RISE announced a major expansion to all women-owned businesses. To date, more than 9,500 Comcast RISE awardees have been announced from 704 cities across 37 states and the program is on track to provide support to 13,000 small businesses by the end of 2022. Comcast RISE is part of Project UP, the company’s comprehensive 10-year, $1 billion initiative to advance digital equity and help build a future of unlimited possibilities.

For more information and to apply, visit www.ComcastRISE.com. The Comcast RISE Investment Fund grant application is open from Oct 3-16 to Cook County businesses owned by women and people of color that have been in business three or more years with 1-25 employees. Check the site for more information about eligibility. Site visitors can also apply for the opportunity to receive marketing and technology services through Comcast RISE.

The Suazo Business Center has jump-started about 5,000 Utah small businesses over the past two decades, about 93% of which are minority-owned. Two women have driven that success: the center's founder, Gladys Gonzalez, and its current president and CEO, Silvia Castro.

The women, both immigrants from South America, know firsthand the challenges first-generation immigrants face when it comes to "making it" in the U.S. They've used those experiences to provide culturally relevant, multilingual business advice and mentoring to entrepreneurs across the state. READ MORE AT KSL.COM

Seven out of 10 Americans attribute the country’s economic growth to Latino population growth, reflecting that U.S. Hispanics have the highest workforce contribution rate (65.6 percent) and have started the most small businesses out of any other population group over the last decade.

There are significant areas where misconceptions about the Latino workforce can be corrected:

• More than 75 percent of Americans believe Latino immigrants have a lot to offer this country and are an economic boost (Asian, 87 percent; Black, 85 percent; White, 76 percent).
• Many non-Latinos also believe undocumented immigrants are taking jobs Americans depend on (Asian, 55 percent; White, 53 percent; Black, 49 percent), though undocumented immigrants make up only 13 percent of all Latinos in the United States.
• The view that Latinos are farmworkers is prevalent, even among Latinos, who believe half of Latinos fit that description. A commonly held misperception is that “farmworker” describes more Latinos than “entrepreneurial or business-minded,” despite U.S. Latinos creating the most small businesses in the country over the last 10 years. READ MORE AT LOS ANGELES BUSINESS JOURNAL

Latino-owned companies are growing at record rates and have a plethora of support to tap into. However, securing funding remains a challenge. There are an estimated 4.65 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the US, making them the fastest-growing segment of small businesses in the nation. According to the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI), a research and education collaboration between Stanford University and the Latino Business Action Network, over the last 10 years, the number of Latino-owned businesses in the US has grown 44% compared to just 4% for all others. READ MORE AT THE NEW JERSEY BUSINESS MAGAZINE

More than 40% of Fortune 500 companies operating in 2010 were founded by immigrants or their children, according to the Partnership for a New American Economy — including some of the most well-known brands, from Apple and IBM to Disney and McDonald's. The companies noted had combined revenues of $4.2 trillion — more than the GDP of most countries.

The ability to embrace cultural perspectives is absolutely critical to the way we view the world. Speaking multiple languages and even using English as a secondary language is not a setback, it is your secret weapon. READ MORE AT ENTREPRENEUR

Jefa-Owned (owned by a Latina Boss), a national visibility campaign under PepsiCo's Juntos Crecemos platform, calls upon Latinas in the food and beverage sector to apply for the Juntos Crecemos Hispanic Digital & Delivery Program, an eight-week personalized business building program.

To mark the launch, PepsiCo leaders joined Latina business owners for the Nasdaq Opening Bell Ceremony, where they unveiled the first-ever Jefa-Owned neon sign, designed by PepsiCo. READ MORE AT CISION

Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today welcomes 96 Black and Latino founders and CEOs to the 2022 cohort of the EY Entrepreneurs Access Network (EAN). A national business accelerator, EAN is a comprehensive, executive program designed to elevate emerging and established Black- and Latino-owned companies through access to resources, networks and one-on-one mentoring. This marks the second full cohort of EAN participants, after the program officially launched in January 2021. READ MORE AT CISION

Applications for new businesses rose 20 percent last year, after languishing for a decade. Many newly minted founders attribute it to the pandemic.

“People have become disaffected with what they’re doing, and might as well do the thing they've been wanting to do for a while,” says Stewart Thornhill, executive director of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Michigan. Some people who were furloughed or laid off near the start of the pandemic became entrepreneurs out of necessity. Others took stock of their good-enough jobs and decided they could do something better. READ MORE AT WIRED

With dramatic growth in the U.S. Hispanic population, the number of Hispanic-owned businesses is growing faster than in other ethnic groups. And Latino entrepreneurs are going far beyond the sterotypical blue-collar industries like restaruants, hospitality and construction.

A January report from Stanford University concluded that Latino-owned businesses with employees are more likely than their white-owned counterparts to be technology innovators. The study found that 19% of Latino-owned firms develop and sell a tech or software product, compared to 14% of white-owned firms. READ MORE AT GBH

While Latino-owned businesses are growing at a much faster rate than any other business segment in the country, they continue to face greater barriers to financing and report lower than average revenue per company than white-owned companies, according to new data released last week.

On Friday (January 28), the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative (SLEI) released its seventh annual research report, State of Latino Entrepreneurship, exploring the impact, challenges, and opportunities of the fastest growing business segment in the U.S. economy. READ MORE AT POETS AND QUANTS

The rise of remote work during the pandemic led several Silicon Valley venture capitalists to escape California, with its wildfires and high taxes. Miami, with a large Latino population, and Atlanta, with a large Black population, have both seen higher interest.

Data from Crunchbase compiled for Reuters showed startups with a Black or Hispanic founder got 3.5% of the record $311 billion U.S. venture funding in the year to Dec. 16, up from an average 2.5% in the previous five years.

Florida and Georgia were the only states with significant deal flow that showed an increase in the number of deals for Black and Latino companies. READ MORE AT WHBL

There have been more new businesses formed so far this year than ever. Literally ever.

According to data from the US Census Bureau analyzed by the Economic Innovation Group, there were about 1.4m new startup applications filed with the government through 30 September 2021. That’s compared with 1.14m during the same period in 2020 and 987 thousand in 2019. Every year before had been significantly less. READ MORE AT THE GUARDIAN

Latinos are a fast-growing, young segment of the U.S. population that’s also highly entrepreneurial, yet businesses that Latinos start often struggle to get the financing they need to grow and succeed.

These businesses are among the “most overlooked opportunities for investors,” the Boston-based Bain & Co. wrote in a report released earlier this month. READ MORE AT PENTA