Cocoapreneur Collaborative is an initiative of Cocoapreneur Pgh that aims to address more social needs of the Black business community. It was created after COVID-19 and the increase in global discussion around disparities based on race in America.

The first project of Cocoapreneur Collaborative is the Black Businesses Relief Fund. It was initially started to help businesses that were vandalized after the George Floyd protests in Pittsburgh in May 2020. The fund is meant to provide relief and aid to Black owned businesses and Black initiatives that aren’t able to get funding and support through other means.

The first act of the Black Business Relief Fund is the awarding of mini grants. To help businesses affected by COVID-19 business interruptions, these are mini grants and in-kind resources to for-profit businesses who were not able to obtain funding through PPP, EIDL, and other traditional forms of business resources. With the understanding that many Black entrepreneurs who are new to business are not aware of the resources available or how to properly access them, Cocoapreneur saw it necessary to create a solution for them. The requirements and application are below.