IM4HI is excited to announce that we are one of eight organizations awarded a grant through the California Department of Labor’s SEED Initiative to promote the entrepreneurship of immigrants, English language learners, and those who face employment barriers, regardless of their immigration status.
Together with you, IM4HI has been accompanying and supporting immigrants, asylum seekers and those formerly detained who often face barriers to employment. Access to employment because of language, lack of work permit, and other barriers are a major challenge to financial stability. This entrepreneurial training development program will help people we are accompanying do more than survive, but to thrive. Our entrepreneurship program, called Project Thrive: Floreciendo tus Sueños, will help create avenues and pathways for economic independence and augment the understanding and capacity of people who are the economic engines for their families and communities.
This state funded grant allows us to offer multi-lingual entrepreneurial courses and 25 microgrants to select individuals who complete the program. We are pleased to be working with two outstanding immigrant small business women who will be providing training and technical assistance. (Read more about them below). The course will take place in person in the Inland Empire, but available virtually to immigrants in our network across the state.
Those who complete the program will have an increased understanding of the legal options available for small business entrepreneurship regardless of immigration status and the major components to successfully launching and running a business. The six week training course is free and will be offered in both Spanish and English. Those who complete the course will be eligible to apply to receive a microgrant and technical assistance that will help them take the next step to support their small business.
Project Thrive is a program that paves the way for immigrant communities and others who face barriers to flourish and thrive!
Registration Information
- Spanish Training Series Begins August 18th. Download Flyer.
- English Training Series Begins September 24th. Download Flyer.
Apply here: bit.ly/SeedRSVP
For more information contact Hilda Cruz:
909.736.0892 | hcruz@im4humanintegrity.org
Meet the Trainers
Silvia Guardado | Business Development Consultant
An immigrant of El Salvador, Silvia owns an accounting firm. She has more than twenty years of experience helping small business entrepreneurs with financial and compliance needs. She has worked as an instructor with SCORE, helping beginning business owners use QuickBooks, manage cash flow, and thrive. She currently works with the National Latina Business Women Association of the Inland Empire (where she was a founding board member, treasurer, and instructor) to help small business owners obtain loans through the PPP federal loan program.
Delila Vasquez, M.A. | Business Development Consultant
An immigrant business woman, Delila has more than thirty years’ experience working with homeless families, immigrants, and incarcerated people in the Inland Empire. She is the founder of Demi Cocina, a small business promoting healthy food choices for Latinx families. She and Silvia co-designed this course curriculum during a Business Academy at the Camara de Comercio Hispana de Pomona and have delivered it seven business courses through SMG Business Services. Delila has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Business Women in the Inland Empire, and was Vice President in 2017.
