BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Dyer Family Foundation Kicks-Off Black Business Grant Initiative!
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Dyer Family Foundation Kicks-Off Black Business Grant Initiative!
Unscripted
By Keith Edmonds
Ink Spot Contributing Writer
Several local businesses will be given the opportunity to apply for grants totaling up to $25,000 thanks to the Dyer Family Foundations efforts to provide funds to small black-owned businesses. In a press conference held at the Clyde Theatre on February 1st, 2022, Jack Dyer and Tammy Dyer shared how much they enjoyed being a part of the city of Fort Wayne, and how they wanted to create opportunities for small businesses (specifically black owned) aimed at “creating and assisting others to find their place.” Under this program, local business owners can apply for grants of up to $25,000 through the Indiana Black Expo as well as Flagstar Bank and Greater Fort Wayne who also have partnered in to provide resources in terms of business mentoring, and payroll services. The Dyers have long been a part of the fabric of our community through being active in many local organizations one of which is the Boys & Girls Club of Fort Wayne in which they are board members. It’s through the relationships that they’ve established with club CEO Joe Jordan and our community that prompted Tammy Dyer to share, “We’ve always felt it was important to serve all people; our feeling was that serving the greater wellbeing for the whole, was just as important as our personal wellbeing, and when we realized we had some money that we set aside for investments that we didn’t need anymore, we knew that we wanted it to go toward Black business owners.”
City of Fort Wayne program manager and Fort Wayne UNITED director Iric Headley was quoted as saying; “Giving black business owners an extra “push” that they need to be successful is something that we wanted to put in place so they can be as successful as they choose to be without limitations. When they prosper, then the black community as whole prospers, because they’re able to tap into so many resources that are not there without those black-owned businesses.”
Applications are now “live” and will be accepted until March 15, 2022. The committee members (of which the Dyers are a part of) will then notify grant winners April 15th, 2022, with the goal of funds being in the recipients’ hands by April 29th, 2022.