NYC Black Entrepreneurs — Barriers, Challenges and Opportunities

Black Businesses in New York City face unique challenges, miss out on many city and state contract opportunities and are left out of Covid relief programs. A recent analysis report by three CDFIs spotlights obstacles facing Black entrepreneurs—and proposes solutions.

This report was prepared by the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, TruFund Financial and the Harlem Entrepreneurial Fund, who all serve a largely Minority- and Women- Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) client base that is mostly Black-owned businesses, with funding support from JPMorgan Chase. Their goal is to better enable CDFIs and other stakeholders in supporting the success and growth of Black-owned businesses. The collaborative investigated reasons for the unique challenges facing these businesses at different stages of the business lifecycle and proposed strategies to support them through building capacity and accessing capital.