PR maven Colette Phillips launches $250,000 fund to help small businesses owned by people of color
The nonprofit GK Fund will dole out $10,000 grants to entrepreneurs
By Jon Chesto Globe Staff,Updated February 17, 2021, 6:55 p.m.
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Colette Phillips has launched a nonprofit aimed at helping small businesses owned by people of color.
Colette Phillips, Andre Porter, and Michael Benezra got the idea to launch a fund for small businesses owned by people of color in 2019, before the pandemic and the George Floyd protests threw the issue of racial equity into stark relief.
Now, after the most tumultuous year in recent memory, their idea seems even more timely.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announces plan to address racial health inequities The efforts will be enabled by new $350,000 Racial Equity and Justice Grants that support minority-led not-for-profit organizations.
, Associate Editor
Health inequities and racial injustice persist in American life and in the healthcare industry, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has signaled its intention to address these issues with a set of new initiatives, including new charitable investments.
The investments include: a grant program to support not-for-profits led by Black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC); a first-to-market approach to collecting race and ethnicity data to address inequities in the care members receive; expanding marketing efforts to better reach a more diverse audience, with messages focused on addressing gaps in care and improving overall health; and new investments and support for minority-owned businesses.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Announces Bold Plan to Address Health Inequities and Racial Justice
Announces new racial justice grants
First health plan in market to collect comprehensive member race & ethnicity data
Creates new expert panel to advise on addressing inequities
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BOSTON, Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts ( Blue Cross ) today announced a set of bold initiatives to address health inequities and racial injustice.
(PRNewsfoto/Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts)
The multipart plan features new charitable investments, including a grant program to support not-for-profits led by Black, Indigenous and other people of color, a first-to-market approach to collecting race and ethnicity data to address inequities in the care members receive, expanding marketing efforts to better reach a more diverse audience with critical messages focused on addressing gaps in care and i
City Hall suspends its racial equity fund-raising as Marty Walsh heads to D.C.
The city has only raised a small amount to date, and will donate much of that another racial equity fund, one run by prominent Black business executives.
By Jon Chesto Globe Staff,Updated February 3, 2021, 1:03 p.m.
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Some of the executives involved in the New Commonwealth Racial Equity and Social Justice Fund, which will take over much of the money raised by the Boston s Racial Equity Fund, a city operation.Suzanne Kreiter/Globe staff
With Mayor Martin J. Walsh poised to join the Biden administration, city officials have suspended fund-raising for the Boston Racial Equity Fund and shifted most of its money to a privately-run statewide effort with similar goals.